The Backyard Brawl

Stories from One of the Weirdest, Wildest, Longest Running, and Most Instense Rivalries in College Football History

John Antonik

• Publisher: West Virginia University Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781935978824
• eBook ISBN: 9781935978831

The West Virginia University Mountaineers and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, separated by less than eighty miles of highway, have battled it out on the football field for more than one hundred years. Now, with Pitt announcing its departure from the Big East Conference to join the Atlantic Coast Conference and West Virginia becoming a member of the Big 12 Conference, this intense rivalry has come to an abrupt end. Thousands of players and dozens of coaches - some among the very best to ever play the game - have been a part of this famous series known as the "Backyard Brawl."  With fantastic tales about this feud's star-studded rosters, including  White, Slaton, Harris, Luck, Huff, Nehlen, and Rodriguez for West Virginia and Fitzgerald, Marino, Dorsett, Green, Majors, and Sherrill for Pitt, The Backyard Brawl celebrates the tradition, heritage, and pride of two outstanding universities. With unparalleled access, John Antonik, a 20-year West Virginia University athletic administrator and WVU alumnus, unearths the fascinating and humorous stories that make up this revered, colorful, and cherished football game-and more importantly, the great passion and pride these schools exhibit every time they take the field.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Prologue
• 1943-1955: The Rivalry Resumes
• 1947 - Finally!
• 1952 - Pappy Makes ‘em Happy
• 1954 - The Power of Positive Thinking
• 1955 - Pass the Sugar
• 1957-1965: Wild Times
• 1959 - A “Pitt-iful” Performance
• 1961 - The Garbage Game
• 1963 - The Battle of the Brothers
• 1965 - Points Galore
• Color Photo Section A
• 1967-1979: The Birth of the Backyard Brawl
• 1970 - Bobby Blows It
• 1975 - McKenzie Kicks the Hell out of Pitt
• 1976 - Tony D Gets Tossed
• 1979 - Farewell, Old Mountaineer Field
• 1982-1991: A Changing of the Guard
• 1983 - “Let's Do It!”
• 1985 and 1987 - A Tie and a Sigh
• 1989 - Kissing Your Sister; Clubbing Your Neighbor
• Color Photo Section B
• 1991-2011: The Big East Years
• 1994 - E-I-E-I-O, Tractors and Corncob Pipes
• 1997 - For the Love of Pete
• 2002 - Collins Steals the Show
• 2007 - 13-9: Miracle in the Mountains
• 2009 and 2011 - Down to the Wire
• Epilogue
• Score History
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliography
• About the Author
• Index