Mallory's been the high road and low

July is the time of year the Youngstown Hardhats semi-pro football team would be in high gear and hot gear.
A quarter century ago, Larry Mallory was in the thick of action on steamy Saturday evenings.
Now, the former lineman works for the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services inside Pickaway Corrections Institution where he's the administrative supervisor.
"We had some pretty good teams," Mallory said of the years he played: 1976-78.
Like himself, several Hardhats were from Warren Western Reserve High, including Lou Kelson, Vern Wireman, Marty Murray and Steve Ellis.
Shoestringed Greene
Mallory recalls sacking former Ohio State quarterback Cornelius Greene in one game.
"I had to dive because he was getting away. But I got him by the shoestrings."
At the time, Mallory worked in the coke plant at Republic Steel in Warren.
"I got weekends off to play games. Some of the older guys from the mill who followed me in high school came to watch. I remember looking up and seeing them."
Mallory was a two-way tackle when he made first-team all-Ohio his senior year when Reserve was state runnerup after losing to Mooney, 14-3, in 1973.
Mallory said he was the player who tackled Ted Bell when the Mooney standout was injured.
"I'm not boasting, but I made the stop. But he shouldn't have been playing by that time in the game. We lost that game at the Rubber Bowl, but we beat Mooney, 6-0, in the regular season."
The Raiders finished 11-1 that season, but were 12-0 his junior year when Reserve beat Cincinnati Princeton, 37-6, for the state Class AAA crown in 1972.
"We had Ross Browner that year," Mallory said.
Now living in Pataskala, Ohio, the former Hardhat said the away game trips were the best.
Own gas money
"We'd drive our own cars to Montreal and Buffalo and other places. We used our own gas money. We'd all pitch in and ride in one car. Those were fun times."
Times weren't so fun when Mallory ended up as a prisoner for 19 months.
"I was incarcerated at Pickaway, but turned my life around," he said of his drug and alcohol addiction. "I was the first person in the State of Ohio to came back and work in a parent institution where he was incarcerated."
Mallory, who turned 47 on July 7, also owns transitional homes as a co-director of T.A.B.A. House.
"It stands for Turn Around, Begin Again. It gives guys another chance after being released from prison."
Both the Hardhats and Youngstown's other pro team in recent years, the Pride, had brothers of two famous athletes play here.
Larry Griffin (Archie's brother) played for the Columbus Stingers against the Hardhats in Lowellville in 1977 and 5-foot-7 Larry Jordan (Michael's brother) played for the Chicago Express in the World Basketball League at Beeghly Center in 1988.
Good, bad and old
Does one good negate two bads?
While digging deep for a watermelon at the grocery store recently, a shopper gave me his unsolicited advice: "the best aren't on the bottom." A few seconds later, a woman calmly helped herself to the cart I parked by the bin.
At the deli counter, some guy approached me and asked if I had found Jesus. He told me that man does not live by bread alone.I said, "I know. He also needs lunch meat."
On the other hand, at the hardware store, a stranger named Scotty Wynn, who said he played football at Ursuline in the late '30s, came to the rescue and paid my $0.43 tab after I found my pockets empty.
My wife and I recently celebrated our 31st anniversary.
She said we're growing on each other.
Like mold on cheese?
XJohn Bassetti is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write to him at & lt;a href=mailto:bassetti@vindy.com & gt;bassetti@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;.