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Western Pa.’s contributions to sports medicine at center of ‘Sport and the Body’ exhibit
The section on hydration, naturally, includes the Gatorade cooler used to drench Mike Tomlin after the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette / August 5, 2023 / by Allie Miller
Western Pennsylvania occupies an important place in the history of sports medicine and orthopaedic surgery, and a new exhibit puts that fully on display.
“Sport and the Body,” which officially opens Saturday at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the Heinz History Center, presents notable figures and medical advancements with displays on nutrition and hydration as well as artifacts important to sports fans.
The display “celebrates what people are able to do with their bodies,” said Anne Madarasz, director of the Sports Museum and exhibit curator. The impetus for “Sport and the Body,” she noted, was a desire to show museumgoers the importance of sports medicine, orthopaedic surgery, nutrition and hydration for elite athletes.
Visitors to the exhibit, housed on the third floor of the History Center, 1212 Smallman St., are greeted with color: neon pink plexiglass with a photo of three University of Pittsburgh football players. But the brightness only begins there.
Splashes of color are around every corner, as numerous pieces of long plexiglass in a variety of hues are placed throughout, featuring screen-printed athletes performing ballet, discus and shot put, and more. The point of the eye-catching installments is to drive the feel and look of the exhibit, Ms. Madarasz said.
The design choice is new for the Sports Museum, senior exhibit designer Samantha Baine said, adding that she wanted the display to be vibrant, to convey a happy space.
That translated in the nutrition section of “Sport and the Body,” as kids at passing through the display on Friday enjoyed the interactive “Make a Plate” with fake food.
The hydration part of the exhibit offers fun for Steelers fans: It showcases the Gatorade cooler used to drench coach Mike Tomlin after the Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. Nearby is a weight bench used by Steelers in the 1970s.
The athleticism of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is the focus of one of the most captivating parts of the new exhibit, Ms. Madarasz noted, and includes a PBT film and a ballet barre visitors can use.
“The skill of them as athletes matched with their artistry was just amazing to me, and I said, we've got to tell the story in a bigger way, to bring them in,” she said. “They deserve to be treated just as some of the most competitive, highly performing athletes in the city, in the nation, so they deserve that place in the Sports Museum.”
That same room houses dedications to Drs. Albert B. Ferguson Jr. and Freddie H. Fu, both of whom served as team physicians for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
The pioneering Dr. Ferguson, also a onetime team physician for the Pirates, founded the department of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. He’s at the center of a floor display, a large, globe-shaped sticker with Dr. Ferguson’s name in its center, along with the names of many doctors who trained under him.
Among them is Dr. Fu, who helped to develop innovative surgery for treating ACL injuries and “really put sports medicine on the map not just in Pittsburgh, but around the world,” said Ms. Madarasz.
Dr. Fu’s lab coat and arthroscope are among the artifacts on display; the words “godfather of sports medicine” are on a sticker right above.
The final part of the exhibit shows athletes across the ages. There is a graphic of an ancient Greek athlete throwing a discus, as well as an image of record-setting shot-putter Jordan Geist, who graduated from Knoch High School in 2017 in Saxonburg.
Mr. Geist became a “great exemplar” for the story the exhibit was trying to tell, Ms. Madarasz said, because at first, he didn’t have the physique to be a discus thrower or shot-putter.
“It's a story about how athletes have to have that kind of drive and determination to craft their bodies to be able to compete on a high level,” she said. “And he's one of the people that has done that.”
Additionally, there is a Guardian Cap from the 2022 Steelers preseason practice — a soft shell helmet used to reduce physical head impact — worn by receiver Diontae Johnson.
With science advancing on a regular basis, there were major advancements in things such as concussion and brain treatment during the development of the gallery, said Ms. Madarasz.
"Obviously new sports history is being made all the time, but it's the same here,” she said. “So it's great to be able to update it from when [the Sports Museum] opened in 2004 and add some new stories and really make it very current and contemporary."
To ensure the language used throughout the exhibit was understandable to visitors, Ms. Madarasz said, she and others involved with the exhibit worked with doctors at UPMC.
Words to images, Ms. Madarasz is hopeful that visitors will get a lot out of the exhibit.
“I hope they're proud and they recognize the leadership that has come from this region in sports medicine and orthopaedic surgery and things like concussion diagnosis and treatment prevention, and that they recognize the talent that's here, and how this information research has benefited the athletes that are practicing in the region today,” she said.