Youngstown high schools

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Woodrow Wilson High School

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Image by Joan Minenok Yanchick. ©Joan Minenok Yanchick. Used with permission.

Over the past couple years, I’ve written brief articles about the history of the public and parochial high schools in Youngstown. Today is the day for Woodrow Wilson High School. I had two personal connections with Wilson. One was that when I was visiting my girlfriend (now my wife), who lived in Brownlee Woods in the days when I-680 ended at South Avenue, I often cut over to Gibson, drove past Wilson, and took a few other side streets over to Midlothian. The other is that my wife’s best friend from childhood to this day was a Wilson grad (my wife went to Cardinal Mooney). It turns out that this was not uncommon–students from the two schools often grew up and hung out together.

With the growth of the Southside in the 1920’s additional school space was needed. Woodrow Wilson opened in 1928 to serve junior high students and initially also had six classrooms dedicated to grades 1-6. There were also two rooms dedicated to Fresh Air students with special needs. By 1932, with the opening of Bennett Elementary and increasing crowding, the decision was made that Wilson would serve only Junior High students, grades 7-9. In 1936, students moving on to 10th grade stayed at Wilson and by the 1938-39 year, it became a full-fledged high school with enrollment totalling 1551 students. In 1939, an addition was built for vocational and arts programs.

Joan Minenok Yanchick (’72), a source for much of this article, described Wilson as the hub of the community. Various extra-curricular programs from athletics to cheerleading to arts and drama programs meant that students were often around the building from early morning until 10 pm in the evening. There was always a great sense of both pride and cameraderie, beginning in the early years when students and faculty teamed up to collect the funds to plant lawns and landscape the dusty and muddy surroundings left by construction of the school. In Joan Minenok Yanchick’s day, she recalls how a group of 28 girls gathered each day in the cafeteria, pushing tables together.

Woodrow Wilson High School Cafeteria, Image by Joan Minenok Yanchick. ©Joan Minenok Yanchick. Used with permission.

Every school has traditions. One begun in 1928 that continued for many years was the bugle call that accompanied the flag-raising each day. Wilson was also an innovator among Youngstown schools, instituting the first afternoon conference period between students and teachers to discuss the day’s school work. They were also the first to establish a permanent homeroom for all years of the high school. For many years the last part of the lunch period featured motion pictures in the auditorium. For two cents a day you could see movies like Captain Courageous. The auditorium was also the site of many outstanding play productions, some under the direction of Bob Vargo, including Oliver and Oklahoma.

Woodrow Wilson auditorium from the balcony. Image by Joan Minenok Yanchick. ©Joan Minenok Yanchick. Used with permission.

Wilson continued to change over the years. A new wing was added in 1953, and in 1954 a World War II Memorial was dedicated in remembrance of Wilson graduates who gave their lives in service to the country in that war. Later, when the building was razed, the wall was preserved and installed in the new Woodrow Wilson Alternative School and Virtual Academy. In 1962, Wilson’s teams, long known as the Presidents, became the Redmen. In 1985 Bernadine Marinelli became the first woman to serve as principal.

Like all schools, students found ways to engage in a variety of high jinks. In the mid-1960’s, a tree in front of the school was cut down. Many possible suspects were suggested, including Mooney students, but the identity of the prankster remains a mystery. Students were permitted to walk home for lunch. Some took advantage of this to hang out and smoke with friends at a pizza shop across from the school until school authorities figured out what was going on and declared the place “off limits.” Perhaps the most famous and abiding mystery is whatever happened to the engine buried on Earth Day in 1970, a symbolic act to represent eliminating the pollution produced by internal combustion engines. At an event sponsored by Student Council and the Key Club, a Health Department official spoke on pollution, the engine was buried–and subsequently disappeared. When the Wilson building was razed, people searched the area where the engine was buried with metal detectors, but it could not be found.

Newspaper clipping from The Vindicator of the Earth Day Engine Burial at Wilson High School. Clipping courtesy of Joan Minenok Yanchick.

As Youngstown’s school population declined from the 1980’s on, South High School closed in 1993 and then East in 1998 (to subsequently reopen in a new building). Students came to Wilson from both schools. In 2004, the school transitioned to a “Small School” concept with part of the school becoming the Class Academy and part the Center for Interactive Exploration. With further enrollment declines, the class of 2007 was the last to graduate from Wilson. On May 26, 2007 over 2000 alumni walked through the school for the final time, sharing stories with their children and grandchildren. The building was razed in 2008 but the Wilson name lives on at 2725 Gibson as the Woodrow Wilson Alternative School and Virtual Academy. It houses the War Memorial and serves grades 3-12.

Main Hallway. Image by Joan Minenok Yanchick. ©Joan Minenok Yanchick. Used with permission.

