You're about to watch what we're calling a love letter to Pittsburgh.

It is a powerful reminder of what makes this place and its people so exceptional.

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Public media belongs to the community, and your gifts are what help us showcase the stories and voices like those you're about to see.

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- [Announcer] Major funding for this program was made possible by UPMC with additional major funding from Edgar Snyder and Associates.

Thank you.

(calm music) - I live on Hawthorne Avenue.

This house, when it was snowing, that hill right there was one of the best hills in the world to come down on a sled ride, and part of my paper route was going up these hills, so yes, it was a workout, and as you can see from some of these here, we would get here and throw the paper up.

Matter of fact, one of the throws I had was right here.

I used to throw it from here to that porch.

I used to throw it from here to that porch, having to get over that rail, and if I didn't make it over the rail, I had to go pick up the paper again, like, "Ugh".

But we had them, that was part of my paper route.

(calm music) But right here is my home, 68 Hawthorne Avenue.

That's where I grew up.

Father taught me three things.

Says, "Never quit.

You quit once, you'll quit again."

So he talked about being resilient.

"You get knocked down, just get back up.

Quit feeling sorry for yourself."

And like, "Okay."

The second thing he used to say is, "You gotta work harder than the other person."

And he used to say, "It's what you do when nobody else is looking."

I always will remember that, "what you do when nobody else is looking."

We all do the things in front of a coach, or in front of a teacher, or in front of a parent, like you wanna impress 'em, but what sacrifices do you make?

Instead of going down to the pool, Crafton Pool, why don't you go in that weight room back there and just lift a little bit?

Okay.

Then the last thing was, "Never be intimidated by anyone or anything."

Self-confidence, so he made sure he goes, "It's hard for others to believe in you If you don't believe in yourself.

Believe in yourself, trust yourself, have confidence in what you're doing.

Doesn't mean you're gonna be successful all the time.

Just be confident in who you are as a person.

Understand what your limitations are, but understand also that there's nothing that can stop you from being special."

And so, "Okay, thanks dad" (laughs).

(soft music) - Yeah, the colors will be popping today.

Ooh, wee.

Let's get one thing straight.

I'm not as used to this as coach is.

- [Camera Guy] Say that one more time for me.

Say that one more time.

- One, two, three, four, five.

The colors will be popping today (laughs).

Next week it'll be too orange, yellow, and red.

Right now it's a perfect mixture.

Like Coach, I was born here and played here, and there's only a lucky few that have had that experience.

We know that there's a special bond between this city and its sports, no matter the game.

I think through the experience of those athletes and their stories, you can see the story of the city itself.

Well, yeah, you know, since retiring, I like to say I've been forced into playing more golf, so, you know, I'm gonna put my best foot forward today, and show Rocco that he is not just gonna push me over, but I might just give him $100 on the first tee and say, "Hey, let's just have fun today," and maybe I can win a little back.

Doubtful (laughs).

I'm more nervous walking up to three people instead of playing in front of 40,000 fans.

I'm more nervous doing this.

- What's going on?

(group laughs) (group chatters) - Good morning.

- Good morning.

- We're gonna play with Rocco Mediate.

It's kind of background speaks for itself, still on the Champions Tour.

Look at that right there.

From Greensburg, PA, I was a huge fan of his growing up.

- Ah, man, I thought we was hitting this direction.

I thought I would beeline it right here, like here I am, right there.

- [Neil] Charlie Batch, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and local legend, and Carol Semple Thompson from Sewickley, Pa was one of the the best female golfers to come outta this region around- here.

- [Carol] Well, I have nightmares about my golf.

- [Neil] Short term memory loss is better.

- [Carol] Yeah, I have nightmares that I'm naked on the first tee.

(laughs) - Whoa.

- [Carol] Yeah, I know.

That's not good.

- [Rocco] Well, I haven't heard that one.

- [Carol] Oh yeah, that's a good one for me.

- We're gonna have a lot of fun.

We're gonna talk about this region.

We're gonna play some golf, and we're gonna let Rocco, and Carol, Charlie, and I are gonna let them beat the crap out of us.

(club hits ball) - I mean, it probably went, what?

310, 320?

- [Carol] Oh, at least, at least.

- I hit it easy though.

- [Carol] And mine was at least 270.

(laughs) - Onward.

- [Neil] Starting your day off on the course is all well and good, but if you grew up in Pittsburgh, you know sunrise means getting to work, and the work this city is famous for, and still does, is making steel.

- This is the Edgar Thomson Work.

This is Andrew Carnegie's first steel mill.

He built this in 1875, so this year the Edgar Thomson plant will be operated for 150 years, something that we're very proud of.

So this plant produces about 2.8 million tons of steel a year.

- [Neil] At its height, the Pittsburgh area boasted over 100 steel mills.

Now there's just a few left, but the grand dame of them all is still running.

- You can just feel that heat.

- Yo, you can feel the heat.

We're gonna stay in the safe zone, but this is about 200 tons - of liquid iron.

