8/18/13 Penguins' three I-AA titles ease sting of economic woes

Publication: American Press 1990 - 2002; Date: Sep 23, 1995; Section: SPTA1; Page: 10

Penguins' three I-AA titles ease sting of economic woes

BY CARL DUBOIS

YOUNGSTOWN, Carmine Cassese has been equipment manager for Youngstown State University athletics since 1982, the year the YSU football team moved into Stambaugh Stadium.

Also known as the Ice Castle, Stambaugh Stadium has seats only on the west side of the field. That's the side the YSU Penguins occupy during games. But not from 1983-86.

''That first year in the stadium, we took so much hell from the fans, we moved to the other side a year later,'' says Carmine. ''We stayed there for four years.''

From 1980-85, YSU lost more games than it won. In '86, the school hired Ohio State assistant coach Jim Tressel as its head coach. The Penguins were 2-9 that year. In '87, YSU returned to the west sideline and won eight games, a victory total matched or surpassed by only three previous Penguins teams in 46 years.

Tressel's boys have been on the home side of the field ever since.

Today, Youngstown State is the model Division I-AA program. The Penguins have played in the national championship game the last four years, winning three. Their 62-11-2 record in the '90s is the best in .

They are the toast of Youngstown, a city that has been aching for something to cheer about since the collapse of the steel industry in the late '70s.

Tressel remembers the year his team stood on the lonely side of Stambaugh Stadium and tells his players to keep what the fans say in perspective.

''There are two things you don't listen to: abuse and flattery,'' Tressel says. ''Abuse can't hurt you, and flattery can't help you. What does help you is hard work.''

No one here needs a lecture on hard work. It is written into the local history.

Youngstown (pop. 94,000) is roughly halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh and is the seat of Mahoning County. Nearby Warren (51,000) is the seat of Trumbull County.

The Youngstown-Warren metropolitan area, along with western Pennsylvania, was known as Steel Valley before 50,000 steel-related jobs disappeared from the region from 1972-80.

Today, the region calls itself as it continues a slow recovery from the trauma of the '70s.

''Steel Valley is a name about the past,'' says John Moliterno, president of the Youngstown- Warren Regional Chamber. ''Steel is gone.''

Once there were 59 blast furnaces in the region. Today there is one. Mahoning County's largest payroll is public welfare. digital.olivesoftware.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_APRESSA&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=Amer… 1/4 8/18/13 Penguins' three I-AA titles ease sting of economic woes

People here take pride in knowing they once made a product steel which many believe won World War II. But when Germany and Japan rebuilt their economies with U.S. help, they went on to help put the steel industry here out of business.

So Youngstown-Warren started looking for a new economy. Today, 26 percent of the region's work force are in sales and administrative support. Only 12 percent are machine operators or assemblers.

On the site of turned-down steel mills, industrial parks now stand. Moliterno says Mahoning Valley has become a distribution headquarters and has its location to thank. The region is served by four airports if you include Cleveland and Pittsburgh (each an hour away); the Ohio Turnpike and I-76/I- 80 run the length of the country.

''We are within 500 miles that's an overnight drive of 44 percent of the U.S. population,'' says Moliterno. ''We're within 500 miles of 65 percent of all manufacturing and 60 percent of all retail sales in this country.''

Moliterno says the region's cultural diversity will help diversify its economy.

''People came here literally from all over the world to work in the mills,'' he says. ''They brought their culture, their uniqueness. A lot of that is being put to use in all sorts of businesses.''

Of course, there are the malls. The DeBartolo family helped pioneer the mall concept here. The Cafaro family soon followed. Each family has built a mega-mall in the region, along with several of smaller size in and around the 30 towns and townships in the immediate area.

Unemployment here hit a peak of around 19 percent in 1982. It nearly hit 10 percent in '92 but has dropped to around eight percent.

Michael Spak, a retired steel-worker, is leaving town as the first cold front approaches. He and his wife are visiting a son in Atlanta.

''He's in sales,'' says Spak. ''When he was old enough, he talked about working in the mills, but I told him not to. You could see the writing on the wall. Now, the young ones are moving away.''

The region has rejected casino gambling as an economic solution. Intead, plans for two new prisons are on the table.

Crime is a problem in Youngstown, particularly on the south side of the city. Teen curfews are being enforced, businesses are moving, and mounted patrols are being added.

The week of YSU's biggest game of the season, a road trip to play top-ranked McNeese State, literally opens with a bang here. A 20-year-old is shot in the face Monday morning by one of eight bullets fired in a drive-by shooting.

At the time, a 53-year-old man is still in the hospital after being stabbed, allegedly by Bloods gang members. He was wearing blue, the colors of the red-clad Bloods' rival gang, the Crips.

As the sun is setting Monday night, a 20-year-old is shot in the neck and shoulder. The suspect is a Bloods gang member, police say.

