A complete history of high school football in Akron, Ohio from the first game in 1892 through the season of 1999. Every school, both public and parochial, past and present, is represented. Included are the scores of every game, coaches records, all-city teams, photos, and thousands of words of text.

Football in the Akron-Canton area can be traced back to the 1890s with Buchtel College and John W. Heisman. In the early 1900s, multiple professional teams sprouted throughout the eastern Ohio region. Major powerhouses included the Canton Bulldogs, Akron Indians, and Massillon Pros. In 1920, the Akron Pros became the fi rst modern-day national champions of organized football. With the formation of the American Professional Football Association and the National Football League, many players and coaches with ties to the Akron-Canton region have become synonymous with football excellence. Today football in this area continues to play an integral part of life from the high school level to the college ranks to all types of professional football. Akron-Canton Football Heritage traces the rich and storied history of football in the region as well as the contribution of local players, coaches, and teams through pictures obtained from multiple collections. Football in the Akron-Canton area can be traced back to the 1890s with Buchtel College and John W. Heisman. In the early 1900s, multiple professional teams sprouted throughout the eastern Ohio region. Major powerhouses included the Canton Bulldogs, Akron Indians, and Massillon Pros. In 1920, the Akron Pros became the fi rst modern-day national champions of organized football. With the formation of the American Professional Football Association and the National Football League, many players and coaches with ties to the Akron-Canton region have become synonymous with football excellence. Today football in this area continues to play an integral part of life from the high school level to the college ranks to all types of professional football. Akron-Canton Football Heritage traces the rich and storied history of football in the region as well as the contribution of local players, coaches, and teams through pictures obtained from multiple collections.

Cleveland sports history goes well beyond The Shot, The Fumble, The Drive and so many other ignoble moments. Many of the city's most illustrious sports tales are long-forgotten chapters of tribulations and tragedy, of fleeting fame and enduring milestones. There are forgotten firsts, such as football's first pass and the invention of baseball's slider having ties to Cleveland. There are overshadowed tragedies like a fatal crash involving an Indians pitcher occurring the same year two of the team's hurlers were killed in a high-profile boating accident. And then there are the near misses--like George Steinbrenner coming within seconds of owning the Indians and a famous musician who almost became a Cleveland Brown. From basketball to boxing, hockey to Heisman, journalist Marc Bona chronicles more than a century of unremembered tales.

Wicked Akron, Ohio takes the reader on a journey through the seedy underbelly of the city's history. Akron is known as "the rubber capital of the world" and home to Goodyear. But look beneath those tires and you will find dirt...a lot of dirt! Explore Akron's darkest days, when citizens burned city hall to the ground and members of the Ku Klux Klan called the shots from the schoolhouse to the courthouse. Meet a grave robber who became a political leader, a mobster who ordered police murders and a beloved bootlegger turned bail bondsman. Say hello to Frank Hurn, a flashy, frenetic, fast-talking con man who was looking for suckers to invest in the Vulcans, an NFL team he promised to bring to Akron. From city saloon to suburban hideout, this is an alternative history lesson of the sometimes dicey coexistence of the well-heeled and the workers, men and women who lived big lives during Akron's fledgling days as a canal port, its pre-Depression heyday and zenith as a Midwestern industrial success story. Author Kymberli Hagelberg, an award-winning journalist and native Northeast Ohioan, takes the reader on a morbidly-entertaining tour of the shadowy corners of Akron's history. With stories including mobsters and body snatchers, con men and Klansmen, plagues and fires, there is truly something for fans of local history and true crime stories.

Best known as the "Rubber Capital of the World," Akron, Ohio, was a major player in many industries long before Benjamin F. Goodrich moved there in 1870. From humble canal town to global industry giant, Akron rode the economic roller coaster through the Depression, wars, strikes, and financial booms. As a major manufacturing center of everything from sewer pipe to matches to oatmeal, Akron lured prospective workers from other towns, states, and even countries. This lively mix of diverse cultures helped to create Akron's unique beauty and boundless spirit. Akron, Ohio, examines this special blend of industry, culture, tight-knit neighborhoods, and high society through historic photographs and images-some seen here for the first time.

The rubber industry was born in bankruptcy and built through bankruptcies. As this history details, many of the great rubber barons--Charles Goodyear, Harvey Firestone, B.F. Goodrich, F.A. Seiberling--found themselves or their companies in bankruptcy courts. Fortunately, the industry has always proven as elastic as its product. From the early search for an American location to process the rubber of the tropics to the collapse of the industry, this is the story of rubber in America.