Trending
STEUBENVILLE -- Local leaders say the committee tasked with selecting a site for the National High School Football Hall of Fame will be hard-pressed to find a community that celebrates high school athletes, coaches and achievements more than Jefferson County.
Steubenville is on the short list to be home to the National High School Football Hall of Fame, competing with Pittsburgh, Massillon and Valdosta, Ga., for the honor, Mayor Ralph Petrella says. At a Wednesday press conference, Petrella said he's confident the community can pull together and make it happen.
"What makes our bid special is our community," Petrella said. "High school football is the cornerstone of our cultural community in Steubenville. When there is a game in town, our city shuts down -- our community wraps its arms around high school football, and it really embraces every aspect from the training process to the film study. Our city understands football, and this is why we're a great place for it."
Petrella sees Steubenville as the common-sense choice, pointing out that in Pittsburgh the new hall of fame would compete with three professional sports teams as well as NCAA Division I football programs for top billing.
"Coming to Steubenville, the Hall of Fame would be the attraction -- there wouldn’t be anything overshadowing it," he said. "It would be all hands on deck to make sure that we can accommodate them and that we show as much pride and support and passion for this project as possible."
Petrella figures they also have an edge on Massillon and Valdosta.
"Geographically, we are in a better location because we’re closer to an airport, and we’re right off a main U.S. highway and a major state highway," Petrella said. "We’re within a five-hour radius of 60% of the population of the country, meaning that you can be here in five hours and then stay the night."
Commissioner Eric Timmons said landing the hall of fame would be huge.
"It's economic development we’re talking about," Timmons said. "We’re talking about jobs, we’re talking about people and tourism. This is kind of everything that we’re wanting -- it’s a big opportunity that I don’t want to see slip away from the county and the area, and we're looking forward to the partnerships that will make it happen."
Petrella credits Steubenville High School head football coach Reno Saccoccia for getting the community on the Hall of Fame committee's radar. He said the coach, inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame two years ago, was approached by the CEO of the Hall of Fame.
"He put us in contact (with each other), and then we had a conference call with some of our officials last week to discuss how we could move forward, and we were added to the bidding process."
Saccoccia said when he got the call from the CEO, "I just felt that the passion, the passion of the Ohio Valley for sports -- we’re talking about football now, but there's a passion for all sports. There’s just not a bigger place (that can match) the passion we have here for competing -- not just in football, but in all sports and all walks of life. As a coach and as a parent, you want to teach your kid to compete. The competition is first class in the Ohio Valley, and I’m proud of the way Steubenville backs its academics, its athletics and anything we try. I just think that this will be a great place for the Hall of Fame."
He also pointed out both SHS and Steubenville Catholic Central have state championships on their resumes.
"When I think of high school football in Ohio, Steubenville is one of those spots," Catholic Central head football coach Greg Bahen said. "Football’s king here, it just means a lot to the whole town. With all the tradition and history, obviously with Big Red and Central, every Friday and Saturday here football is kind of king. Getting the Hall of Fame here would mean a lot."
Councilman Royal Mayo said "the proper location, the proper building" are crucial.
"I see it as part of the development of downtown," he admits. "I would like to see it somewhere downtown, on a nice site with ample parking. I would like to see it rival a building the size of the (SHS) STEM building, something on that scale -- something that Steubenville could be known for."
Petrella said it's an amazing opportunity.
"We really believe that if we get this bid, it’ll really push economic development as a whole because we’ll need hotels, we'll need restaurants, we’ll need more attractions," Petrella said. "This will spread into other developments -- maybe a lodge where you can come and stay, visit our national attractions, catch a game in the fall ... they could spend a whole week here."
He said they're already brainstorming locations, "looking through how our corporate sponsors and how our community stakeholders can all come together, figure out ... grant types and funding types (are available), but we really want to make a collaborative effort to fulfill the needs of the organization."
Petrella thinks that's exactly what the committee is looking for.
"I think they are looking for a true collaborative effort, and to my understanding, their biggest 'want' is the community: They want to be embraced. This organization wants to show the pride and love that they have for high school football, and I think Steubenville is the best place for that."