WVU’s Derek Culver Has Grown from Youngstown Roots

To put it mildly, Youngstown, Ohio is a tough city to grow up in.

It is a former steel town that fell victim to the deindustrialization that hurt many in the rust belt. Unlike nearby cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Erie however, Youngstown has never really recovered from its mills closing.

Monday, Sept. 19, 1977 is effectively when Youngstown’s decline began. Dubbed “Black Monday,” that was the day when Youngstown Steel and Tube closed, instantly putting 5,000 workers out of a job with no notice. According to US Census data, Youngstown’s population has decreased each decade since the 1960s. The process continues to this day, with General Motors closing the nearby Lordstown Assembly plant in March.

What remains is a community where young people do not see a future for themselves in and their main goal is simply to get away. 

For West Virginia forward Derek Culver, getting out of Youngstown came by way of athletics. Culver was recruited to WVU from Warren G. Harding High School and after a post-graduate year at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, made his way to Morgantown. 

Culver said making it out of Youngstown is an accomplishment for the people that grew up there.

“We’re kind of like Youngstown’s roses that grew from concrete, to be honest with you,” Culver said. “If anybody knows Youngstown, it’s not a good place. It’s a violent place, there’s really not a lot going on there. So for you to really have the perseverance and determination to make it out of Youngstown, you’ve really got something going, you’ve got a good head on your shoulders.”

Culver said people feel there are just no options in Youngstown — at least no options anyone would want — and so people feel like they have to leave.

“There’s nothing in Youngstown. They used to say ‘death or jail.’ That’s it, that’s literally all there is,” Culver said. “You make it out of Youngstown, you’ve got something going for you.”

Despite his feelings about his hometown, Culver said he is excited to go back when WVU plays Youngstown State at Covelli Centre on Dec. 21. So excited, in fact that he is being cautious not to get too excited. 

“It’s going to feel good actually, going home to play in front of my home crowd, my family,” Culver said. “I don’t want to get too excited because if I get too excited, usually things don’t go so well for me, so I’m trying to stay mellowed out, level-headed so everything will play out like is supposed to. I’m antsy for it.”

Through it all, Youngstown is still Culver’s home. It is where he grew up. It’s where his family is. He said he grew up not even a two-minute walk away from the Covelli Center and that he knows the place like the back of his hand.

Athletic talent alone does not get you out of Youngstown, however. You need to stay focused on your goal and keep the right people around you.

Lynn Bowden Jr. is Culver’s cousin and went to Warren Harding with him. He made it out of Youngstown by going to the University of Kentucky to play wide receiver and quarterback. Bowden just finished his junior season by winning the Paul Hornung Award for being the nation’s most versatile player, being named a first-team All-American and declaring for the NFL draft.

Bowden said he and Culver were always together. He said they saw things at a young age that young kids are not supposed to see, but they stuck together through it.

“It’s easier to get in trouble, it’s harder staying out of trouble,” Bowden said. “Being us, we tried to take the other routes. At the end, it really worked out for both of us because we’re both on a path of being able to change our family’s lives and, being from Youngstown, that’s something that people don’t get to brag on or be able to do.”

Shakem Johnson went to Warren Harding with Culver. He made it out of Youngstown and now plays basketball at Tennessee State.

“It’s challenging at times if you lose focus,” Johnson said. “It ain’t hard to stay focused, but it is at the same time because you’ve got a lot of people trying to influence you to do the wrong things. We had gotten away from it by going to Warren so that helped us a little bit.”

Warren is about a 25-minute drive from Youngstown proper. Johnson said going there, with other kids who all had the same goal really helped them.

“We all grew up together. When we was young we all had the same mindset. In high school we hung around each other, we knew what our main goal was we just had to put it into place,” Johnson said. “We’re brothers, we grew up together, we rode to school every day together, we did everything together in high school, to be honest.”

Andy Vlajkovich, the coach at Warren Harding when Culver was there, said Youngstown is a unique place and that guys have a sense of pride in being from there.

“In a great way, it’s a different place. Sometimes in a bad way, it’s also a different place,” Vlajkovich said. “Those guys are really proud to be from there. I think once you’re from Youngstown, no matter where you go, you always kind of hold that near and dear to you. Derek’s certainly no different. I think he’s brought some of that Youngstown ruggedness and some of that Youngstown toughness to West Virginia basketball.”

“There’s definitely a lot of pride,” Bowden said. “People usually move away in high school to go different places because of how bad Youngstown is. We had planned on trying to get out and do things different.”

