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WARREN -- It is common knowledge to Mahoning Valley residents and high school football fans how prolific the area has been in producing National Football League players.
The number of players Warren City Schools has produced is even more amazing, considering the size of the city.
The first NFL Legends reunion and celebrity golf outing was testament to that prolific output of professional football players.
Many of them took part in the events at Trumbull Country Club during Warren Homecoming 2016. From Paul Warfield to Ross Browner to Mario Manningham and many others, the inaugural event drew a good crowd -- and for a good cause.
Proceeds from the event went to the Warren Gridiron Club, which supports the Warren G. Harding High School football program. The same will be true this year with the second annual NFL Legends event, though this time the focus is on the men who coached those future NFL greats.
The 2017 NFL Legends event will focus on four coaches who took Warren City Schools teams to state championships -- Tom Batta (Harding) in 1971, Joe Novak (Western Reserve) in 1972, Ed Glass (Harding) in 1974 and Phil Annarella (the newly consolidated Harding) in 1990.
The event is actually two events.
There will be a legends celebration dinner on Sunday at Trumbull Country Club. Cocktail hour begins at 5 p.m. Then at 11 a.m. Monday, there will be a golf outing, also at Trumbull Country Club, that will feature several former NFL and Warren players.
The list of former NFL players includes Cleveland Browns Kevin Mack and Greg Pruitt, Washington Redskin London Fletcher and Cincinnati Bengal Pete Johnson.
Some of the returning Warren players are Warfield, VaNess DeCree, Alfie Burch, Vanness Provitt, Prescott Burgess, David Heron, Daniel Heron, Maurice Clarett, David Arnold, Travis Davis, Ross Browner, Keith Browner, Aaron Brown, Derrick Kelson, Van Brandon, Myron Elzy, Mark Brandon and Chris Rucker.
Three ticket packages are available -- $200 for dinner on Sunday and golf on Monday; $100 for dinner on Sunday; and $125 for golf on Monday.
Batta led the Panthers to a 10-0 season and the Associated Press Class AAA poll title in the final season of Ohio high school football without playoffs. Batta's team outscored their opponents, 322-41. The biggest wins of the season came in week five, 15-8 over Western Reserve, and on Oct. 29, an 8-7 victory at Massillon.
He later went on to a long career as an NFL assistant coach, most notably with the Minnesota Vikings.
The following year, Novak led the Raiders to a 10-0 season and two playoff victories, 23-15 over Toledo Scott, and 37-6 over Cincinnati Princeton. Western Reserve claimed the first-ever on-the-field Class AAA title in Ohio. That team had a 286-74 scoring edge over its opponents. The closest victories were 7-0 over Austintown Fitch in week two, and 21-14 over Harding in week five.
Novak went on to a long career as a college coach, including a successful tenure as head coach at Northern Illinois.
Glass took over the Harding program when Batta left and led the Panthers to an on-the-field title after a 9-1 season that included a 19-6 loss at Canton McKinley in week nine. The Panthers held a 396-85 scoring advantage and beat Cincinnati Moeller 20-10 and Upper Arlington 41-8 in the playoffs. Besides the loss to Canton and the win over Moeller, the closest game the Panthers had that season was of course against Western Reserve, a 20-6 decision in week five.
Glass left Harding to coach at Hubbard and then took North Canton Hoover to a state title game in1984.
As Warren's population diminished over the next decade or so, the city school district went back to just one high school -- as it had been since Western Reserve was created in the mid-1960s.
It fell upon Phil Annarella to coach the first combined city team in 1990. Annarella had been Western Reserve's head coach since 1981 and led the new Harding Raiders to 14 straight wins and the title.
Harding outscored its opponents, 386-139, winning playoff games over Boardman 23-7, Austintown Fitch 31-6, Sandusky 27-14 and Cincinnati Princeton 28-21.
Close games for the Raiders were a 7-6 win over Akron Buchtel in week three and a 20-14 win over Fitch in week nine.
Annarella remained at Harding through the 1996 season and is in his 11th season as head coach at Fitch.
Contact Virginia Holmes at 330-506-6035 or warrengrid@gmail.com for information / tickets for the dinner and Ray Yannucci at 216-870-1036 or ryannucci@yahoo.com for more information or to make a reservation for the golf outing. Registration of the outing begins at 9 a.m. the day of the event, but pre-registration is encouraged.
dchapin@tribtoday.com