- [Neil] Huge amounts of raw materials moved in titanic machines at temperatures I can't even comprehend, are what it takes to make steel, and just standing in the presence of all this is enough to make it clear how steel built all that this region was to become.

(calm music) - I mean, Oakmont is Pittsburgh.

You know, the club was founded by Henry Fownes, who was a steel man, made his fortune in iron and steel, and, you know, that's what Pittsburgh was built off, was, you know, blood, sweat, and tears, and steel.

It's a huge legacy in the game of golf.

I mean, basically every decade since the 1920s, excepting for a decade of World War, the US Open has come to Oakmont, and as time has gone on, the club has continued to, you know, change, and evolve, and really become one of the leaders in the game, and that's why the US Open returns.

- [Neil] A newly selected anchor site for future US Opens, the history of the game here makes that decision obvious.

- And this photo here, the changing of the guard as it's been dubbed, the handshake after Jack beat Arnie in the playoff in '62, and ironically enough, this photo could be referred to as the original concession, because Jack did not finish the 18th hole when that photo was snapped.

Everybody expected Bobby Jones to win, and proceeded to have his worst career finish in the United States Open Championship here at Oakmont.

We did ask Jim Fuhrer what was said, and apparently he knew that Tiger and his wife, who were married at that point and about to have their first daughter, were down to two names, and he leaned in and asked if he was still gonna name his daughter Angel, (Neil laughs) and as it turned out, Samantha Woods was born just a couple days later.

Ernie gets a little overshadowed, but for good reason.

This was Arnold Palmer's fifth and final US Open at Oakmont, but it's kind of like Bill Mazeroski's home run.

Everybody will tell you that they were at Forbes Field that day, and there are probably a 100,000 people out there that will tell you they were here for Arnie's final round in 1994.

- [Neil] Almost a century's worth of Opens and counting, and after all these stories, it makes one wonder what might happen next.

(calm music) David, we're settled in now to the 1953 US Open.

Of course, Ben Hogan, the winner that week, of that year.

Talk to us about this particular time and era.

The course was getting ready to go through some changes.

Was that directly result from this US Open, or had that been in the works going into this Open?

- It was a total direct result of this Open.

As the story goes, after Hogan dominated to his fourth and final US Open championship title, Herbert Warren Wind, the notorious golf writer for "The New Yorker" wrote that Oakmont was an ugly old brute of a golf course, and the members had no problem with the term brute.

This place has been called everything from Hades off Hulton over the years, (Neil laughs) but the fact that Wind called this place ugly did not sit well with the members, and as a direct result, some 5,000 trees were planted on the golf course over the next decade, totally changing the makeup of the course from an inland link style golf course that Henry Fownes designed, to a more traditional American Parkland course that you would see, such as Augusta National, or Baltusrol or Oak Hill, places like that.

- And now, has the actual layout of the holes changed from one through 18?

Has it ever changed, or has it changed at any point?

- The biggest change to the golf course has really been the introduction and the take down of the trees.

The eighth green moved slightly, very slightly, maybe 20 yards, if that many, to accommodate the turnpike in the 1950s, but other than that, you know, the layout, the routing is all the same from when Henry Fownes designed it in 1903.

- [Neil] Golf is a game a lot of people think of as trapped in time, but it's always a product of its surroundings, just like the rest of us.

- As I see it now, that's young and naive (laughs), okay.

That's young and naive, a guy who thought he could do it all, got knocked down many times along the way, put in his place many times in his way by a lot of different people.

He thought he had the answers.

He had the want to, but it took a lot of people to help him become the person he is today.

Mr. Jones, my math teacher in Carlynton High School, I'll give him credit to this day why I think I was a very good NFL football coach, 'cause I could work the clock.

I knew numbers, and it started here with him making me embrace the concept of math.

You're never as good as you think you are.

You're never as bad as they say you are.

That's a perspective in life that gives you the constant sense of purpose, and you're shaped that way at an early age.

(calming music) - [Neil] Alone, iron is brittle and easily corroded, but with the right process and given time, pressure, and exotic ingredients, it can become infinitely stronger and more flexible.

- So my father, in the late 50s, decided that not everyone was able to get into Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley Heights, so he thought there should be another golf course, and he decided that he'd build a golf course on the next hill over, and they called it Sewickley Heights Golf Club, and that was really for people who were not able to join the exclusive club of Allegheny.

(club hits ball) - Whoa.

- I couldn't see it.

- Now, when you were younger and learning to play golf too, especially in that area, how many other women or young ladies were you seeing out on the golf course?

- Not many.

I played a lot of golf by myself, but I had family support.

My mother played a lot of golf, and we played together a lot, and I had four siblings and we all had to play golf.

My father decided that we had to learn to play well enough.

The rule was you had to learn to play well enough to break 90, and then you could quit.

(group laughs) - [Rocco] Well, that worked for you.

- It worked for me.

It didn't work so well for my siblings.

They pretty much quit, but.

