Eric Shields on They Came From Blair County

Some of the Herald’s readers may know that I am also an author. I have written two books entitled “They Came From Blair County” volumes one and two.

The books talk about people who have come from the area who have done notable things whether it be in sports, entertainment, business or politics.

I am currently writing volume three. I am also working on “They Came From Bedford County” and “They Came From Cambria County”.

Volume three is due out next year with the Bedford and Cambria County books due out within a year or so after that.

I am also working on a couple of unnamed projects that I am hoping to release nationally.

People often ask me, “Why did you decide to write about these people?” The best answer that I could give is that I have always been interested in celebrities.

Even though the people in my books are not necessarily celebrities, they have done things either in their personal or professional lives that were notable.

When I was younger, I began to clip articles out of local newspapers that highlighted people from the area who did something special. To this day, the local newspapers still feature regular articles on these people.

I would always think, “Wow these people came from little old Blair County, Pennsylvania.” It does prove that you can come from anywhere and be a success. All you have to do is to work hard and don’t give up.

Then, one day, I sat down and figured out that I knew a lot of people who have done notable things.

First of all, I went to school with two future NBA players, Doug West and Mike Iuzzolino along with a future TV Producer Moses Port.

When I worked for TV 10, I worked with Jim Gregory, who went on to become a Pennsylvania State Representative along with Paul Alexander, who became a commentator and reporter for the Pittsburgh Pirates. David Venable, who was one of the news anchors for the news has gone on to a very successful career with QVC and one of our news producers Rena Popp went on to be a CNN producer and producer for the Today Show.

When I had my own business back in the 90s, I worked with Erika Shay who became a casting agent for reality TV shows such as Survivor and The Amazing Race and Crystal Cameron, who became a national Christian recording artist.

So, I figured if I knew that many people, can you imagine how many people from the area who have gone on to accomplish great things. So, I started doing my research and going on Facebook and collecting email addresses and setting up interviews.

In my books, I interview all of the living people. For those who have passed, I try to interview some of their family members, friends or colleagues.

One of my greatest accomplishments was finding and interviewing Janet Blair’s son Andrew Mayo.

As a regular series in the Herald, I will be featuring articles about people who have come from or are somehow associated with the Cove.

In September, I received the Blair County Historical Society’s History Preservation Award for my book series. I am excited about that and very thankful to the historical society for that honor.

To find out more about my books, please visit my website http://www.theycamefrompa.com or my Facebook pages They Came From Blair County, They Came From Cambria County, They Came From Bedford County and Author Eric Shields.