This page represents some fun moments over the years that have nothing directly to do with work experience. Hope you enjoy!
Pictured with a legend
It’s not often that the average person gets a chance to rub elbows with a true legend, but that was the case here. In this photo from the late 1970s, you see a shy and star-struck teen (yours truly) on the right pictured with Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach Paul Brown (left) and my father, Chris Mitsoff. At the time, Chris was the publisher and editor of the Beavercreek News.
The photo was taken at one of the Beavercreek News’ annual visits to Bengals summer training camp at Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio.
Chris told me the following story, which is paraphrased: In 1968, when the Cincinnati Bengals were an expansion American Football League team, Chris took members of his Beavercreek News staff to Wilmington College to do a story on the brand-new team which was founded by Brown, also the founder of the Cleveland Browns.
Chris said the rationale for taking his small weekly newspaper staff to Wilmington was that coverage of the new pro football team in other Dayton-area media was slim to none. When the Bengals’ media relations person set up a time for Chris and his staff to interview Paul Brown, the expectation was that it would last a few minutes. Brown, as it turned out, was very generous with his time, and was thankful for the media coverage in the Dayton area. Brown spent a significant portion of the afternoon with Chris and his staff.
For years thereafter, the Beavercreek News was always welcomed to Bengals training camp. In fact, during the visit pictured above in the late 1970s, we were invited to have lunch with Paul Brown, his son Mike Brown (current owner of the team), and the coaching staff. (At that time, the head coach was Homer Rice.) It was an opportunity for our news staff to ask questions about the team, but in an atmosphere much different than the typical “press conference” scenario.
Paul Brown never forgot about the small newspaper from Beavercreek that brought its staff down to training camp for a day when the team was still in its formative stages. I’m sure this played a big role in converting Chris from a Cleveland Browns fan to a Cincinnati Bengals fan, which is something he passed on to me.