OSU grads at YSU face divided loyalties

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Dr. Stanley Guzell Jr. admits he faces a bit of a dilemma.

The management professor at Youngstown State University is a 1969 graduate of The Ohio State University and a loyal Buckeye sports fan.

Guzell was a four-year letterman in wrestling at OSU, and some of his friends played on the national OSU championship football team during that period, he said.

That presents a problem when YSU meets OSU in the season football opener at The Horseshoe in Columbus at noon Saturday.

Guzell, though, may have found a way to root for both sides.

“I’m going to wear my YSU sweatshirt and my OSU letter jacket,” he said, adding that he might throw on a YSU hat as well.

Co-workers have yet to harass him about the game, he said.

“I want OSU to look great, but I want YSU to look great too,” he said. “I feel really conflicted but so excited about the game.”

He isn’t the only one.

There are number of YSU faculty holding OSU credentials.

Ties to both

Dr. William and Maureen Vendemia, associate professor of management and professor of health professions, respectively, met while attending OSU. She grew up in Liberty and he in Austintown, but they didn’t meet before college.

Both hold OSU bachelor’s degrees earned in 1980.

The day they married was Sept. 4, 1982 — the day that YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium opened.

“I will support YSU in this game, and then I’ll go back to rooting for the Buckeyes,” Maureen said. “There’s no question. I’ll be in my YSU attire.”

“I always tell people I have dual loyalties,” her husband said, adding that he will be “right in the middle” on this game.

Read the complete story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com as part of our continuing coverage leading up to Saturday’s Youngstown State-Ohio State football game.