Quote of the Day (Mike Ditka, on God, Human Anatomy, and Sports)

“If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn't have given us arms.”—National Football League Hall of Fame player, coach, commercial pitchman, and Chicago hero Mike Ditka (1939-2026), quoted by Jason Gay, “Mike Ditka: Da Farewell to Da Coach,” The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 10-11, 2026

(The image accompanying this post, of Ditka catching a pass as an end for the University of Pittsburgh football team in 1960, was originally printed in The Owl, the 1961 student yearbook of the University of Pittsburgh.)

Photo of the Day: Yugoslav Room, Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh PA

Previously, I posted about the Irish, Turkish, and African Heritage rooms in the Cathedral of Learning, on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. But I also felt the need to take this picture of another “Nationality Room” there, the Yugoslav Room, when I visited in October 2019.

This was hardly the best-lit of the rooms I saw that day, but it is a miniature jewel because of its combination of wood carving, weaving and lace making. I am sure that the Yugoslav immigrant community in Pittsburgh took special pride when the room was dedicated in March 1939.

Start with the chairs, which were carved by students at the International Art School in Zagreb. The director of that school, Vojta Branis, journeyed over to the U.S. twice during the room’s construction to supervise the work.

But take a look at the woodwork on the walls (paneled in Slavonian oak) and ceilings. Believe it or not, that was done back in what was then Yugoslavia, all with small pocket knives.

The two portraits above the blackboard depict Vuk Karadzic and Bishop Josip Strossmayer, who compiled the Serbian dictionary.

Photo of the Day: African Heritage Room, Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh PA

Previously, I posted about the Irish and Turkish Heritage rooms in the Cathedral of Learning, on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. But the African Heritage Room, which I photographed during my same vacation in Pittsburgh last October, is equally striking.

This classroom, created by architect William J.Bates, was dedicated in 1989. It represents the central courtyard of an Asante temple from the late 1700s. Note especially the oxblood steps, two levels of student benches, and wainscot with relief decorations, as well as six chieftain stools that provide informal seating near a hand-carved professor's lectern.

Photo of the Day: Turkish Nationality Room, Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh

In a prior post, I discussed one of the wonderful sights of Pittsburgh: the Cathedral of Learning, on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. 

The first and third floors of this National Historic Landmark are given over to Nationality Rooms that depict for students (and, secondarily, tourists) the culture of ethnic groups that settled in Allegheny County. My favorite among these rooms may well be the Turkish Room, dedicated in 2012. 

The walls and ceiling include Kundekara and Citarkari woodwork. The image here, which I took when I visited the site last October, is a portrait of two men by Mehmet Siyah Kalem, a 14^th-century painter who pioneered in the use of perspective.

Photo of the Day: The Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh PA

Rising out of the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, the 535-foot-tall Cathedral of Learning is not just a skyscraper but a wonderful mosaic of multi-cultural America at its best—and, I would have to imagine, a delightful academic environment. 

I first visited this site nearly 30 years ago. When I revisited this past October, I was glad to have the opportunity to refresh my memory of this 42-story structure—the second-tallest educational facility in the world after the University of Moscow’s main building. 

Several classrooms, occupied by students, were not open to the public on the day I walked the halls. But enough were to remind me of the rich global history so evident here: 26 “Nationality Classrooms,” including several ethnic groups represented in the polyglot metropolis of Pittsburgh, such as the Polish, Greek, Irish, Italian, African, Turkish, and Japanese rooms.

The building derived from the vision of University of Pittsburgh John G. Bowman, who conceived of a “high building, a tower—a tower singing upward that would tell the epic story of Pittsburgh.”

The final look of the building, created by Philadelphia architect Charles Zeller Klauder, more than fulfilled Bowman’s notion. The skyscraper was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975. It borrows design elements from the Gothic style of medieval European cathedrals, inspiring reverence in the service of a secular environment that undoubtedly creates devotion in the memories of those who pass through its halls.

Commissioned in 1921, the building came to fruition as the result of a remarkable $10 million public fundraising campaign in which the institution’s label served as an indispensable hook. Approximately 97,000 schoolchildren contributed a dime each certificate testifying that they were “Builders of the Cathedral of Learning.” The first class was held in the building 10 years later, with the formal dedication coming six years later.

At the time, objections were raised among some faculty members and the city of Pittsburgh as a whole that the height of the building did not fit it with its surroundings. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to view it now without a sense of wonder.

Any one of the classrooms here is worthy of a comment and its own separate page, and at some point over the next few months I will try to do so. But I wanted to lay down the markers here now.

Photo of the Day: Heinz Memorial Chapel, Pittsburgh, PA

I visited Heinz Memorial Chapel, the non-sectarian religious facility of the University of Pittsburgh, while in town this past week. Like the buildings next to it—the Cathedral of Learning and the Stephen Foster Memorial—it was designed by Philadelphia architect Charles Klauder. 

Each of the three is distinct, but Heinz possesses an interior and exterior beauty all its own. In an American city of 20^th-century bustling industrial smoke and noise, it harked back to a 700-year-old Western European tradition of purity and silence: the neo-Gothic style of architecture. I think you’ll understand perfectly why I photographed the site.

The building is the result of a bequest by the Pittsburgh industrialist Henry J. Heinz to honor his mother, Anna Margaretta Heinz. Ground was broken in August 1933 with the dedication ceremonies occurring five years later. 

Open daily throughout the year except for university holidays, the chapel hosts approximately 1,000 events annually-- religious services, weddings, concerts, lectures, memorial services and guided tours.

The building inspires a sense of quiet awe of the creative humans who brought it to fruition in the darkest days of the Great Depression and of the supreme being who inspired their efforts and continues to infuse those who behold this space.

Did I say “quiet”? Well, maybe only some of the time in the chapel. Aside from services, you might hear the sounds coming through the pipe organ—the third instrument of this kind in the history of the chapel.

But cast your eyes around at the Indiana limestone walls, stone vaults, high ceilings, and arches—not to mention stained glass pieces, each with their own story—and you can easily imagine yourself far, far away.