AKRON & CANTON

WORDS BY JEREMY DILLAHUNT

Akron and Canton, Ohio, may be located in the area known by the coasts as the “flyover,” but if you’re a fan of classic Americana attractions like football, marbles and soapbox racers these two diminutive Midwestern cities, separated by less than 20 miles, are more Shangri-la than the middle of nowhere.

Pro Football Hall of Fame

Once the epicenter of American manufacturing, the central Ohio region has evolved and adapted to the new realities of America’s place in the world economy, but still pays respect to its industrial culture every summer with idiosyncratic celebrations that are the legacy of the region’s factory heritage. Each of these three events trace their origins back to the time of the assembly line, steam whistle and swing shift.

HOF Emmitt Smith display Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony Canton, Ohio. August 7–8 www.profootballhof.com/history

Every summer, nearly one million football fans join the celebrations in Canton. While the actual ceremony and induction take place on a Sunday with the following Monday night’s preseason game in Fawcett Stadium—this year it’s the Chicago Bears versus the Miami Dolphins— officially marking the end of event, Canton, the NFL and area businesses sponsor 11 days of festivities. During this time, there is something going on for everyone. Fans and family vacationers can go hot-air ballooning, check out an NFL fashion show, watch fireworks, attend rock ‘n’ roll concerts, sample the tastes of barbecue ribs “cookoffs” and watch not just one, but two parades; just to name a few activities.

While much of the pomp and fanfare is meant to flatter the players, it is also a reflection of football’s working class roots. That the hall and ceremony are located in Canton is no accident, for Canton is as much a part of football’s history as Vince Lombardi or Jim Thorpe.

Football’s history can be traced back to three originations: athletic clubs and colleges sponsored local teams as far back as 1862; professional baseball teams like the Philadelphia Phillies formed football club spin-offs (the first championship game was called the “World Series of football”), and businesses sponsored factory teams, most famously represented by the ACME Packing Corp responsible for the Green Bay Packers. Ohio, specifically Akron and Canton, took a particularly strong interest in the game and produced the sport’s first powerhouse clubs in the Akron Pros and Canton Bulldogs. In fact, by 1904 Ohio had at least seven pro clubs, by far the largest concentration of football at the time.

HOF 2004 Class
One of this year’s inductees, Fritz Pollard played halfback for the Bulldogs back in 1919, was the sport’s first black coach and player and is considered by many football aficionados to be the first true running back in the game. Pollard was chosen along with quarterback legends Steve Young, Dan Marino and Benny Friedman to be the hall’s class of 2005 by a committee of media representatives. (Though shrouded in mystery, Go has it from a good source that the process for choosing Hall of Fame honorees has three key components: beer, chili and a comfortable couch.)

If you’re a member of the Dog Pound, know what it means to be a Sea Hawker or, like many, proudly claim the mantle of armchair quarterback on Sunday afternoons, a trip to this year’s induction ceremony may well be a homecoming of sorts for you.

LITTLE KNOWN NFL FACTS

Football, like most professional sports, is a facts and figures game with statistics for almost everything. Here are some tidbits for the trivia obsessed.

• The Baltimore Ravens are named in honor of one-time Baltimore resident Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “The Raven.”
• Football was officially separated from its Rugby roots in 1876 by Walter Camp, the founder of American-rules football.
• October 27, 1906, marks the first forward pass ever completed in a football game.
• John Brallier became the first professional football player in the history of the game when he accepted $10 to play for the Latrobe YMCA in 1895.
• The oldest team in the league is the Arizona Cardinals, formed in 1898 as the Racine Street Cardinals.
• NBC broadcast the first football game in 1939.
• In the first Super Bowl, 1967, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in front of a 62,000-person audience.

Tom Dempsey holds the record for longest field goal made at 63 yards.

Teaching the technique Akron District Marbles Tournament www.akronmarbles.com

For some reason, the city of Akron went, well, marbles over marbles between the early 1800s all the way to 1950. During that time, the city was home to 25 marble factories. Some, like the Sam Dyke factory, produced as many as five million marbles per day. (This child’s toy pastime eventually led to the physics behind making perfectly spherical ball bearings.)

In 1923, the Akron Press newspaper sought to piggyback on the toy’s popularity and sponsored the first Akron District Marbles Tournament. This year, the tournament marks its 82nd year of competition. The championship match, held June 11, is open to any qualifying kid aged 14 years and under and draws contestants from all over the country, no doubt in part because the champion wins a trip to Disney World.

The All-American Soap Box Derby
www.aasbd.com

Marbles TournamentGoodyear Tires is an Akron-based manufacturing powerhouse of yesteryear. While many of the manufacturing jobs have left the area, Goodyear is still a major player in American factory-culture heritage, and since 1936 has presented one of the nation’s more revered and mythologized pastimes, the All-American Soap Box Derby at Derby Downs.

Every July, more than 500 regional winners from across the nation and globe meet in Akron to challenge each other in a test of slow starts and fast finishes. The gravity-powered cars compete on a specially designed 989-foot course for up to $3,000 in education scholarships. As you may suspect, these soapbox racers are nothing like the wagon-bottom and apple box top that you may remember from your own childhood derby days. Past champions have achieved speeds of over 30mph, and this year’s competition introduces a special class of unrestricted racers designed to break derby speed records.

The All-American
Soap Box Derby

Off the beaten track, Ohio has some rather peculiar attractions. If you’re looking to get away from the standard museums and tourist traps try these little-known spots:

Warther Museum—A quick 20-minute drive from Canton, Warther’s is a museum dedicated to the particular genius of Ernest Warther. Warther began whittling to pass the time while he watched over cows in the field. His hobby quickly became an obsession, then an art form. He carved exact replicas of trains, part by part. Even the bells move on miniature hinges. Some of his cravings have as many as 10,000 individual pieces. www.warthers.com

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad—Leaving from Canton or Akron, the CSVR railway is an old-fashioned way to day trip. Fares are around $20 for adults, and the railway usually creates trips around various themes, including wine tasting or history lessons. The Cuyahoga Valley is a beautiful creation of nature, and the train follows the river past the Erie Canal, waterfalls and placid lakes. www.cvsr.com

Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens—Built by Goodyear Tire founder FA Seiberling, the Tudor Revival style house has 18 bedrooms, 25 bathrooms, 23 fireplaces, a gate lodge, gardener’s cottage and carriage house. Initially set on 3,000 acres, the Stan Hywet Hall now encompasses 70 acres of Japanese and English gardens, a lagoon, great meadow, dell and conservatory. The hall is located about 20 minutes outside of Canton and is an idyllic setting for an afternoon picnic. www.stanhywet.org

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© Bruce S. Ford/City of Akron
© Pro Football Hall of Fame