(group laughs) - [Neil] There are only four people to have won three different USGA individual championship events, Jack Nicholas, Arnold Palmer - JoAnne Carner, Tiger Woods, and Carol Semple Thompson.

(intense music) And while Carol never turned pro, she's one of the most dominant players in the history of the game.

(crowd cheers) - [Announcer] And it's over.

- Now, this isn't gonna show where the ball goes, right?

(group laughs) We'll put it where you think it's gonna go.

(club hits ball) - [Rocco] How about right at the flag is where it's going?

- [Neil] Big hop.

Oh, look.

Oh look.

- We're not gonna show where the ball is.

Right by the flag, yeah okay.

(group laughs) - [Speaker] Carol's on my team.

- Oh, this is unbelievable.

It's a history lesson in addition to a golf lesson, so it's pretty cool just hearing all the stories and everything that they bring to the game.

It's amazing just be a part of.

Yeah, I'll carry this.

- [Rocco] I think Carol's sitting at about 10 feet.

- I'll carry this scramble (laughs) - [Rocco] She knew something we didn't know.

(laughs) She was out here this morning earlier.

- I'm on the green in two, in regulation.

- [Neil] How about your foursome?

- And the other guys are three and four strokes, I think.

- [Rocco] Hey, calm down over there.

Just settle down over there.

(laughs) - So I was pretty lucky on my second shot.

Just happened to bounce the right way.

(rhythmic music) (TV beeps) - [TV Narrator] Since 1984, researchers at the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute have been working on the development of outdoor mobile robots.

- [Neil] I was always a student of the game, knowing there's an art to baseball as well as a science, a good reminder that the city relies on its minds as much as it's metal.

Got it, okay.

I'm not much of a gamer, but this has me hooked right here.

- Carnegie Tech was actually founded as a school to train the children of steelworkers so that they had a better future, and I think that's such a critical mission when we think about this, and we think about sort of what's important in the country right now, you know, education, investment in education pays intergenerational dividends, and I have to believe that all the young people that come through our doors are gonna go out there and build a better world, and so I think that that dream of doing that is character.

(laughs) Do you guys ever get to see this?

It's just down the hall.

We're just right down there.

- You know, I don't think it's gonna attack us.

- It's still very small, so we'll be all right.

- Am I missing?

- Yeah, we're working on it, you know, it'll do your laundry next.

That's the next goal.

(laughs) You know, when we think about, sort of the culture of people from Pittsburgh, one of the things that really stands out is that it's a really hardworking group of people, and I think that that culture that sort of suffuses everything that we do here is so important when you think about things like robotics.

Robotics is really hard, one of the hardest things in the world, and every time this robot breaks, it takes real determination and hard work to keep it going, and we see all these benefits to that sort of ethos that we have here in Pittsburgh where people stay at companies longer than they would in other kind of tech hubs.

They work harder for those companies, and I think they really believe in the missions, and I think that's the big difference that Rust Belt cities have from maybe some of these more traditional coastal hubs.

People here really care about trying to build something, and I think that was the ethos that brought steel to Pittsburgh, and made Pittsburgh so successful with steel, and I think that's the ethos that's gonna bring robotics to the world.

(soft music) (soft music continues) - [Neil] I was wrong before.

I said steel built us, but those furnaces, they weren't fired by anything but the raw power of the people manning them.

What are you working on here, Cory?

- This is a scene of steel mills from Homestead, so I work from historic photos.

I work from, you know, going to these spaces in person and sketching there, but this one just has such a great feel where you can see how close the houses and businesses were to these mills.

I mean, like, they were the center of everything in the community, and when they were decommissioned and lost, these communities kind of collapsed around it, you know, the whole economy.

It wasn't just jobs that were lost, but you know, these guys that worked in the mills, and women that worked in the mills, every day they were creating something, and, you know, they were creating the world around us, the foundations of our modern society, and there's a huge amount of meaning that comes along with that.

When they left work, they could see the fruits of their labor.

They could, you know, point out to their kids, like, "We built this", and when the mills were lost, so was all that meaning - Sure.

Do you ever stop and think, or does it ever make you nostalgic or sad about the significance of this region?

- I think the thing I think about the most is when I was growing up here in the 80s, that was kind of the height of the, you know, losing these mills, and the whole region had a low self-esteem problem, and in order to make it, you know, especially as an artist, I was kind of told, you have to get out of the city, and go somewhere else, but, you know, after going through school and coming back, I could see things, you know, coming back, and I realized, you know, through this work and understanding just how ingenious and innovative the people were that, you know, built everything in these mills, you know, they were working without any of the technology we have today, and still overcoming incredible obstacles and solving big problems daily, just all the time.

I realized that, you know, the most valuable resource they had was human ingenuity and spirit, and that human ingenuity and spirit, I think it's everywhere, but it's really concentrated here in Pittsburgh, and there's this, you know, great feeling of super intelligent people who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty here, and, you know, I've seen Pittsburgh come back through the universities, the medical centers, and now, you know, the tech boom in here.

