ernie bonelli is a
survivor of the
steelers’ and
cardinals’ war years
double play
44 mtl • july/august 2009
They lived in Mt. Lebanon for 55 years and their five children
graduated from Mt. Lebanon High. Richard and Frank are
engineers. Nancy is a high school teacher in Louisville, Kentucky.

Mary is an insurance adjuster for the state of Ohio. Jean works
at UPMC’s Children’s Hospital. There are seven grandchildren.

Former Pirates’ broadcaster Nellie King, who also lives at
Friendship Village, enjoys swapping Pittsburgh sports stories with
Bonelli. Bonelli is better known for football, but King says, “He
says his first love was baseball. So we get along great.”
Bonelli batted fourth for the Pitt baseball team when the
sport was revived there in 1939 after a 15-year hiatus. He
batted .345 and sparked some interest from a few major
league baseball teams before he joined the military
in World War II.

Bonelli’s early love of baseball translated into a
long and successful volunteer coaching career
in Mt. Lebanon. From the mid-'50s to
the mid-'60s he coached Colt League,
American Legion and Greater Pittsburgh
Baseball League ball. “I enjoyed the kids,
and I hope I taught them something that
stayed with them,” he recalls.

Hal Morgans, a business consultant in Mt.

Lebanon, played baseball for Bonelli in the '60s. He
views Bonelli as a mentor. “He was absolutely phenome-
nal—he was like a father figure for us,” Morgans says. Mrs.

Bonelli came to every game, and that was unusual. She got
to know all the parents and the kids. So it was a real family
affair. Ernie was a fiery and positive guy; I got my passion for
sports from him.”
Morgans had an offer for a baseball scholarship from Bobby
Lewis at Pitt but chose to attend North Carolina State on a foot-
photos courtesy Ernie Bonelli
N obody addresses Ernie Bonelli by his boyhood
nickname anymore. When he was a pile-driv-
ing fullback for Aspinwall High School, the
University of Pittsburgh, the Chicago Cardinals
and the Pittsburgh Steelers, he was known as
“Bull” Bonelli.

He wore a leather helmet in those days and he was known
for bulling his way through the line. He was 6-1, just over 190
pounds, with a noble Roman nose he managed to keep intact
even though they didn’t wear protective face masks.

He’s still a tough customer and competitor, but as he
approaches his 90th birthday on July 27, he’s a little
more cautious in his movement. He’s had his share
of health challenges, but he’s still moving forward
at a good pace. Bonelli plays nine holes of golf
two or three times a week, and he bypasses eleva-
tors in favor of walking up and down the stairs
at the senior residence he calls home these
days. “Gotta keep movin’,” he says.

Bonelli’s face is not as full as it once was, but he’s
still tanned and there’s always an ear-to-ear grin on
his face. He cocks his head sideways when he tells
you a story, like it’s a secret, or he’s never told it to
anyone before.

He and Ruth, his wife of 62 years and a former
classmate at Pitt, are a popular pair at Friendship
Village, where they have lived for three years. They
lived most of their married life on Roycroft Avenue in
Mt. Lebanon, where they raised five children. Ruth is
an attractive, vivacious woman who was once active in
local tennis circles. She was born in Turkey, while her
husband traces his roots to Russellton, Pa.

Jim O'Brien
photos courtesy Ernie Bonelli
by jim o'brien