Growing Up Youngstown

http://newsok.com/article/3285452/?print=1

The University of Oklahoma football coach, Bob Stoops, and I share a common thread. We're both from Youngstown, Ohio.
The Oklahoman, interestingly enough, ran a story this week on Stoops' roots. I've linked to it above. It's all about Youngstown. (Thanks for sharing this, Arnella!)
As the story points out, on Nov. 1, two kids from Youngstown's south side will be slugging it out as head coaches of two of college football's most storied programs.
Oklahoma and Nebraska.
Stoops and Bo Pellini will face off then.
Stoops now is heading into his 10th season as coach for the Sooners.

It's nice to see Youngstown getting some positive attention, but the truth of the matter is that Youngstown is an economic mess, and that cannot be forgotten. The most successful people are FROM Youngstown, not in Youngstown.
The old soldiers of that city's development and growth are dying. I include among those my grandmother, who at age 90 is still one of the toughest people I know.
She and my mother raised us (basically) in Youngstown. Both women represented the grit, determination and ambition of the city at one time.
We grew up multi-culturally, but we never called it that. We just knew we had neighbors who were as poor as we were and in a pinch, we'd help each other out. Arthur and his family would grow tomatoes; the Pratts who lived behind us would offer popsicles on hot summer days and bread; we had pasta and rice, representing the combination of our ethnic Italian background and our adopted Puerto Rican family.
We lived in a house on Oak Street on the city's East side, just down the street from the house where my mother had been born in 1938. My sister, brother and I walked to Lincoln Elementary School each day and participated in sock hops and other social events.
We didn't want to give up that house, but crime moved in hard and fast. So we left that area and moved out to a more rural place, where I ended up graduating high school.
In today's economy, Youngstown has been on the losing end. It's a shame that a once-vibrant city has to be characterized as that.