Correspondent photo / Brandon Cantwell... Mayor Jamael Tito Brown announces plans to induct the city’s five world championship boxers to the Walk of Fame next year at Thursday’s ceremony.

YOUNGSTOWN — An emphasis was placed on learning and appreciating the area’s rich and expansive history Thursday as part of the Walk of Fame plaque unveiling.

“I want people, when they come to Wean Park, to learn about our history, our heritage. But a lot of people (ask), ‘Well, what about this person? What about that person?’ We got a lot of talent. We got a lot of opportunities,” Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said.

The Mahoning Valley is no stranger to talent or unique characteristics, but Youngstown has especially strong ties, which led to the Walk of Fame at Wean Park downtown.

“We got a lot of park. … Every year we’re going to take one artist, two artists, or maybe three or four artists at a time and we’ll have a committee to do so.”

The Walk of Fame was launched last year, with R&B band Kool & the Gang’s Robert “Kool” Bell and late brother, Ronald being its inaugural inductees.

Brown said before coming back to Youngstown, Bell spoke about not being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

That changed in April however, when they were announced as part of the class of 2024 also featuring performers Mary J. Blige, Cher and Ozzy Osbourne.

The plaque features a QR code that will provide anyone who scans it with information about the inductee.

Brown announced plans to induct the city’s five world championship boxers – Harry Arroyo, Jeff Lampkin, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Kelly Pavlik and Greg Richardson – as the Walk of Fame’s next inductees. The boxers will be notified individually in the coming weeks.

Brown said once communication is established, all five will be inducted at once because it’s a “good, even way to do it.”

“When I go places and I tell people I got five world champion boxers from my city and people, they’re amazed by it. I think some things we take for granted.” Brown said. “Others, they soak it up and say ‘man, that’s great to see, great to have’.”

Brown added that having a history of talent in the area shows its courage and durability.

“We invented grit, but the resiliency that you find from Youngstown is not just sports, it’s arts, it’s music,” Brown said. “So all those pieces that we find in other places, they are still right here in our community.”

“I think we have rich traditions,” Brown added.

Melanie Clarke-Panella, events coordinator for Youngstown, explained that it took six months after meeting with Kool & the Gang to finally get things moving because of the winter freeze. However, she said things will get going now.

Clarke-Panella said Brown has plans to put out a voting system for future inductees via Google Sheets, which will be on the city’s website.

With May’s Realty Tower explosion resulting in events such as the Greater Youngstown Italian Fest being canceled and Grammy-winning country singer Tim McGraw’s concert being postponed until 2025, Clarke-Panella said the biggest concern they’ve had is vehicle-related.

“I think the largest concern right now is parking and after the building accident, you know, that made the very precious parking already scarce,” Clarke-Panella said. “And an artist like Tim McGraw would, I would imagine, you know, we would be packed.”

The city hosted its third annual Fireworks & Food Trucks tailgate event afterward, bringing in numerous food vendors from all over Ohio, the most they’ve had for the event, officials said.

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