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Alex tells the story of John Spano, the con man who managed to buy a National Hockey League team despite having almost no money. Spano’s ill-fated purchase of the New York Islanders in 1997 is examined with the journalist who lead the investigation that exposed one of the biggest scams in American sports history. Alex is joined by John Valenti of Newsday on the 25th Anniversary of the the con man who nearly brought down an NHL franchise and the league’s commissioner.

Spano, an Ohio native, had lied about nearly everything and still managed to purchase and control the storied Islanders franchise for more than 3 months. We look at his youth near Ashtabula, Ohio, where he played high school football with Urban Meyer. Spano was only 32 when he duped the Islanders and the NHL into selling him the team. John Valenti walks us through the fraud and the staggering lack of due diligence done on Spano’s finances.

As his many and unbelievable excuses for his non-payment build, our guest, John Valenti, begins to investigate John Spano and quickly exposes Spano as a con artist. When the NHL finally removes him and federal investigators close in it takes Valenti to track down Spano when he skips town to the Caribbean. Valenti recalls the Newsday team’s investigation, that he led, and its role in bringing down Spano and ultimately sending him to federal prison for fraud.

We’re proud to be part of the Evergreen Podcast Network. Go to http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com for our show and dozens of other great podcasts. Rate and Review the show on iTunes and we’ll read your review on the air.

Alex finally gets around to telling the story of the most famous Ohioan, Thomas Alva Edison. We sit down with the leading Edison scholars to discuss his amazing life of invention and innovation. And to spice it up we tell the story of “the Wizard of Menlo Park” in reverse, from death to birth. Alex details his most important inventions from electric light to motion pictures to the phonograph and sound recordings.

We’re joined by Dr. Paul Israel from Rutgers University, the Director of the Thomas A. Edison Papers and author of Edison: A Life of Invention (2000). Dr. Israel describes the modern world we live in being built by Edison. The telephone, the music business, television and movies were all invented or innovated by Edison and his team’s work at their Menlo Park in New Jersey. Dr. Israel manages over 5 million papers in the Edison collection and buy his book Edison: A Life of Invention https://www.amazon.com/Edison-Life-Invention-Paul-Israel/dp/0471362700

Ernest Freeberg, author and professor of history at the University of Tennessee also joins the program to discuss Edison’s most famous invention: electric light. The history of electric light, the impact on the world and the innovation involved it bringing to the entire world are discussed. His great book, The Age of Edison (2013) analyzes the invention of Edison’s incandescent light bulb from every angle and gives incredible insight in the inventor himself. Such a great read. Buy it here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/307057/the-age-of-edison-by-ernest-freeberg/

Lastly, we’re joined by Robert Wheeler, the president of the Board at the Edison Birthplace Museum in Milan, OH. Robert, a relative of Edison, discusses Edison’s family life and his youth in the small town of Milan up by Lake Erie. Go check out the excellent museum at http://www.tomedison.org

We’re proud to be part of the Evergreen Podcast Network. Go to http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com for our show and dozens of other great podcasts. Rate and Review the show on iTunes and we’ll read your review on the air.

Mary Church Terrell was born in 1863 the year of the Emancipation Proclamation and died months after the landmark Brown v. the Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954. Over four generations, she was involved in fighting for African American rights on the front lines. A truly remarkable life. Her story is too little told but there’s so much to get to.

We’re joined by four guests to discuss her 90 years of struggle against injustice, including her formative years in the Buckeye State. Joan Quigley, author and attorney, discusses Mary’s battles from suffrage, founding the NACW and the NAACP, anti-lynching legislation and her victory in the US Supreme Court to desegregate Washington DC. Joan’s book about MCT, Just Another Southern City (2016) is a fantastic read and you can buy it here. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/just-another-southern-town-joan-quigley/1121877528

Alison Parker, professor of history at the University of Delaware and author of Unceasing Militant (2020), a new biography of Mary Church Terrell joins the show. We discuss Molly Church’s life: born into slavery, her lifelong love of education and the many social justice issues she addressed in her incredible life. Give Alison’s book, Unceasing Militant, a read by clicking link here https://www.amazon.com/Unceasing-Militant-Terrell-Franklin-American/dp/1469659387/

We also head to historic Oberlin College, Mary’s alma mater and meet with Ken Grossi, archivist and Eboni Johnson from the Mary Church Terrell Library. Ken and Eboni discuss her years in Ohio from her early childhood through her graduation at Oberlin in 1884. We analyze her time in Ohio and the influence of Oberlin, one of the first co-educational and mutli-racial, colleges in America at its founding in 1833. Check out the excellent digital exhibit from Oberlin on their famous alum, Mary Church Terrell here https://terrell.oberlincollegelibrary.org/scalar/mct/index

We’re proud to be part of the Evergreen Podcast Network. Go to http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com for our show and dozens of other great podcasts. Rate and Review the show on iTunes and we’ll read your review on the air.

