In fact, when the organization developed the concept a year before the NHL announced the “Hockey is for Everyone” initiative, he wasn’t even in the room.
#Steelers gay pride hat professional
Usually there are a handful a year that he’s a lot more in to and I know that this night is a big night.”īefore one gets the impression, however, that Pippi is using his position to push a controversial cause into professional sports, please know that hosting “Pride Night” at Blues’ games was not his idea. “It’s something more special to him, and I can really see how he puts his heart and soul into it.
“I know that it’s not just another game,” says Andrew Schumacher, Pippi’s boyfriend of the past one-and-a-half years, who is sitting behind him in the lower bowl. He is the orchestrator of all the team’s theme games, including Opening Night, but this evening elicits extra emotion. Now in his third season as the director of game operations with the Blues after working in a similar capacity with the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders, Pippi has a pep in his step. It’s the second annual “Pride Night” at Scottrade Center and many flag-waving fans in the crowd of 17,821 turn their attention to a message from Blues forward Paul Stastny: “No matter your race, your religion or whether you’re straight, gay, bisexual or transgender, if you can play, you can play.” It was sort of a common denominator for us, and in a lot of ways it actually helped ease the transition - him knowing, ‘I have a gay son, but we can talk about how well the Penguins are doing or make side bets on Penguins-Devils.’ You would always hear him talking to his buddies, saying ‘My boy works in sports,’ and when you heard that pride about his gay son, it was a source of pride for me as well.”Īs Pippi shares his personal story with The Athletic at Tuesday’s game between the Blues and Minnesota Wild, wearing a headset he pauses to give instruction to his staff to play a video on the Jumbotron. “So it really opened a new dialogue for he and I that we had never had before. “I was able to call him and say, ‘Oh hey, did you see that hat trick that (Evgeni) Malkin had,’ or ‘Wow, (Marc-Andre) Fleury really stood on his head last night,’” Pippi said.
In 2010, however, at age 25, Pippi got a job in game operations with the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, and though his duties focused on providing fan entertainment at the arena, his awareness of sports created welcome conversation with his dad. We never had a stressed relationship, but he always spoke in the vernacular of sports, so we didn’t always speak the same language.” “There was never a lack of love or anything like that. “My dad is a manly Italian,” said Jason Pippi, who came out in his early 20s. His son, Jason, had a passing interest in the hometown teams growing up but was more into Broadway and classical music. Joe Pippi owns Missionary Auto, a mechanic shop in Pittsburgh, and has been a lifelong fan of the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins.