Tag Archive for: Radar

ORANGE GIRLS BASKETBALL COACH’S CORNER (EP 1) WITH LASHAWN BROWN

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PEPPER PIKE, OH- In the premiere episode of the YSN podcast, “Orange Girls Basketball Coach’s Corner,” host DJ Yokley sits down with the renowned La’Shawn Brown, head coach of the Orange High School’s girls basketball team. With an impressive 14-year coaching career and a legendary basketball background herself, Brown offers a captivating glimpse into her life and coaching philosophy.

For Brown, basketball was not initially on her radar. Standing as the tallest girl in her high school and middle school, she originally had ambitions to pursue track. However, she was encouraged to give basketball a try, despite facing the setback of having lost her fingers in an accident at a young age. Overcoming this challenge, Brown showcased her skills and had a breakthrough sophomore year at Heights High School, paving the way for a storied basketball career.

Through her personal adversities, Brown developed resilience and discipline, instilled in her by her grandmother, who taught her to view herself no differently from anyone else. The experience of being treated like any other player and accepting her amputated hand propelled her to excel on and off the court.

As the head coach of the Orange girls basketball team, Brown is grateful for the opportunity to build a strong program and elevate her team’s level of play. She acknowledges the progress made in her inaugural year as head coach and expresses high expectations for the upcoming season. Brown commends her players’ dedication and hard work during the summer and anticipates the positive impact of new team members on the court.

Reflecting on her coaching journey, Brown highlights the importance of instilling discipline and affirmations to push her players beyond their comfort zones. She aims to create an environment where being uncomfortable, tired, or sore is accepted as part of the growth process.

Challenges remain for Brown in controlling expectations, particularly when it comes to understanding her players’ abilities and pushing them to exceed their limits. However, she welcomes the assistance of her experienced coaching staff and relishes the opportunity to mold her team into one that is prepared to fight, hustle, and do whatever it takes to succeed.

As the Orange girls basketball team heads into a new season, Coach Brown wants opponents to know that her team won’t back down. With a resilient and determined mindset, her players are ready to give their all, fight for every win, and leave it all on the court.

To hear more from Brown and gain insight into the world of Orange girls basketball, tune in to the full episode of the “Orange Girls Basketball Coach’s Corner” on the YSN podcast.

Stay tuned for future episodes highlighting the behind-the-scenes stories of coaches and athletes in the Orange High School community.

PRESENTED BY

REMEMBERING ROBERTO; 50 YEARS LATER

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By Radar Pavlov

This New Year’s Eve 2022, a lot of us will be celebrating the holiday by either going out to New

 Year’s Eve parties, watching College Football Bowl Games (especially the NCAA FBS College Football

 Playoffs Semifinals – 1. the VRBO Fiesta Bowl with Michigan vs. TCU; 2. the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl

 featuring Ohio State vs. Georgia) or heading out to town and seeing the big ball drop to ring in the new year (2023), this New Year’s Eve 2022 will rather be a sad one for those in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Pirates fans all over the world – including those that live in the area, Puerto Rico and the world of baseball.

 This New Year’s Eve, 2022 will mark exactly 50 years to the day since the Puerto Rico DC-7 plane that was sent to help aid in the relief efforts in earthquake-stricken Nicaragua, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean waters minutes after takeoff in Carolina, Puerto Rico killing all 5 persons on board, among them was Pittsburgh Pirates legend Roberto Clemente.

 Just before we knew Wayne Gretzky (hockey), Michael Jordan (basketball), and Tom Brady (football) as “The Great One” in their respective sports, there was only one “The Great One” in baseball and he wore the number 21 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Roberto Clemente.

Clemente had such a historic career: he was selected to 15 Major League Baseball All-Star Games, won 12 Gold Glove Awards (1961-1972), 4 times led the National League in batting average (1961, 1964, 1965, 1967) and 1966 National League Most Valuable Player.

 In 1960, Clemente became the first Caribbean and Latin America player to win a World Series as a starting position player when the Pirates upset the New York Yankees in 7 games.

11 years later, he became the first Caribbean and Latin America player to be named the World Series Most Valuable Player when the Pirates won the 1971 World Series, defeating the Baltimore Orioles in 7 games. Clemente in that World Series had a batting average of .414 (12 hits in 29 at-bats) and hit 2 home runs.

 In every World Series game that he played in (14 games in all), he collected at least 1 base hit in every game.

On September 30, 1972, Clemente became the 11th player in Major League Baseball history to reach the 3,000 career lifetime hits plateau when he hit a double off of Jon Matlack of the New York Mets at Pittsburgh’s old Three Rivers Stadium. It was the last regular season at-bat of his career.

After his untimely tragic ending, more honors came for Clemente. His uniform number 21 was retired by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Opening Day 1973, he was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the summer of 1973, and Major League Baseball renamed its annual Commissioner’s Award in his honor. The Roberto Clemente Award is given annually to the player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and the individual’s contribution to the team.”

 Sports legends endure forever in our memory, and as we’re about to enter 2023, let us remember 50 years later, the life of Pittsburgh Pirates’ legendary number 21 Roberto Clemente this New Year’s Eve 2022.

40 YEARS OF STAMBAUGH STADIUM

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The year was 1982. It was the year the 1982 World’s Fair came to the United States. Knoxville, Tennessee played host to the World’s Fair that summer. It was also the year when the Anheuser-Busch company launched Budweiser Light (aka Bud Light) and the year that gave us one of the biggest movie box office blockbusters of all-time in “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” Remember the “E.T. Phone Home” scene? I do.

