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Teens gather to listen to Clarett’s message
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Former Warren Harding and Ohio State football standout Maurice Clarett, right, addresses the audience during a speaking engagement Wednesday at The Riot youth center of Victory Assembly of God in Coitsville. Over 150 youths from northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania attended the event, which was sponsored by Victory Revolution Youth Ministry, which is headed by Pastor Nate Ortiz, left, a friend of Clarett.
By Ryan Buck
Coitsville
Joshua Prentice doesn’t consider himself a football fan. He says he never followed it, other than a passing interest in the Pittsburgh Steelers.
An aspiring videographer and film producer, the 15-year-old Prentice made his way across the Ohio border from Edinburg, Pa., to see and hear from — interestingly enough — perhaps the most well-known football player the Mahoning Valley has ever produced.
Prentice says it’s because Youngstown native and former Ohio State standout running back Maurice Clarett has a message that has little to do with football.
Clarett spoke before more than 150 northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania youth at Victory Christian Center on Wednesday night. He has become a regular visitor to the campus and its Victory Revolution Youth Ministry, headed by his friend, pastor Nate Ortiz.
Clarett’s football exploits and fame matter little to Prentice.
“He’s real,” Prentice said. “He’s very open and honest about his past and how he’s been able to take his experiences to help people. People our age can relate to it because he was about our age when he began heading down a troubled path.”
Clarett, back in the Mahoning Valley from his home in the Columbus area, covered numerous topics, especially his past. He has made it a mission in life to teach youth across the world about overcoming adversity and avoiding the pitfalls that ruined a once-promising football career and threatened his life.
He recently spoke with a childhood friend who has been in prison since he was 16. Clarett believed the story would hit home with the audience.
“This guy’s still locked up stemming from a mistake he made years ago,” Clarett said. “Like anybody in this room, young or old, you can make a choice that alters your life forever.”
Ortiz, who moderated the event, later asked his friend to reflect on what he wishes he would have done differently during his youth.
“I wish I would’ve valued the moment and didn’t feel like I had to grow up so fast,” said Clarett, 30. “I was always in a rush to go to the next level. I was always in a rush to do something. I didn’t connect with my peers as much as I would’ve liked to and develop those friendships. I was always in my own world.”
Near the end of the question-and-answer session Clarett was approached by Chris Flascher, a Mahoning County corrections officer, about the importance of role models, if not parents.
Clarett, who served nearly three years in prison after a guilty plea to robbery and carrying a concealed weapon, told Flascher he found purpose there, particularly in being a reliable father to his young daughter and husband to his fiancee.
Since the release of “Youngstown Boys,” the ESPN documentary that chronicled his life story, Clarett says he’s received nothing but positive feedback.
Now in perhaps the best shape of his life, Clarett says he knows football is behind him, but plans for bigger goals. He plans to continue to share his story before inquiring groups and build a community center on Youngstown’s north side.
“I’m living for the future,” he said.