I have been covering high school sports in the Mansfield area for, well, 25 years now. Funny thing, I had my 30 year class reunion last month and one of my classmates had no idea what I have been doing. In fact, they said, my mother told me she thought you were trying to sell gum at one of the gas stations in town. Really? They didn’t think I could sell the gum I guess because after all they said “trying” and gum would seem to be pretty easy to sell.
Anyway, I have been in the media for a quarter of a century and I thought I would devote space this week to a list of top ten Richland County sporting events you have to see live.
10. A baseball game at Madison High School – In some schools baseball isn’t taken as seriously as other sports, not Madison. As a result nobody has had the long term success of the Rams. I love coach Doug Rickert’s aggressive approach to the game. If there was a baseball game in which my life depended on, I want Doug to manage it. Although, he might lose on purpose just so I would quick bugging him for an interview.
9. A soccer game at Mansfield Christian – The Flames were the first school around here to take soccer seriously. Yes, there have been other schools that have enjoyed success Lexington, Madison, Clear Fork’s girls come to mind. However, Mansfield Christian has stayed among the elite not only in Richland County, but the Northwest District.
8. A Mansfield Senior at Lexington boys’ basketball game – Mansfield Senior, over the last almost 20 years has been the most consistently successful boys’ basketball team in this area. They were the beast of the Ohio Heartland Conference and now the Ohio Cardinal Conference. To beat them you have to “think” you can and Lexington does. Their student body can get into some players’ heads. Plus, you get to see Bob Whitney over in the corner. Yeah, he is the guy that has been on their school board since the first year of the Johnson presidency.
7. A St. Peter’s basketball game – All you have to do is walk in the Franciscan Activities Center and see all of the banners, boys’ and girls’. There was a period of time when the Spartans goal was to win the state and they did just that–Twice as a matter of fact, in 1968 and 1978 in boy’s and 1980 in girls’. Plus, over the last 15 years they have won more girls’ games than anybody around here. And they don’t have football so their homecoming queen is elected in the winter.
6. A football game at Arlin Field – It really should be called a stadium really. It was built in the 1920s and with the improvements made in the last couple of years it has returned to glory. It has been the site of many great games, most involving the Tygers, but some not.
5. A basketball game at the “O-rena” at Ontario High School – When I was growing up Ontario had some good years in basketball, but not many. Enter coach Joe Balogh. He has won 400 games there and the unofficial name of the place is the “House that Joe built.” I must say the old gym had a huge home court advantage, especially when they turned up the heat at the nearby pool.
4. A Mansfield Senior at Madison football game – This is the true battle of Mansfield because it is a rivalry. Let me define rivalry for you. That is when both sides have a chance to win. This game is almost always up for grabs and it brings a certain intensity.
3. Mansfield Mehock Relays – Just reading about track and field and seeing it in person is a whole different story. This event brings in some cases worldwide talent to Mansfield. The relays are scheduled to return from Ashland next spring. The late Bill Rogers once told me that Ted Ginn was a better track athlete than football player. Having seen him run track I think he was right.
2. A football game at Skiles Field in Shelby – Football in this country began as a game played among the rural youth of the Midwest and is something that the Shelby community takes seriously and has for more 110 years. Likely the five most important, and well attended events, in Shelby in most years are the home football games.
1. A Lexington versus Clear Fork football game at the Corral – I am probably a little partial here because I am a graduate of Clear Fork. However, I can tell you some people in the valley refuse to say the word “Lexington” when referring to the Minutemen. When I was in high school in the early 80’s a Lexington fan came in front of famous “hill” at the Corral waving a Lexington flag. He was tackled by a 40-year old fan and both were excused. When I was in eighth grade after a basketball game, not football, there was a near riot. No, I didn’t throw any punches. I was 5’3” and 95 pounds. But, I knew better than to say Lexington.
After years of toil and sweat behind radio station microphones, longtime broadcaster, Jeff Swank joined the new generation of sports followers on the web.
Swank launched his internet radio station with nothing more than some wire, a box with some knobs and switches, and an itch to do much more than just scratch the surface of everything sports.
Richland Source is proud to introduce Jeff as a writer focused on high school sports. He will contribute a weekly column and analysis of a featured game of the week from one of our area high schools.
In addition to his work at Richland Source, Jeff provides complete high school sports coverage for over 70 Ohio schools at his web site, http://www.swankonsports.net76.net/.
