No band goes unstretched

Dick Hartzell's place on North Meridian Road is jumping.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dick Hartzell knows something about winning championships and what it takes to be a champion.
He was a Golden Gloves boxing champion, and football teams he coached at Struthers and West Branch were involved in championship play.
Jump Stretch Inc. is an industry that services all athletes. From the beginning of Hartzell's battle to bring his Jump Stretch bands to use, a lot of championship athletes have come through his doors, wherever they have been.
His North Meridian Road fitness center has been a place for all athletes to improve, and three recent examples tell that story well.
Successes
Chuck Campbell, coach of the West Branch High girls basketball team, knows a lot about Hartzell.
"I knew Dick from my early days at West Branch, and there isn't a person I know who is more of a major motivator than him," said Campbell. "My team started using them [his bands] seven years ago, and we went to state that year."
This past season, Campbell guided the Warriors to the Division II state championship. He works the bands before the season and into practices.
"The greatest asset of them is in our warm-ups before we touch a ball, because if our work with them is proper we can just about eliminate injuries," he said.
Jessica Deville, the daughter of Dave and Sandy Deville, was one of Ohio's best basketball players as a four-year starter for Leetonia High.
As a sophomore and junior she was a second team All-Ohio selection, and, as a senior, the 6-foot-1 player was first team All-State and Division IV co-player of the year.
She averaged 24.6 points and 14.6 rebounds, shooting 60 percent from the floor and 74 percent at the foul line. The Bears were 75-23 in her four seasons at Leetonia.
Deville had 1,742 career points and 1,215 career rebounds, finishing with seven school records. The class valedictorian accepted a full-ride to the University of Akron.
Indoctrination
Dave Deville took his daughter to Hartzell's fitness center while she was in junior high. Her work with Hartzell's bands continued at Wayne and Patty Johnson's gym in Columbiana.
"Ankle injuries are very common for basketball players because of quick starts and stops, and with Jessica working with stretch bands it never happened to her," said Dave Deville.
"Without her work with the bands she would have never been the athlete she was."
Added Jessica Deville, "Jump Stretch bands throughout my career contributed to all areas of athleticism and especially to my everyday confidence as an athlete and a student."
Nate Hartung, a 6-3 1/2, 410-pound junior nose guard and center at Butler (Pa.) High, is the oldest of Dick and Linda Hartung's nine children. When he was in the fifth grade he weighed 280 pounds.
Nate has been a football starter since he was a freshman. With 60 major schools in the recruiting hunt, offers have already come from West Virginia and Syracuse.
He has a 62-inch chest and a 22-inch neck, and his bench max is 470 pounds. He squats 725 and dead lifts 625. Nate has visited Notre Dame and Ohio State and is going to see Joe Paterno at Penn State.
Word of mouth
Dick Hartung happened to coach Brian Denaman, the son of Rich Denaman of Fitch basketball fame, at Butler Community College. Even with his incredible strength, Nate needed work with his movement, and Rich Denaman suggested Hartzell's fitness center last summer.
Now the Hartungs make the trip to the fitness center three times a week for two-hour workouts, hoping to gain speed, agility, flexibility and explosiveness.
"Now every school we visit knows who Dick Hartzell is when we mention him," said Dick Hartung.
"I am in the best shape of my life, and I get better every day I work with the bands," added Nate Hartung.