Vince Lombardi. Say it! Now say with a really deep voice, doesn’t it sound like the perfect name for a football coach? When I was a younger lad, I was into history, and I was also becoming very interested in the National Football League. Luckily, one day at a garage sale I came upon a Encyclopedia of the NFL that was published in 1973. Filled with pictures of the glory days, a history of each team, zone defenses, records, referee signals, and stadiums… it instantly became one of my favorite books. Anyway, I thought, hey I should have a favorite team.
Living so close to Pittsburgh, I thought… maybe the Steelers? Being the history dork that I was I looked at their team history… “no! no!” I said, “not interesting enough for me!” Then I started reading about this Vince Lombardi, Curly Lambuea, Bart Star, Don Hudson, and the frozen tundra, Lambeau Field.
Founded in 1919, named after a meat packing company, they had cool colors, and these are just some of reasons I started rooting for the Green Bay Packers. This was around 1994 and the team was just starting to come out of it’s 30 some year loosing streak. Since at this time we did not have cable, no ESPN, and no internet I was forced to get most of my information about my beloved Green Bay Packers from newspapers, unless I wanted to dance around with television rabbit ears on my head so we could get channel 12, which I sometimes did.
As a I read more about the team, I could not help but become intrigued by Vince Lombardi. I hard nosed Italian Catholic who grew up in New York City, son of a butcher, played on the offensive line at Fordham, too small for professional sports, decided to go into teaching, then coaching, rose to professional coaching, and now has the Super Bowl trophy named after him. It’s quite a story, and I recommend “When Pride Still Mattered” by David Maraniss, a book about Vince’s life, it’s history, not just about football, a brilliant book.
It was Vince’s teaching jobs that got myself interested in that line of work. My dream job was to also become a NFL head coach, but lets face it, I’ve never played football, I don’t know anyone in football, so I thought I could become a coach, I could coach history (corny, I know)! When teaching I think it’s important to talk about the culture of an era. For one thing, it can be fun, and a slight change of pace. When talking about the 1960’s, Vince Lombardi, and the Green Bay Packers must be talked about. During the 1960’s they won 5 world championships, including the first two Super Bowls. In 1968 Lombardi attracted the attention of both Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon as a possible running mate. Lombardi, a Kennedy democrat wanted nothing to do with Nixon. I give him more praise for that than inventing the “Packer Sweep”.
When teaching history, it’s important to be creative as possible, and it doesn’t take as much time as you think. For example, during the early 1960’s Lombardi and the Packers traveled to a southern town for a pre-season game, a hotel owner told Lombardi that his Black players needed to find another place to stay, Lombardi told the owner that his team sticks together, and that his hotel would be empty that night (I can’t find the town in the book!). This example shows first hand what discrimination is like. Also, at the famous Oneida Country Club (named after the Oneida Indian Tribe) Oneida Indians were popular caddies, but only during the spring and fall when white schools boys were not available. Lombardi said, “If they’re (Oneida Indians) good enough for the spring and fall, they’re good enough for summer.” Statements such as this were unheard of at white country clubs. I would go as far to say that Lombardi helped diversify Green Bay. Before Lombardi a Black player would not even consider signing a contract with the Green Bay Packers. This is not to say that Lombardi is a perfect role model, but then again who is? His coaching methods were borderline crazy… borderline brilliant. Most of all, he taught discipline, and I think that could be interesting discussion question for class. First to examine the different types of discipline that Lombardi stressed, and then compare his philosophy to say Richard Nixon’s. You would find similarities, and some strong dissimilarities (like gun control, which Nixon was against, Lombardi for). Most of all the mention of Lombardi, or just popular sports in general can be a nice break for students, while incorporating history into the mix.

Myself and Vince. This was taken a few years ago when I went on a pilgrimage to the holy land, Lambeau Field during training camp.

1) The Lambeau Field grass.
2) Brett Favre.

For the past six months I have been attending West Virginia University for graduate school. Located along the banks of the Monongahela River, the city of Morgantown has been home to WVU since 1868. West Virginia was a land grant university, and during its early years played an important role in providing a secondary education for students. Also, during its early years, some will argue that the University was a “bully” because school officials wanted to do away with smaller colleges. For example, I earned my undergraduate degree at West Liberty State College, which at one time was called the West Liberty Normal School. A normal school provided students with a secondary education, and was also meant to teach teachers. Most normal schools were located in rural areas; therefore community members saw the importance of such educational institutions and fought to keep many of them open. West Liberty State College, originally founded as an academy in 1837 survived the turbulent years of inadequate funding while WVU grew and prospered. I think this is interesting because most people do not understand what normal schools were, and how important there were to teacher training. The conflict that occurred between smaller schools and WVU is also interesting, what would have happened if WVU had succeeded in the abolishment of smaller colleges? While this is something for historians to examine (I wrote 25 pages on it if you’re interested), it is not entirely the goal of this writing assignment (or blog).

I’ve never visited another large university campus, so I’m not sure how everyone else gets around, but here at WVU we use the Personal Rapid Transportation system (PRT). It’s basically like a subway, except it’s above ground.

There are 5 stations located in Morgantown. You simply go to one of stations, swipe your mountaineer card (it’s “free” for students and faculty), wait for a PRT to pull up that’s going to your stop, hop on, hold on, do not make eye contact with anyone (it’s like a unwritten rule, that I hate), and ta da! … you’ve ridden the PRT! Each PRT car holds about 15 people, 8 people can sit. For the most part, the campus is divided into two campuses, the downtown campus, and the Evansdale campus. To ride from each campus it takes about 10-15 minutes. The PRT runs on electricity, so there is very little pollution. In my opinion, everything is really spread out, but the PRT makes everything seem a lot closer, and it also makes WVU unique.