The hallways of Woodrow Wilson High School are only memories, along with the strains of “Wilson High, We Love You Dearly” and the Wilson fight song, to the tune of Ohio State’s “Across the Field.” I suspect a number of graduates still have their copy of Orion, their school yearbook and reminisce at alumni reunions. Many alumni will drive great distances just to have dinner with another Wilson alumnus. Once a year, a number of alumni gather for the Woodrow Wilson Geneva Bike Run. It sounds to me that for many, ties of friendship run long and deep.

I hope those of you who are Wilson alumni will add your own memories to this history. Go Redmen!

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I’d like to thank Joan Minenok Yanchik for her help with images, memories, and history of Wilson without which this article would not have been possible.

The “History of Woodrow Wilson High School” compiled from Olga Jaronski (’39) and Debbie Smith (’68) was an invaluable resource, also scanned and sent to me by Joan Minenok Yanchik.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — The Rayen School

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The Rayen School ca 1912. Public Domain via Wikipedia

Having written about several other high schools in Youngstown, it is time for me to write about Youngstown’s first high school, The Rayen School. While it is referred to as Rayen High School, including in the image above from 1912, proud alumni have told me that the real name is “The Rayen School” and so that is the name I will use in this article.

The Rayen School’s name and origins go back to Judge William Rayen, one of Youngstown’s early founders, who died childless in 1854. Regretting his own lack of education in his youth, he left a gift for the youth of Youngstown in his will, where he wrote:

“As this school is designed for the benefit of all youth of the township, without regard to religious denominations or differences, and none may be excluded for such or the like reasons or grounds, I hereby prohibit the teachings therein of the peculiars religions, tenets, or doctrine, of any denomination or sect whatever; at the same time I enjoin that no others be employed as teachers than persons of good moral character and habit who by precept and example will instill into the minds of those under their charge the importance of industry, morality, and integrity in all the relations of life.”

He left a sizable bequest for his day, $31,390 which would be $1,140,163.27 in 2023. In 1866, The Rayen School was opened at Wood and Wick. The distinctive red brick was the work of Youngstown’s premiere bricklayer of the day, P. Ross Berry, a Black bricklayer and architect. The original building was expanded over the years and served as Youngstown’s only public high school until South High School was opened in 1911.

The continued growth of the city led to the need for a new, larger facility, and The Rayen School moved to its new building at 250 Benita Avenue in 1922. The old structure served for a time as an elementary school and the home of the Rayen School of Engineering for what was then Youngstown College. Later, it was purchased by the Youngstown City School District for its headquarters, which were moved to the new East High School when it opened. The superintendent’s office is still in the original Rayen building and it serves as the home of the Youngstown Rayen Early College High School.

According to Wikipedia, The Rayen School continued to operate on funds generated from the Rayen, and the name “The Rayen School” became the popular name for the school in the 1940’s. The school was widely known during this period for the quality of its teachers and its rigorous academic standards. Edward Manning, from the class of 1933, in an oral history interview stated:

“We were very fortunate; we had all of the teachers that had taught at the old Rayen. Those were some of the best teachers in Northeastern Ohio. The teachers at Rayen would lecture and we had to take notes just as in college. We had one teacher, Miss Wallis, an English teacher she was a world traveler. She could tell you about England, France and other European countries. She has been to the Louvre in France and any of those big art galleries in Italy. She brought that outside information into the class, just the same as the college professors. Most of the teachers we had there were way above average.“

Over its history, The Rayen School had 19 principals and graduated over 50,000 students. Some of the graduates about whom I’ve written include William Stewart, the first black legislator from Youngstown, Joe Flynn, most famous for his role in McHale’s Navy, and François Clemmons, the talented singer and Officer Clemmons on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Albert Warner, one of the four Warner Brothers, also graduated from The Rayen School.

Rayen Stadium was built in 1924, and also served as the home field for Ursuline High School and for Youngstown State until Stambaugh Stadium was built. It was the site of football history when Dike Beede first implemented the use of the penalty flag on October 17, 1941 in a game against Oklahoma City University. The stadium fell into disuse in the 1980’s and was restored as Jack Antonucci Field in 2012, honoring another Rayen alumnus.

The school did not survive that long, closing and being razed in 2007, due to declining enrollments. Before closure, a 65 foot mural commemorating Rayen history, painted by art instructor John Benninger and his students in the 1958-59 academic year, was removed, originally destined for Rayen Middle School, which was never built. Instead, it has been cleaned and resides at the Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center.

The Rayen School had a great 141 year history as Youngstown’s first high school. If you went to Rayen, I’d love to hear of your memories of the school.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Chaney High School

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Main entrance to Chaney High School. Photograph ©2019 by Robert C Trube, all rights reserved.

I’ve written about many of the people and personal experiences connected with Chaney High School, but realized after my story last week on East High School that I have never really written an article on the history of Chaney. It is a story that runs through my family. Both of my parents, my brother, sister, and I are all Chaney graduates. This year in particular seems an appropriate one to write that history as my graduating class of 1972 will hold its fifty year reunion.

