Clairton’s venerable Neil C. Brown Stadium, nestled within the confines of the football-crazed Mon Valley town dubbed “The City of Prayer,” might have provided a jumping off point for each of their careers on the gridiron.
Little did former Bears greats Lamont Wade, Noah Hamlin and Titus Howard know their football odysseys would someday bring them together seeking new beginnings in the game — only this time across the commonwealth where a burgeoning franchise is kick-starting a rebirth of its own.
Wade, Hamlin and Howard all recently signed one-year contracts with the Philadelphia Soul of the newly reinstated Arena Football League, which is set to make a return to competition this year.
“It’s almost like a dream come true,” Hamlin said. “I’ve been thinking about this since I graduated high school — playing with my friends, playing with my family again. Titus Howard, that’s my cousin. It’s really a huge deal.”
Soul head coach Patrick Pimmel, who has more than three decades of arena football coaching experience to his credit, said a majority of Arena Football League players perform on both sides of the football.
Pimmel said he signed the trio of former Clairton players to perform in his defensive backfield and on offense at wide receiver.
“Do I think they’ll contribute on this team?” Pimmel said. “Yeah, I think they’ll be very, very good, but there’s some very, very good DBs that they’re going to compete with.”
For Wade, who played in 47 games at Penn State before being signed as an undrafted free agent and ultimately released by the Steelers in 2021, playing with the Soul in Philadelphia will mean a return to professional football.
The same is true of Howard, who spent the past two seasons in the Indoor Football League with the Iowa Barnstormers after an NCAA career at Pitt and Division II Slippery Rock.
Hamlin wrapped up his collegiate career at California University of Pennsylvania in 2023 after stints at Division I Cincinnati and Toledo.
“It feels good,” Howard said. “I was really excited when I seen my little cousin got signed. The other dude, Lamont Wade, I watched him growing up for real. It’s going to be amazing to get back on the field with them. I haven’t played with any other Clairton Bears since my freshman year at Pitt. It will definitely feel good to be back with a couple of fellow guys from where I’m from.”
Pimmel said he, too, is anxious to see what a couple of former players from one of the WPIAL’s most successful programs can do for his team. Clairton has 14 WPIAL championships to its credit and four PIAA titles.
“My goal is that they go above this league and they get another shot in the NFL, the UFL now, that they get back outside,” said Pimmel, referencing the newly formed United Football League, which is a result of a merger between the former spring outdoor leagues, the XFL and USFL. “If I didn’t think that they could play outside, or back at that level, I probably wouldn’t have signed them.”
Pimmel said following the Arena Football League preseason, which begins with workouts in April, the Soul roster will feature between eight and 10 defensive back/wide receiver players. He added he expects to invite between 10 and 14 of those players to camp.
“What I do is find kids that have been at the NFL, come out of college, young guys and try to give them a chance to get back there,” Pimmel said. “To find the best players, this year I’m coaching in Philadelphia, so I always start in that area of Pennsylvania and Philly region and reach out from there.”
The Arena Football League will return this spring after a four-year hiatus. The league filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
The new-look, 16-team AFL will feature franchises in cities in nearly every corner of the country.
The Soul was among the AFL’s most successful franchises in the league’s previous incantation. Philadelphia won championships in 2008, 2016 and 2017.
While the Soul’s home arena has yet to be announced, the franchise previously played at the Wells Fargo Center. The arena is home to the NBA’s 76ers and the NHL’s Flyers, in addition to the city’s indoor lacrosse team, the Wings.
“It’s an opportunity to continue playing football and to get paid doing it,” Clairton head football coach Wayne Wade said. “It’s professional football. I know it’s not like the NFL or the (UFL) where it’s life-changing type of money but they get to continue to be out there. I played it for six, seven years and I really enjoyed it. I was able to travel all over the country, overseas and all of that. I’m happy for them.”
Wade played as a defensive back for the Milwaukee Mustangs for parts of seven seasons in the original Arena Football League. He said there aren’t many substantial differences between playing arena football and the traditional outdoor game.
“It’s football on a smaller scale,” Wade said. “For the DBs and receivers, it’s really tough. If you can do that, I feel you can play anywhere. It’s just at the NFL, most of the guys that are at arena league, don’t have the size or speed but it’s still a really competitive league.”
Adjusting to any competition shouldn’t be an issue for Lamont Wade, Howard and Hamlin, considering their college careers.
A 2017 Clairton graduate, Wade had 153 tackles in four seasons at Penn State, with 6½ tackles for a loss, 3 sacks, 1 interception, 4 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries.
Howard, a 2013 Clairton graduate, played two seasons at Slippery Rock after transferring from Pitt. He recorded 101 tackles, 3½ for a loss, with 5 interceptions and1½ sacks.
“I’m just taking advantage of this big opportunity that I have,” Howard said. “I’ll take whatever comes next. Hopefully I do get into the UFL … hopefully I do get a call from them. I’ll definitely take my talents there if I get a chance.”
Hamlin, who graduated from Clairton in 2017, played in 13 games at Cincinnati before transferring to Toledo and ultimately Cal U where he stayed for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He made 31 tackles in two seasons with the Vulcans, while also returning kicks and appearing in five games as a wide receiver before he said his tenure there was ended by groin and hamstring injuries last season.
“I had so much trial and tribulations through my college years,” Hamlin said. “Just to hear that I had another shot at playing professional ball and to know that it’s not over and know that my dream is still going forward and I still have got a chance to pursue it and go to another high level, it’s everything.”
For Wayne Wade, the chance to see his former players keep their dreams alive is nearly equally as satisfying.
“It’ll definitely be special,” he said. “To know that they’re still doing it in the state of Pennsylvania, I’m pretty sure they’re excited about it, to be on the field together knowing they came from the same high school. They kind of took different paths, but are now out there playing some professional football together, it has to be exciting.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.