YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – A documentary called “Show Me The Father” will begin a one week run at the Eastwood Mall’s Regal Boulevard Movie Centre Thursday, September 9.
It features the story of a father and son from Youngstown and a pastor hopes it will strengthen fatherhood in a city where he said it’s much needed.
“Well, I believe that failed fathering is the number one social problem in Youngstown, Ohio,” said pastor and March for Jesus USA national director Gary Frost.
Frost is a good friend of Youngstown native and former NFL player and coach Sherman Smith, who’s relationship with his son Deland McCullough is part of the documentary.
“It was just painful for me. Not painful that Deland was my son but painful that I had been irresponsible to the point where someone else had to raise my child,” said Smith from his home near Nashville.
After McCullough discovered his biological mother, he was told Smith was his biological father.
He knew Smith already — he had recruited McCullough for football at Campbell and McCullough later played for him at Miami of Ohio.
“And for me it was ‘What? I didn’t know I had a son.’ And so there was pain there for me,” Smith said.
‘This movie really focuses in upon the importance of a dad. We have a lot of biological fathers, but we need some dads,” Frost said.
“I think all men, all fathers need to step up and need what they’re supposed to be,” Smith said.