The growth of a name and legacy
Who knew in 2005 that Sidney Crosby would not only revive a team, but inspire a generation of expectant parents.
Soon after Jodi and Garrett Coleman’s wedding in July 2012, the couple made a deal. Jodi wanted kids right away. Garrett thought they should wait, at least just a little bit.
“If we have a baby,” Jodi remembers saying. “I’ll let you name him.”
It didn’t take long for Garrett to come up with a name: Porter. Yes, as in Joey Porter, the brash and boisterous outside linebacker who starred for the Steelers from 1999 to 2006.
When he was growing up in Utah, Garrett showed his Pittsburgh pride with a Steelers, Penguins or Pirates hoodie almost every day of high school. His first car was a black and gold Jeep covered in stickers and a license plate that read “Steelers Mobile.” Each of his sacks on the high school football field was punctuated with a Joey Porter leg kick.
“Our family understands that I’m a little different,” Garrett said.
Their shared loved of the Steelers was one of the first things Jodi and Garrett learned that they had in common when they met at a country dancing event in Utah. Jodi, who grew up in California, agreed that Porter was the perfect name.
But the couple found that conceiving the child would be more challenging than naming him. On her Instagram account Jodi has chronicled her struggles with infertility. She called the process “physically and mentally exhausting.”
After two years, numerous medical specialists and about a half-dozen rounds of fertility medication, the couple welcomed a healthy baby boy named Porter July 3, 2014. By that time, they started trying for their second child, they were sharing a running email with a list of names, all Pittsburgh sports themed.
There was Kennedy for the former Penguins forward Tyler Kennedy. Taylor after Steelers corner Ike Taylor. Webster after Hall of Fame offensive lineman Mike Webster. Wilson for Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson. Woodley for LaMarr Woodley. Kendall for Jason Kendall.
The list went on. “Jagr, Malkin, Kasparaitis,” Garrett said. “Fleury was in there.”
When Jodi and Garrett visited the doctor for the 20week ultrasound that would reveal the gender of their second child, they had settled on two names — one for a boy and one for a girl.
They left the doctor’s office that day calling him Crosby.
The kids named after Sid
When the Penguins drafted a 17-year-old phenom named Sidney Crosby in 2005, the first name “Crosby” was virtually unheard of. Just 11 people chose the name for their child in 2005, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration.
But, as Crosby became the face of the league and one of the unquestioned greats of his generation, more and more families began naming their kids after Sid.
By 2006, the first full calendar year after Crosby was drafted, the popularity of the name Crosby had more than doubled with 26 kids named Crosby during that year. In 2009, Crosby hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time; 85 people named their kids Crosby that year. In 2014, Crosby won his second Hart Trophy; 463 kids were named Crosby in that year alone.
The name peaked in 2015 with 503 kids named Crosby during those 12 months.
In total, from 2006 to 2018 — from Crosby’s first full season in the league until the most recent available stats — a whopping 3,734 kids were named Crosby (3,489 boys and 245 girls) … and counting.
“I’ve had times when someone told me they named their dog or their pet or something like that,” Sidney Crosby said. “We had a good laugh. I wasn’t aware of people naming their kids.
“People are big fans of the team, and they obviously follow pretty closely. The fact that they would think that highly to name their kid Crosby is pretty cool and tells you what kind of fans we have here.”
Obviously, not all Crosbys are named after the one in Pittsburgh. Some are named after a character in the show “Parenthood.” Others are named after David Crosby from the band Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Others just like the sound of it.
But, like the Colemans, a large percentage of the families who named their kids Crosby are passionate Pittsburgh sports fans.
There’s a 7-year-old Crosby skating on a pond on a farm in Penn Township who brought a sign to PPG Paints Arena that read, “Hey Sidney, my name is Crosby.” There’s a Crosby in Utah shooting pucks in his basement and celebrating by screaming “I’m Sidney Crosby!” A Crosby in Florida decked out in Penguins gear on the way to a Penguins-Panthers game. There’s a baby born Feb. 23, 2015 named Malkin Crosby Long. And a Crosby here in Pittsburgh who had her day with the Cup … well, inside the Cup, really.
These families feel a certain pride in knowing their child shares something with the Penguins captain.
To them, Sidney Crosby is more than just an athlete and Crosby is more than just a name.
It’s a way for families who live states away from the Steel City to show that their roots were planted near the three rivers. It’s a way to create a connection to an athlete whom they might never have met.
And it’s a way to remind their children of a positive role model every time they sign their name.
Crosby L. Harkins
The initials C-L-H have been in the Harkins family for generations. Christine Harkins had a son named Charles. He had a son named Chris. And then he named his son Chris Jr.
So when Olivia Saperstein and Chris Harkins were married on a St. Patrick’s Day cruise in 2016 and began planning for their first child, they knew the name had to include those three special initials.
While Harkins’ family provided the initials, Saperstein’s side inspired the hockey influence. Saperstein’s dad, Greg, played in Michigan. When he moved to Western Pennsylvania, he converted from a Red Wings fan to a Penguins die-hard. He eventually passed that passion down to his kids.
“At an ice-skating birthday party, my dad always made me wear a full hockey helmet with a cage,”
Saperstein said. “I had hockey gloves. I had hockey skates. All the other girls are in their cute figure skates and little skirts. My dad had me in the full hockey getup.”
