BEAVER TOWNSHIP — Most individuals work harder at their vocation than their avocation. Others spend more time working at their part-time hobby than their full-time profession.

Then there’s former Mahoning County Clerk of Courts, Tony Vivo, whose alter ego, Champ Summers, got to enjoy both aspects of his life equally.

A Boardman native and 1976 Boardman High School graduate, Vivo earned his Bachelor of Science degree in communications in 1981 from Ohio University, long considered one of the top broadcasting schools in the nation.

Upon graduation and only after serving as a part-time employee in the clerk of courts office, he joined the office full-time — his father, Anthony, was head of the office from 1960-94 — as an administrator, a position he occupied until 1994.

Beginning in 1995 and until his retirement in August 2023, Vivo spent 28 years as an elected official heading the very office he worked in, where he was responsible for maintaining all felony and civil documents for the Common Pleas Court, 7th District Court of Appeals and the four area courts in Austintown, Boardman, Canfield and Sebring, also overseeing its automobile title department.

While he enjoyed serving the public for well over six decades, he still needed to satisfy his love for sports, music and the theater. So when his work day ended — as a longtime Detroit Tigers fan, he adopted the name Champ Summers in honor of the former Tiger outfielder and first baseman when broadcasting or performing — it was as if another day began for the former county department head.

“I am the product of an Italian father and I definitely get my love of sports from him,” Summers told the Curbstone Coaches on Monday. “He was an excellent athlete and is a member of three area athletic halls of fame, and as a member of then-Youngstown College’s basketball team, is one of four former Penguin players to have his jersey retired — No. 36 and what an honor that was. My mother, who was Irish Catholic and Serbian, is the person who cultivated my love for the arts, especially music and theater, and I cannot thank her enough for that part of my life.”

Summers has performed in multiple choral and theatrical productions, including those offered by the Youngstown Playhouse, Easy Street Productions and Athens Children’s Theater.

He also toured Germany, Belgium and Sweden in 1981 as a USO performer and has remained a part of the local arts scene since his high school days.

Satisfying his sports broadcasting background was another story.

“I was the public address announcer for Boardman High’s football and basketball teams and that prepared me for what I was about to experience at Ohio U.,” Summers said. “I eventually joined the WOUB radio-tv staff, and little did I know at the time, but their late sports director, Vince Koza, would become a lifelong friend.

“I learned a lot from him and others on that staff as we broadcast basketball games in the Central Ohio League and many Athens High School football, basketball and baseball games. I had my own sports talk show and did a feature on the history of the Super Bowl, which afforded me the opportunity to interview Bart Starr, Warren native and Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Paul Warfield and former New York Jets head coach Weeb Ewbank. All three were gracious with the feature, (and it was) picked up and used on National Public Radio, a high point in my broadcasting career.”

A diarist who collects information on all sports and files those tidbits in a notebook — Summers has over 25 notebooks filled with historical data on which he relies, 15 solely for high school football — Summers lent his expertise to area high school basketball and football broadcasts on Clear Channel from 1978-2010, while also serving as one of three studio hosts when he joined Jim Evans and Denny Leibert for its popular Sports Wrap show.

Summers was also part of The Vindicator’s Friday night high school scoreboard show for two seasons, and never accepted a stipend for any of his broadcast duties.

“I never wanted to use my real name, also feeling that it wasn’t right to be paid since I already held political office,” he said. “Listeners would hear Tony Vivo and most would never actually pay attention to my sports knowledge thus, the name change.”

Looking back, Vivo is glad that he chose Champ Summers as his on-air sports name.

“It was between Champ Summers and another former Tiger utility infielder, Wayne Krenchicki,” Summers said. “Need I say any more?”

Next week, Stan Boney, WKBN-TV, Channel 27 news director will serve as guest speaker.

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