It's as if it's coming full circle, and I think people just need to be reminded that at the core of it all is just that human ingenuity and spirit.

(dirt crunches) (birds chirp) - Graduated in 1975, and I gotta be honest, I don't think anything's changed.

Our offense was pretty good.

We came down, scored to this end, parking lot.

Our field goal kicker would kick the extra point.

Get down to that end, the guy was not a nice guy.

He won't give the ball back, so a lot of times I think our coach decided to go for two.

I think when you grow up here, you don't identify it as struggle.

You identify as a way of life, so I appreciated having this field to be able to play sports on to get away from it.

Sports was a way of having a degree of balance in your life, 'cause the other side of it wasn't gonna be all games.

It was a place I was always proud to be from, never a place I thought I'd ever come back to.

Little did I know that, you know, leaving here that like 15 years later I'll be coming back here, and so, you know, it's like one's journey, the circle of life.

It's just funny how it works out.

(soft music) (wind blows) - There we go.

Maybe one of the best views in all of baseball right here, maybe all of sports.

You can see three bridges from up here.

You can see the Allegheny River, downtown Pittsburgh, and probably one of the best seats to watch a baseball game too.

You grew up wanting to be a baseball player.

I know that's what I wanted to do.

My dad and uncle played.

My brothers played.

I was the youngest of four, and I had dreams of playing.

Never forget it as an eight, nine, ten year-old wanting to play major league baseball, but more than that wanted to play here in Pittsburgh, and I am one of the very few that got to live that dream out.

I think kids that set out, and people that set out to get to the highest point of their profession, especially in the sports world, you find out very early that talent only takes you so far, and you have to work, you have to want it, you have to want to find out how good you can be, and where your talent can go, and I think that, especially in this region, in this blue collar, hardworking region of Western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, and northern West Virginia, you see a lot of that.

You see, you know, the coal mines aren't quite as prevalent as they once were.

The iron and steel factories are not what they once were, but how can I make the most of what I think I can be.

(club hits ball) All right Charlie, I think we're right next to each other.

Right down that beautiful tree.

All right, Charlie, you out drove me by a little bit.

Now let me ask you, I was born and raised north of the city, about 20 miles.

You're from near downtown near Homestead.

You have an interesting background with family in the steel industry, and I'm curious how that's shaped who you were, and who you became, and how you've seen things evolve in this region more than anything else.

- Yeah, after having a grandfather who grew up in the steel mills, he was talking a lot about those stories, you know, that the steel mills kind of evolved and they were phased out.

You see that transformation happening, and we were one of the first areas to actually have that happen, but I think you appreciate it more as you grow up.

(explosion blasts) - [Neil] One after another, the mills closed.

Whole sections of the city, whole towns and suburbs found themselves out of work with few options.

(explosion blasts) Homestead, Charlie's hometown, was particularly hit hard, and like many areas, the economic depression led to all sorts of challenges and despair, and yet in spite of it all, Charlie Batch always remembered where he was from.

He's one of the best of us.

- Yeah.

I think, you know, just from here where we are now, it's literally a 10 minute drive down to the Steeler facility, so when you're that close, you know, it's one of those things where like, "Man, I want to don that black and gold one day", so the dream is always there, but that was all kind of before, you know, the Best of the Batch Foundation was created, and it wasn't until 1996 is when I lost my sister to senseless gang violence, and at that particular point I said, if I was ever in position to give back, I would, and ultimately was able to be drafted in 1998, and January of 1999, that's when the foundation was started.

So we did some one off programs in Detroit, and then when I had the opportunity to come here to Pittsburgh, I didn't know how long I was gonna be here, and thought it was okay, one year, that was it, and ultimately tried to put the things in motion.

We had 125 kids, 25 volunteers that first year, and by the year two, we were at 300 kids, and over 100 volunteers, so we knew we were on to something.

This is our gymnasium here, walk around track, 'cause a lot of our seniors can't afford gym memberships.

Gaming here, coding on these two machines here.

We're adding a couple more machines there because of the kids really love to code.

Home economics back, because they took that outta school.

These kids don't know how to cook anymore, so what we're gonna do is teach them how to cook, so everything in here is high-end residential, not high-end commercial.

We provide the space, but we work with a group called Tech 25, and they'll come over here and they'll teach all the kids from there, so they'll teach 'em podcasts, videography, how to be a DJ.

Right now this is a heavy TikTok room.

(Neil laughs) (Neil claps) So they love their TikTok.

They're doing their dances, they learn how to do it, so it's pretty cool.

We don't charge anything for anybody to come in this building.

- [Neil] That's like a community wide thing.

- Correct, yes.

- Wow.

Charlie, that's amazing - How you been?

Good.

- [Neil] The Best of the Batch now serves over 4,000 children year round.

They provide health and educational services, no winning record required.

- That's what you wanna do.

You wanna beat me just in front of the camera like that?

What you laughing at?

What you laughing at, huh?

You want some of this too?

