Myron Cope

Lore & Background

Cope was a color commentator for the Steelers' radio broadcasts for 35 years. He was known for his distinctive, higher-pitched nasally voice with an identifiable Pittsburgh accent, idiosyncratic speech pattern, and a level of excitement rarely exhibited in the broadcast booth. Cope's most notable catch phrase was 'yoi'. He helped popularize the Terrible Towel, a rally towel associated with the Steelers. In 1996, Cope gave the rights to the towel to Allegheny Valley School, which has received more than $6 million in proceeds from towel sales. Cope was the first football announcer inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Cope's autobiography, Double Yoi!, was published in 2002.

Reader's Guide

Cope was originally a journalist before becoming a broadcaster. His first job as a journalist was in Erie, Pennsylvania, with the Daily Times, and by the summer of 1951, he was working for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Cope then became a freelance journalist, most notably for Sports Illustrated, the Saturday Evening Post, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In 1963, Cope received the E.P. Dutton Prize for 'Best Magazine Sportswriting in the Nation', for a portrayal of Cassius Clay.

Cope spent the 1983 college football season as a color analyst for the Pittsburgh Panthers. In 1987, he was named by the Hearst Corporation as a noted literary achiever, along with Mark Twain, Jack London, Frederic Remington, Walter Winchell, and Sidney Sheldon. At its 50th anniversary, Sports Illustrated selected Cope's profile of Howard Cosell as one of the 50 best written works ever published in the magazine. In 1968, Cope began doing daily sports commentaries on what was then WTAE-AM radio in Pittsburgh.

He made his debut as a member of the Steelers' radio team in 1970. During Cope's 35-year broadcasting career with the Steelers, he was accompanied by only two play-by-play announcers: Jack Fleming, with whom he broadcast until 1994, and Bill Hillgrove. In his last seven years, Cope worked alongside former Steelers offensive tackle Tunch Ilkin in the booth. Cope announced his retirement from broadcasting on June 20, 2005, citing health concerns. He died of respiratory failure at a Mt. Lebanon nursing home on February 27, 2008.