Published: Friday, December 15, 2006
Dedication is slated for new gymnasium
Events are planned in between Saturday's basketball games.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN — Saturday will be an important day in the history of Chaney High sports.
That's because the school's newly-constructed, 1,100-seat gymnasium, which was completed for the start of the 2006-07 school year, will be dedicated during a formal ceremony between Chaney's boys and girls basketball games.
The girls game will start at 6 p.m., the dedication ceremony will follow and the boys game will begin at about 8.
Dignitaries expected to speak during the dedication are Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, Chaney principal Bob Spencer and John Tullio, assistant to the superintendent who has helped to guide the city athletic programs.
Also invited are members of the Youngstown board of education led by president Michael Wright.
Presentation to school
In addition, George "Shotgun" Shuba of Austintown, a former Brooklyn Dodgers player and a Chaney High graduate, will present the school with a copy of an historic photograph taken of himself with Jackie Robinson in 1946 when both were teammates on the Dodgers' Class AAA farm team in Montreal called the Royals.
In the photo (a gesture of good will that spanned the racial divide that existed at the time), Shuba is shown shaking hands after Robinson crosses home plate after hitting a home run.
It is believed to be the first photograph taken in professional baseball of a white player shaking hands with a black player. The photo of that historic handshake has become famous in the history of sports and important in civil rights in America.
Shuba went on to play seven years with the Dodgers starting in 1948, and became the first National League player to hit a pinch-hit home run in a World Series game.
Robinson was the first black player in the major leagues when he joined the Dodgers in 1947.
"George Shuba will present the school with the photograph and we probably will mount it somewhere in the gym lobby, although that hasn't been determined yet," said Jim Mullally, Chaney's athletic director. "[The photo] does help with the diversity issue, and this symbolizes the importance of diversity at Chaney High."
Games set all day
Mullally said that other basketball games also are scheduled Saturday throughout the day in the new gym as part of the celebration.
"We will have a full day of basketball," Mullally said. "The freshman girls will play at 9 [a.m.], the JV girls at 10, the freshman boys at 11 and the JV boys at 12. Then the alumni will come in at 3 p.m. All of the alumni are invited to come in to play."
Mullally also said the fund-raising campaign to sell memorial bricks to raise money to help enhance the school's new gymnasium, and to develop a memorial concourse in front of the facility on Overlook Avenue, has been a big success.
"We have taken in over $10,000 in bricks," said Mullally, who headed the brick fund-raising campaign. "The bricks are an on-going project."
He said memorial bricks will be on sale Saturday at the new gym.
He expects the memorial concourse to be completed next spring, noting that Tabor Landscaping will install the bricks and Crown Monument will do the engraving.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Events are planned in between Saturday's basketball games.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN — Saturday will be an important day in the history of Chaney High sports.
That's because the school's newly-constructed, 1,100-seat gymnasium, which was completed for the start of the 2006-07 school year, will be dedicated during a formal ceremony between Chaney's boys and girls basketball games.
The girls game will start at 6 p.m., the dedication ceremony will follow and the boys game will begin at about 8.
Dignitaries expected to speak during the dedication are Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, Chaney principal Bob Spencer and John Tullio, assistant to the superintendent who has helped to guide the city athletic programs.
Also invited are members of the Youngstown board of education led by president Michael Wright.
Presentation to school
In addition, George "Shotgun" Shuba of Austintown, a former Brooklyn Dodgers player and a Chaney High graduate, will present the school with a copy of an historic photograph taken of himself with Jackie Robinson in 1946 when both were teammates on the Dodgers' Class AAA farm team in Montreal called the Royals.
In the photo (a gesture of good will that spanned the racial divide that existed at the time), Shuba is shown shaking hands after Robinson crosses home plate after hitting a home run.
It is believed to be the first photograph taken in professional baseball of a white player shaking hands with a black player. The photo of that historic handshake has become famous in the history of sports and important in civil rights in America.
Shuba went on to play seven years with the Dodgers starting in 1948, and became the first National League player to hit a pinch-hit home run in a World Series game.
Robinson was the first black player in the major leagues when he joined the Dodgers in 1947.
"George Shuba will present the school with the photograph and we probably will mount it somewhere in the gym lobby, although that hasn't been determined yet," said Jim Mullally, Chaney's athletic director. "[The photo] does help with the diversity issue, and this symbolizes the importance of diversity at Chaney High."
Games set all day
Mullally said that other basketball games also are scheduled Saturday throughout the day in the new gym as part of the celebration.
"We will have a full day of basketball," Mullally said. "The freshman girls will play at 9 [a.m.], the JV girls at 10, the freshman boys at 11 and the JV boys at 12. Then the alumni will come in at 3 p.m. All of the alumni are invited to come in to play."
Mullally also said the fund-raising campaign to sell memorial bricks to raise money to help enhance the school's new gymnasium, and to develop a memorial concourse in front of the facility on Overlook Avenue, has been a big success.
"We have taken in over $10,000 in bricks," said Mullally, who headed the brick fund-raising campaign. "The bricks are an on-going project."
He said memorial bricks will be on sale Saturday at the new gym.
He expects the memorial concourse to be completed next spring, noting that Tabor Landscaping will install the bricks and Crown Monument will do the engraving.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Saturday will be an important day in the history of Chaney High sports.
That's because the school's newly-constructed,...
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