Tressel is not unaware of the crime problem here. It's just one more aspect of the beating the region has taken since the '70s.

''Comebacks take a long time,'' says Tressel, a Cleveland native. ''We wanted our program to be a part of energizing the comeback here. As a bonus, (YSU's success) has been a little bit of an escape digital.olivesoftware.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_APRESSA&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=Amer… 2/4 8/18/13 Penguins' three I-AA titles ease sting of economic woes from the rigors of that comeback.''

Despite the problems here, Tressel turned down a chance to coach the Miami Hurricanes this year. Spak, like many here, thinks one day soon he'll leave for the big-time.

''He's a fine young man,'' says Spak. ''Everybody likes him. He's such a good speaker too. He makes people feel good about Youngstown.''

That's not always an easy trick, but Tressel thinks small-college football is a good place to find your values, and he says he's found them here.

''When you're at one of the smaller colleges, you realize the sun doesn't rise and set on your accomplishments,'' he says. ''At big schools, you're painted larger than life, and you're not.''

Tressel's image here hardly seems life-size, though. He will order food under an assumed name because he knows no one will let him pay for a meal.

He says he's proud of what YSU has meant to the region.

''If you get caught up only in the football aspect, you're not making it as complete an experience for people as it should be,'' he says.

Tressel, who is also YSU's athletic director, takes his team's 1-2 record this season in stride and says he doesn't regret not going to Miami.

''It's more fun to be part of a building situation than to be part of a maintenance situation,'' he says. ''We've got plans for growth here. I want to be a part of it.''

Joe Cassese sits at the end of the bar, near the big-screen TV in Youngstown's version of Papania's. Soon, the Dolphins and Steelers will burn away a chilly Monday night.

Joe can sit where he wants; it's his place. The sign above the bar says: ''Cassese's MVR/Since 1933.'' Joe points at the sign.

''That's (since 1933) legally,'' he says. ''That's when prohibition ended and we got a liquor license. Before that, my father was bootleggin' like everybody else.''

Joe was born in 1931 23 years after Youngstown State University was founded, seven years before YSU played its first football game. Now, the Penguins are family. Joe's son is Carmine, their equipment manager.

Joe loves sports. He's got a baseball signed by Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford. Yogi Berra was grouchy that day more than 30 years ago when Joe saw them in a restaurant. Joe asked for autographs when Yogi went to the john.

''All three are in the Hall of Fame now,'' Joe says. ''The ball's faded now, but I bet it's worth something.''

Joe grabs the remote and renders a commercial break mute. He opens a bag of potato chips completely top, back, bottom and spreads it out on the bar. He opens a bottle of hot sauce and, looking like a kid at McDonald's, makes a thick pool of red for dipping. Then, one chip at a time, he dips and eats.

The commercial ends. Joe squeezes the remote and conjures up voices again. Now it's Indians vs. White Sox. Joe likes Albert Belle. ''I'm Albert (Don't Call Me Joey Or I'll Ring Your) Belle.'' he says, grinning. ''He's a big one, that guy. Strong.'' digital.olivesoftware.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_APRESSA&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=Amer… 3/4 8/18/13 Penguins' three I-AA titles ease sting of economic woes Joe sings Tressel's praises as loudly as anyone in Youngstown but says he is realistic about Tressel staying here much longer.

''You want to know where I think he'll end up?'' Joe says. ''Notre Dame.''

Joe sits where he wants tonight because Cassese's MVR is nearly empty.

''We get good business in the daytime, but at night it's kind of slow,'' he says. ''People out in the townships don't come into the city at night because they have their own restaurants.''

Joe seems resigned, not bitter, about the crime here. He buys a visitor a beer, then leaves Carmine in charge of the TV for Monday Night Football. As he is leaving, a couple of miles away, a 16-year-old is hit in the leg by gunfire from another drive-by.

Inside the MVR, no one hears the shots or the sirens. Carmine, Danny and Noodles are watching the game.

A guy who takes Joe's place at the end of the bar has bet the ''over'' on this game. If the teams combine for 36 or more points, he wins.

Final score: Dolphins 23, Steelers 10. Tonight, the bookie wins.

The YSU fans in the place, some of whom split loyalty between the Browns and Steelers, hope the game is not a harbinger of things to come.

''McNeese State is going to be a tough game for us,'' says Carmine. ''I don't know if we're good enough to keep up with a team like that.''

All over town, people know McNeese is ranked No. 1. Many echo Carmine's sentiments. Many will be in Lake Charles to see what YSU is made of.

The visitor leaves the MVR and thanks his hosts for their hospitality; Noodles paid for one beer, Joe the other.

During the frosty walk back to the hotel, a siren wails in the distance. It is hot and cold tonight in Youngstown.

PD:9/23/95

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