(hands slap) Yes.

- [Neil] There's a proud tradition in Pittsburgh of sports legends doing their part to affect change in the city they serve.

- I think when you look at change, I think, you know, giving kids more options as it relates to what their future looks like, and I think, you know, for here, even building the building, right, you know, you don't wrap around here.

Oh, I'm gonna get on her when she walking.

I'm gonna get on her 'cause she did not- Pull onto the side.

(Neil laughs) You see these white lines?

Well, the one you crossed was yellow.

Let's use the white.

Yeah, because I only saw you look right, not left, and we almost- - Yes, I did.

- That's why, yeah, we almost- I know, uh huh.

- No cutting corners at The Best of the Batch Foundation (laughs).

We know that, and we saw it in action right there.

(both laugh) - Oh, great shot, Charlie.

Get going.

(Charlie laughs) Beauty.

That saying is really tremendous too.

I think you saw that probably going down to the field.

That's everywhere, like the spring training complex, and especially the young guys coming up through the organization, that's everywhere, and that's kind of the rally cry for, you know, you start to dig in who this guy was in the 70s.

He was essentially like an icon for the Latin community.

I mean, it was being a part of the 71 World Series team.

I mean, holy cow, what a life a guy live, right?

I'll never forget, it was in September.

The Boston Red Sox came into town.

I think it was 2013 maybe, and we were playing here at PNC Park, and the Clemente family comes, and anytime I saw them, I got a little nostalgic, and every time Vera, I'd say, "Thank you Vera", and she wouldn't know why I'd say that most of the time, but, you know, thank you to the boys for essentially saving me and my siblings lives, but this particular night, I was sitting on 20 home runs and about my third or fourth at bat, I hit a ball just over the 21 foot Clemente Wall in right field for my 21st home run.

It was the only time I've ever trotted around the bases in my life and felt weightless, and felt like that connection was something bigger than baseball, and I'll never forget that, and, you know, getting to run out on the field and every time I'd run out of the field at home, I'd be staring as a second baseman directly at that wall, and I would try to, you know, give a tip of the cap, or say a little something during the national anthem.

I mean, this is just pure perfection down here, this Clemente Museum, and everything this man stood for.

As my dad told the story, back in '72 going into '73, New Year's Eve, he was playing winter ball in Puerto Rico near San Juan, and obviously the story with Roberto Clemente is told that he put a humanitarian effort together for an earthquake in Nicaragua, and he got a plane, he got a pilot, and he got stuff from the people on the island to put on the plane to take to Nicaragua, and when a lot of the guys found out that he was putting this mission together, they wanted to go, they wanted to help.

They wanted to do what they could, and my dad, as well as many others were actually at the airport the day that that plane was getting loaded, and they were fully prepared to get on that plane with Roberto and the pilot, and at the very last minute, Roberto said, you know, "This plane's too full.

Just let me and the pilot go.

We'll get the stuff off, and then we'll jump back," and, you know, still a lot of the guys that were there helping load the plane were like, "No, we'll sit on boxes.

You know, we'll play cards, and have a couple libations, and help you when you land.

Get the stuff off."

And Clemente was very adamant that nobody go except for him and the pilot, and plane takes off, and goes down right off the coast of San Juan, and the rest is kind of history as they say, but I certainly wouldn't be doing this interview here today, and my siblings would never have been born.

This man right here essentially saved my life, and the life of many others that were there that day that he didn't allow to get on that plane.

Oh, this is my favorite spot, even though I didn't get to watch a ton of games from in here.

So this down here is my personal favorite row in the club level, but also kind of nostalgic.

Oh wow, they haven't replaced the backs of these yet.

When he passed, the Pirates kindly gave me the seats my father routinely sat in when I played here, but sports to him, like Charlie and Roberto, were always just a means to an end.

The biggest thing I remember him telling me was, you know, "The sun will come out tomorrow."

I think that's- Through the good, the bad, you know, you learn a lot, and I think having support, and having somebody that had the perspective of, "Hey, you went over five with four strikeouts last night."

You know, that wasn't - that wasn't important to him.

It was "Are you being a good teammate?

Are you doing the best you can?"

And, "Are you being a good role model?"

All those things are just so important That phrase has never lost on me and I tell that to my kids, even though they're younger.

You know, it's never as bad as you think.

It's never as good as you think, and you have to find a way to mentally ride that wave of life, and at the end of the day, the sun is gonna come up tomorrow, and being here a year after my dad's passing, it certainly hits me hard.

- To come back to Pittsburgh was in 1992.

When I got the call, I was 34 years old.

My first thoughts were, "Well, you know what, if I don't screw this up, in three years.

I can go back to my 20th high school class reunion as a head coach of my hometown team."

So my first goal was don't get fired in the first three years.

15 years here, and in the 14th year We won a championship.

You know, you become the hometown kid who came back home and won one, and what can we do for you?

We have a bridge, a street, something after you, and honestly, it never really, no other thought came in my mind.

I go, "No, it's an alley."

