BEAVER TOWNSHIP – Local artist Ray Simon has always been on the cutting edge with his painting masterpieces.

Each of his creations tells a heartfelt story, capturing the essence of sports figures, presidents and public figures as well as individuals from the business world and beyond.

He has the unique ability of taking moments in time then blending everything together as he makes their stories come to life.

His pieces have been featured in Newsweek and Time magazines, on the BBC, ABC, CNN, CBS, NBC, A&E and Today Show, among other national publications and shows while collaborating on pieces that are on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, NHL, NFL, Department of Defense and many more that desire the creations he takes from idea to brush to canvas.

His style is unique, he calls it ‘docu-art’ and he has been nationally recognized for his efforts over the past five decades with no sign of slowing down, even after pausing for heart surgery this past December.

“I actually came up with that name,” Simon told the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s meeting at Avion Banquet Center. “You’ve heard of documentaries and docu-series, I said why doesn’t anybody ever do docu-art? I trademarked that phrase and it has been incredibly good over the years. It continues to inspire me with the pieces that I create.”

Former President George W. Bush used Simon’s paintings each year at the National Law Enforcement Memorial, which was held on the West Lawn of the White House while his original painting of Audie Murphy (the Audie Murphy Award), the late actor and most decorated American combat soldier of World War II, is displayed at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

He has also done paintings of President’s George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

“If you look at the Abraham Lincoln and George Washington paintings, they each tell beautiful stories about us,” Simon added. “I did the Lincoln painting of him at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial while reading to multi-racial children. The tallest child is bi-racial, representing we all belong together and that continued until President Lincoln achieved his dream. Lincoln’s words back in 1863 embody that painting and they are just as important today as when he first said, ‘We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”

His capturing of area sports heroes has also been critically acclaimed and well-received.

The ‘Heart of a Champion’ painting of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, former WBA lightweight champion, captures Mancini’s rise to the top of his weight class with his father, Ray, Sr., prominently displayed over his shoulder.

Former middleweight champion Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik’s ‘Forged in Steel’ painting is about the blue collar toughness of both Pavlik and the city from which he hails.

Of his nearly 5,000 paintings, former Boardman Spartan, Miami Hurricanes and Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar was fun to do while his relationship with former YSU and Ohio State head football coach, Jim Tressel, has evolved over the years.

“There is one painting of Ohio State and Youngstown State coming through the tunnel,” Simon stated. “When J.J. Cafaro took the coach out to dinner and presented him that painting at the Avalon, Jim called me up on a Saturday when I was in my studio downstairs. He says, ‘Am I speaking to the best artist that I know? I said, yes sir, no sir, I don’t know sir, but I will find out in a hurry. That’s what Dick Hartzell taught us to say when we played football. I ended up playing football for Coach Hartzell at West Branch and we knew how big an inspiration he was to all of us.”

Simon has been commissioned to do the Crucifixion of Jesus by area businesswoman Denise DeBartolo York, calling his ‘Be Great’ painting of Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown one of his all-time favorites.

“I painted Muhammad Ali when he knocked out Sonny Liston and Jim Brown when he rushed for his first 1,000 yards. We all know how great they both became,” Simon said. “In the middle of their careers, they stood up for what they believed in at the now famous Summit in Cleveland in 1967. Whether you agree or disagree with them, the fact is they stood up for what they believed in despite what you and I believe, and it cost them monetarily. No athlete today would do what they did..

“They stood up against the Vietnam War and it cost them millions of dollars back then. Then you see a picture of them in their elderly years, handing off the baton to somebody else to carry on what they started by helping children in the Inner-city. In the middle of the painting, you see a thumbprint of that piece and that’s what Muhammad Ali presented to Jim Brown, a Sikorsky crystal with the thumbprint in the middle of it all. That thumbprint represents the first time they met at the Summit and the quote at the bottom of the piece says it all, noting the ultimate measure of men is not where they stand in times of comfort, but where they stand in moments of great challenge and controversy.”

Simon’s agent is singer Tony Orlando, who along with his back-up singers, remain famous today for their song ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree’.

“Bob Hope, nephew of the great comedian of our time of the same name, is a dear friend of mine,” Simon said. “Bob and Tony have been friends back to when Tony did USO shows with his uncle. He introduced me to Tony, I did a beautiful painting for him, he absolutely loved it and he just knows so many people. He has been a real gem of a friend.”

Since his surgery, he is picking up his creative pace in his studio.

“I am currently doing two paintings for J.J., one of which is going to be a personal gift to President Trump, Elon Musk and J.D. Vance and the other to his personal friend, Steve Wynn, the casino owner.”

Next Monday, YSU President Bill Johnson will serve as guest speaker.