For most of his adult life, Bob Hannon spent his mornings in bed and his Friday nights at work.

Then he started his new career at the United Way.

“The first day was a huge adjustment,” said Hannon, WYTV’s sports director from 1988 through August who is now the president and chief professional officer for the Youngstown-Mahoning Valley United Way. “I have to get up at 6 a.m. to beat my two daughters to the bathroom. The first day I was in there, they were like, ‘You can’t be in here now. You need to get out.’”

In his previous life, he got up at 9:30, drank a glass of orange juice and headed to the YMCA. His work day started at 3:15 p.m. and ended at midnight.

Now his day starts with an alarm clock and several cups of coffee.

“I can’t stay awake past 8 [p.m.],” he said, chuckling. “I haven’t seen a single high school football game. There are days when I wake up on Saturday and I don’t know who won a single game.

“Bill [Castrovince of WYTV] has asked me, ‘Hey, did you see Frantic Friday?’ And I’ll be like, ‘No, I got the scores the next morning from the Vindy.’”

In 20 years, Hannon never missed a Friday night during football season unless he was traveling with the Penguins. (He still handles radio play-by-play duties for YSU football games.) Most Friday nights, he went to a couple different games, coordinating coverage with WYTV’s crews, worrying about deadlines and watching games as a reporter, not a fan.

“You never really got to enjoy the game,” he said. “You’re always on the run.”

Hannon plans to attend the Ursuline-Mooney game on Oct. 17 at Stambaugh Stadium (and maybe a few others, if he can stay awake). It will be different — he’ll go as a fan and actually be able to watch the whole game — but one thing won’t change.

“I’m going to try to get in with an old media credential,” he said. “I still have a couple Channel 33 shirts they didn’t take back, so I’m going to say I’m still working there part-time as a freelancer.”

As for his new job?

“For the first time in my life, I’m working,” he said. “I like this job a lot and it’s going well. It’s tough raising money in this economy, but I’m glad I did it. I think I’ll look back on it as the hardest job I’ve ever loved.”

Here are some highlights of his previous career.

Q. Best player you covered?

A. Maurice Clarett. He was a man among boys. He had it all — speed, vision ... well, I don’t know if he had it all. Let’s say he had it all on the football field. He was on a different level. Even if you didn’t know who he was, you could watch for two or three minutes and know he was special. The player I wish I could have seen was [Girard’s] Nick Cochran. I came [to WYTV] after his last football season and I saw him play hoops. He was the best passer YSU ever had and he was the best athlete I ever covered.

Q. Best team?

A. I thought that [2001] Harding team [with Clarett]. It’s not an answer everyone will like because they didn’t win a state championship, but they had a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. Another great team was the Ursuline team that won a state championship [in 2000].

Q. Best game?

A. The Niles-Chaney playoff game [in 2000]. Mike Burns was the running back for Niles and Brad Smith was the quarterback for Chaney. Each team had a star player who played great and there was a lot on the line. It went back and forth [Niles won 21-20 in OT] and it lived up to the hype.

Q. Best place to watch a game?

A. Poland. For whatever reason, every time I went to Poland it was a great game with a great crowd.

Q. Best fans?

A. I’d say South Range. They don’t have the largest fans or the most creative, but it seemed to me whenever you went there, you got the feeling the entire community was there. I always enjoyed going to the small school games.

Q. Best coach to deal with?

A. Don Bucci. When I started there [at WYTV], they said, ‘He’s tough, he’s not easy to deal with, you’ll have to stay at practice all night, you’re not going to get any good video because he runs the same play. ...” But he always took the time and he seemed to care about people. He cared about more than just football, which is ironic because the perception was he only cared about football. He was always a gentleman. That’s an easy choice.

Power poll

Big schools: 1. Ursuline. 2. Boardman, 3. Mooney, 4. Poland, 5. Hubbard. Honorable mention: Liberty.

Small schools: 1. McDonald, 2. South Range, 3. Girard, 4. Leetonia, 5. LaBrae. HM: Columbiana, Western Reserve.

Midseason thoughts

UThe biggest surprise so far? Howland’s 2-3 start. At the beginning of the season, I felt Ursuline and Howland were 1-2 among Valley teams. Now the Tigers will probably need to win out to make the playoffs and with two 5-0 teams left on the schedule (Poland and Liberty), that’s a tall task.

UThe second-biggest surprise? Girard’s 5-0 start. After starting QB Adam Charles was lost for the season during the team’s first scrimmage, the Indians could have folded. Instead, they look like one of the teams to beat (LaBrae is the other) in the Blue Tier of the All-American Conference.

UPoland is much better than I expected. That 5-0 start is no fluke.

UUrsuline’s coaches probably weren’t very happy to see DE Jamel Turner predict an undefeated season, but, well, it doesn’t seem all that crazy, does it?

ULiberty RB Fitzgerald Toussaint is an absolute beast.

UMy midseason MVP: Girard’s Kyle Stadelmyer. He’s not the Valley’s best player, but no one is more valuable to his team. Runner-up: Toussaint.

UMy top coach so far is McDonald’s Dan Williams, who graduated the most prolific passer in school history in Matt Krumpak and yet the Blue Devils are averaging 45 points a game. Runner-up: Bud McSuley, Girard.

XJoe Scalzo covers sports for The Vindicator. Write him at scalzo@vindy.com.