RMU CelebRates 90 YeaRs of Changing lives - Robert Morris ...

was ahead of her time,
really,” Modery says. “Back
then cheering was about
building pyramids and
tumbling. She taught us
some nice routines, and high
kicks. But she wanted us to
wear a leotard without a
skirt, and go-go boots. We
balked… She left after a
couple of games.”
Barbara Pawlesh Kruze ‘65
was a head cheerleader
about to graduate from
McKees Rocks High School
when she learned about the
Steelerettes. She scrambled to
register for Robert Morris
classes earlier than she’d
planned in order to try out
for the team. “I was able to
do the acrobatics: cartwheels,
backflips. We became more
of a dance team, but I truly
enjoyed it all,” she says.
Accompanied on the field
by musicians led by popular
jazz band trumpeter
Benny Benack, the troupe
performed dance routines
to “Hello, Dolly!” and
even “The Stripper,”
the trombone-driven
instrumental tune that had
topped Billboard charts a few
years earlier. The squad
appeared on local TV
programs and passed out
tiger tails at gas stations for
Exxon’s “Put a Tiger in Your
Tank” campaign. They
performed during halftime at
Robert Morris basketball
games and danced the
Charleston for the charitable
Dapper Dan Club’s events.
When Andy Williams
performed at the Civic
Arena, a few select
Steelerettes who were shorter
than the 5’6” crooner were
tapped to shimmy behind
him during his big “Music
To Watch Girls By” number.
“They gave us costumes to
wear,” recalls Kruze. “It
was a thrill.”
The unease of the Steelersowning
Rooney family with
the whole cheerleading
concept spelled an end to the
Steelerettes when the team
moved to Three Rivers
Stadium in 1970. The women
lost touch until a decade ago,
when local TV reporter Sally
Wiggin gathered them
together for a segment filed
on Sept. 7, 2001. The story’s
airing – and the NFL season
– was delayed after the
terrorist attacks four days
later, and what should have
been a celebratory time was
awash in sorrow.
But the dozen or so women
still living in the region have
stayed in touch. “We all just
started talking as if those 40
years had never passed,”
Kruze says. Organized by
former cheerleader and
squad coach Diane Battiste
Zinkham ‘65, they began
getting together several
times a year for lunch, and
making annual weekend
trips to Deep Creek, Md.,
or Roanoke, Va.
They also visit nursing
homes to brighten the spirits
of residents with Steelers
trivia quizzes and cheers.
Their pleated skirts and
leotards have been replaced
with jeans and black-andgold
sweatshirts, but the
Steelerettes still shake a
mean pom-pom. As recently
as 2007, Zinkham was still
dropping splits for
photographers. She died of
cancer three years ago, at the
age of 62. The Steelerettes
placed a plaque in
Zinkham’s honor at the
Sen. John Heinz History
Center in the Strip District.
A commemorative bench at
Joe Walton Stadium salutes
the Steelerettes, and four of
them – Miller, Modery,
Kruze, and Lynn Gran
Moran ‘67 – are active in
RMU’s alumni association
council. “The Steelers kind of
forgot about us, but Robert
Morris has always been so
welcoming,” Kruze says.
“We’re trying to give back
to them.”
They call themselves the
Rah-Rah Sisterhood, riffing
on the title of a novel and
film about the friendships of
childhood companions over
time. “We had a good time,”
Kruze says. “And we’re still
having a good time.”
WRITTEN BY BONNIE PFISTER
PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY
DIANNE FEAZELL ROSSINI ‘64
R O B E R T M O R R I S U N I V E R S I T Y F O U N D AT I O N S • 1 5