Upper St. Clair Grad Hopes Trumpet Guy Fame Doesn't End Too Soon

Meet Anthony Ferrelli—better known as the "Trumpet Guy" among Pittsburgh Penguins fans.

The 2007 graduate has been going to the outdoor Pittsburgh Penguins playoff games since they first started showing on the big screen in 2008.

"Those first two years I went down for almost every game," he said.

During his first trip to the big screen outside Civic Arena, he was disappointed there was no music played after the Pens scored a goal. He thought the Pens may pump the inside music outside for the crowd, so for the next game, he took his trumpet and made his own music.

Fans took a liking to his trumpet playing and one man made Ferrelli a cardboard nameplate with "Trumpet Guy" written on it.

The name stuck.

Ferrelli embraced his nickname so much; he received a "Trumpet Guy" Pittsburgh Penguins jersey for his birthday.

Ferrelli said his trumpet playing even received media attention. He saw himself in the Detroit Free Press and on TV in Canada. He also heard he made it in some Russian media.

The Penguins staff asked him to play the national anthem for two away games in 2008.

"That was pretty neat," he said.

Ferrelli hasn't been able to attend as many big screen games as he would like in recent years, but he's hoping he can attend at least one more before he leaves for Air Force training in June.

Ferrelli attended Sunday's outdoor showing of the game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

"It was kind of like a funeral down there," he said. "It starts off exciting, and then things go down hill. It was almost cruel on Sunday. The Pens were within one goal three times. Everyone would get excited, and then the Flyers would score."

He can't make it to Wednesday night's game, but is hoping the Pens can pull out game 4 so he can go to Friday night's big screen showing of game 5.

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