The Evolution of Mario Lemieux
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T § Lemieux is prepared, having placed two small in South Florida). Plus, he can bottles of water on an end table that sits between a drive each morning to that spar- small sofa and a deck chair. The veranda’s red brick kling arena downtown and be facade provides shade on a serene morning. He does reminded of a future as secure as not have to do any of this. He does not like to talk one of his trademark breakaways. about himself, so why is he? Maybe it’s just time. That building at the intersection He is not a nostalgic guy, though. Up in the attic, a of Fifth Avenue and Washing- box of mementos from his early days in Pittsburgh ton Street is a monument to his gathers dust. It was given to him by a family friend loyalty to Pittsburgh and a bond after his battle with Hodgkin’s disease, and it con- forged slowly and quietly over tains some of the mail he received during those try- three decades. On this morning, ing days. He has never opened it. he will give rare insight into how “I don’t sit here and just think about what I did in a French Canadian teenager with the past,” he says. a 10th-grade education, a small He is constantly evolving, has been since he rode grasp of the English language and in a black sedan with his father and agent through no knowledge of this city became the Fort Pitt Tunnel and first laid eyes on the a pillar of the community and, impressive skyline of a then-distressed city with a along the way, a Pittsburgher. laughable hockey franchise. Put into that context, his sleep- With this fall marking his and Pittsburgh’s 30th less nights having begun here anniversary together, Lemieux knows there are shouldn’t come as a surprise. questions, and he has agreed to answer them. He “With Mario, there were very THE SECTION: Mario will be honest but understated, open yet wary of few years where I’d say every- Lemieux begins his going too far, many of his responses ending short of thing went exactly as he planned,” says Steve Reich, for Pierrette to invite over dozens of friends and fourth decade in revelation and often with a quick smile, as if to say, who helped his uncle, Tom Reich, as Lemieux’s family, spilling into the front and back yards. Mol- Pittsburgh this NHL “Trust me, that’s really all I’ve got.” English is his agent during his prime. son bottle caps popped, music played and laughter season. Perhaps no go-to language now, the French left for talks with “He has always had an iron will.” bounced off the old brick. Pierrette liked to be the athlete has meant his wife Nathalie or close friend Pierre LaRouche A generation of young Pittsburgh hockey fans center of attention. Mario was more like his father, more and given more in the owner’s suite at Consol Energy Center. has grown up watching Sidney Crosby, only hear- Jean-Guy, who barely said a word but enjoyed the to the city that he This is as relaxed as any outsider will see him, ing about the legend of Mario Lemieux. They can good company. has come to call in a white golf shirt, navy blue shorts and crocs, his lace up their skates and play the game they love They encouraged Mario’s and his brothers’ home. In a series of left leg tucked under his right as he leans his neatly at the 40 rinks that have popped up throughout hockey obsession, but they did not raise him to rare interviews groomed visage into his left hand. At 6-foot-4, he the region (there were six or so when Lemieux want to be different from anybody else because of spanning four is as strapping as he was as a young centerman, if arrived), but they might know little of the man who his talent. Of course, that didn’t stop Pierrette from months, Lemieux, not more; the massive hands he inherited from his patiently watered the foundation and turned it into telling Mario’s first agent, Bob Perno, who signed his contemporaries father, a painter, no longer stick out, fitting his regal ice with his heroics. him as a client when he was 14 years old, how she and members of his stature. The features of his made-for-caricature Where to start? He led the Penguins to two Stan- felt about her youngest. inner circle spoke face are more pronounced with age, and the one- ley Cups, playing many nights at half-strength or “You know, Mario is special,” Perno remembers to that life that has time famous mullet of hockey hair is now cropped worse because of chronic back pain. He beat cancer her saying while they sat at the kitchen table early been so public yet short, showing a few hints of gray. Lemieux wears and won the NHL scoring title in the same sea- on. “There’s something about him. Good things 49 as gracefully as he skated at 19, 29 and 39. also private — a son. With no business background and the help of happen to Mario, all the time. He’s very special.” The years have flown by, he says, and the last his tight circle of savvy Pittsburgh friends, he put Pierrette somehow knew that life wasn’t going to story today told in two decades have been here, attempting to blend in together a group to buy the Penguins out of bank- stay simple for her boy. At 12, Mario was so domi- eight chapters. among Pittsburgh’s most affluent citizens in this ruptcy. Nearly a decade later, when city and state nant that top NHL executives were hearing his leafy western suburb. This is a man who approved politicians weren’t listening, he played hardball name. Perno heard about Mario from Scotty Bow- every nut and bolt of the first home he built, in and got an arena deal done that would keep the man, then the coach of the Montreal Canadiens. Mt. Lebanon, made sure it was constructed to his team here for good and make his initial investment To sign Mario, Perno promised the family that his specifications, and left it five years later because he in the franchise pay off 10 times over. His gift for all first contract in the NHL would be for a total of at wanted more privacy. He found it in Sewickley, but of that? Crosby, and another Stanley Cup. least $1 million — an unheard of amount for a draft TOP RIGHT: Mario he still couldn’t escape his own mind. “He’s had a doctorate degree in life,” says Tom pick in those days. Lemieux can be Golf with his buddies is a cherished release, but Mathews, who, along with his wife, Nancy, took “His parents looked at me like I had five heads,” found not on the mostly, the brain never stops, to the point that, since Lemieux into their home during his first year in Perno says. ice these days, but starting his career in Pittsburgh, he has struggled Pittsburgh. “He’s comfortable with who he is.” At that age, Mario did not say much, but he wasn’t above it in the own- to sleep more than a few hours at a time. What does Comfortable is a word that Lemieux uses often bashful about what he had in store for hockey. He ers’ box at Consol Lemieux think about? He insists it isn’t anything when discussing his personal life and his relation- had always worn the number ‘27’ because that’s Energy Center, that deep; he has always been consumed by the ship with Pittsburgh. He has never been comfort- what Alain wore, but when deciding what num- where he watches ever-present tomorrow. able being fawned over by strangers, unless they ber he should wear after he was drafted by the the 2014-15 home “I can’t figure it out,” he says. “When I played, are children (for them, he knows how to pose just Laval Voisins of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey opener. at times I would pop an Ambien here or there. It’s right). He has never been comfortable speaking League, he first suggested Wayne Gretzky’s ‘99’ to been more and more the last few years, too, just in public, but in becoming a VIP, he’s had to step Perno. Fixing Mario’s target straight at hockey’s BELOW: Lemieux thinking about a lot of stuff.” into the spotlight more frequently. The constant all “Great One” was too bold, Perno knew, so he sug- wasn’t born a Like what? The answer is a study in Lemieux. along, what has made this unlikely power couple gested a more subtle route: How about ‘66,’ turning Pittsburgher, but in “Just stuff that needs to be done,” he says. “You of Lemieux and Pittsburgh work, is that the city Gretzky’s number upside down? 30 years he has know, a couple houses here and there, paying the and its people have given him just enough space in “I want you to become as good if not better than become one. bills, just normal stuff that people go through.” which to grow. He has never wanted or needed an Wayne,” Perno remembers saying. “I think you’ve He laughs, a entourage, and that’s OK here. got the potential to do that. Every time you look at bit embarrassed.