Being the son of the state's winningest high school basketball coach made Michael Graham a competitive person, whether on the basketball court, the golf course or in battling the cancer that plagued him for three years.

Family and friends said Mr. Graham seldom let the relentless illness deter him, continuing to work at the O'Hara printing company he co-owned or playing golf until the last few weeks of his life.

"He was a battler. No one else could have done what he did," said former Duquesne University head football coach Dan McCann, who worked for Mr. Graham at Pittsburgh Brewing.

Said his brother, Donald Graham: "You could always tell the way he competed that he always thought he was going to win."

Mr. Graham, who had a successful 23-year career at the Lawrenceville brewery before duplicating that success in the printing industry, died at his Franklin Park home Saturday. He was 60.

Family and friends said Mr. Graham had consummate people skills, whether teaching family members how to play sports or managing the sales force at the brewery and later Liberty-Pittsburgh Systems and Print Tech, two printing firms where he worked. Their memories of him center on family, North Catholic, sports and the beer business, where Mr. Graham was instrumental in building Pittsburgh Brewing into one of the nation's premier regional breweries before the 140-year-old plant was closed earlier this year.

Mr. Graham started at the brewery as a salesman. One of the distributorships he called on was owned by the Sukitch family of Spring Garden.

"Mike was a very honest, straightforward person," said William Sukitch, who later worked for Mr. Graham at Pittsburgh Brewing. "Mike was a very good leader. I don't think I know one person who had ill feelings toward Mike."

Mr. McCann, who as head of St. Sebastian's football team coached Mr. Graham, remembered him as "a great team leader."

"People would work for him. He was a motivator," he said. "He did well because he was a solid guy."

Mr. Graham was part of a management and labor group that bid on the brewery in 1991. They lost out to Uniontown businessman Michael P. Carlow, who subsequently was imprisoned for bank fraud. Mr. Carlow's difficulties prompted creditors to take the brewery's parent into bankruptcy, where it was purchased in 1995 by Joseph Piccirilli. Mr. Graham remained with the brewery as president for a short time, then left to join Liberty-Pittsburgh.

His departure "was like a sad family break up," said Mr. Sukitch, who met regularly with Mr. Graham and other alumni of the brewery. "To him, the brewery and the people surrounding it were like a family."

When Mr. Graham left Liberty-Pittsburgh, Bob Weingard offered to sell him half of Print Tech, seeking to combine his operations expertise with Mr. Graham's marketing savvy. They also partnered at Wildwood Golf Club, where they won the member-member event on two occasions.

"He was just a straight-up guy," said Mr. Weingard. "It was very sad watching him go."

Mr. Graham played basketball for his father, Don Graham, at North Catholic, graduating in 1967. He earned a bachelor of science degree in 1971 from American University, where he received a full basketball scholarship. He earned an M.B.A. from Duquesne University in 1978.

Mr. Graham came from a family with lengthy basketball bloodlines. His father, who compiled an 801-436 record at North Catholic, died of cancer in April. His bother, Don, played Division 1 basketball at St. Francis University in Loretto, and two nephews starred in the sport at Notre Dame University and St. Joseph's University.

While his father was the senior coach for the talented family, Mr. Graham pitched in, coaching his son, Michael, at St. Alexis and St. Alphonsus grade schools before handing him off to his grandfather at North Catholic.

"They were the greatest times ever," said Mr. Graham's son, who moved back home in July to be with his father during the final months.

"It was the best decision I ever made in my life," Michael Graham said. "He was the kind of person I went to for everything I needed. I felt he knew the answer to everything."

As his battle with the disease progressed, golf was an outlet. Mr. Graham recently won a member-guest event at Highland Country Club and, according to his wife of 31 years, Claudette, probably played more rounds in his last year than in any other year of his life.

"It was a really fulfilling life," said Mrs. Graham, who learned the game from a spouse she called "my best friend."

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Graham is survived by a daughter, Nicole Pfleeger of Chicago; his mother, Lois Dorsch Graham of McCandless; brother Donald of Gibsonia; and a sister, Maureen Carroll of Horsham, Montgomery County.

Friends will be received today from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Sperling Funeral Home, 700 Blazier Drive, McCandless. A Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. tomorrow in SS. John & Paul Church in Franklin Park.

The family requests memorial contributions be made to SS. John & Paul Building Fund, 2586 Wexford-Bayne Road, Sewickley, PA 15143.

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