Founded in 1936 by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports editor Al Abrams, Dapper Dan Charities has evolved from a businessmen's sports club into one of the region's most recognizable pillars of charity. Our mission is to raise the spirits and fortune of Western Pennsylvania by celebrating athletic tradition and accomplishment and by supporting athletic opportunities for underserved youth.

The annual Dapper Dan Dinner & Sports Auction has become the preeminent social event on Western Pennsylvania's sports calendar. The first banquet was in November 1936, six months after Abrams christened the new venture. He and his friends sold 437 tickets at $5 apiece for that first dinner and they pulled in $800, which was donated to the DePaul Institute in Brookline. Such outstanding Pittsburgh sports celebrities as Art Rooney, Jock Sutherland and John Harris spoke at the first banquet. A two-fisted tradition of sports entertainment and charity giving was born.

The name? It came from an off-hand remark by George "Red" Lai, a restaurant owner in Pittsburgh and one of Abrams' friends. Abrams and his group wanted to attract membership from the sportsmen and businessmen of Pittsburgh, men who were always dapperly dressed. "We could call them Dapper Dans," Lai said.

In the decades that followed, Dapper Dan's impact on the sports community was remarkable. The group staged the annual Dapper Dan Open professional golf tournament and brought championship prizefights to Pittsburgh, including the Ezzard Charles-Jersey Joe Walcott heavyweight title fight at Forbes Field in 1951 and the only Pittsburgh appearance of an up-and-coming heavyweight named Cassius Clay in 1961. That was the same year Dapper Dan co-sponsored the PGA Championship at Oakmont. Western Pennsylvania sports fans had a first look at the stars of tomorrow during the annual Roundball Classic - a high school basketball all-star game. Dapper Dan also started and served as caretaker for the Pittsburgh Hall of Fame. All the while, the Sportsman of the Year award grew to be one of the nation's most prestigious honors, recognizing the local sports figure who shined the brightest light on Pittsburgh in the preceding year.

The 1990s saw Dapper Dan undergo significant changes. The club was re-christened as Dapper Dan Charities and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania was designated the primary beneficiary of the fundraising events. Contributions to the Boys & Girls Clubs were earmarked for youth sports programs that would attract under-served urban youth into highly organized flag football, RBI baseball, basketball, hockey, field hockey, golf and wrestling leagues. The sports leagues have served more than 7,000 youth in our region.

Since 1999, Dapper Dan Charities has presented both a Sportsman and a Sportswoman of the Year award at the annual dinner.

The mission has expanded far beyond what Abrams might have envisioned, as the once-a-year sports dinner has spawned a year-long effort to raise money to meet the community's charitable needs. The philosophy has remained unchanged since inception in 1936: Give the ticket-buying public the biggest names in sports and the best in entertainment. "The rest," Abrams said, "comes easy."

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