Published: July 26, 2009 12:29 am      

Tekulve, Jackson to speak at AAABA banquet

JOHNSTOWN — The two Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers who won and saved Game 7 of the 1979 World Series against Baltimore will team up again 30 years later at the AAABA Hall of Fame banquet.

Grant Jackson, who won the decisive seventh game in relief, and Kent Tekulve, the side-armed closer who got the save, each will appear at the Aug. 8 event at the Pasquerilla Conference Center.

Tekulve will make his second trip to the banquet. As the featured speaker in 2005, his energetic, entertaining delivery was well received by a packed house.

“They’re both going to be there. They’ve both committed,” said George Arcurio III, president of the Johnstown Oldtimers and a national AAABA officer. “A lot of people requested to have ‘Tek’ back. The Pirates organization helped put us in touch with Grant Jackson. This makes all but three years that we’ve had a Pirate speak at the banquet.”

Tekulve and Jackson were just two of the heroes on the colorful Pirates “We Are Family” club led by “Pops” Willie Stargell, Dave “Cobra” Parker, Bill “Mad Dog” Madlock, John “Candy Man” Candelaria and “Red Hot” Ed Ott, among others.

The Pirates fell behind 3-1 in the best-of-7 series, and manager Chuck Tanner’s team had to win three straight, including the last two games at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium.

Until the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings in Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena in June, the Pirates had been the last road team to win Game 7 of a championship series in any major sport.

Arcurio said the banquet organizers haven’t finalized how the two former Pirates pitchers will share the microphone during the banquet.

Tekulve and Jackson will uphold a long AAABA Hall of Fame tradition. In 12 of the previous 15 banquets, a former Pirates player or Bucs executive served as featured speaker at the banquet.