Fan loyalties in Shenango Valley divided between Steelers, Browns

You’re not just in Steelers Country when you visit the Shenango Valley, an area that’s about the same distance from Pittsburgh as it is Cleveland.

Browns fans make up a sizable minority of the football fan base.

That’s made the past couple of weeks interesting in the Shenango Valley as the rivalry between the Steelers and Browns has experienced renewed intensity — particularly after the Nov. 14 game, when Cleveland’s Myles Garrett ripped off Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph’s helmet and struck him in the head with it.

The two teams square off again Sunday, this time in Pittsburgh.

“This area is unique in that it rests right on the Pennsylvania-Ohio border,” said Jim Raykie, a former editor of The Herald in Sharon and self-described Browns fan since birth.

“You have Steelers fans in Ohio and Browns fans in Pennsylvania. You have some husbands who are Browns fans and some wives who are Steelers fans, and vice versa,” said Raykie, 67, of Sharpsville. “Actually, it makes for a lot of fun and makes game day pretty interesting.”

The Shenango Valley is home to more than 70,000 people spread across about a dozen communities in Pennsylvania’s Mercer County and Ohio’s Trumbull County. Sharon, the area’s geographical center, is about 75 miles from both Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Many valley businesses cater to both fans.

“We’ve been selling Steelers and Browns merchandise for more than 30 years, and overall we sell about 70% Steelers to 30% Browns merchandise,” said Dan Zippie, general manager of Kraynak’s in Hermitage. It’s a store known for its Christmas displays and decorations that sits four miles from the Ohio state line.

Ohio resident Rita Cecil, 76, was surrounded by Steelers- and Browns-themed artificial Christmas trees at the busy store on Friday.

“I’m a diehard Steelers fan,” Cecil said. “The rivalry is pretty stressed right now because of the fight. That was a big fight.”

Kraynak’s employee Becky Listopad, 38, said her co-workers are a blend of Browns and Steelers fans, but they manage to keep the peace at work.

“Our owner is a Browns fan and our manager is a Steelers fan,” Listopad said. “My neighbors are Browns fans and we’re Steelers fans, so we both put up our signage and angle it toward each other.”

Listopad said she and her husband, Mike, have fun with their neighborly rivalry, but she hasn’t enjoyed the controversy over the on-field skirmish between the Steelers and Browns two weeks ago.

“I’m disappointed in both teams. I have a 16-year-old son and kids are watching these NFL players,” Listopad said. “They need to act like grown adults on the field.”

Brothers Tony and Jake Jameson of nearby Youngstown, Ohio, lunched Friday at the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Hermitage, where jerseys for both teams hang on the walls.

“This goes beyond a basic rivalry because the Browns have been at the bottom of the barrel and now they have a team that can compete,” Tony Jameson, 29, said. “I’ve never seen anything physical between Browns and Steelers fans, but I have witnessed a lot of pestering.”

Jake Jameson didn’t sugarcoat his feelings.

“I despise the Steelers and I root for any team that plays the Steelers,” he said. “I don’t like going into sports bars around here and Ohio and seeing anything Steelers.”

Raykie recalled a time when Browns fans dominated the Shenango Valley region.

“In the 1950s and ’60s, this area was predominantly Browns territory, with Otto Graham, Jim Brown and all. But there was always a rivalry. When the Steelers started dominating the NFL in the ’70s, that rivalry only intensified,” Raykie said.

The rivalry went on hiatus in the mid-1990s when former Browns owner Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore and it became the Ravens. After Cleveland Browns returned to the NFL in 1999, the rivalry failed to regain its past intensity, as the rebooted Browns won just six games in 41 tries before this season.

“It has picked up again since the Browns have improved their roster, and a lot since the Myles Garrett skirmish,” Raykie said. “And that has heightened emotions big-time for this Sunday’s game, no doubt.”