One night, Olivia and Chris were standing around in the kitchen brainstorming names. Saperstein’s father and brother, Asher, came home from PPG Paints Arena. What about Crosby? At first, Asher suggested the name half-jokingly. But as they thought about it more, the name stuck.
“I wanted to name her Crosby Letang, because I like Letang,” Saperstein said.
“That’s a little much,” Harkins said, smiling.
On May 15, 2017, Chris and Olivia welcomed a baby girl named Crosby Leia Harkins into the world.
Not even a month later, on June 11, the Penguins won their second consecutive Stanley Cup. Matt Murray made 27 saves to pitch a shutout in Game 6 against the Predators. Patric Hornqvist scored the winner off of Pekka Rinne’s back. After the Cup ceremony, the Conn Smythe Trophy for postseason MVP was presented to none other than Sidney Crosby.
Tradition holds that each player and executive gets one day with the Cup. When general manager Jim Rutherford got his turn, he chose to bring the Cup to his son’s school, Sewickley Academy. As luck would have it, Saperstein works there.
The Harkins family put their then-4-month-old Crosby into the Cup and snapped a photo.
Today that photo hangs inside the family’s home in Lower Burrell. The baby’s feet dangle from the Cup, as the two proud parents stand nearby wearing their Penguins jerseys — Harkins in his No. 87 Crosby jersey and Saperstein, of course, in her
Crosby Eiben
No. 58 for Letang.
“We probably thought it was cooler than her at that time,” Saperstein said. “But looking back it will be a great thing to be able to show her when she’s older.”
One of the very first things that John Eiben told his future wife, Brittany, when they met in Florida was that he bleeds black and gold.
“I didn’t know what that meant,” Brittany said. “But I understand now.”
When John was growing up in Scott Township in the 1970s, everyone was a diehard Steelers fan. John was a bit of a rebel who liked the counter-culture vibe of hockey. He’d go to the games when tickets cost $10 to cheer for his favorite players such as Rick Kehoe and Lowell MacDonald.
“I thought you liked that Mario guy?” Brittany said.
“This was before Mario,” John said.
When they were dating during the 2009 Stanley Cup run, John began to convert Brittany from an “antisports person” into someone who can hold an intelligent hockey conversation. One night, they were watching a game together, and Crosby was electrifying the audience with game-changing plays.
“Sidney Crosby. Crosby. Sidney Crosby,” the announcer kept saying.
“My wife said, ‘That would be a great name. Let’s keep that in mind,’ ” John remembers. “So of course, I never let her forget that.”
The couple married in 2011. Less than two years later, they found out she was pregnant with their first child. By that point, Brittany changed her mind. She started lobbying for the name Camden.
“Of course, being from Pittsburgh, I didn’t want anything that had to do with
Baltimore,” John said. “You know, Camden Yards.”
John won this round. On May 8, 2013, a baby boy named Crosby was born.
When Brittany got pregnant with the couple’s second child, they considered some more Penguins names. Olli after Olli Maatta. Brooks after Brooks Orpik. Maybe it was a good thing that the ultrasound revealed the baby was a girl, especially after those two former Penguins got traded.
Brittany ended up getting her way with one of the kids. But there was a compromise. John agreed on Camdyn — spelled with a “Y.”
“Camd-Y-N,” John said. “So it’s not that much associated with Baltimore.”
Crosby William Laska
Crosby stands proudly in a back hallway near the ice, with a stick in his hand and a blue Penguins sweater pulled over his pads. A piece of masking tape on his helmet reads, “Crosby.” Crosby Laska that is. In the Laska family, hockey isn’t just a sport. It’s a connection between fathers and sons, linking generations and creating new ones.
“I have loved the game for as long as I can remember,” Blair Laska said. “To me, hockey is the greatest sport just because of everything it teaches you, whether it’s companionship with a brother or a friend, being loyal to each other, playing as a team yet working hard individually to achieve your best.”
Blair grew up in Butler during the height of the Mario Lemieux era. In the early 1970s, his father was one of the few diehards who went to games at the old Civic Arena. He put Blair on skates at 3 years old.
The game has been part of the Laska family through some of its most important moments. Blair and his wife, Stefanie, got married at the Hilton Garden Inn in Southpointe, near where the Penguins used to practice. After the ceremony, they went onto the ice and snapped photos with Zambonis and nets. Then, they twirled together on the ice for a pseudo first dance.
Soon after Stefanie found out she was pregnant with the couple’s first child, she was reading a baby names book and stumbled upon the name Crosby.
“It didn’t take too much convincing,” Blair said. “We just thought it was very unique. It felt like a strong name.”
Baby Crosby was born March 14, 2012. Soon, he was on the ice like his father. He’s participated in the Sidney Crosby’s Little Penguins Learn to Play program. And this year, he’ll compete in his first organized team, the Butler Valley Bulldogs.
But just as the lessons Blair learned as a player go well beyond slap shots and zone entries, the hope is that the name Crosby will shape their son’s life off the ice just as much as it does on the ice.
“We hope that if our son Crosby learns something from him, it’s not going to be just hockey,” Blair said. “From what he portrays, the way he carries himself, what he does for the community, we would hope our son could be like that, too.”