Going to a large university has also made one of my dreams come true. I’ve always wanted to go to a school with a library where I could have my own personal lamp, and now I have it! This is a clear example of how easily amused I am. Pictured below is the downtown library and the Appalachia reading room.

Six floors, my own lamp, and a Starbucks. This is basically where I live.
Woodburn Hall is my second favorite building on campus. Why? Well, look below, it’s amazing! It was built in 1876 and is now home to the WVU history department.
Above is a view of University Avenue. It was impossible to get a good shot of this with buildings. To right is “Woodburn Circle.”

Because West Virginia is such a rural state, and many of its inhabitants are isolated from education, I’m glad that smaller schools have been able to remain open, while WVU has also been able to grow into one of the states most prized possessions. With all of this said, I still think that it’s important that the University and other schools do more to promote education throughout the state. When one looks at the culture of poverty, what promotes it? A lack of education. So aside from my constant rambling about history, most of this blog will be dedicated to education, lessons, and poverty. So stay tuned. And sorry, I lack photography skills. Plus people were staring at me.

Well, in my previous blog I couldn’t help myself, and I went into that mini lecture about the historic Wheeling Suspension Bridge. While driving back home for the weekend I thought it might make sense if I shared some more information about the bridge, and showed the world an example of something that I purchased at one of our auctions. What you see above is a print of a painting which is titled “Wheeling in Virginia” (for those of you who don’t know, West Virginia is a state, it’s not simply “Western Virginia”). While sorting through some junk one day I found this. It was originally a page out of a book, and for some unknown reason someone ripped it out. I found it while sorting through some papers. Instantly, I hoped that I would be able to buy it, but items such as this are not sold alone. We of course throw it in with a bunch of other similar “junk” and call it a “lot. ” Anyway, on the day of the auction I kept a close eye on this particular lot and I bought it. I went well over my budget, but when I bid, I’m a wild man. So once I got it home I purchased a frame and gave it a new home, basically I rescued it.
The print depicts what early Wheeling looked like. Sadly, I’m not sure when the original was painted, I’m guessing the 1850’s. During its heyday, Wheeling thrived off of the Ohio River and the commerce that it brought. During this time period, Wheeling was the gateway to the west, and before those settlers entered the then “wilderness” - they crossed the Wheeling Suspension Bridge. Even before the suspension bridge, the completion of the National Road through Wheeling in 1818 made it the transportation hub of the state. Later, Wheeling would become well know for its glass production, china, steel, and tobacco (i.e. cigar manufacturing, we’re too far north for growing). Today Wheeling is a dwindling town that is trying to find it’s identity. First the suburbs, then the interstates, then the exits, then the strips malls… patterns such as this have left the downtown district of Wheeling idle. Sadly, the manufacturing jobs are gone, skilled trades that are forgotten by most. So if you ever come across a piece of Warwick china at a yard sale, buy it, you’re buying a piece of Wheeling (plus it’s usually rather valuable.)

P.S. Aside from the amazing photo of Fred Sanford and his loving son Lamont, the others are RPS originals (me), so like, don’t steal them or anything. Be cold… ah.. I mean cool, be cool.

Hello, I’m Ryan, and I thought I would use this first post to tell a little about myself. Currently I’m earning my masters in Social Studies Education at West Virginia University. I grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia where I still reside - when I’m not slaving away at graduate school. Pictured is the historic Wheeling Suspension Bridge. Built in 1849, at one time it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge is also home of the historic National Road. The Fort Henry Bridge (why paint a bridge green?) is home to Interstate 70.

Some of my interest include: reading, history… to make it short…. basically old stuff (plus reading and history pretty much sums it up). This interest of “old stuff” starts with my job where I assist with the removal of estates. This job allows me to basically dig through people’s stuff. You know, the stuff you never even knew you had. Sometimes we come across valuable antiques, just antiques in general, and a lot of the times, junk. Once all of this stuff is organized it is then auctioned off. I’ve purchased quite an odd collection of antique furniture, paintings, pottery, and other various items that catch my eye.

Another one of my interest include the classic television show Sanford and Son. Sometimes I feel like Lamont Sanford, plus the show debuted in 1972, one of my favorite years. From the clothes, the comedy, to the junk, I love this show. My taste in music is also rather old. Guns N’ Roses (1986-93 era) is my favorite band of all time. I have no clue why, I’m nothing like the band or some of the music they play, but I’m fascinated by their contagious culture that was so prevalent throughout the late 1980’s and early 90’s. They were unique with their own style; violent, funny, and they had a somewhat sensitive side (i.e. “Patience” or “Sweet Child O Mine”). If you were to pull up beside me at a red light here are a few songs you might hear:
Shadows of the Night - Pat Benatar (it’s okay, laugh at me).
Rocket Queen - Guns N’ Roses.
Don’t Stop Believin’ - Journey.
Hot Blooded - Foreigner.

On a more serious note, I’m interested in social justice, education, and eliminating poverty. I strongly believe that if one wished to rid the world of poverty, they could do so through education. I think this takes dedicated teachers, creative teachers, and teachers that are open minded. Too many times are the minds of students underestimated. Yes, children are more than capable of critical thinking, but the mundane routine of work sheets will not spur that interest, nor will it motivate those students that are in poverty, it will only keep them there. I’m not a fan of text books, to say the least.

I’m also into lattes, libraries, bookstores, basically - anyplace that houses books, moving furniture (a large part of my job), seafood, the Green Bay Packers, and anything else that you would consider dorky. But I’m not one of those Star Wars .. video game nerds. For some reason, I think thats important to get straight. Please pardon my poor grammar and typo’s. I’m horrible at proofreading my own stuff. I’m hoping by now you’ve stopped reading, because this is the moment that I admit I like romantic comedies. There, I said it. They make me laugh, thats all I’ll say.