We’re back from summer break for the 2nd half of Season 7! We’re locked and loaded over the skies of Midway Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for the biggest and most consequential battle in US Naval history: the Battle of Midway. Fought by air and sea on June 4, 1942, the United States defeated Imperial Japan and turned the tide of World War II forever. We explore the key contribution by US Navy code breaker, Joe Rochefort, from Dayton, Ohio that lead to the American’s successful ambush of the Japanese fleet.

We’re joined by two excellent military historians: Trent Hone and Dr. Peter Mansoor, Colonel, US Army (Ret.). to discuss all things Midway. From Pearl Harbor to Doolittle’s Raid, Col. Mansoor takes us through the US military’s string of losses in the first six months of the Pacific War. Trent Hone, author of the upcoming book Mastering the Art of Command, about Admiral Chester Nimitz, explains the most analyzed naval battle in US history with aplomb and clarity. Buy Trent’s new book here when it’s released on September 15 by the US Naval Institute.

https://www.usni.org/press/books/mastering-art-command

Both guests help us discovery the unsung hero of WWII, Joe Rochefort, naval officer and cryptanalyst that cracked the Japanese code and set up the American surprise attack at the Battle of Midway. We go through the intelligence and how Rochefort tricked the Japanese into giving away the time and place of their big attack. Rochefort, born in Dayton, Ohio, sadly did not receive the credit he deserved for decades following Midway.

Dr. Peter Mansoor, the General Raymond E.Mason Jr. Chair of Military History at the Ohio State University joins the show for the first time and discusses the battle in real time as the US sinks 4 Japanese aircraft carriers to turn the tide of the Pacific War. Trent Hone discusses the most consequential 15 minutes in American military history to that time. We also are joined by a previous guest, Beth Weinhardt, retired historian of the Westerville Public Library, from an interview about Rochefort’s mentor, Agnes Mayer Driscoll. Driscoll, of Westerville, broke the early Japanese codes and taught Rochefort everything she knew about cryptography and played a role in the victory at Midway. Listen to our episode from 2017 about Aggie’s groundbreaking career here…https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ohio-v-the-world/id1210853919?i=1000395313820

We’re proud to be part of the Evergreen Podcast Network. Go to http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com for our show and dozens of other great podcasts. Rate and Review the show on iTunes and we’ll read your review on the air.

Alex dives into the biggest medical experiment of the 20th Century: the development of the polio vaccines and the story of rivalry between its creators, Drs. Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk. A disease that was terrorizing parents all over the United States, the polio virus changed American medical history. We sit down with four amazing medical experts to discuss the polio crusade and its lessons for our current vaccine debates while analyzing the efforts of Dr. Albert Sabin from Cincinnati, Ohio and his oral polio vaccine that helps to nearly rid the world of this terrible virus.

Dr. Paul Offit joins the show to discuss the terror that was the polio epidemic in the first half of the 20th Century and how America ultimately took the experimental vaccines in overwhelming numbers. Offit, from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Board has written extensively on the polio virus. Dr. Offit’s new book You Bet Your Life (2021) discusses how there’s inherent and very real risk involved in all medical innovations in our history. Polio and COVID-19 are no exception. Paul discusses the “Cutter Incident” in 1955, which stopped the polio vaccination process and his thoughts on vaccine skepticism in modern times. Buy Dr. Offit’s new book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08S3DL19Y

We’re joined by Brandy Schillace, science historian and author, to discuss the rivalry between Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk and why polio becomes such a problem for middle class America in the 1950s. Brandy teaches us about the importance of the messaging in the success of the polio vaccine rollout and its stark differences as a case study compared to the COVID vaccine rollout. Brandy’s new book Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher (Simon & Schuster 2021) can be purchased here and it’s a truly fantastic read. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Mr-Humble-and-Dr-Butcher/Brandy-Schillace/9781982113780

Michael Flamm, professor of history at Ohio Wesleyan University, joins the program for the first and likely not the last time. Professor Flamm is the creator of How 1954 Changed the World on Audible.com and he joins the program to discuss “the greatest public health experiment” in US history up until that time. Professor Flamm highlights the careers of Sabin and Salk, their epic rivalry and how the Greatest Generation embraced the polio vaccine despite the uncertainties.

