Obituary: Kenneth D. Geidel / Distinctive stadium vendor
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"Lemonade heeeeeeeere!"
"Cotton candy heeeeeeeere!"
"Coke heeeeeeeere!"
Pittsburgh sports fans long heard those shrill cries from Kenny Geidel, the popular vendor from Wilkinsburg who relentlessly and colorfully peddled his wares for Pirates, Penguins and Steelers games since first getting a job at Three Rivers Stadium in 1985.
Mr. Geidel died Monday at age 64 due to complications from an intestinal infection. He worked his final game Sunday at PNC Park.
"When I was much younger, my oldest brother would take me to Three Rivers for Pirates games, and one of my first priorities was to find the 'Coke here guy.' It never took long," said Justin Hunter, a West Virginia native who now lives in Asheville, N.C. "To me, hearing Mr. Geidel's voice at a baseball game was as natural as hearing the crack of the bat."
Mr. Geidel's style was inimitable: He would move briskly through the aisles, whether pounding the metal steps of Three Rivers' box seats or trudging up the steep concrete of the Civic Arena, and his glass-cracking cry -- accompanied by a trademark bobbing of the head -- would penetrate whichever section he was patrolling. Even in heavy rain, Mr. Geidel would continue working.
PG VIDEO: FANS' MEMORIES"For Kenny, it was all about the job," said Shannon Christie, a nine-year concessions worker at PNC Park. "He would yell out to me, 'Hey, hey!' every time he passed. He just did it Sunday. But he never stopped. There was no talking to him unless you were buying his lemonade."
"Ken was an exemplary employee who was with us for a long time," said Michael McDonald, district manager for Aramark vending services. "He certainly was one of the characters that added to the sporting event experience and had quite a following among the Pittsburgh fan base. He will be missed."
To different fans, Mr. Geidel had different nicknames, none of them official. For fans who go back to the Three Rivers era, he was the "Coke-here guy." To hockey fans, he was "Cotton Candy Man." To the PNC Park generation of baseball fans, he was "Lemonade Man." Mr. Geidel's popularity extended to the online world, where he had a following on Facebook and Twitter, and several YouTube videos had been created in his honor even before some of the tributes that popped up Tuesday.
First Published May 11, 2011 12:09 am
