Bob Coward, dog-​eared scorebook in hand, hurries through the turnstile at PNC Park for what will be his 2,600^th-and-something Pittsburgh Pirates home game. A compact man who once worked as a prison guard at Western Penitentiary (now SCI Pittsburgh) on the city’s North Side, Coward darts through the thickening crowd, greeting ushers and…

Kevin Colbert grew up the youngest of five boys living in a house on Pittsburgh’s North Side. The house had one bedroom and one shower. The five boys lived in the attic, and they were orphaned by the time Colbert was 15.

In the language of golf, there is always a “hidden gem.” The hidden gem is a golf course that is little known or even unknown, that someone has visited and then pronounced a marvel. The course generally has been sitting there, probably for many decades, known but to the locals.

If you think it’s hard to compete with the Pittsburgh Steelers on the field, imagine competing with them for a chunk of the area’s sport-​obsessed, male-​dominated fan base. But two exceptional women, Agnus Berenato of the University of Pittsburgh and Suzie McConnell-​Serio of Duquesne University, are prying some eyes away. Between them, they…