The “Pitt Pope” is a title well-known throughout the Pitt community. He who wears the gold-adorned hat holds the power to rock Acrisure Stadium on Pitt football game days by encouraging the rest of the student section into an uproar at each first down, interception and touchdown.

Ian Labatch, a junior accounting and finance major, leads the Panther Pitt — Pitt football’s student section — as this representative figure alongside other student leaders. 

“I’m trying to put a face to the student section as a whole. I wanted to create the ideal Pitt fan,” Labatch said.

As anyone who attended a Pitt football home game this season knows, Labatch commands the student section from the front row alongside fellow student leaders, his energy palpable and effective in engaging the crowd. 

Labatch grew up in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, which is almost 200 miles outside the city of Pittsburgh. The distance did not deter his or his family’s Pittsburgh sports enthusiasm — his father has owned Steelers season tickets since 2007, when Labatch was just 4 years old. He’s made the drive into Pittsburgh for home games at what was then Heinz Field ever since, providing his first exposure to the exciting atmosphere of football fandom. 

By the time Labatch became a Pitt student in the fall of 2022, he had come to expect the hype that accompanies high-caliber sports settings. What he didn’t expect was how quickly he would become an example of all that it means to be a Pitt sports fan. 

“I was pretty involved in my football student section in high school, but I didn’t necessarily know what the Panther Pitt was,” Labatch said. “I ordered overalls before I came here and stuff like that, but I didn’t really imagine [taking] a leadership position within the Panther Pitt.” 

A year later, that’s exactly where he found himself. As a sophomore, he joined the club for Panther Pitt leadership and began leading the student section from the front row of Acrisure Stadium — not yet as the Pitt Pope. It wasn’t until later in the 2023 season that Labatch adopted the moniker from Pitt alumnus Carson Zaremski.

Zaremski, a graduate of the class of 2021, was the first to play the role of the Pitt Pope. He began attending Pitt games dressed in robes during the 2021 season, after he had graduated from Pitt. This season is particularly well remembered among Pitt fans as the year former Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett led the team to an ACC Championship, making Zaremski’s impression on Pitt fans meaningful and lasting. Labatch was one of those fans. 

“In 2023, I was the pope for Halloween, and I had seen that he did that in 2021,” Labatch said. “So I ended up wearing the pope costume to the Boston College game, which was one of Pitt’s three wins from that year. And then, I was contacted by him at the game and kind of got his blessing to keep doing it.” 

From then on, Labatch was recognized as Pitt football’s newest icon. The Panther Pitt’s social media officially marked the transition with a promotional video released on X, formerly known as Twitter, days before last season’s Backyard Brawl, featuring both Zaremski and Labatch. 

The promotion garnered over 700,000 impressions and received attention from big names like Pitt legend Pat Bostick — the quarterback who played in Pitt’s famed 13-9 upset victory in the 2007 Backyard Brawl — according to Labatch. 

Choosing the ideal candidate to carry out such a transition was no casual decision. The perfect successor needed to be energetic, outgoing and most importantly, deeply passionate about the team they sought to rally for.

“He has a lot of sports knowledge. Like, this man is bathed in blue and gold, black and gold. His entire life is Pittsburgh sports,” senior architecture major and Panther Pitt leadership club vice president Abby Burthe said of Labatch’s qualifications to succeed in the role of the Pitt Pope. 

Burthe also noted the pope’s responsibility to keep Pitt fans entertained during a game’s low moments. Labatch excels in this area by embracing the distinctively absurd characteristics of his holy persona.  

“I have a few friends — one goes to LSU, and one goes to North Carolina — and all of us had games on the same day. And as a joke, I thought it would be really funny to ask, like, ‘Hey Ian, can you bless all our games today?’ And all of us won our games that day,” Burthe said. “It’s just the way he plays on with it is, like, it’s really funny, and it gets people engaged.”

Labatch’s position as a representative of Pitt fans has brought him more than just fun moments. He has quickly realized how many eyes are on him, both in and out of the stands. 

“There are professors that have recognized me as the Pitt Pope. There’s usually a group of fans that will come up to Gate C with the students and ask for pictures. I would probably guess I take between 20 and 30 photographs with people on the way up,” Labatch said. “It’s more attention than I originally thought.”

Of course, the nature of Labatch’s prominent, public-facing role comes with its share of challenges. Not all of the attention he’s garnered has been positive, especially considering the rocky finish to Pitt football’s 2024 season. 

“It’s gravitated to something bigger than I could have imagined, where people will tweet at me on social media … things like that, opponents kind of use your image in, like, trash-talking stuff,” Labatch said of the less-positive experiences he’s had this season. 

To avoid letting the negativity get to him, Labatch reminds himself of the reason he decides to take his place behind the goal post for each home game. 

“I remember that it’s an honor to represent the school, and it’s an honor to represent Pitt as a whole. I think there have been a lot of fans that have come up to me that have graduated from Pitt, and they’ve said how much it means to them that they have passionate students,” Labatch said. “I think it’s important to remember that it’s a game, and the relationships I make doing it and what it means to other people are more important than what happens on the field.”

Of the relationships his involvement in Pitt football has sparked, Labatch noted one that developed in one of his classes. When he struck up a friendly conversation with a classmate about his passion for Pitt football and involvement with its student section, Labatch did not at first realize he was talking to one of the team’s recent transfers — senior tight end Jake Overman.

“We had a class together my first semester here at Pitt. He was just always talking about sports in general but also about Pitt athletics. When he found out that I was on the football team, we had an instant connection,” Overman, who arrived from Oregon State University in the spring of 2024, said. “He was able to pick my brain, and I was able to pick his and get his insight on everything. So we started a relationship very organically, just as classmates.” 

This relationship has changed Labatch’s perspective on student-athletes. He feels that students tend to build walls between themselves and athletes due to a perceived hierarchy that places athletes on campus above other students. Labatch rejects this notion, instead highlighting the need to “humanize” student-athletes. 

“You see these guys in the classroom, and you want to say hi to them, but there’s this stigma around, like, ‘Oh, they’re an athlete,’” Labatch said. “At the end of the day, these guys are just college athletes that are trying their hardest. They’re more than just guys on the field.” 

Overman echoed Labatch’s people-first, players-second sentiment.

“The fact that we’re able to know who’s cheering for us, I think it brings a level to it that they’re not just some random students, and we’re not just some random players,” Overman said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, I know the leader. I know the people in the front row. I know the people who are cheering for me.’ I think things just become more genuine.” 

The personal connection that Overman describes, specifically the one he has formed with Labatch, is one that players and fans have a final opportunity to pursue in collegiate athletic environments. 

When players move on to professional leagues, they leave behind the close-quartered campus life that, by nature, encourages players to meet and build relationships with their fans. Labatch recognizes these opportunities as short-lived and encourages students to make the most of them while they can.

“Being able to talk to different people and just realizing that there are only so many football games you’ll have kind of changed how I saw the sport and the pope stuff. When you’re counting down how few football games you have when you’re at Pitt, it definitely starts to make you think, ‘How can I make an impact?’” Labatch said. “Even if it’s not football, your time here at Pitt goes by so quick. I think that’s important for people to realize and to start early to get involved in athletics. Even if you weren’t the most athletic person in high school, you could always get into these roles. There are so many ways to get involved.”