That's who I am.

I'm a kid from Crafton.

We threw baseballs with my dad in a cinder alley.

It's the dirty things, the nitty gritty things, the little things you did as a kid, the sacrifices you were asked to make.

Don't forget how you got here.

Never forget where you came from, this alley.

Cowher Way is a little bit of a reminder of the cinder, the rocks, the lessons learned, the molding of who you are, shaped on who you are because of the nitty gritty things you did, the sacrifices you made, the people who loved you and pushed you, your parents, your friends, the opportunity to represent this community and to be blessed to have the opportunity to do that.

(upbeat music) - [Neil] Pittsburgh's grit has born all sorts of stars, but few like its modern anthem maker, Wiz Khalifa, - My whole style and everything is influenced by Pittsburgh.

Like you said, that whole blue collar lifestyle, like I got a thermal on now, - [Neil] Black and yellow, Wiz's 2010 worldwide hit and six time platinum song in the US put him and Taylor Gang on the map.

- It just spawned a whole lifestyle, and a whole attitude, and a whole sense of pride in yourself and like working hard and everything that, you know, Taylor Gang was, is, and will be.

- Sure, you know, when you think about Pittsburgh, and you think about the amount of time you spent there in your career, is there any particular memories that really pop out in your head when you think about Pittsburgh in general?

- I think being a kid, and listening to WAMO, like listening to the radio, that was a big thing for me.

That did a lot for me mentally.

I would say, you know, recording at ID Labs, that was a really good time for me, just finding my whole style and meeting people who, you know, I'm still friends with now to this day, like these are lifelong friends.

Having just this system that you're used to growing up with, and you know what I mean, being comfortable around, some people work better like that.

- And be more creative.

Sometimes gotta be more creative.

- Yeah, some people need that hometown sauce.

(Neil laughs) - [Neil] Taylor Gang is now turning out hits and stars over and over again thanks to the passion and hard work this city is famous for.

- Wiz just happened to wander into the studio when he was 16.

Immediately, I could see that like he had something, you know, just in terms of charisma and personality that, you know, I really hadn't like encountered, you know, working with local artists, so we, out of that, just started working together, and you know, developed this relationship.

We decided to, you know, work on music together, and just try and build something.

(upbeat music) When Wiz really broke, that was just such a huge thing for the city, and really went beyond, you know, any of my expectations for it.

- And then Mac following it up was doubling down.

- Yeah, it was lighting striking twice.

That sort of blew the doors wide open I think.

♪ Yeah You know what it is ♪ ♪ Everything I do yeah I do it big ♪ ♪ Yeah ah screaming that sound ♪ When I got the black and yellow car, yeah that summer, that was like a really good time because I had had glimpses of making it, you know with the music thing, but that summer it was really locked in, and it was official, and I was shooting my own videos.

I had my content, I was on the road, I was dropping mix tapes.

It was a really clear lane for me to do my thing and represent the Burgh at the same time.

- At first I was like, "Dude, if we can get $1,000 dollars a show, we are gonna be killing it."

And then as it grew, you know, seeing to like the venues we took, and the path we took, and how we tour, and how we move, it's just bigger than I could have ever thought, imagined.

It was like, "Dude, we're really doing something here."

Like, people in Ohio wanna see Wiz, that's crazy.

- I just remember I wanted this Challenger so bad, (Neil laughs) and I was like dreaming about it on the road, like I was just dreaming about the Challenger, and I was like, "As soon as I get home, I'm using some of this freaking tour money, and I'm getting me a SRT8 Dodge Challenger."

I think it was 2010.

So when I go to write the song, I'm like, I just bought the car, and it ended up being black and yellow.

Like, that was the one that they had like- - That's wild.

- In the thing, and I was like, I gotta make the song.

(Wiz laughs) Like, it just came natural.

I was like, I just gotta make the song.

- Meant to be.

- Yeah, I was like, I gotta make the song.

- Seeing that come together, making the record, like I sat in the booth with Wiz when he made it, and just going through the countless mixes.

There was a whole 'nother part of the hook that was a huge discussion that we all talked about, like that being in the song or not, and like having people like Lil Wayne remix it, you know, it just exploded it.

- The very first piece of press that we got was a little blurb that's up here somewhere in "Rolling Stone", and that was so wild to me to see, you know, just Wiz in "Rolling Stone", and you know, "Rolling Stone" talking to this Pittsburgh artist, and I called Wiz to say like, "Man, I can't believe, you know, I'm seeing this."

And he was like, "I can believe it."

"You know, I knew this was gonna happen."

(man raps) It was really cool for that moment in time too, to see like Pittsburgh so represented like in the music world, and in hip hop culture, and in the sports world simultaneously.

That was all happening that year.

It's such a cool moment for Pittsburgh, I felt like, you know?

- Yeah.

I definitely feel proud that it became the anthem of the city, the status of it.

You know what I mean?

Like that's a dream come true for somebody like me, - Pittsburgh anthem, man.

It's great (laughs).

