Duffy was presented with the sign by Mayor Bobby Smith and Safety Service Director Bill Jones on June 19, two days before his birthday at a surprise party with over 100 people in attendance, and the sign was erected on July 3.

Duffy noted that when he walked into his surprise birthday party the first two people he saw were his doctor and the undertaker and he really had second thoughts about continuing into the party.

Duffy spent many years serving the East Liverpool Community working as a sportswriter for 20 years at The Review, then as a housing inspector, and serving for 10 years on the East Liverpool Board of Health.

The street sign to honor Duffy sits on the corner by the newspaper building where he worked and the former location of the YMCA where he spent a lot of time as a youth. Duffy also grew up on Third Street, half a block away from the former YMCA location.

Bob Duffy during his high school days was a member of the East Liverpool High School Track Team. (Submitted art)

Duffy, who was born and raised in East Liverpool, said the YMCA was a big influence on his life and the life of others, and he spent a great deal of time there.

“I learned to swim over there (YMCA), I learned to play basketball over there, I worked over there and then I came over here (The Review),” Duffy said. “So, if they have to put a sign up, it’s in the right place, but I don’t feel I deserve that kind of recognition, I really don’t.”

During his time as a student at East Liverpool High School, Duffy was the captain of the baseball team and ran cross-country and track.

He recalls a day where he played a baseball game in Steubenville and then went to Toronto to participate in an invitational night meet where he ran and won the quarter mile,

After graduating, Duffy went to Ohio University for one year and then returned home.

According to Duffy, upon returning home from school he found there was no work at all available that summer.

Upon learning there was an opening at The Review, he went there to look for work and was told he would be given a 30-day trial.

“That 30-day trial turned into about 19 years at the newspaper,” Duffy said. Duffy worked at The Review from 1954-1972.

Duffy said he enjoyed being a part of the daily newspaper, where he said he learned so much in a month working as a general reporter with his beat in Hancock County.

“I had a city editor, Paul Walton, who was an outstanding newspaper man and if he didn’t like what you wrote, he would throw it right back at you,” Duffy said.

He also noted what he learned working at the paper isn’t learned at college and it was enjoyable.

After Duffy had been working at The Review for two years, the sports editor’s job opened and he was asked if he would be interested.

“I said, definitely, that was always my goal, and I became the sports editor in 1956 and stayed on as sports editor until the late sixties,” Duffy said. “I then worked a few years as a photographer.”

Duffy then took a position with the Pottery Union, the IAAPW, where he worked as the editor of their monthly newspaper for the next 20 years until they closed.

After that he worked for one basketball season at the Beaver County Times.

Duffy then switched from the news industry to a position with the City of East Liverpool as a housing inspector, a position he held for 12 years.

He then went on to work delivering flowers for a friend of his, Bob Bosco of Bob and Robin’s Flowers for seven to eight years before retiring.

Duffy’s family consisted of his late wife Arden who passed away 10 years ago, his son Robert, daughter Sarah Crago, stepsons Mark and the late Brett (passed from brain cancer in 2017) Hartenbach, stepdaughter Amy Mabbott, Moriah Lerace, granddaughter and great granddaughters Isabel, Eleanor and Hazel Lerace, great grandson Kian Hull and son-in-law Steve Mabbott.

Duffy said that he and Arden first meet while attending St. Stephens Episcopal Church. They would both go on to marry other people and reunite several years later and marry in 1964.

In addition to work and family, Duffy was involved in several community project including serving on the East Liverpool Board of Health, involvement with the East Liverpool High School Athletic Hall of fame and a member of the committee which raised the funds to build the all-weather track at the Frank Mangano Sports Complex at East Liverpool High School

Even though Duffy served on the fundraising committee, he attributes the success of completing the track to the Mangano Family, who he said made multiple donations toward it.

In his spare time, Duffy now follows a lot of sports, especially the Pittsburgh Pirates, and reads a lot. He noted that he reads The Review and The Youngstown Vindicator every day from front to back.

With his daughter Amy, granddaughter and great grandchildren home for Australia for a month, he is being kept busy with family and enjoying every minute of it.

Duffy noted that Sarah has always done things behind my back, and the birthday party planned by Sarah and Amy and Robert and the new street sign are examples of those surprises.

According to Sarah the idea of having a street named after her dad came when she was in Australia in December visiting her daughter and grandchildren.

She said she was speaking to her daughter Moriah trying to figure out what to do for Duffy’s 90th birthday and what to get a 90-year-old when the idea came to have a street named after him.

Sarah said she contacted Jones and Smith, and they made it happen.

The idea for the sign came about when Sarah traveled to Australia in December to see her daughter Moriah,

According to Sarah, they were talking about Duffy’s 90th birthday coming up and trying to figure out what to do and what to give a 90-year-old.

“I said let’s get a street named after him and so I called bobby and bill and they made it happen,” Sarah said.

Despite Duffy’s long-time dedication to the East Liverpool community, he doesn’t believe he has earned the right to a street sign for him.

Duffy wished to thank Jones and Smith, who he says he has known for a very long time, and his family for all their support and surprises over the years.

“I didn’t think I ever deserved a street sign. Usually they are named after Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, but not Bob Duffy,” Duffy said. “The only other thing named after me is a bar stool at a restaurant up in the East End (Casa De Emanual, operated by his daughter Sarah); they have a good plaque there.”

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com