The Youngstown State University Department of Intercollegiate
Athletics is pleased to announce the creation of the Carmine L.
Cassese Family Scholarship endowment to enhance the YSU Athletics
Scholarship Endowment Fund. The endowment will be awarded for the
first time during the 2014-15 academic year.
Cassese was a much respected member of the Athletic Department
for nearly 30 years. He started his career in the early 1980s
as an assistant in the equipment room for Chubby Scott before
retiring in 2012 after 26 years as the head equipment manager. For
the Penguins he was the head equipment manager for 26 years
spanning the coaching careers of Bill Narduzzi, Jim Tressel, Jon
Heacock and Eric Wolford.
In addition to being a treasured member of the YSU family,
Cassese was well-known throughout the community as the owner of
Cassese's MVR in the Smoky Hollow neighborhood just off campus. He
took over the restaurant in 1996 and spent countless hours around
YSU and the MVR, building relationships that touched numerous lives
in the community and across the country.
The scholarship endowment recipient will be given to a student
employ within the YSU Equipment Room which is now run by Alvy
Armstrong, a former Cassese student employ in the early 1990s. The
first preference will be given to a student of junior standing or
above and has spent at least two years as a student employee on the
equipment staff. Preference will be given to students from the
tri-county area first but all YSU students from Ohio are
eligible.
Cassese passed away in the summer of 2013 after a courageous
fight against pancreatic cancer. The slogan
“Carmstrong” was created to support him and to raise
awareness throughout the community about the disease. The past two
years the MVR has been the host site of the Carmine L. Cassese
Memorial Bocce Tournament. The proceeds from the tournament benefit
the Carmstrong Foundation for both pancraetic cancer research
The James OSU Medical Center and the scholarship in Carmine's name
at Youngstown State.
"The entire Cassese family is humbled by the countless members
of the community who have made donations, volunteered, purchased a
'Carmstrong' T shirt or simply sent a card in support of our family
and efforts with The CARMSTRONG Foundation. My father loved working
in the equipment room and the MVR because of the
relationships he was able to establish with so many great people
here in the Mahoning Valley. From the outpouring of support we have
received from our extended family in the area there is no doubt he
was correct. We are proud to have a plaque hang on the wall of the
scholarship loge complex in my father's name and look forward to it
helping a student obtain their education at Youngstown State, a
place that meant so much to him."
Paul McFadden, President of the YSU Foundation, said Cassese was
a person who did a lot of things that often went unnoticed, but
were always appreciated.
“The outpouring for this scholarship shows what kind of
person Carm was in this community,” McFadden said. “We
have never seen a scholarship grow as fast as the Carmine L.
Cassese Family Scholarship and that is a testament to him. He was a
fixture around YSU athletics and he worked extremely hard to make
our programs a success and make sure our student-athletes had a
memorable experience.”
For more information or to endow an athletic scholarship at
Youngstown State University, contact the YSU Foundation at (330)
941-3211 or pmcfadden@ysufoundation.org.
