Last week, Pittsburgh lost two icons in 24 hours. Former voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins Mike Lange died on February 19 at the age of 76. A day later, I read of the passing of former KDKA weatherman Jon Burnett.
Mike Lange served as the Penguins’ play-by-play announcer in 1974 and again from 1976 to 2021. He was with the team during their lean years when their future was uncertain before drafting superstar Mario Lemieux in 1984. He was known for his catchphrases everytime that the Penguins scored. “He shoots and scores” was the most popular, as well as “Buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too”. Another one was “Scratch my back with a hacksaw!”. When the game ended, it was “Elvis has just left the building”. When news broke of Lange’s death, that marked the final time that it happened.
Last year viewers learned that Jon Burnett, who retired in 2019 from KDKA, had been diagnosed with suspected CTE likely from head trauma from many years of playing football. Before joining the KDKA Weather department in the early 1990’s, Burnett was a co-host on Evening Magazine upon his hiring at KDKA in 1982. In 1985, he also hosted Pittsburgh 2Day with Patrice King Brown.
Both shows ended in 1990 and he made the switch to the weather department soon after. Later, he was a host on Pittsburgh Today Live (not to be confused with the former show).
Credit for this part of the blog goes to pbrtv.com, who posted this news on February 20. I found out through Ray Petelin’s Facebook page that same day.
On Wednesday, I also read about the passing of former child star Michelle Trachtenburg. Her film credits include Harriet the Spy and Eurotrip. Her TV credits include the hit Nickelodeon show the Adventures of Pete and Pete (where she made her acting debut in the mid 1990’s). She also starred in the UPN/WB show Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Buffy’s younger sister, Dawn Summers, and on Gossip Girl as recurring character Georgina Sparks.
Her cause of death remains undetermined.
Speaking of memoriams, The Washington Mall will be demolished this Sprjng after it was abandoned over ten years ago. It opened in the late 1960s only to later fall into disrepair and be practically abandoned as store after store moved out.
The only two remaining tenants are Grand China Buffet and Harbor Freight, although information was not released on what would happen to those two businesses once the mall is razed.
JCPenney closed in May 2014 after it was announced of a plan to close over 30 stores. Toys R Us closed in April 2018 in wake of the company’s bankruptcy. Staples closed in February 2024 due to the owners not willing to bring the building up to code.
Fun fact about the former Washington Mall JCPenney: it closed in February 2007[6] and relocated to the defunct Foundry shopping center less than a mile away in March 2007; however, due to ground settling problems at the aforementioned retail complex and financial difficulties with the property owner, JCPenney moved back to the Washington Mall in mid-September 2008.
I counted this JCPenney early in my WIS career before the store closed in 2014.
Credit for the news of the Washington Mall demolition goes to Wikipedia and the Weirton Daily Times.
Stylish 🍒 