The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.

No. 44: Brooks Orpik

When Brooks Orpik was called up to the NHL for the first time in 2002, the Penguins weren’t far removed from their most recent bankruptcy, and they were just beginning to slug it out with politicians in trying to secure funding for a new arena.

To put it mildly, they were frugal with a lot of the amenities they offered players.

Like, for instance, jerseys.

So when Orpik trekked from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to make his NHL debut Dec. 10 in Toronto, he was given what was essentially a hand-me-down jersey with a torn collar. And it didn’t have the No. 44 with which he eventually would become associated. It was a No. 29 jersey previously inhabited by enforcer Krzysztof Oliwa.

“It wasn’t even a new one,” Orpik lamented many years later. “You could tell it was (Oliwa’s) jersey because it was stitched up in the front.”

By the following season, Orpik opened on the NHL roster, wearing No. 44. He would keep that number for the next decade in Pittsburgh.

The Penguins’ first-round pick in 2001, Orpik was the first component of the franchise’s renaissance in the mid-2000s. Forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury did most of the heavy lifting, but Orpik was there before all of them and endured some ugly times with the Penguins before helping them transform into a Stanley Cup contender.

Orpik’s game was simple. He was a heavy hitter who could punish any opposing forward who entered the offensive zone. That was never more evident than in Game 3 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final. During a 15-second span, Orpik hit Detroit Red Wings forwards Kris Draper, Dallas Drake (twice) and Dan Cleary and brought fans at Mellon Arena to their feet.

Helping the Penguins beat the Red Wings for the Stanley Cup in 2009, Orpik spent parts of 11 seasons in Pittsburgh, many of them as an alternate captain. Always eager to offer help on or off the ice to younger teammates, Orpik never was afraid to offer an honest opinion of his team’s play.

By the time he departed as a free agent in 2014, Orpik helped turn the Penguins into one of the NHL’s premier franchises.

Other No. 44s of note:

• Perhaps the most flamboyant No. 44 in Penguins history was windmilling forward Rob Brown. A fan favorite in Pittsburgh — he often noted Pittsburghers referred to him as “Robby” — Brown meshed with with franchise center Mario Lemieux in the late 1980s. Brown, who dated television actress Alyssa Milano, became an All-Star during his second season (1988-89) by setting career-highs of 49 goals and 115 points in 68 games.

• Pitcher Tony Watson spent seven seasons in the 2010s helping the Pirates make three consecutive postseason appearances from 2013-15. Primarily used as a set-up man, Watson earn a selection to the 2014 All-Star Game, going 10-2 with a 1.63 ERA.

• Charlie Williams, a guard for the Pittsburgh Pipers, scored 35 points in Game 7 of the 1968 ABA championship game May 4 at Civic Arena. The Pipers won, 122-113, against the New Orleans Buccaneers. Pipers left town before the next season. He retired in 1973 with 6,020 career points and a 16.2 points-per-game scoring average. Also played for Memphis and Utah of the ABA.

• A product of Baldwin, 6-foot-11 center Ed Scheuermann was a strong defensive presence for Pitt in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During the 1980-81 season, he led Pitt to an Eastern Eight championship before losing to North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

• Undrafted out of Mississippi State, Willie Daniel was a starting cornerback for the Steelers for six seasons during the 1960s. In 75 games with the Steelers, he had 11 interceptions.

• A seventh-round pick out of Kentucky in 1989, cornerback D.J. Johnson spent five seasons with the Steelers. Primarily playing opposite of Pro Bowler Rod Woodson, Johnson had 12 interception in 79 games with the Steelers. After football, Johnson dabbled in acting and even portrayed a Klingon in the series “Star Trek: Enterprise.”

Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.

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