The Curse of Youngstown Sports

With the Cavaliers having been swept in the Finals last night, a lot of the talk up here has been about the so-called "Cleveland Curse" that has plagued the different franchises in the city. The Drive, the Fumble, Jose Mesa, MJ over Ehlo, and now, the Sweep, are all familiar phrases to Cleveland sports fans.

There are, of course, a lot of Cleveland fans in Youngstown, and they have suffered through these same events. Life has been a little rosier for the Pittsburgh fans in town, which has certainly added some fuel to the rivalry. Youngstown is pretty much on a "fault line" when it comes to Cleveland vs. Pittsburgh sports, and that always keeps it interesting.

Anyway, this whole Cleveland Curse thing got me thinking about our own teams in Youngstown and the existence of a possible "Youngstown Curse" on our own teams. Granted, Youngstown doesn't have any major professional franchises and nor have we struggled as a unified fanbase with the heartbreak and the near-misses that the Clevelanders have. Our curse is not with losing per se, but with losing our teams.

The whole thing starts with the Youngstown Patricians, a semi-pro team in the early 1900s that competed against more well-known teams like the Canton Bulldogs. The Patricians took their name from St. Patrick's Church on the South Side, which had a big part in the founding of the organization. The Patricians, although apparently a good team, eventually disbanded. That, of course, is not unusual, given how many of the teams back then were organized and run. However, the success of the Patricians may have played an important role in the granting of an NFL franchise to Youngstown in 1922. For whatever reason, though, the team never actually saw the field- thus beginning the Youngstown Sports Curse.

Most of what I've found on the Patricians, by the way, comes from here.

The failure of Youngstown's NFL franchise set the stage for more heartbreak. The Youngstown Hardhats, a semi-professional football team, played a few successful seasons in the 70s before eventually disbanding. Of course, the most representative instance is that of the Youngstown Pride, the basketball powerhouse and WBL member that was the brainchild of Mickey Monus and the Phar-Mor company. That, of course, did not end well. In typical Youngstown fashion, corruption reared its head and doomed both the franchise and the league (and Phar-Mor, too).

Since then, there have been a number of failed sports ventures in town, including the Youngstown Hawks basketball team, which played their games at the old South High field house. Although it was hard enough to draw a crowd to that location because of safety concerns, the Hawks also scheduled the majority of their games on Friday nights, up against the local high school games. With high school sports being king in the Yo, it was a recipe for disaster.

Shortly afterward, the Mahoning Valley/Youngstown Wildcats were formed and played a season or two in Struthers before abruptly disappearing from the face of the earth. In similar fashion, the Mahoning Valley Panthers (aka "MVPs") of the Ohio Valley Football League were formed in 2005- and haven't updated their website since.

One can make the argument that professional sports in Youngstown are, right now, at their apex. There are three legitimate franchises in the area right now- the af2 Mahoning Valley Thunder, the Youngstown SteelHounds, and the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. In addition, the Mahoning Valley Phantoms of the NAHL are a thriving organization. The Thunder are in their inaugural season, the SteelHounds are coming off their second year (and a playoff season), and the Scrappers are only a couple of years removed from an NYPL championship and boast both C.C. Sabathia and Victor Martinez as alumni.

Still, though, there's pessimism about each team. A lot of people are worried that the Thunder will be a hard sell, given the high ticket prices and relatively small size of the market. The SteelHounds' future is a big question mark at this point (see below) and hockey has yet to really catch on in the area. The Scrappers, although a good team, haven't been attracting the crowds that they used to. It's hard to say if these concerns are valid- just how much of it is based on natural Youngstown pessimism and the fallout from the Youngstown Pride disaster is hard to quantify.

Obviously, I'm hoping for continued success from all of these teams. It's important for the area, as a united entity, to have teams to root for and identify with. Obviously, YSU will always fill that role, especially during football season. However, having organized, professional teams helps give the area that added sense of legitimacy and value- we're big enough, important enough, etc., to have pro sports. Maybe these teams will stick it out, survive, and bring some more pride to the area. It's possible that the "curse" is over, and that our ability to have sports teams will experience the same type of revival that much of the rest of the area is starting to experience. Unfortunately, we can only wait.