Michael T. Mondak speaks: Small Battles, Big Victories Introduction

After the first loss of the 2025 season back on September 27, I was sitting down at my desk at about four in the morning and I thought, what if there would be a story that would teach the populace about small battles leading to big victories and also have connections with Penn State and the Shenango Valley?  That's where a story about a former Hickory Hornet and Penn State linebacker named Jackson Pryts, known as "The Hermitage Hammer", forming a bond with a nine-year-old student at Ionta Elementary School named Cassie Day, in the hospital at Sharon Regional Medical Center battling cancer.  Their bond led to a vow Jackson made one Sunday before the altar at the Sue Paterno Catholic Student Center that he would play for her, and it leads to the Penn State Nittany Lions winning a national championship, eventually leading to Cassie being declared cancer free and bringing her story full circle to Happy Valley to study meteorology, and Jackson being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he earns three Super Bowl rings on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where Cassie, who became a meteorologist after graduating summa cum laude from Penn State, getting married, and having a baby boy named Jackson, presenting him to the Hall of Fame.  (It's only appropriate that Jackson Pryts is the baby boy's godfather!)

Now let me introduce you to the characters you will meet and the places you will get to know.  But before I do, the story (which is a pure work of fiction, but the places and a majority of the characters are real) is called "Small Battles, Big Victories: The Cassie and Jackson Story".  It is dedicated to Nittany Nation and Nittany Lions fans around the world.  (One final note:  This story is not about wins on the field.  It is about winning battles on and off the field.  As the late Joe Paterno said, "Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.")

Hermitage, Pennsylvania is the largest city in Mercer County, located near the boundaries of Pennsylvania and Ohio.  It is located halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie, and just 20 minutes away from Youngstown, Ohio.  The area was first settled in 1796 and was incorporated in 1832 as Hickory Township from portions of Shenango and Pymatuming Townships.  After the cities of Sharon and Farrell and the boroughs of Sharpsville and Wheatland were incorporated, what remained of Hickory Township was incorporated into a first-class township.

In 1972 the Pennsylvania legislature in Harrisburg passed the Home Rule Charter and Optional Plans Act allowing for municipalities to establish their own home rule charters, which governor Milton Shapp signed into law.  This opened the door for Hickory Township to approve a home rule charter on May 21, 1974, and on New Year’s Day 1976, Hickory Township became Hermitage Township.  Eight years later, Hermitage became a third class city.

On May 31, 1985, long before Jackson Pryts and Cassie Day were born, the city and the region around it suffered major devastation from a strong F5 tornado that touched down in nearby Newton Falls, Ohio and traveled on a path of destruction through Mercer County until it dissipated near Harrisville.  It was one of 44 tornadoes that struck on that fateful day that in total, killed 90 people and caused an estimated $50 million in damages.  It remains the only recorded F5 tornado to strike Pennsylvania.

Sharon Regional Medical Center is one of two large hospitals in Mercer County.  Founded in 1910 as the Buhl Regional Hospital, it was renamed Sharon General Hospital around the time of the Great Depression.  It wouldn’t be until 1990 when it was renamed Sharon Regional Health Center.

Penn State University is truly a special place.  Nestled near Mount Nittany, and located in the University Park district of a little borough called State College, the campus is one of the most renowned educational institutions in the nation.  It is the flagship university of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, incorporated in 1855 as the Farmer’s High School under the Land Grant Act signed into law by president James Buchanan.  The Farmer’s High School was renamed the Pennsylvania State College in 1865 following the end of the Civil War.  It wouldn’t be until 1955 when it was renamed the Pennsylvania State University.

Many sources differ as to when the first football game was played at Penn State.  Some say it occurred in 1881, but many others (including Penn State) claim it was played in 1887 when Penn State shut out Bucknell 54 to 0.  The Nittany Lions have had seven perfect seasons in 1912, 1913, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1986 and 1994, and they have won two national championships in 1982 and 1986.  They joined the Big Ten Conference in 1993 after more than 100 years as an independent.  John Cappelletti won the 1973 Heisman Trophy as the nation’s most outstanding football player and the bond between him and his youngest brother Joey was immortalized in the 1977 Golden Globe-nominated made for television film “Something for Joey”, produced for CBS by Mary Tyler Moore (yes, that Mary Tyler Moore).  There have been many other Penn State players that have won other individual awards such as the Bednarik Award, the Butkus Award, the Maxwell Award, the Biletnikoff Award, and the Outland Trophy.  Many of the thousands of football players at Penn State have achieved success in the National Football League.  Others have been honored as Academic All-Americans by the College Sports Information Directors Association and have earned NCAA Postgraduate scholarships.  In 2013 John Urschel won the William Campbell Trophy as the nation’s top football scholar athlete.  The award can be best described as the “academic Heisman Trophy”.  Since 1950, Penn State has had only four permanent head football coaches:  Rip Engle, Joe Paterno, Bill O’Brien, and James Franklin.  The best-known coach of these four is definitely Joe Paterno.  In 1966 he became head football coach following the retirement of Rip Engle, under whom he served as an assistant.  Between 1966 and 2011 the Brooklyn, New York native became the winningest head football coach in Division I with 409 wins.

Beaver Stadium is the theater where on seven football Saturdays each year, it becomes the fourth largest city in Pennsylvania, behind Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Allentown.  Many Nittany Lions fans travel thousands of miles for home football games, many of them in big recreational vehicles.

Jackson Pryts was born in 2003 in Hermitage, Pennsylvania.  He played football at Hickory High School under head coach Bill Dungee.  In 2022 he arrived in Happy Valley to be part of the football team for James Franklin.  However, he is not the first football player from Hickory High School to play for Franklin at Penn State.  Nearly ten years earlier, another former Hickory Hornet named Jordan Wombacker was part of the first Penn State football team coached by James Franklin in 2014.

Cassandra Ann Day was born on March 8, 2016 in Hermitage, Pennsylvania to Michael and Brittany Day.  She is a fourth grader at Karen A. Ionta Elementary School.  She is the brightest student in her fourth-grade class taught by Andrew Shellenbarger.  Everyone calls her Cassie for short.  On fall Saturdays she can be found in front of the television watching Jackson and his Nittany Lions play football.  Cassie’s mother had actually been Jackson’s kindergarten teacher at Artman Elementary School.  They have stayed in touch even after Cassie was born.  Cassie has followed Jackson’s exploits on and off the field in the newspaper, on radio and on television.  However, on April 3, 2025, Cassie would begin a difficult battle that no child should ever have to face.  The news shocked Jackson at his heart, and on one Sunday before the altar at the Sue Paterno Catholic Student Center, he prostrated himself and vowed that he would make a promise to his little fan who he likened to a kid sister.  He will keep that promise as this story progresses, and Cassie will win her own personal battle and bring it full circle.  It will inspire Jackson and his Nittany Lions teammates (and many other people you will meet), and send an inspiring message around the world that will transcend cultures.

This is that story.