Sunday, December 16, 2007
Two regular season, high school doubleheaders are set at the Chevrolet Centre.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN — There will be more boys regular season high school basketball games at the Chevrolet Centre this season.
Thanks primarily to a $5,000 grant from Boardman philanthropist Tony Lariccia and his family, and the dedication and perseverance of a local organizing committee, there will be doubleheaders on back-to-back Tuesdays — Jan. 22 and Jan. 29 — at the three-year-old arena.
Called the Chevrolet Centre High School Basketball Series, the doubleheaders will match Metro Athletic Conference teams Jan. 22 and Inter Tri-County League and Trumbull Athletic Conference squads Jan. 29.
Canfield will meet Struthers and Campbell Memorial will play Poland Jan. 22 at 6 and 7:45 p.m., respectively, while McDonald will oppose Western Reserve and Liberty will meet Girard Jan. 29, also at 6 and 7:45 p.m., respectively.
“The home teams in these games are Struthers, Poland, Western Reserve and Girard, and they all agreed to shift their home games to the Chevrolet Centre and signed contracts to do so,” said Paul Andraso of Hubbard, who is the committee’s treasurer and administrator.
The home teams will be paid $1,500 for switching their games from their home courts to the Chevrolet Centre, to be compensated for the loss of revenue they would make if the game were played at home, explained Andraso.
Andraso, a retired Hubbard High athletic director, also is commissioner of the ITCL.
Besides the Lariccia family, who sponsored the seed money to launch the project, other sponsors are Home Savings bank, National City Bank, Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers and the Curbstone Coaches.
“I hope this helps keep kids off the street,” said Lariccia.
Several area league commissioners and school administrators conducted a series of meetings to determine the feasibility of bringing games to the Chevrolet Centre. The committee hopes to bring more games, including girls, each season to the downtown venue and to attract OHSAA tournaments.
All participating schools will be involved in the project. Besides each home team being reimbursed $1,500 for switching its home game to the Chevrolet Centre, each visiting team also has an opportunity to generate income by selling tickets. Each participating school will be given 400 tickets to sell in advance of the games ($4 for students and $6 for adults), and will be reimbursed 40 percent of their gross sales. All tickets at the gate will be $6.
Tickets are being sponsored by Wendy’s.
The Curbstone Coaches will sponsor four Most Valuable Player plaques which will be presented after the conclusion of each game.
Posters advertising the games also will be distributed throughout the participating communities and the area.
“If there is a big turnout of fans and the gate receipts are high, each participating school also will get a share of the profits over and above their ticket sales at the schools,” said Andraso.
Kyle Miasek, the Committee’s second vice president and deputy director of finance for the City of Youngstown, said that, “The series will become a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation, and that almost all of the money that we make will go back out primarily to participating schools, with the possibility that certain charities also eventually will become beneficiaries.
“Everyone involved in this project — the City of Youngstown, the Chevrolet Centre and the high schools — wanted this series to happen and will benefit from it. It is a win-win situation for everyone involved,” said Miasek.
Besides Andraso and Miasek, other committee officers are Mel Staats, first vice president and Trumbull Athletic Conference commissioner; Eric Ryan, third vice president and Chevrolet Centre executive director; Pat Guliano, fourth VP and Northeast Athletic Conference commissioner; Clem Zumpella, fifth VP and Metro Athletic Conference commissioner, and John Mang, sixth VP and assistant commissioner of the Federal League.
Other Committee members are Mike Butch, commissioner of the Steel Valley Conference; Greg Cooper, Canfield athletic director, and John Kovach, a Vindicator sports reporter.
The committee also is represented by Jerome Zetts, certified public accountant from Canfield, and Attys. Paul Perantinides and Michael Maillis of the Perantinides & Nolan law firm of Akron.
kovach@vindy.com