Washington lost a ‘character’ in DiFabio
If you’re a sports fan of a considerable age living in Western Pennsylvania, then you might have heard of Bill DiFabio. If you haven’t, that’s alright because you likely heard his work.
DiFabio was president of Sportscall, which at one time was the largest independent radio network in the nation, serving 60 stations in five states covering the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates and Penguins and news of the NFL and major leagues. All those sound bites you heard on your local radio station of athletes during the glory days of Pittsburgh sports likely were provided by DiFabio or one of his assistants asking the questions, holding the microphone and relaying the audio clip to the station.
During his radio career, DiFabio interviewed almost every significant Steelers, Pirates and Penguins player, Super Bowl MVPs, Super Bowl-winning coaches, Heisman Trophy winners and national championship coaches.
DiFabio died Monday morning following a lengthy battle with multiple ailments, including diabetes and heart disease. He was 74.
DiFabio is survived by his wife, Mariann, and sons Brian, Anthony and Danny.
There are many ways to describe DiFabio, who was born and raised in Washington. Some of those descriptions could be that he was funny, driven, loyal, loud, opinionated, friendly, a music lover, a sports memorabilia collector, a go-getter, a public address announcer, a radio man and above all a family man. Each of them are true.
Perhaps it was George Von Benko, a broadcaster from Uniontown, who described DiFabio best.
“Billy was a character,” said Von Benko, who worked alongside DiFabio for 50 years at many Pittsburgh sporting events, including Super Bowls and playoff games.
“The thing about Billy is he worked his butt off in the business. He built that network out of nothing and it became one of the primary news outlets for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
DiFabio graduated from Trinity High School and often would talk at length about the Hillers’ best wrestlers and teams. He attended college in Boston, and worked as an intern on the overnight sports desk at the Boston Globe. He also interned with the Boston Red Sox and the New England Whalers hockey team of the now-defunct World Hockey Association.
It was with the Whalers that DiFabio made a connection with the team’s owner that paid off for Washington sports fans more than a decade later. The Whalers were owned by Howard Baldwin, who became the Penguins’ owner during their first two Stanley Cup championship seasons.
In the summer after the Penguins won their second Stanley Cup in 1992, DiFabio walked into Baldwin’s office at the Civic Arena with a crazy idea. He asked Baldwin if he could borrow the Stanley Cup and take it to his hometown to raise money for charity.
DiFabio wasn’t about to take no for an answer and Baldwin agreed to give him the Stanley Cup for one day, just like each of the players. DiFabio organized an event held outside the Washington County Courthouse. Penguins fans could come and see the Cup and for a small fee have their picture taken with sports’ most famous trophy. The money raised went to local charities.
It was one of the most unique events ever held in Washington and attracted a crowd of more than a thousand. It could never happen today because the NHL has a person whose job it is to stay with and guard the Cup 365 days a year. DiFabio, by the way, interviewed the Cup protector multiple times.
The biggest story DiFabio ever broke was in May of 1977, when at Three Rivers Stadium, he spotted Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner dressed in a Braves uniform hours before a game against the Pirates.
“That’s when we had a gas shortage,” DiFabio told the O-R in 2022. “John Houlihan, the Pirates equipment manager, let me sleep at the stadium because I couldn’t go back and forth because of the gas crunch.
“So I went out to the field to do some running and I noticed Ted Turner, the owner. So I approached him and jokingly said, ‘Mr. Turner, you playing tonight?’ He said, ‘No, I took over the team.’ He had fired (manager Dave Bristol). So I had a lot of quarters in my pocket and I went to the nearest payphone and I was calling everyone about the big story in Pittsburgh.”
That night was the only Braves game Turner managed. The next day, Major League Baseball declared that team owners could not be the team’s manager.
DiFabio’s passion was radio. He was a producer at WBZ, WEEP, WDSY, KDKA, WTAE and WWSW. He hosted a Pittsburgh sports talk show with Bill Currie and Steve “Froggy” Morris and liked to talk about hiring Mark Madden at the ESPN Radio affiliate.
DiFabio was the public address announcer for the Pittsburgh Steelers for seven years. He also was well-known locally for being the PA announcer for the Washington Wild Things for their first two decades in the Frontier League. He was the person who coined the name “The House of Thrills” for what is now EQT Park. DiFabio also was the PA voice for Wheeling University and wrote a column for the Observer-Reporter for 10 years.
He covered 33 Super Bowls and did security work for the National Football League at one Super Bowl. DiFabio joked that he was at more Super Bowls than any franchise. He also worked security at major concerts in Pittsburgh.
DiFabio hosted a popular radio show in Wheeling that he continued doing even when his health began to fail.
In 2007, DiFabio was inducted in the Washington/Greene Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
“Bill was unique. He will be missed,” Von Benko said. “He was like a brother to me. I am so glad that this past May, when Bill was in hospice care, he was allowed out for a day and some of his old friends in the business – Tab Douglas, Keith James, Guy Junker and myself – met with him at the Union Grill in Washington. The stories that day flowed like fine wine.
“Bill was a fun-loving guy. People often misunderstood him because they felt he was abrasive, but he was really a big teddy bear. Yes, he was a character, and there aren’t enough of those people left in the business.”
And today, unfortunately, there is one fewer character.
Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com