Youngstown State Universi~Y Oral History Program
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YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSI~Y ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM Youngstown in the 1900s Personal Experience o. H. 1043 LEROY W. VAN HORN Interviewed by D. Scott VanHorn on June 8, 1986 O.H. 892 YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY ORAL, HISTORY PROGRAM Youngstown in the 1900s INTERVIEWEE: LEROY Trl. VAN HORN INTERVIEWER: D. Scott VanHorn SUBJECT: The 1920s, construction, Ku Klux Klan DATE: June 8, 1986 SV: This is an interview with Mr. Leroy W. Van Horn for the Youngstown State University Oral History Program, on the Youngstown in the J900s project, by D. Scott Van Horn, on June 8, 1986, at 5266 Tippecanoe Road, at 11:00 a.m. What are your earliest recollections? LV: When we landed here in Youngstown, it was too late to get to the house that we were going to live in. So, we stayed at the old Fritz House, which was at the corner of Oak HiJl and Mahoning Avenue, near Spring Common. BV: What was that like? LV: Jt was just an ordinary hotel, not a fleabag. It was a good hotel. We had breakfast there the next morning and then got on the streetcar and went up to the house my father had rented. SV: Where was that? LV: At the corner of Lakewood and Thorn. SV: What was it like there at the time? LV: It was a good residential section. 1 SV: What were the houses like? LV: Mostly frame, wood structures, well-kept. It was a nice, quiet neighborhood. SV: Did you stay there at Lakewood? LV: We stayed there until about 1937. We came to Youngs town in January of 1913. SV: What was Youngstown like at the time, when you came here? LV: I wouldn't know exactly how to compare it. I'd hate to compare it to what it is like now. There were good businesses in town; old estahlished firms. Some are still around, but the name is the only thing there. McKelvey's is gone. That was called the big store at that time. Strouss-Hi1schberg was the old Central store. There were various merchants. They had bars and saloons at that time. SV: What was it like inside those stores? LV: There was always somebody there to wait on you. I remember a men's clothing store, & Flaughter. Some of thejr rFlaughter's] decendents just went out of business in the last couple of years. I can still see old Flaughter with his tape measure around his neck or draped over his shoulders, ready to take your measure ments. When you went out of there, you were fitted. rf your suit needed alterations--they dealt in ready made--they weren't tailors. They always had a good tailor working for them, though. Hartzell's was still in business at that time. Stambaugh Thompson's, they had a great sporting goods section. They used to supply all the athletic equipment for the two high schools that Youngstown could be proud of at that time, Rayen and South. There was a great rivalry between the two, but they always ended up friendly enemies. SV: What was the rivalry like at South and Rayen? LV: Well, it was basketball and football mostly. Thanks giving Day was the turkey day game. Once in a while, there were a few fisticuffs along Market Street after the game, but nothing that couldn't be forgotten about. They socialized afterwards for the rest of the year before they got warmed up for the next fiasco. Rayen was the old school. South wasn't established until about 1911 or 1912. They didn't have school bands at that time. South always hired a band for the parade. There was a lot of cheering and good cheerleaders. Mostly the men were the cheerleaders at that time. The cheers were well-organized. Back in that time, they 2 didn't play on turf. They played on mud on Thanksgiv ing mostly. The rest of the time in the fall, it would rain [on the] weeds [like] pebbles. SV: You were on the football team. LV: I played in 1920 and 1921. [The year] 1921 was my senior year. We beat Rayen that year. SV: What was it like playing football at that time? LV: It was just about the same as it is today, except it has developed more into a coaching science. The plays are different. The guy that could hit the hardest was the one who came through the best shape. We were taught to hit them hard, so that they would remember it when they saw you coming the next time. It ~7as clean. You didn't see anybody intentionally try to cripple a man by flipping [them] or something like that. You could make a flying tackle at that time. We didn't come out second best. They had trick plays that they tried to keep secret, but there was always somebody that could find out what was going on, either from inside the school or outside. I remember the night before the Thanksgiving game in 1921. I was in the locker room getting out of my muddy clothes and ready to go into a shower, and I started to sing the Rayen victory song. The next thing I know, they grabbed me and started to throw me into a cold shower. It didn't bother me too lnuch, because I don't know for how many years 1 had been taking a cold shower every morning. They held me in there and, when they found out I was enjoying it, they let me alone. Youngstown developed some good football players over the years. They had a pro team in Youngstown at one time called the Patricians. It was part of the St. Patrick's School and Church. It was called the Patri cian Club, and they fielded a football team. They used to play at Wright Field. That is now where the West lake Housing project is. Wright Field was also a circus grounds. I saw Jim Thorpe play there a couple of times. There were quite a few of the Indian players from Carlisle University. They developed a pretty good team there back in the 1900's. Canton had a good team called the Canton Bulldogs. They had quite a few of those Indian players on it. There was a team from Columbus called the Colwnbus Panhandles. They got their name from the Panhandle Division of the Pennsyl vania Railroad. I forget how many brothers there were called the Nesser Brothers. They were the "refrigera tors" of that time. They were all big men and good foothall players and rough. They used to play on Sunday afternoon. T always tried to make it somewhere 3 or another. South High turned out quite a few good football play- ers. One became captain of one of the Notre Dame teams. He was a graduate of South. The Youngstown distri.ct went on to make a name for themselves on college football. They're still doing it today from Youngstown State. SV: What was the coach like at South? LV: Russell Ashbaugh--Busty they called him--he was a local boy. He had gone to Brown University and got an All American Honorable Mention. I beljeve, on one of the All-American team choices, there was Walter Camp that had one. Brandon Lyce had another. Walter Camp was consjdered to be number one back then. If you made his All-American, you were considered to be the best. Ashbaugh coached up until the late 1920's. He was a good coach. J never saw him get riled up over any thing. If you did something you weren't supposed to, he gave you a couple of extra laps around the track. It was a quarter mile track around the field. Most generally, when you finished football practjce in the afternoon, it [practice] always came after classes. They didn't neglect their scholastic work in favor of athletics. Every week there was a list posted on the bulletin board in the locker room telljng you who was eligible and who was not to play in the Saturday game. If you didn't have the knowledge, you didn't have the ability, J guess, they figured. SV: Was he just the coach? LV: He also taught Algebra. I had him for an Algebra teacher my freshman year. I think we learned more about football than we did about Algebra. I always figured it made it kind of tough for me In that line because of my false start in Algebra, but I managed to wiggle through all right. I didn't have any failing grades. We had. World War I when Ashbaugh went into the Army, and they brought in a man by the name of Hermen Welsh. He was either a graduate of Cornell or Syracuse. He was well-liked. In fact, after 1 gradu ated from South, he and I used to go fishing out at Pine Lake together. I got better acquainted with him out on Pine Lake than I did in class. He taught math, and he was good. When you came out of his class, you had learned something. If you hadn't, it wasn't his fault. In fact, I liked him well enough that I named my son after him. SV: Who were some of the other teachers at South? LV: The chemistry teacher was Guy Foster. He also coached 4 the track team. There was Fred Beede. I believe he was a brother or uncle of Dyke Beede, who later went on and coached at Youngstown State.