Steelers’ Babe From Penn Hills passes away

The Babe From Penn Hills, a regular on the sports call-in show of former Pittsburgh Steelers Tunch Ilkin and Craig Wolfley, passed away at 90.

She was born in Fairmont. Her name is Blanche “Babe” Nora Ann Kiesel.

Babe From Penn Hills
Fairmont's Blanche Kiesel

Listeners to the “Tunch and Wolf” Steelers call-in show heard her opinions for more than a decade.

Ms. Kiesel became so well known by the show’s hosts that they twice invited her to sit with them while they were doing remote broadcasts, including one at the Church Brew Works in Lawrenceville.

Ms. Kiesel accumulated her knowledge of sports raising six sons to go along with three daughters. She was passionate about the Steelers, finding kinship with the team through former defensive end Brett Keisel, whose last name is similar to hers and whose jersey she worn on game days.

Ms. Kiesel never missed a game and attended many of the team’s Super Bowl appearances.

Born on Feb. 23, 1925, in Fairmont,  Ms. Kiesel spent part of her childhood in Fairmont before moving to Shadyside, where she graduated from Sacred Heart High School in 1942 when she was just 16 years old.

Ms. Kiesel spent more than 25 years working as a telephone operator at Bell Telephone and AT&T before retiring in 1990.

She was a past president of the Central Catholic Mothers’ Guild. The Kiesels were one of the founding families of the St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Penn Hills.

While juggling her career, Ms. Kiesel found time to raise nine children. She was a single mom for many of those years.

Ms. Kiesel visited Ireland twice while she was in her 80s. She loved to gamble and made frequent trips to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

To read the entire article, click on http://www.post-gazette.com/news/obituaries/2015/04/19/Obituary-Blanche-Kiesel-Steelers-talk-show-caller-known-as-Babe-from-Penn-Hills.html