First radio interview — The Fan Steelers pre-game show

First sports talk interview: 10:40 a.m., Sunday, on 93.7 The Fan. 

My friend Joe Starkey, radio host on 93.7 The Fan and sports columnist (still), received one of the first advance copies of The Color of Sundays. It’s always difficult sending out the book to people I respect. Starkey would be at the top of the list. I mean he still writes because he *wants* to keep writing!

Here’s what Joe had to say…

The great 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers had an edge, and his name was Bill Nunn Jr., who could find football players where others would not look. “The Color of Sundays” tells that remarkable story but also takes us deep into the fascinating, groundbreaking adventures of one of Pittsburgh’s treasured sports figures, from Nunn’s ride to the airport with Roberto Clemente after Game 7 of 1960 World Series to his journeys into the Deep South to find little-known athletes destined to become stars.

Bill Nunn Jr. with four of the six Lombardi trophies he helped the Steelers win.

Few sports figures were closer to the center of the sweeping Civil Rights changes of the 20th Century than Nunn, an iconic Steelers scout who doubled as a do-it-all sportswriter for the groundbreaking Pittsburgh Courier. “The Color of Sundays” masterfully weaves Nunn’s personal story — eschewing a spot with the Harlem Globetrotters to work in newspapers at the start of his career — with the social changes of the times.

What was Roberto Clemente feeling in the moments after the 1960 World Series? How did John Stallworth feel after a failed tryout in front of NFL scouts? And what of Jackie Robinson after an uncharacteristic tirade at Forbes Field? The answers might surprise you. Many things from the life of the great Bill Nunn Jr., a key figure in the rise of a 1970s football dynasty, might surprise you.

 

I’m grateful Joe took the time to read the book — and that he liked it. Tune in Sunday morning to hear us talk about the Steelers, Nunn and his living legacy.