43
Maguire, Pelini play boccie for charity
Charity benefit features YSU coaches, Ex-NFL-er Paul Maguire
By Gary Housteau
YOUNGSTOWN
Usually the Ron Stoops Sr. and Anthony Pelini Foundation Boccie Social at the MVR precedes the two-day Camp of Champions at Cardinal Mooney High School.
Because of Independence Day falling on a Monday, the 16th annual charity benefit was tweaked to mark the end of the annual three-day event.
Among those with ties to the Mahoning Valley on hand for Sunday’s boccie gathering was Paul Maguire, the former AFL and NFL player and NFL commentator.
Maguire, a 1957 graduate of Ursuline High School, played collegiately at The Citadel. He played for the Los Angeles and San Diego Chargers of the AFL before joining the Buffalo Bills in 1964.
“I grew up with the Stoopses,” said Maguire who was born and raised on the East Side. “I grew up with Ronnie’s father and Jimmy, his uncle, and Bobby, his uncle, and Paulie, his uncle.
“I remember they used to take care of their Aunt Eunice,” Maguire said. “The Stoopses and Pelinis, they raise money for Youngstown and you can’t not support something that raises money that stays in Youngstown, Ohio.
“There’s nothing more important, in any kind of charity, where the money stays here,” he said. “And that’s what they do. So if they’re going to bring their time and energy here, then there’s no reason why everybody here should not support it. It’s that simple.”
A resident of Charleston, S.C., Maguire spends his summers in Buffalo where he’s involved in a lot of charity work for the Buffalo Bills Alumni.
“We started the alumni association in 1985,” Maguire said. “It’s all charity and it all stays in Buffalo, just like this event here.
“We’ve helped as much as 91 different charities in Buffalo, New York,” Maguire said. “We have a golf tournament and a dinner and all the money stays where it needs to stay.”
Maguire is particularly proud of one their charity’s newest endeavors.
“Now we’re getting involved with Booker Edgerson, who played with us with the Buffalo Bills in the ‘60s,” Maguire said. “He’s a survivor twice of prostate cancer.
“So we started a thing called ‘Cure the Blue’ and it’s really turning into something,” he said. “We know we can’t be as effective as the Pink [breast cancer] is but we want to do some things for men.
“Men just won’t go get tested and right now there’s no cure for prostate cancer,” he said. “So we’re trying to educate people to go and just get tested and we’ll go from there.
“We’ve raised almost a half a million dollars in a year for research, so that’s pretty good.”
In addition to his charity work, the 77-year-old Maguire, who won three consecutive AFL championships during his playing days, is still active to a degree in broadcasting.
“I still do one [college] game a year,” he said. “This will be my 47th year in football. I think it’s longer than anyone. I do one game a year for HD Net out of Denver — Wabash and DePauw. It’s fun.”
But Youngstown is and always will be home for Maguire. And he knows how proud Ron Stoops Sr. would be of what his family has accomplished
“I know more about the Stoopses than Bo’s [family],” Maguire said. “But Ronnie Stoops, the father, was probably the best athlete in the family and there were just a bunch of brothers.
“But I knew his father, we grew up together,” Maguire said. “It’s just a great family.”