Ben Patterson

Ben Patterson

Ben Patterson is an award winning documentary filmmaker and the founder of the creative agency ONSLOT Films. Ben’s projects are diverse in subject matter and often weave high profile dramatic personal narratives with richly told historic underpinnings into journeys that are at once profoundly personal and entertaining. Ben’s fascination with how popular culture shapes the world for better or worse has brought his storytelling and cameras behind the façades, pulling back the curtain to expose the inner workings of what shapes our world.

In his Showtime film, “Sweet Micky for President,” which The Hollywood Reporter calls, “Fascinating and wildly entertaining,” and Roger Ebert says, “An equal part real-life satire and a document for change,” Ben brings audiences into what Billboard calls, “One of the most unlikely stories ever caught on film.” With Sweet Micky for President, the grammy winning rapper Pras Michel, who founded the hip-hop group the Fugees, convinces an eccentric, cross dressing Haitian pop artist named Sweet Micky to run for the presidency of Haiti against Pras’s former bandmate and Haitian presidential candidate Wyclef Jean. The film, set against the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, “artfully takes us through a roller coaster ride” into the depths of Haiti and the currents of celebrity and political influence rarely exposed.

In his next feature documentary, Netflix’s “Maddman: The Steve Madden Story,” Ben gains access into the life of a man whose personal journey includes severe drug addiction to sobriety, early success to prison, and the making of a billion dollar shoe empire that started from the back of the trunk of his doorman’s car, and an ominous loan from Jordan Belfort, aka “The Wolf of Wall Street.” The story is the honest portrayal of the American dream and the dark side of success in a man who has truly lived it.

Ben is currently in production on a number of high profile film projects. The first, features a bizarre reunion of sorts with rapper Pras Michel from Sweet Micky who is currently serving a 14 year sentence for operating as an agent for the Chinese. In addition Ben has begun work on projects that range from a limited series on the obesity epidemic in the area of new age GLP-1 treatments, a bio pic on the legendary illusionist David Copperfield and a comedic documentary series about rom-com star Andrew Keegan who inadvertently started a cult.

Ben Patterson is a 1997 Graduate of Alliance High School, attended Ohio University and currently splits time between New York City and the Catskill Mountains.

Mabel Hartzell

Mabel Hartzell (1875-1954)

Class of 2026 – Founder

Mabel Hartzell was born in Saginaw, Michigan, January 1, 1875. Mabel moved to Alliance with her family when she was eight, and her mother died when she was nine. Matthew and Mary Earley, who were friends of the Hartzell family, adopted Mabel in 1885 and allowed her to keep the Hartzell name.

Mabel was a remarkable woman, especially for her day. She received a teaching degree in 1898 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1905 from Mount Union College; a Master of Arts from Ohio State University in 1924; and also studied at the University of Washington in Seattle. She was a member of Mount Union’s Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. She taught for 1-1/2 years in Bolton, just north of Alliance, but the bulk of her career in education was in the Alliance City Schools. She taught grade school for five years, and then taught Latin, Physics, and Social Science at Alliance High School for 30 years.

According to some of her former students, Miss Hartzell was a rigorous teacher, but always fair with her students. She also served on the Alliance Board of Education from 1912-1924 and 1951-1954. This service is notable because she was first elected in 1911, before women were granted the general right to vote in 1920. Mabel Hartzell never married or had children, but she lived a full life, dedicating herself to education and to the Alliance community. She willed her beautiful home on North Park Avenue  to the Alliance Historical Society. Mabel Hartzell died in Alliance on December 2, 1954.

Mabel Hartzell’s civic accomplishments:

  • Founder of the Alliance Chapter of the American Red Cross, and a director for 33 years
  • Founder of the Alliance Historical Society
  • Founder and President of the Mount Union College Women’s Association
  • Founder of the Alliance Woman’s Club, as well as its first President
  • President of the Alliance Sorosis Club
  • President of the Alliance Quota Club
  • Member of the Retired Teacher Association
  • President and Board Member of the Alliance YWCA
  • President of the Associated Charities
  • Director of the Alliance Community Chest
  • Director of City Savings and Building Company
  • Life Honorary Member of the Stark County Historical Society
  • State Counsellor (1905) of the Daughters of America
  • Member of the Rebekah Lodge
  • Member of Daughters of Scotland
  • President of the Alliance Women’s Christian Temperance Union
  • President of the Alliance Suffrage Association
  • Officer of the Stark County Suffrage Association
  • Member of the Ever Ready Club