Every professional team has a slew of celebrity followers, and the Pittsburgh Penguins are no different. Here is a list of some of the best and their “why.”
It takes a special breed of person to fall in love with the NHL or hockey in general. But once you do, your hooked. Every fan has their reasons for falling in love with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but they all result in a deep, passionate fandom that lasts forever. Looking at celebrity fans, we start close to home with two athletes that have fallen in love with the Penguins.
Keeping it close to home, we find the Pittsburgh Steelers powerhouse Brett Keisel. Keisel is a two time Super Bowl Champion and is the definition of a hardcore fan. He has been to more Penguins games than most season ticket holders and has even been on the ice a time or two. At 6’5 290 something, he would be a force to be reckoned with in the rink, on or off the ice.
Another former professional footballer, Pat McAfee, has shown his claim to fandom for the Pens over the years. There’s not a lot of room for kicking the puck, but he has played once and then almost as quickly, retired. He may be a bad luck charm for the boys in black and gold, but he loves them all the same.
The who’s who when it comes to celebrity Pittsburgh Penguins fans
More from Pens Labyrinth
- Welcome To The Burgh: Lars Eller
- Penguins Waddle Toward The Season
- Farewell Carl Hagelin
- Penguins Line-up Breakdown vs Stanley Cup Champs Vegas
- Ryan Graves Solid Signing For The Pittsburgh Penguins
Moving from athletes to movie stars, and the list thickens. Did you know Batman was a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins? I guess after Michael Keaton was done defeating the Penguin on the big screens, he turned to love them in Pittsburgh. He is an old school fan, dating back to the days of the Pittsburgh Hornets, an AHL team pre-dating the Penguins.
As a local native, Billy Gardell has always found his love with the colors of black and gold. A Swissvale native, with love and a social media presence for anything Steelers or Penguins, he has always been on the Pens side through thick and thin. I’m sure if Coach Sullivan ever needed a goalie to fill in, Billy would fit that role just right. Talk about a small window of accuracy required.
Last, but certainly not least, we have Joe Manganiello. The fan has done everything for the Penguins from hosting the NHL awards in 2017, where he promptly roasted the flyers, to narrating a Penguin documentary on their trials and tribulations over the years. When it comes to fans defined by the team and vice versa, this guy is it; Pittsburgh through and through.
A few honorable mentions are Russel Crowe and his love for Jaromir Jagr and Brett Michaels, who most recently found his passion with the HBK line. There stories, just like many others, resonate and are similar to every other Penguin fan in existence. It’s refreshing to see so many big names pop up around the Pittsburgh Penguins, and if we missed some, let us know!