♪ Black and yellow ♪ ♪ Black and yellow ♪ ♪ Black and yellow ♪ ♪ Black and yellow ♪ - Do you wanna just like jump into the verse right after that?

(rhythmic music) ♪ And oh I'm just a boss Pittsburgh figure ♪ ♪ Northside ♪ So Wiz put me to text, "Yo, come to the studio".

I'm like, "A'ight".

We make the song, "Yeah Yeah".

We freestyle it though, like, bro, he got a party, and I've never been in the studio when there's like a party, so now I'm just addicted at this point.

There's Wendy's everywhere.

There's so much food.

We in there just going crazy.

(Neil laughs) There's people everywhere.

I make the song, I go crazy, bang.

So they come in there and gimme my papers.

I sign the papers, I come home, sold out show, world at my hands.

I know what come with Taylor Gang.

You going on a tour, that's just everything.

Like you're going on a tour, you're gonna be a real artist when you on Taylor Gang.

You gone get put in front of the world.

(crowd screaming) - Taylor Gang is a lifestyle and helped save my life and the people that I'm still with today, and everybody has a different connection with Taylor Gang, and then just, as time went on, I was able to see how positive of an impact it had on the generations after us.

♪ And Oh I'm just a boss Pittsburgh figure ♪ - That's cool.

- That's cool.

I was trying to clean the whole song in my head (laughs).

- To see it now, where it's like, how much they can help each other, and I love to see that energy.

We just share everything that's new and up and coming.

- [Nate] Pittsburgh people take care of their own, like, you know what I mean, and I think that's like almost a rallying cry per se to this region is like, you know, we're gonna ride together (laughs).

- We're gonna stick together.

- When it go, it go, and when it's time for the next ones, when I get into my position, then Will, E, they going out, "Yo, hey, this is who you need to listen to."

Bring them up, like pull 'em up.

We gonna keep it going, and it's going to go forever.

- That's awesome man, it's awesome (laughs).

♪ I'm just a boss Pittsburgh figure and oh ♪ That's it right there.

(Neil claps) No way I just cleaned the song on the fly like that.

(laughs) That's how we do that, right there.

Thank you.

- [Neil] Industry made us a melting pot, and the need for industrious labor meant immigrants flooded into the city, bringing with them the taste and the grit it's now known for, and they're still coming, just from new places with new flavors, but that grit still comes standard.

- I have to say one of my favorite memories of the Pittsburgh food scene back in the day is pretty simple.

My grandparents would take me for a hotdog boiled in beer at Lums, and that was like the big gourmet lunch, and I wanted to share that story because I think it really is a little key into something important about Pittsburgh.

Does anybody have an old school story about Pittsburgh's food scene, 'cause I'm old enough to remember when there were still neighborhood niches of particular kinds of cooking, and how meat and potatoes it was.

- Being at my grandma's house early Sunday morning and smelling Frankie's hot dogs shop in Lawrenceville, the onions coming over into Etna, and I was fortunate enough to work at some of those restaurants when I was younger, like Tambellini and Rico's, the old school Pittsburgh scene is definitely special to me.

- Old school Pittsburgh to me is definitely The Carlton, fine dining, and I think, you know, that's continued on to what I'm currently doing up at Altius.

We still do fine dining.

There's so much that I learned there that we continue to do.

I do believe that things have evolved, but I think that, at its core, I definitely started there, and really gained so much from The Carlton.

- What was your ideas and thoughts of what the scene was like here, whether it be 10, 15, 20 years ago to where it is that you're currently experiencing now?

- There's nothing that won't work in Pittsburgh.

I think people are willing to push the envelope and push the edge as to really small niche concepts.

Over the years, Pittsburgh's evolved.

I think the restaurateurs who live here, and then the chefs who live here, are being very experiential and experimenting with things that are above and beyond cool, and it's resonating with that new population to Pittsburgh, so we've changed and, even to your point, the areas that are successful now.

When we were growing up, the strip district was not what it is today.

It was kind of a little mini version of meat packing New York.

It was blue collar, it was where the produce came in.

It was where the meats came in, the fish came in, and now it's one of the hottest trade areas in the whole entire country, and the same thing with Lawrenceville and East Liberty, and East Side.

These areas that are old time Pittsburgh that have gone by the wayside are now being revitalized, largely led by the food scene, and that's what's driving the excitement in those trade areas.

- Pittsburgh is more international today than it's ever been and you have more and more people coming in with different cultural and ethnic palates, but on a much lighter note, I think you've officially become a Pittsburgher when your shortcut takes longer than the regular way.

(group laughs) - [Jessica] But it feels better, right?

- Yes, it does.

- So much better.

- You're not stopped.

You're continuing to move.

- I'm always trying to thrive for the first one, first thing.

- First baby.

- First baby.

Umami was the first (foreign language), Japanese pub, you know, a ramen spot, a full scale ramen restaurant, was one of the first, now one of the first full scale Cantonese Dim sum parlors.

