“Behind the Yoi: The Life of Myron Cope,
Legendary Pittsburgh Steelers Broadcaster”

Dan Joseph with Elizabeth Cope
University of Nebraska Press, $34.95

Near the end of his wonderfully readable biography, “Behind the Yoi: The Life of Myron Cope, Legendary Pittsburgh Steelers Broadcaster,” author Dan Joseph serves up an appendix listing all of the magazine stories Cope published as a freelancer from the 1950s through the 1970s.

This isn’t so much an afterthought as it is a clarification. For all of his renown as a radio and television personality, for every “yoi” and “double yoi” that burst forth during Steelers games, for every Terrible Towel proudly held aloft, what Cope admitted he really wanted to be remembered for was being “a pretty decent writer.”

Joseph ably makes the case for Cope as one the great sportswriters of the 20th century. In 1963, Cope won the prestigious E.P. Dutton Prize for “Best Magazine Sportswriting in the Nation” for his article on Muhammad Ali. In 2004, Sports Illustrated selected his profile of Howard Cosell as one of the magazine’s 50 all-time great articles. Cope published four books in his lifetime.

All the familiar stuff is here, too — the creation of the Terrible Towel, Cope’s crackerjack radio shows, his beloved Kennywood commercial with Steelers great Jack Lambert. But it’s his work as a journalist that truly shines in these pages.

“Behind the Yoi: The Life of Myron Cope, Legendary Pittsburgh Steelers Broadcaster” is co-authored with Elizabeth Cope, who brings a wealth of personal insight into her father.

“Sonny Clark: Fragile Virtuoso”

Derek Ansell
Next Chapter, $23.99

The famed jazz pianist Sonny Clark, subject of “Sonny Clark: Fragile Virtuoso” by the late British writer Derek Ansell, moved with his family to Pittsburgh at age 12. Only three years later, he appeared at the Syria Mosque as part of “Night of the Stars” celebrating Pittsburgh’s place in jazz history.

In 1933, Conrad Yeatis “Sonny” Clark was born in Herminie, Pennsylvania, specifically the small coal patch known as Herminie No. 2, just outside the larger town in Westmoreland County. He died of a heroin overdose in New York City in January 1963 and is buried in O’Hara’s Greenwood Cemetery.

Clark’s bluesy conception of the piano was in great demand during his too-brief professional career. He recorded with jazz greats Grant Green, Serge Chaloff, Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan and Sonny Rollins, among others.

Ansell is at his best documenting Clark’s recording sessions, offering up vivid scenes of musical creation. He’s on less solid footing when he imagines Clark’s day-to-day activities away from the studio and bandstand.