Oakland doctor enthusiastic Steelers fan
Dr. James Hanchett, a respected internist who specialized in nephrology, died Monday at Allegheny General Hospital on Pittsburgh's North Side after suffering a massive heart attack during the Steelers-Titans game Sunday at Heinz Field.
Dr. Hanchett -- along with his wife, Dr. Jeanne Hanchett, a pediatrician, and their five children -- was a loyal Steelers fan who had followed the fortunes of the team since the family arrived in Pittsburgh in 1971.
"Dad and I watched every Steeler game as I was growing up," said his daughter, Paige Morse. "That was in the days when you had to wait four years to purchase season tickets.
"Terry Bradshaw was our hero. And even after I left Pittsburgh, I would fly a Steeler flag from my car."
Steelermania was so prevalent in the Hanchett household that in January Jeanne Hanchett raffled off 38 of the 50 tickets she had purchased for the Steelers playoff game with the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. More than 1,000 fans showed up at Vento's Pizza in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood, where the raffle was held.
"I was living in Houston at the time," Morse said. "I called Mom and told her to save me four tickets, because I was bringing my family with me."
Dr. Hanchett, 68, of the city's Oakland section, spent more than 13 years with the VA Hospital in Oakland and another 18 years with several hospitals, including Shadyside and the Children's Institute in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.
"My father was a caring doctor," Morse said. "I was told over and over again about his compassionate bedside manner. He was often called in late in an illness that was advanced because of his expertise and his ability to handle the family."
Born and raised in Elgin, Ill., Dr. Hanchett was one of eight children in the family of Walter and Carolyn Hanchett. Before the Depression, his father ran an antique store in Elgin and later worked at Wheaton College in Illinois.
In 1953, after graduation from Wheaton Academy, where he ran track and field, Dr. Hanchett attended Wheaton College, where he met Jeanne Pain. They were married in 1957 and enrolled at Cornell University Medical School in Ithaca, N.Y., where they received their medical degrees.
In 1965, Dr. Hanchett, while a fellow at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, entered the Air Force and was sent to Tachikawa Air Force Base Hospital in Japan, where he treated the wounded as they were being brought back from the combat zones of Vietnam.
But it was Pittsburgh where the Hanchetts finally made their home.
"We never knew what the conversation would be" at the dinner table, Morse said. "Sure, we often talked about the Steelers, but there was also ample intellectual stimulation when our parents discussed medicine and the advances in the field of medicine."
Dr. Hanchett is survived by his wife, Dr. Jeanne Pain Hanchett; three daughters, Leigh Hergatt, of Gilbert, Ariz.; Paige Morse, of Swarthmore, Delaware County, and Karen Serbin, of Pittsburgh's Swissvale section; two sons, Jeffrey Hanchett, of Swissvale, and Scott Hanchett, of Oakland; and 11 grandchildren.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the family residence.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Third Presbyterian Church, Fifth and Negley avenues, in the city's Shadyside neighborhood, where Dr. Hanchett had served as an elder.
Arrangements by the Thomas L. Nied Funeral Home, Swissvale.
