Matt Ryan's from Pa., so why isn't he considered to be another "Scrappy Quarterback from Pennsylvania"?

… many do not realize his Pa. roots 

Can you imagine going into a bar in Beaver Falls in 1968 and not seeing a picture or jersey of hometown hero Joe Namath? He was the hero who led his Beaver Falls High School team to a championship of the Western Pa. Interscholastic Athletic Conference [WPIAL] championship in 1960, and the fans followed him through the University of Alabama and then to the New York Jets.

Yet, when a reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine visited Exton, Pa., in Chester County, to see how the local residents were enjoying the fact that an area hero was leading his team into the Super Bowl on Sunday, he found something interesting: Absolutely no interest in Matt Ryan.

"The locals in Exton – not a town, in fact, but a quiet, small census-designated place that is composed of two malls, a few small businesses and a bunch of humble houses – appear ambivalent about Ryan playing in the Super Bowl for the Atlanta Falcons," Rolling Stone writer Jason Diamond noted. "No Ryan jerseys to be seen, no black-and-red 'Go Matt' signs in the windows of local businesses, nada. No noticeable hometown love for Matt Ryan can be found."

Diamond even quotes a local he found in an Exton bar. "He's from around here? I had no idea," the patron said.

His question was simple: Why not? Why was he not being regarded the same as the other great Pa. QBs who had done so?

Great QBs

The list of great NFL quarterbacks with Pa. roots is legendary: Namath, Montana, Unitas, Marino, Kelly, Blanda. Not all of them won the big game, but they all led their teams there -- and they are all in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Ryan now joins that group of those Pa. QBs who have played in the big game, but he is not revered in his home state like the others were. It has to do with location.

All of those great quarterbacks listed above as NFL Hall of Famers grew up in Western Pa. In all, 16 of the 27 native Pennsylvanians in the NFL Hall of Fame are from the western part of the state.

In fact, the big names on the NFL list, like Tony Dorsett and Mike Ditka and Jack Ham, are all from that area. Few from the Philly area are in Canton.

Diamond points out that Ryan is "not one of those scrappy guys from some steel mill town. He doesn't fit the mold of what people from outside of Pa think about when they hear a player is from the Mid-Atlantic state."

Lack of popularity reflects Charter School

One of the reasons that few people in Exton and in Chester County in general feel an affinity for Ryan is that he did not play for the local schools. Exton, which had 4,842 people in the 2010 census, sends students to both Downington and West Chester Area public schools.

The Ryans, Irish Catholics, chose to send Matt to a private Quaker school in Philadelphia called William Penn Charter, or simply Penn Charter. Consequently, the locals who would have loved him if he had starred for Downingtown or West Chester have little love for him since he departed their area and became famous In the city of Philadelphia, which has also little affinity for him since he was not born there -- or in the suburbs.

Ryan played well for the Quakers, and then matriculated at Boston College. That did not give him the same cred as if he had played for Penn State, but it did give him an opportunity to be the third player selected in the 2008 NFL draft.

Background different

Ryan's parents have been in the shadows during his career, even in Exton. Mike and Bernie Ryan apparently have Irish-Catholic roots. They attended a pep rally at Matt's grade school, Sts. Philip and James School in Exton, earlier this week, one in his honor.

The physical education teacher noted that Matt did not play for a school team. "We played a lot of football in gym and a lot of football at recess. You never know when they are that young whether or not they are going to be that good, but I knew he was going to be a leader,” Wendy Schenk told Philadelphia CBS affiliate KYW.

However, he does not come from that same ethnic background that characterized the great NFL QBs from Pa. Diamond notes, "He's not one of those scrappy guys from some steel mill town. He doesn't fit the mold of what people from outside of PA think about when they hear a player is from the Mid-Atlantic state."

Marino has an Italian father and Polish mother; Namath had Hungarian parents; Kelly has apparent Irish roots. All three of them also had a definitive blue-collar background.

They often had a tough life. Jim Kelly said this in 1987 about his life, "A lot of times we didn't have any food on the table. At Christmas, everybody else would always get something nice, but we'd get one T-shirt or one shirt." Despite that, Kelly gave his father enough money to retire early and enjoy life.

Namath grew up in a hardscrabble area of Beaver Falls. His father was a steelworker, but the parents divorced and he lived with his mother. They also had little money.

Ryan did not grow up in a wealthy area. His parents are common people, but he does not have the ethnic or blue-collar identity of the Western Pa. heroic QBs.

Western Pa. football dying, east has been powerful

High school football in Western Pa. has been dying for years, but it is not dead. However, the eastern part of the state is now dominant, so the Matt Ryan stories will become more common. The East does not have that same sense of community in the Philadelphia area, though areas in Northeast Pa. do.

Ryan's lack of recognition in Exton and Pa. as a whole will probably not change, though a win would certainly help. He will likely win the NFL MVP award for this year, and if he wins the Super Bowl MVP -- which would be great -- maybe his home state will give him a little more love.