The early 1920’s were a boom period in Youngstown’s history, with rapid growth outward from the downtown in all directions. At that time, only The Rayen School and South High School served the whole city. The Board of Education reached the decision to build new high schools on the East and West sides of town, that would be named East and West High Schools, respectively. While West High School on N. Hazelwood Avenue was under construction (along with what was then Cleveland Elementary, later to be West Elementary), N. H. Chaney, the former superintendent of schools in Youngstown from 1902 to 1920, died in 1925. He had planned and oversaw the growth of Youngstown schools, and the decision was made to name the new high school in his honor. Chaney High School was born and opened in 1926.

C. W. Ricksecker was the first principal of the school, serving in this position the entire time Chaney was on N. Hazelwood. He was the principal of the Chaney my parents attended. They spoke of his discipline and high standards. In high school, my mother won a statewide chemistry award. One of the people he recruited was Chester McPhee, who taught physical education and coached football and basketball at the old Chaney throughout its history. He was the coach of Frank Sinkwich, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1942 and went on to a brief career in the NFL. George “Shotgun” Shuba, whose handshake with Jackie Robinson was recently commemorated with a statue in Wean Park in downtown Youngstown was also a Chaney graduate. Many others, including my father, went on from their education at Chaney to military service in World War 2, as reflected in this 1943 yearbook paying tribute to those who had already given their lives in service to the country. The yearbooks in this era were called the Rig Veda. Only later would they reflect the Cowboy theme and become The Lariat.

The late 1940’s and 1950’s were another time of growth, during which Youngstown reached its peak population of 170,000 people. Home construction continued on the West side, particularly in the Kirkmere area out to the western and southwestern city limits. Under the leadership of superintendent of schools Paul C. Bunn, plans were made for new schools to accommodate this growth, including a new Chaney High School, located at 731 S. Hazelwood, more central to the whole West side area it would serve. A school levy was passed and the school was built at a cost of $1.4 million and dedicated on February 20, 1955.

C. W. Ricksecker, principal throughout Chaney’s life up to that point was entrusted by Board chair Warren P. Williamson (of WKBN fame) with the “guardianship” of the building. Ricksecker expressed his appreciation for this new facility as he stated, “We are grateful for this palace of learning, for through its modern equipment we may the better teach and inspire youth in a time of increasing difficulty in educational work.” Over 1000 people attended the dedication including the daughter of N. H. Chaney and numerous city leaders.

My first visit to Chaney was in the fall of 1961 during the Sabin vaccine distribution to fight polio. My brother was in his senior year while I was in second grade at the ancient Washington Elementary and I was so impressed with how new and modern it was and thought, “one day this will be my high school.” During those years, Chaney continued its tradition of competitiveness in sports under Lou “Red” Angelo and, during my time at Chaney, Ed Matey, who coached for many years and eventually served as athletic director for Chaney and eventually, the Youngstown Schools. Matey led Chaney football teams to eight City Series championships, coaching future NFL players like Matt Cavanaugh and Jerry Olsavsky. In all, Chaney won more championships in football in the old City Series than any other Youngstown high school. After Ed Matey retired from coaching, Chaney football teams won fourteen more City Series championships before the end of the City Series in 2006.

My memory of Chaney was of several inspiring teachers. I hesitate to name more than one because others will tell me who I left out. One of my favorites was a math and computer science teacher, Mr. Erickson (I write more about him and other inspiring teachers here). He was friends with Harvey, the invisible (to us) rabbit who would visit and with whom Mr. Erickson would speak. He always made math interesting, and offered some of the first computer programming classes when programs were still written on IBM punch cards and run on mainframes that would fill a room and had less computing power than my cell phone. Our principal was Mr. John Maluso, who just recently passed away in his 90’s. Over the years, Chaney graduated not only great athletes but a number of people who excelled in a variety of fields. One of the most notable was Thomas Bopp, the astronomer who co-discovered the Hale-Bopp Comet.

Library and Media Center, Photograph ©2019 by Robert C Trube, all rights reserved.
Chaney Gymnasium entrance, Photograph ©2019 by Robert C Trube, all rights reserved.

Over the years, Chaney would receive some updates in terms of a new gymnasium and a modern library and media center while four other Youngstown high schools closed. Then in 2011, I heard the news that the “last” class of Chaney Cowboys would be graduating. Chaney would be converted to a school for STEM and arts education with East High School serving as the city’s only traditional high school. That meant the end of sports teams. Then in 2018, the school board reversed course, and converted Chaney back to a traditional high school and restored a number of athletic programs. COVID has disrupted some of the rebuilding process but I look forward to more great Chaney sports teams in the future. And in four more years, in 2026, Chaney will celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of its founding. One hopes that the students in coming years will continue Chaney’s tradition of both scholarship, athleticism, and service to community and country that has marked the school throughout its history.

A final note, this is a personal perspective on Chaney’s history, and a limited one at that. I know there is much that I’ve left out. I hope my fellow Cowboys will help tell that story.

Once a Cowboy, always a Cowboy.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!