Pitt honors eight Legacy Laureates

As Pitt alumnus Gary Amelio walked from his car to the elevators, emotions overcame him. He… As Pitt alumnus Gary Amelio walked from his car to the elevators, emotions overcame him. He was back at the place he had called home 30 years ago.

Amelio, along with seven other Pitt alumni, returned as one of the 2007 Pitt Legacy Laureates. The office of the chancellor and Career Services’ Emerging Leaders program led a panel where each of the laureates had the opportunity to speak about leadership yesterday.

The Legacy Laureate program recognizes Pitt alumni who have excelled both professionally and personally and who exemplify leadership qualities and commitment to the greater good of their professions, communities and the world at large, according to a panel pamphlet.

“Some individuals are born leaders and some develop as they grow with the help of others,” Patricia Horoho, 1992 Pitt alumna, said. “They look at other leaders and decide whether they want to emulate those traits or not.”

Alumni including Amelio, Horoho, Douglas Browning, Audrey Holland, Bert O’Malley, John Pelusi Jr., H. Raymond Primas Jr. and Thomas Priselac made up the panel. Along with offering leadership advice, the panel also discussed their personal memories from Pitt.

“A lot of my experiences came from athletics,” 1979 graduate Pelusi said. “One thing I always remember is my coach saying, that has stayed with me, was ‘it is a short walk from the penthouse to the doghouse.'”

Holland, a 1961 graduate and the first in her family to go to college, described her memories in little vignettes of moments from her social life and brilliant professors. One of the more notable experiences came from her freshman year when she decided to live in an apartment instead of campus housing – a practice that was prohibited.

“I found a room in an apartment with a girl from Somerset and I lived there for about a month,” Holland said. “Word got out that I wasn’t living in housing and some student, to get out of trouble, used the excuse that they stayed with me.”

Eventually, the dean of women heard of the situation and Holland moved onto campus housing immediately, but not without social perks. “I was the notorious freshman,” she said. “It ended up being a good situation because everyone knew me afterward.”

Primas, who received his Masters degree in 1969, recalled memories from his graduate experience. “When I came back to study public health, a professor asked me to teach one of his classes,” he said. “It gave the other students a more practical aspect to the theories.”

For Pelusi though, Pitt provided him with a life-changing emotional experience he still lives by today. “One of the things I did was I went to the Children’s Hospital,” he said. “I saw so many more kids with issues, and every time I went back I saw they had left, assuming they got better. But what I learned was that more have bigger problems than me.”

As a result, whenever asked how he is, Pelusi ardently responds with “absolutely phenomenal.”

“If I don’t have anyone in the hospital or a grave, I have nothing to be upset about,” he said.

Some of the most prominent changes on campus were in its physical appearance and student body. “I feel old walking around campus,” 1976 alumni Browning said. “It’s great to see people so enthusiastic. I went to the Cathedral and reminisced of the time spent here and [thought] how there is a lot more diversity among the students now.”

Amelio remembers graduating the year Posvar Hall was completed.

“When I came I had to ask a couple of students where Posvar was because the name was changed,” he said. “It’s a very humbling experience to see all the students with bright eyes.”

Above all, Pitt helped the alumni find themselves as well as the path that led them to greatness.

“Nowadays things are a lot more lock step,” Holland said, after admitting to accidentally falling into psychology as a major. “Back then, I got to plan my own curriculum, and I had the freedom to study what I wanted to do.”

Amelio’s time at Pitt helped him find his way after studying in Greensburg for two years before transferring to main campus. “I didn’t think I was going to graduate let alone go to the law school here,” he said. “It helped tremendously to launch my career.”

As the panel came to a close, the eight Legacy Laureates reminisced about one of the major lessons learned during their respective years studying at Pitt.

“As time goes on, the fond memories become fonder and the controversial memories just disappear,” Amelio said.