So risk is always, especially in the restaurant business, but taking risk for cocktails, we encourage it.

We encourage whoever's making the cocktails, obviously it goes through multiple testings, and, you know, criticisms, but I think you don't wanna be the same as what everybody else is doing.

- I am a competitive person.

I'm in competition with everybody around me, but it's not like we're competing in each other.

Every place in Pittsburgh has a hamburger.

I'm not competing with anyone.

We just do what we do, and that's that, but you help each other out if you need it, and I think that's what- - It just continues to keep pulling you back, right?

I mean, I know a lot of you have left for periods - Oh my gosh.

of time, right?

- I've tried to leave so many times.

- Yeah, love it.

- That might be more Pittsburgh, you just can't leave.

(group laughs) - I don't actually think we have competition, and I believe that.

I think the only competition we have is ourselves, 'cause people are going to try our restaurants.

If they come back, it's because we did a good job.

If not, it's because they're going somewhere else.

No one eating in any restaurant every night of the week, every day of the year, so we all support each other, and I think what's great about Pittsburgh is we want new things to survive.

We want new things to succeed, and so when something opens up that's new and on the fringe, or really, as a Pittsburgher, I'm hugely proud of them.

I think we all promote trying new and different things, and if we all support that, we're only going to get better as a community, and as a city.

- I heard you say this, Herky, and it's, it's something my grandfather used to say, you have to leave it better than you found it, and that's a real Pittsburgher.

Well delicious always wins in Pittsburgh, so here's to you guys.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- No thank you guys.

- Cheers.

(laughs) - [Jessica] Thank you.

- [Neil] It's clear this place has a message for those who will listen, and those willing to pass it on.

Now Roc, I know you have a connection with Arnie, and I actually do as well.

Would you believe that he and I share the same birthday?

- That's a cool thing.

- Yeah, it's pretty cool, but that's where it ends for me.

- That's where it's done, yeah.

- But for you, of course, obviously we know how much he means to you, and what are the things that really stood out and stand out to you about your relationship with him?

- He taught me more how to be, not necessarily as a golfer too, obviously, but how to be with people.

He was about the people.

He was the people, and he wanted me to look people in the eye, like when I was a kid, I'd look like this, 'cause I couldn't look anybody, I was too shy.

That's changed.

Learning from him and how to be is the thing.

It's like, all time he said it's real easy to talk to the press after 66.

Can you do it after 75 the same way?

- Now Roc, is there any one moment, whether it be golf related or non golf related, with Arnie that sticks out to you more than anything else?

- Us Open in 94, yeah, right, yeah, his last at Oakmont.

- His last.

(crowd whistles) (crowd cheers) - [Announcer] A great beauty, (crowd claps) but you know, it never was.

That was part of the daring, and the excitement, and the wonder around 20, 30 years ago.

- I played with him the first two rounds, and it was, I can't even explain it, (Neil laughs) but coming up the last hole, and my back was a wreck before that.

I wasn't supposed to play, but they asked me if I'm gonna play, would I play with him?

I'm like, "Yeah, okay, I'll do that."

You can't even, the world stopped.

(crowd claps) (crowd whistles) - You know, it's been 40 years, and when you walk up the 18th, and you get a ovation like that, I guess that says it all.

- As we're walking off the green, I said, "This is all because of you", and he lost it right there.

I got him.

It was good.

(Neil laughs) (crowd claps) (crowd whistles) The Open at Oakmont with him is unmatchable thing I've ever felt, winning whatever.

It's different, but you got to see what it was really all about right there.

(crowd whistles) (crowd claps) - [Announcer] Well, a lot of memories are now leaving the 18th.

(calm music) - [Neil] Those who play for the people of this city seem to understand the responsibility they have to represent the spirit of this place, but I'm not sure the city realizes how much that spirit imbues us, guides us, drives us, and has allowed us to do the very thing they want us to do, play like we're from Pittsburgh, no matter the game.

(calm music) (calm music continues) (calm music continues) (wheels chug) - It's morning in Pittsburgh.

You see the traffic, people going to their respective jobs, very proud, very driven, very committed.

I think, you know, coaching in Pittsburgh, my morning started probably most of the time was me dropping off my kids at the bus stop, and then driving from Fox Chapel over to the South Side, crossing one of these bridges right here, and just recognizing every day you have a chance to make a difference.

Every day you have a chance to get a little bit better, and every day you have a chance to sit back and have perspective at the end of the day, being thankful for what you have, being thankful for where you are, and being thankful for the people you have surrounded yourself with.

Now when you drive, and you're in Pittsburgh, good luck.

You may get lost.

It's not a great grid, but just ask someone, they'll tell you, "Go down to Isaly's and make a left.

Get down to the church, and make a right, and then climb, coming up the hill, and three blocks up, you'll see the house you want on the left hand side."

So just ask a Pittsburgher, they'll help you.

Doesn't much matter what it is.

They're there for what's next.

(soft music) (soft music continues) (soft music continues) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (water rushes)