Dr. Randy Sharma joins the program to discuss the effects of the polio virus on its child victims in the 1940s and 50s, things like the terrible solitude of the “iron lungs” and Sabin’s early vaccine trials in Chillicothe and Cincinnati, Ohio.

We’re proud to be part of the Evergreen Podcast Network. Go to http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com for our show and dozens of other great podcasts. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Alex by email at ohiovtheworld@gmail.com with a future show idea or to buy one of our great Ohio v. the World t-shirts.

An episode we’ve been waiting to do for a long while, Alex examines the consequential life of Cincinnati’s own, Salmon P. Chase. Chase, the namesake for Chase Bank, served as a Senator and Governor from Ohio, the Secretary of the Treasury during the Lincoln Administration and the 6th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. We sit down with award-winning historian and biographer Walter Stahr to discuss the impact of Salmon P. Chase’s important life, Chase’s passionate leadership of the country that helped bring an end to slavery and Walter’s new book Salmon P. Chase: Lincoln’s Vital Rival (Simon & Schuster, 2021). Click the link below to purchase this great new book https://walterstahr.com/books/salmon-p-chase/

We follow Chase’s story from his arrival as a child to the new State of Ohio, his early career in DC to his successful legal career in Cincinnati. Chase’s unorthodox path to power does not follow the normal two-party system, from his leaving the Whig Party in 1840 to the joining of little known Liberty and Free Soil parties. We experience pre-war racial strife in the border metropolis of Cincinnati as the Queen City’s straddling of the Mason-Dixon Line molds Chase into a leading anti-slavery political figure in the North.

Walter takes us through the tumultuous 1850s in the Senate, Governor Chase’s two terms in Columbus (1856-1860) and the historic 1860 Election campaign in which Lincoln won the nomination of the new Republican Party over Chase. Walter shares with our audience Secretary Chase’s deft stewardship of the nation’s economy during the Civil War, his multiple failed attempts to win the presidency and his important 9 years as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during Reconstruction.

We’re proud to be part of the Evergreen Podcast Network. Go to http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com for our show and dozens of other great podcasts. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Alex by email at ohiovtheworld@gmail.com with a future show idea or to buy one of our great Ohio v. the World t-shirts. 

Friend of the show, Vince Tornero, joins the show to preview the 2nd Season of his Evergreen Podcast Network show PROHFILES: “The Wrath of the Buzzard.” Season two (6 episodes) will be titled “THE WRATH OF THE BUZZARD” and will document the meteoric rise and fall of 100.7 WMMS – the iconic Cleveland FM rock station that proved to be one of the most influential radio stations of all time.

Alex sits down with Vince to discuss the show and share clips of authentic station audio, unearthed after collecting nearly half a century worth of dust, sending you right back to the glory days of The Buzzard. The podcast will tell the 30-year story that music and radio fans have been waiting for, including how Cleveland became the home of the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame.

Hear the first two episodes starting June 10. Experience “PROHFILES – THE WRATH OF THE BUZZARD” at http://www.prohfiles.com or subscribe on platforms like: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and more. Or go to Evergreen http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com

When the Beatles arrived on US soil in February 1964 the music world and social norms in this country changed forever. And nowhere did Beatlemania have more of an effect than on the Baby Boomers in the Buckeye State. By analyzing their touring years in the States (1964-66) and their four Ohio live shows we see just how crazy it was to be in the Fab Four. In Episode 3, “Ohio v. the Beatles,” Alex sits down with four Beatles experts to discuss their meteoric rise to the top of the entertainment world and why they ultimately stopped touring after 196

We’re joined by author Dave Schwensen to discuss his books Beatles in Cleveland and The Beatles at Shea Stadium. Dave shares his insight to why Paul, George, John and Ringo matter so much and how crazy they drove his generation. Dave shares inside stories and antidotes of the Beatles touring years, including their riotous shows in Cleveland in 1964 and 1966. Dave was at the infamous 1966 concert at Cleveland Municipal Stadium as a kid. Buy Dave’s excellent Beatles books here…https://www.amazon.com/Dave-Schwensen/e/B001JS4SFK

We sit down Janice Mitchell, the biggest Beatle fan in the Buckeye State in 1964. Janice tells us how as a 16 year old in Cleveland Heights, Ohio she was consumed by Beatlemania and ran away to go find them in London. She walks us through the plan and how she became the target of an international manhunt where even the Beatles were said to be looking for her. Janice also describes the mayhem that stopped the 1964 Beatles show in Cleveland that she witnessed from the front row. Janice’s great new book My Ticket to Ride (2021) is available for purchase here https://www.grayco.com/product/my-ticket-to-ride/

Author and historian, Jeff Suess, joins the show to talk about the Beatles two appearances in Cincinnati. One of which was said to be the only show the Beatles had to cancel, only to play the gig the next day at Crosley Field. Jeff is the librarian at the Cincinnati Enquirer and a wealth of knowledge on the history of the Queen City but also a big Beatles aficionado.