Even though everybody wants to make it out of Youngstown, not everyone does. So getting away is a real accomplishment.

“Once you make it out of there you can do anything,” Johnson said. “Most people who play basketball and come from Youngstown, they don’t continue. They always either stop after high school or go to college for one year and can’t continue through. It’s definitely a big up when you’re coming from Youngstown and you continue to do good.”

Bowder said players like him and Culver serve as an example of what is possible.

“We mean a lot, especially to the younger kids,” Bowden said. “Coming up, they get to see people like me and him do things that no one ever expected us to do. People never expected me and him to come as far as we have come.”

On the court, Culver’s talent was obvious. In his final full season at Warren Harding he averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.

“As talented as any kid I’ve ever coached and, quite frankly, probably ever will coach,” Vlajkovich said. “The thing about Derek is he didn’t grow up a superstar. He wasn’t this legendary sixth-grader, this legendary seventh-grader. He was figuring a lot of stuff out, he was figuring out his size, he was figuring out how to play. He was always talented but the light bulb for whatever reason just didn’t go on, but then once it went on between his freshman year and sophomore year and he really took off, he saw what he could be.”

“He wasn’t a normal big,” Johnson said. “He can dribble real good, he can pass the ball, he can shoot so he just stood out from different bigs.”

Culver stood out enough to catch the attention of WVU coach Bob Huggins and even playing at the highest level of college basketball Culver, continues to stand out. As a freshman, Culver led the Big 12 in rebounding, averaging 11.5 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. Through 10 games as a sophomore, he’s averaging 11 points and 9.6 rebounds.

This success has not surprised the people that knew him.

“When Derek commits to something, commits to getting better, the sky is literally the limit, there’s nothing that kid can’t do,” Vlajkovich said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to watch that kid play 10 years in the NBA.”

“I knew he was going to be successful since I was a sophomore and he came in as a freshman at Warren Harding, I knew he was going to be good,” Johnson said. “First off, he was already the biggest kid on the whole team.”

Vlajkovich said Huggins is the perfect coach for Culver.

“Truthfully, Huggs is exactly what Derek needs,” Vlajkovich said. “Huggs’ reputation of holding guys accountable and demanding the most out of kids is exactly what Derek needs. I think Derek is a Huggs type of player and, quite frankly, Huggs is a Derek type of coach.”

For as big and physical as the 6-foot-10, 255 pound Culver plays and with everything he can do on the court, it is who he is off the court that people seem to admire the most. Culver is, by all accounts, the perfect teammate.

“He’s the definition of a good teammate,” Bowden said. “He pushed everybody to go hard and feed off his energy. He pushed everybody to make us see our full potential in ourselves.”

“He’s real humble,” Johnson said. “Even though he’s always one of the better kids when we were younger he never showed it that much, he was really humble about it. When it came to our sixth man coming off the bench or anything like that he’d be the happiest person in the world when they score. He’s a good teammate.”

“Derek is the ultimate team player,” Vlajkovich said. “Even though he’s made some indiscretions in his career, it’s never been about Derek, it’s never been because he was selfish or greedy. Derek’s always been a really, really good teammate. I think a lot of guys like to play with Derek because I think he roots for his teammates’ success as much or, quite frankly, more than his own. I never, in all the years I’ve known Derek, questioned his ability to be a teammate.”

For this season, Huggins brought in freshman big man Oscar Tshiebwe to play alongside Culver for the Mountaineers. Tshiebwe is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has only been in the United States for three years. He said Culver has helped him as much as anybody.

“Derek Culver helps me a lot,” Tshiebwe said. “If there’s something I don’t understand, he’s going to pull me over. That helps me a lot. I need someone like that to help me because I’m a freshman and I don’t know a lot about basketball so I need somebody to help me. I really appreciate Derek Culver, everybody on the team does the same thing.

“He knows what he’s doing and he knows how to help you to understand. Even when you have a bad game he’s like, ‘It’s not the end of the world, we’ve got more games to come so we’ve just got to stay strong and play hard.’”

Even just by watching from afar, Vlajkovich said Culver’s interactions with Tshiebwe are exactly what he used to see from in high school.

“He likes to see everyone ‘eating,’” Bowden said. “He wants everyone to eat, not just us. As we’re succeeding he wants everybody to succeed and have the publicity that we have.”

Going back to the place he worked so hard to get out of is a unique circumstance. Bowden said he always wanted an opportunity like that, but never got it playing in the SEC.

No matter what happens against the Penguins on Saturday, the impression Youngstown left on Culver and the impression he has left on Youngstown are not going away anytime soon.