Former Uniontown woman competing for Mrs. America title
A former Uniontown woman will represent Pennsylvania in the Mrs. America Pageant in Arizona next month.
Shelley Bortz Ligashesky, 34, of Moon Township was crowned Mrs. Pennsylvania 2008 on May 30 in York. Ligashesky said that, at times, her life seems like a dream come true. In addition to being the reigning Mrs. Pennsylvania, she is married to Bob Ligashesky, the special teams coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A 1992 graduate of Geibel High School, Shelley Ligashesky attended Gannon University in Erie on a basketball scholarship. She received her bachelor of arts degree in communications in 1997.
She has been employed as a field reporter and anchorwoman for numerous television stations, including WTAP in Parkersburg, W.Va.; WTOV in Steubenville, Ohio; WLTV in Jacksonville, Fla.; and CW11 in St. Louis, Mo.
A daughter of Christine Andrews of Uniontown and George Bortz III of Uniontown, Shelley met her husband, Bob Ligashesky, while she was a member of the staff of WTAP. She was in Pittsburgh for the 2001 AFC championship game between the Steelers and New England Patriots, and met Bob Ligashesky, who was a member of Walt Harris’ football coaching staff at the University of Pittsburgh.
“I was out with friends and we bumped into each other,” she said. “We have talked to each other every day since then.”
The couple married 19 months later and celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary on July 11.
Shelley Ligashesky’s affiliations with the television stations in Jacksonville and St. Louis coincided with her husband’s hiring as special teams coordinator in those cities, with the Jaguars and Rams, respectively.
The couple moved back to the Pittsburgh area in 2007 when Bob Ligashesky was hired in 2007 as special teams coordinator with the new staff of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
Shelley Ligashesky said she was encouraged to compete for Mrs. Pennsylvania by her half- sister, Lauren Bortz.
“Lauren competed for Miss Pennsylvania USA last November and placed in the top 15,” Shelley Ligashesky said. “She had a good time and urged me to enter Mrs. Pennsylvania.”
On further encouragement from family members, she decided to enter the pageant “as an enjoyable way to meet new people.
“I wore my sister’s gown, since we’re the same size,” she said.
She said she was shocked to hear her name announced as the winner.
“Even when it came down to myself and the runner-up, I expected her to win,” she said.
She said her mother and husband were more nervous and excited than she was.
“My mom said that Bob was squeezing her hand, at the end,” she said.
The journey from high school basketball star to being married to a Steelers’ coach and becoming Mrs. Pennsylvania may sound like a fairy tale, but Shelley Ligashesky has battled back from a tragic accident that killed her closest friend and nearly left her as a paraplegic.
About 11:30 p.m. April 1, 1994, Shelley Ligashesky, then Shelley Bortz, was a passenger in a car driven by her brother, George Bortz IV. Also passengers were George Bortz’ friend, Larry Ranaldi, and Shelley Ligashesky’s best friend, Kerri Welc of Mount Pleasant. The girls had met as Gannon basketball players and became immediate friends.
“We did everything together and never left each other’s side,” Shelley Ligashesky said.
Their car was traveling on old Route 119 in North Union Township, when it was struck broadside by a drunken driver. Welc was killed and Shelley Bortz suffered injuries so severe that the doctors’ prognosis was that she would never walk again. The men also suffered serious injuries, from which they would eventually recover.
“I spent three months in a wheelchair and had to learn to walk all over again,” Shelley Ligashesky said.
“I had to go through rehabilitation every day for the next year and a half, first at Harmarville and then at the college with the trainers for the basketball team. I did aquatics, calisthenics and jogging for a long time.”
Sometimes the pain was almost unbearable, but “in my mind, I knew what needed to be done.
“I got to the point where I was pushing the trainers. I was sore, but kept on going because I wanted to be back on the basketball court.”
Shelley Ligashesky was able to return to the team for two more seasons at Gannon, and even became a starter again. She remains close to the Welc family, and occasionally joins them for family functions.
Becoming Mrs. Pennsylvania gave Shelley Ligashesky a perfect platform for a major cause, she said.
“I overcame a tragedy,” she said. “It isn’t what happens to you that is most important, but how you react to what happens to you.
“Hopefully, somebody looks at my tragedy and thinks before drinking and driving. I want to use my title as a vehicle to get peoples’ attention because I do have something to say.”
After moving back to Pittsburgh with her husband, Shelley Ligashesky has been interviewed by several Pittsburgh television stations about possible employment. The interviews have gone well, but there have been no staff openings yet. In the meantime, Shelley Ligashesky had the opportunity to meet Agnus Berenato, the women’s basketball coach at the University of Pittsburgh. The new friendship and Shelley Ligashesky’s sports and communications background resulted in her landing the position of public address announcer for the Lady Panthers’ games at the Peterson Events Center.
She said she loves the job, but admits, “Sometimes, I wish I was playing again. I get so into the game that I feel like a spectator.”
Of course, winning Mrs. Pennsylvania and returning to western Pennsylvania would not have happened if not for the telephone call from Mike Tomlin in 2007 informing the Ligasheskys that Bob Ligashesky had been hired to join the Steelers’ staff.
About that day Shelley Ligashesky said, “We were elated. My husband had said he was going to be a Steeler coach someday. It’s like we’re living a dream.”
She said she also knows the feeling of being an NFL football coach’s wife.
“The wives all sit together at home games, but when you walk around the stadium you hear things (from fans). You know to just bite your tongue, because it shows how much the fans care.”
The newest Mrs. Pennsylvania said she would be in Tucson for the Mrs. America pageant from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 with the same outlook — to simply go and have fun. And if she happens to win again, it would be on to the Mrs. World pageant in Vietnam in 2009.