Lastly, Alex talks with musician, Joe Peppercorn about the Beatles music and his amazing annual Beatles Marathon his band plays in Columbus every December. Known as Sgt. Peppercorn’s Marathon, they expertly perform every Beatles song in chronological order. It is a can’t miss annual event in the Capital City. Click here for more information and special thanks to Joe for chatting with us about the Beatles, we had a blast. https://www.facebook.com/sgtpeppercornmarathon

We’re proud to be part of the Evergreen Podcast Network. Go to http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com for our show and dozens of other great podcasts. Share this show with the Beatles fans in your life and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Alex by email at ohiovtheworld@gmail.com with a future show idea or to buy one of our great Ohio v. the World t-shirts.

In 1989, the United States went to war with Panama and their military dictator, Manuel Noriega in what is called Operation Just Cause. In “Ohio v. Panama” Alex explores the complex history between the US and the isthmus of Panama since the the country’s birth in 1903. This Memorial Day we will honor the legacy of PFC James Markwell (1968-1989), the fallen Army Ranger from Cincinnati, Ohio.

We speak with Markwell’s mother, Sandee Rouse, about her son’s life and legacy and how his ultimate sacrifice lead to a 25 year between Sandee and our 41st President, George H.W. Bush. We sit down with CSM (Ret.) Michael Hall of Lorain County, OH about his combat service Operation Just Cause as an Army Ranger. Mike Hall tells us about his missions in the war, including the opening raid on the airport outside Panama City that would take the life of Private First Class Jimmy Markwell.

We’re joined also by historians Juan Santamarina and Dr. Orlando Perez, from the University of Dayton and University of North Texas-Dallas, respectively. Juan tells us about the history of the comprehensive American role and presence in the isthmus of Panama during the 20th Century. Professor Santamarina discusses President Theodore Roosevelt’s role in the creation of the country of Panama and the completion of the all-important Panama Canal. The rocky relationship between the Americans and Panamanians that lead to the Torrijos-Carter Panama Canal Treaty in 1977.

Dr. Perez discusses the rise and fall of General Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian military dictator at the center of this war. From his possible role in a presidential assassination, the War on Drugs, the Contras and his eventual downfall and surrender to American authorities in the first weeks of the War. We also look at the controversy that surrounded Operation Just Cause over the last 30+ years and the state of the isthmus of Panama following the war.

This Memorial Day weekend we salute those who served and those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of the United States of America. Ohio v. the World: an American History Podcast is part of the Evergreen Podcast Network www.evergreenpodcasts.com Check out all or old shows there. Please rate/review the show as well on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Have questions? Want an Ohio v. the World t-shirt or bumper sticker? Email Alex at ohiovtheworld@gmail.com.

In the Season 7 premiere episode, Alex tells the story of George Koval, the Manhattan Project spy that got away. We’re joined by author Ann Hagedorn to discuss her excellent book, Sleeper Agent (Simon & Schuster, 2021) about Koval’s journey from normal Midwestern kid to celebrated Russian spy that brought the atom bomb to the Soviet Union. Click the link below to purchase Sleeper Agent. 

We detail the Manhattan Project from the discovery of nuclear fission to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. We sit down with Ray Smith the historian at Oak Ridge to discuss the atom bomb project and the secrecy of this massive operation. Our episode journeys to Dayton, Ohio to discuss the Dayton Project and the Buckeye State’s role in the Manhattan Project. 

Buy Ann Hagedorn’s best selling book Sleeper Agent here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sleeper-agent-ann-hagedorn/1137938152

Ann’s tireless research has uncovered this previously little known story of the Russian spy with the most access to the most secretive US government project of the 20th Century. The role of George Koval in his work on the bomb at Oak Ridge and Dayton has only recently come to light following Vladimir Putin’s giving him the Hero of the Russian Federation award. We also find out why Koval made the ultimate sleeper agent and how he was able to get away back to the Soviet Union. 

Ohio v. the World is so excited to be back for another season. Ohio v. the World: an American History Podcast is part of the Evergreen Podcast Network www.evergreenpodcasts.com Check out all or old shows there. Please rate/review the show as well on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.