Steve Arnold

If you go …

HOW MUCH: Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.

Mahoning Valley sports fans know Steve Arnold from his days as an athlete at Warren G. Harding High School in the early 1980s and later as the school’s first African American head coach, both in basketball and football.

Arnold’s leadership didn’t end on the court and field. A lifetime of sports history and mentorship is chronicled in “Born to Lead,” a memoir/autobiography written with Gerald L. Guy, former executive editor and sports editor of the Tribune Chronicle. Arnold will do a book signing and Q&A 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Harding cafetorium.

“I wrote the book because I had a unique story to tell from a perspective that a lot of people didn’t know,” said Arnold, who has been basketball coach at Liberty High School since 2024.

People had been telling him for years that he should write a memoir about his life. He started scribbling notes and doing audio recordings of his memories but soon realized he needed help in shaping those memories into book form.

He reached out to former Tribune Chronicle sports editor David Burcham, who recommended Guy, his predecessor. Guy became sports editor in 1978 and later executive editor at the Tribune Chronicle until 1988. Since retiring from newspapers in 2004, he’s written more than 30 books, primarily novels.

“It sounded like an interesting story,” Guy said. “He was gracious, vulnerable, forthcoming. I never asked him a question that he refused to answer, and I had lots of questions.”

Arnold had made about 50 audiotapes before he contacted Guy. There were more than 200 tapes by the time the book was finished a year later, along with phone calls multiple times a week.

In addition to working with Arnold, Guy interviewed dozens of other people to flesh out some of the stories. Two of the most helpful sources were AVI Foodsystems President Anthony Payiavlas, whose support helped Arnold establish a culture of excellence in the way the athletic program operated, and Frank Parker, a former all-Ohio basketball player who became Arnold’s confidant.

“Frank was very, very enlightening and open,” Guy said. “It took other people to tell me about some of the racial things that Steve faced when he became the first black head basketball coach in Harding history. Steve didn’t talk about that.”

Arnold ultimately shared those stories and didn’t shy away from any sensitive topics, including his battle with depression and thoughts of suicide following his mother’s death in 2016.

“I would hear about people wanting to commit suicide, and I would say, ‘Man, how can someone want to commit suicide?,'” Arnold said. “I don’t say that anymore, because you never know what could make a person on the brink of doing that. I’m hoping that with people reading this, they can see how I came through that period in time in my life, which was a very dark side.”

A portion of the proceeds from book sale will be used to establish a scholarship fund in memory of his mother.

Along with coaching, Arnold worked with the Tavis Smiley Foundation as a national coordinator of its Youth to Leaders Conferences, which are designed to help young people enhance the quality of life in their communities.

“That broadened my horizons for the people that I was able to meet and the workshops I was able to put on,” Arnold said.

One of the people he met through those workshops was a state senator who spoke at a workshop in Chicago. A few years later, that state senator would be President of the United States — Barack Obama.

In telling Arnold’s story, Guy included plenty of local sports history, but he believes the book will have appeal to more than sports fans. Arnold agreed.

“I think the book is for everyone — young, old, black, white, athlete, nonathlete.” Arnold said. “I think I cover the spectrum in the book. Anybody that reads it is going to be entertained.”