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Stoops brothers return home to help
United Way event
set for Lake Club
By BRIAN DZENIS
YOUNGSTOWN
Those college football fans lucky enough to score tickets to the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley’s Champions Among Us dinner will see a rare sight.
All four Stoops brothers in the same room.
The dinner, which is on Monday at The Lake Club, will have Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, Sooners defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops and Youngstown State special teams coordinator Ron Stoops. The brothers Stoops grew up in the south side of Youngstown and are all Cardinal Mooney alumni.
According to United Way president Bob Hannon, the event has already sold out. The combination of the brothers and their Mooney connections showing up, plus Bob and Mike coming off a College Football Playoff appearance in January, helped the 500 seats sell quickly.
“I think it’s pretty neat that all four of them have agreed to come home. They didn’t ask for anything to do it because it’s Youngstown,” said Hannon, who is also the play-by-play man for YSU. “I think it’ll be interesting to hear their stories about growing up in Youngstown, not just football. They’ll talk about what growing up in Youngstown meant to them.
“We’re very appreciative of what they’re doing,” Hannon said.
Getting all four brothers in town at once proved to be a tough task. Hannon said the United Way tried to pull it off for the past couple years. It was Ron Stoops, a regular donor to the United Way, who took point in getting his siblings’ schedules to line up.
The event is expected to raise close to $250,000, a large boost toward the charity’s fundraising goal of $3 million for 2016. The last time a single event garnered that much money was when Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam attended a United Way dinner in 2014. The organization raised $290,000 that night.
“We really need to have one signature event that can raise a significant amount of money and this is that signature event,” Hannon said.
Bob and Mark Stoops have donated a few items that will be up for a silent auction.
Among them are two tickets to Ohio State’s Sept. 17 contest at Oklahoma, two spots in the team hotel with transportation and two pre-game field passes. Mark put up four tickets and four pre-game passes to any Kentucky football game, which includes hotel and travel.
Some of the charitable ventures from The United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley include the after-school program at the Youngstown Community School, donating shoes and winter clothing and providing tutoring to kids. The United Way will also be doing work at Taft Elementary, which is within walking distance of the Stoops’ childhood home.
While the coaching brothers may not be easy to gather, they all share a commitment to helping their hometown.
“Any time we’ve reached out to them to sign a helmet or a football, they’ll just say, ‘You’re from Youngstown and we’ll take care of you,’” Hannon said. “That shows what kind of people they are that want to give back to Youngstown.”