Description
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The Massillon Washington High School football program isn’t a typical high school football program. It’s a ministry of football with the first season dating back to 1894. In this small, midwestern Ohio rustbelt town, the community has rallied around this team every Friday at historic Paul Brown Tiger Stadium (capacity 16,000) for decades. The school has produced numerous NFL standouts, including coaching legend and Hall of Famer Paul Brown. The Massillon support- locally and nationwide- is unrivaled and is arguably one of the most recognizable and successful high school football programs in the country.
Author and award-winning journalist and sportswriter David Lee Morgan, Jr., teaches English and Creative Writing at Washington High School. When he accepted the job to coach the running backs just before the start of the 2019 season, he decided to chronicle every angle, every story, every emotion for this book. The Tigers finished the previous season 14-1, with a loss in the state championship game. The expectations were that Massillon would reach the title game again the following year. And with that, Morgan, having unprecedented access to the staff, players, and day-to-day operations, began to chronicle the season.
Although Massillon has won 24 state championships and nine national championships, the Tigers have not won a state title since Ohio implemented a playoff system in 1972. That is why some critics call Massillon the “Paper Tigers.” The program has been trying to shed that moniker for years and this book chronicles Massillon’s quest to win that elusive and long-awaited title.
Author and Coach David Lee Morgan, Jr is the author of seven books,
including (LeBron James: The Rise of a Star, More Than a Coach: Jim Tressel). He was a long-time journalist and sportswriter for the Akron Beacon Journal (15 years) where he covered high school, college and professional sports. He covered the University of Akron athletics, the Mid-American Conference, and was the Cleveland Cavaliers beat writer during the 2002-2003 season. Morgan also covered the rise of LeBron James from 6th grade into the NBA.
In 2010, Morgan was honored by former Governor Ted Strickland and First Lady Frances Strickland at the Governor’s Mansion as one of 10 featured authors in the state at the Ohioana Book Festival in Columbus, OH. Morgan was a three-time Ohio Prep Sportswriter’s Association Writer of the Year (2004, 2007 and 2009) and was runner-up for Best Sports Feature Writer by the Associated Press Society of Ohio in the large-division category in 2010. He was the Winner of the James A. Sutherland Award, chosen by the Ohio Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in 1996 as the top “rookie” reporter in Northeast Ohio. Morgan has appeared in the full-length feature film, “More Than A Game,” the movie documenting NBA All-Star, Gold Medal Winner and World Champion LeBron James’ rise from high school to the NBA. Morgan was inducted into the Warren (OH) High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 2017 and inducted into the Trumbull County African-American Achievers Hall of Fame in 2004.
The foreword of the book is written by Former OSU Buckeye Coach Jim Tressel who’s dad was a Massillon Coach when Tressel was a kid.
Read the blog from Editor Scott Ryan about attending Massillon games his entire life.
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