Help support scholarship fund to honor Nellie King
There may not be a bronze statue of late Pirates pitcher and broadcaster Nellie King outside PNC Park, but his family and friends are creating a memorial of their own.
Nellie King pitched for the Pirates from 1954 to 1957 and for years was on the broadcast team with Pirates legend Bob Prince.
King's daughters, Laurie and Amy King and Leslie Ann Bowden, are setting up a scholarship fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation in his memory to help needy athletic scholars and students interested in sports journalism.
"We wanted to have a way to keep my dad's memory alive and to extend his work, his spirit and his values beyond his temporal life," said Laurie King, 52, of Washington, D.C.
As previously mentioned, Nellie King, who died in August, pitched for the Pirates from 1954 to 1957 and was on the broadcast team with Pirates legend Bob Prince until both were unceremoniously fired in 1975. King later worked for 20 years for Duquesne University as a broadcaster, sports information director and coach of the men's golf team.
"Growing up, I didn't realize how lucky I was to have a dad who was so nice," Laurie King said. "If there was a Hall of Fame for good guys, my dad would be a charter member."
Amy King, 47, of Mt. Lebanon said she and her father were so close that they could finish each other's sentences.
"Absolute grace -- that's what I think of when I think of my father," she said. "He was always there for me."
Nellie King grew up in Shenandoah during the Great Depression. His father, a coal miner, died when King was 6, and two years later he was shuttled off to Milton Hershey School. After graduating from the orphanage's high school, he began a series of tryouts until he landed a job with the Pirates.
His daughters said the scholarship fund will serve King's twin interests of sports and journalism. There may also be a link to the Hershey School and Duquesne University.
Michael Murray, King's nephew and former president of the Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania, said King served on the chapter's board and helped raise money for it.
"He was always looking (out) for the underdog," said Murray.
The Pittsburgh Foundation currently has 223 scholarship funds. So far this year, it has awarded more than 500 scholarships worth almost $1.7 million.
Family and friends have raised $6,000 to date, but they need $19,000 more to start granting scholarships. Laurie King hopes the family will award the first scholarship in the fall of 2011.
"We think there's enough people who truly like and love this guy that they'll support his philosophy via a program such as this that will help children who are in need get an education," Murray said.
How to help
To contribute online to a scholarship fund set up in memory of former Pirates broadcaster Nellie King, visit pittsburghfoundation.org . Designate gifts to "The Nellie King Fund."
To contribute by check, make checks payable to The Pittsburgh Foundation and send them to The Pittsburgh Foundation, 5 PPG Place, Suite 250, Pittsburgh, PA 15222-5414, ATTN: The Nellie King Fund. Be sure to indicate that the gift is for "The Nellie King Fund" on the check.