Locally, the Mahoning Valley had the highest unemployment rate of any region in the United States in late 1982 when the Youngstown-Warren area had an unemployment rate of 20.9 percent in August 1982.

On the sports scene locally, we cheered for Youngstown’s own Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini when he became the World Boxing Association (WBA) Lightweight Champion of the World by beating Arturo Frias on May 8, 1982, in Las Vegas, Nevada, we cheered for Boardman’s Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr. when his NFL team that he owned San Francisco 49ers won the first of their 5 Super Bowl championships when they defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, 26-21, on January 24, 1982, in Pontiac, Michigan, and we cheered for the Cardinal Mooney Cardinals football team coached at the time by the legendary Don Bucci won their third Ohio High School Athletic Association Football Championship by defeating Toledo St. Francis deSales in the OHSAA Division II Football Championship Game, 12-0, played at the legendary Akron Rubber Bowl.

On the campus of Youngstown State University, a new multi-purposed stadium opened it’s gates on September 4, 1982, when YSU played host to their then-main rival, Akron, in front of a sell-out crowd of 15,833 people. It’s known officially as Arnold D. Stambaugh Stadium, to most however as Stambaugh Stadium (aka “The Ice Castle”). Akron spoiled YSU football’s Stambaugh Stadium opener that day, 20-19.

When it opened in 1982, Stambaugh Stadium had one large grandstand on the west side of Stambaugh Stadium, with a seating capacity of approximately 17,000. Stambaugh Stadium was renovated several times since its 1982 opening:

1. In 1997, the stadium was upgraded and expanded with the addition of over 3,000 bleacher seats on the east side of the field, on the site of a practice field. In addition, a new press box was created and 14 additional luxury suites were built (12 suites pre-1997 to 26 suites today), along with a stadium club, which hosts the YSU football’s weekly press conferences. Stambaugh Stadium’s capacity since 1997 is 20,630, the largest facility in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

2. In 2009, an auxiliary scoreboard was constructed in the south end zone, giving Stambaugh Stadium a scoreboard in each end zone, along with the installation of new reserved chairback seats and 2 new flagpoles next to the scoreboard in the north end zone, one for the Ohio flag and one for the United States flag.

3. In 2015, a state-of-the-art video board installed by LED3 of Canfield was enhanced in the North End Zone.

4. In 2019, the opening of Constantini Multimedia Center.

5. A new film and meeting room is currently under construction. When completed, the facility located on the second-level hallway will feature seating of more than 100 student-athletes, coaches and staff members.

There were great student-athletes that played for YSU football during the 40 seasons that YSU has called Stambaugh Stadium its home: Tim Johnson (1999-2000), Paul McFadden (1980-1983), Marcus Mason (2005-2006), Jeff Wilkins (1990-1993), Kevin Rader, Colt McFadden, Derek Rivers, Avery Moss, Jaleel McLaughlin (2020-present) to name a few of the YSU Football student-athletes that played at The Ice Castle over the past 4 decades.

Then, there we’re the YSU Football great games that we’re playing at Stambaugh, particularly the playoff games at Stambaugh in which YSU has a record of 16-1: remember the great catch by Herb Williams against Villanova in the 1991 NCAA Division I-AA First Round that set up Jeff Wilkins’ game-winning field goal, and the great games against Alcorn State (led by the late Steve McNair), Eastern Kentucky and Montana in 1994.

Since 1982, YSU Football has qualified for the NCAA I-AA/FCS playoffs 13 times, advancing to the championship game 7 times, winning 4 of those I-AA/FCS titles (1991, 1993, 1994, 1997).

Yet, my first memory of being inside Stambaugh Stadium for a sporting event is wasn’t even a YSU Football game, it was in June of 1990 when as a kid I attended the Mahoning Valley Coaches Association High School Football All-Star Game that was played at Stambaugh Stadium. The Blue team won that game over the Gold team 19-13 in double overtime.

Even there were some great High School Football games played at Stambaugh Stadium in the 40 years since The Ice Castle opened its gates:

There were the Holy War matchups between the Cardinal Mooney Cardinals against Ursuline Fighting Irish and the so many home games from Mooney and Ursuline that we’re playing at Stambaugh Stadium in the past 40 years.

And, then the great Ohio High School Athletic Association Football Playoff Games played at Stambaugh Stadium since 1982.

Many in the Mahoning Valley still remember the Ursuline-Steubenville OHSAA Division II football playoff game played in a driving rainstorm on November 9, 1984 – a game where the Big Red of Steubenville shut out Ursuline, 8-0, that launched Steubenville’s road to their first ever OHSAA football championship in Division II 2 weeks later when they defeated Columbus Whitehall Yearling, 12-9, in overtime, and the 3 football playoff meetings between Mooney and Campbell Memorial Red Devils in a 4-year span (1986, 1988, 1989) – Campbell Memorial defeated Mooney in 2 of those meetings (1986, 1989).

It’s been a great joyride of seeing the many great moments at Stambaugh Stadium over the past 40 years, either attending a game, covering a game, or seeing it on TV.

I along with everyone at YSN Live (along with my colleagues Kristin Seidler and Scotty “Scooter” Mincher) join in wishing YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium a happy, healthy, and prosperous 40th Anniversary. Here’s to 40 more great years of more great memories of YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium.

Until the next On The Radar, this is Radar Pavlov reporting for YSN Live.