BEAVER TOWNSHIP — For the past 43 years, Tracey Innocent has been taking care of the travel needs for area individuals, groups and corporate executives.

As the travel specialist for Youngstown State University and especially its 19 athletics teams, she has become well aware of their needs, be it by ground or air even before they present questions or develop an itinerary.

“I deal with anything and everything travel for YSU employees and all of their athletics programs,” Innocent told the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s meeting at Avion Banquet Center. “It might be flights, securing buses, making car rental arrangements to and from their destination or calling hotels for accommodations, if it pertains to travel then I am ready to lend a helping hand.”

A 1982 graduate of Austintown Fitch High School, Innocent credits the Wilma Boyd Travel School in Pittsburgh for helping to kickstart her career.

“I kind of knew what I wanted to do when I graduated high school and Wilma Boyd’s Travel School helped prepare me for my career,” Innocent said. “It was an intense program but I learned a lot so when my schooling was completed, I felt like I was ready for a future in the travel industry.”

Her first job was with the former A. Porter Travel Service, lasting with the company for seven years – she resigned after the 1999 Super Bowl – where among her many duties she tended to the travel needs of the San Francisco 49ers and their YSU clients.

“It was like a baptism under fire, yet a lot of fun because you were always busy,” Innocent said. “I was involved with YSU, their athletic teams and we did a lot of work for the 49ers as well so you became well aware of the needs and wants of those who were traveling.”

She then moved over to Petzinger’s Pan Atlas Travel, working in their satellite office which was based on the YSU campus and located in Kilcawley Center.

Since 2018, she has been employed by the University as its travel specialist.

“With 19 men’s and women’s athletics programs, there is always something travel-wise that needs to be coordinated,” she said. “Staying ahead of the game and preparing a team’s travel months in advance is paramount. All sports keep you busy, but the busiest time for me is when you have crossover seasons, in October and November when everything is happening at once.

“There are teams either in season in the fall, there are sports starting in the spring which I have to prepare for and there are the daily happenings, too, so things can get really intense at times.”

The rule of thumb is when you have more than eight hours to travel, usually a flight is involved. Less than eight and you usually take the bus.

“In football, there are multiple trips that need to be planned so I must put out bids for charter flights,” Innocent said. “In our conference [Missouri Valley Athletic Conference], with the exception of Indiana State, which we will bus to even though it is a seven-hour ride, there are several games we will fly to plus non-conference games that might be bus or fly.

“With charter flights, you must have a decent aircraft that can take you from coast-to-coast, if necessary, with the travel party at least 125 people plus some extras that we must accommodate so you need to have the right size equipment. Hotels must be squared away, space arranged for eating and meetings and everything must fit the needs of the team.”

“There are other logistics involved, too. What I will do, we use what is called an FBO or Fixed Base Operator and there is one at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport. I will communicate with them at our airport, as well as to where we are flying, give them our bus information then they will escort the buses out to the tarmac or off the plane and onto the buses. There is a lot of security involved.

“In basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, baseball, softball and the other sports, I deal with their director of operations and each program has their preferences when it comes to travel so they help me out with their needs. We work so close together, we have become like family.”

A typical day for Innocent might involve securing airline tickets, working with hotel contracts, finding bus companies, working on the phone when a flight is cancelled or manifest changes, all the while adhering to deadlines.

The industry changed on July 17, 1996, when TWA Flight 800, amid suspicion of foul play, exploded over the Atlantic Ocean just 12 minutes after takeoff from New York’s Kennedy International Airport, killing all 230 people aboard.

“To ensure everyone’s safety, you must now provide your ID or passport to be able to travel,” she said. “Before that, you had your ticket and were set to fly while ID’s were never collected.”

Serving as a travel agent and traveling with a team has been most fulfilling for Innocent.

“The one thing about my time working with sports teams is that it has allowed me to experience places and meet people that I would never ordinarily have met or talked to on the phone,” she said. “Each day brings a new experience.”

Next week, President Bill Johnson of Youngstown State University will serve as guest speaker.

On February 23, YSU quarterback Beau Brungard, recipient of the FCS Walter Payton Award this past season, will serve as guest speaker.

The luncheon will begin 15 minutes earlier than normal since Brungard has a class at 1 p.m. that he must attend.