Redskin Memorial Park - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Redskin Memorial Park

We recently returned to the Ft. Loramie area to attend a reunion for my wife’s family. The event was held at the new Redskin Memorial Park, an amazing venue for the reunion. It was our first visit to the park and it did not disappoint.

Perin Family Pavilion

The reunion was held in the Perin Pavilion, donated by the Paul & Vee Perin Family, which is quite a facility, with fireplace, the large doors, big screen TV and fully furnished space. The single doors on each side were 6” thick and hydraulically operated to make the pavilion fully open air on a perfect Sunday afternoon for the reunion. A great time was had by all. Photo follows.

Poeppelman Reunion Attendees

After chatting with all our relatives, we had an opportunity to walk around the park, with our first stop at the playground area. The large stone near the playground recognized the Tom & Diane Meyer family for the donation of the funds to construct the playground. What a fantastic playground for the kids of Ft. Loramie; a far cry from the playground equipment we had growing up next to the old elementary school. I can recall the metal slide that we would use sheets of wax paper swiped from home to sit on to speed up the slide, It worked fantastic, but made the landing at the end of the slide a little harsh.

Meyer Family Playground

We also had swings that were fun to jump off of when flying high. No doubt those antics are discouraged these days. Jungle bars were fun as well, but nothing like the Redskin Park facilities today. My grand niece and nephew really enjoyed the park during a recent visit with their grandmother, my sister Lucy, who thankfully provided most of the photos in this blog.

The park includes 4 ballfields, one of which is named after my cousin Jared Hoying as pictured here.

The 26 acre park was spearheaded by local civic leaders and funded by generous donors listed on the large plaque on the ballfields concession stand and the many volunteers pictured below who helped construct the park. The effort was lead by Craig Drees, Vice President Ryan Homan, Vice President of Finance Diane Meyer, Secretary Lisa Benanzer, Treasurer Jeanne Hoying, Village Administrator Tony Schmitmeyer and Mayor Randy Ahlers. Click here for a 2018 SDN article about the creation of the park.

Some of the other major donors include Dave Ross, Russ & Rene Gottemoeller, Tony & Pam Seger and Irene Boerger. I’m also a donor thanks to a small contribution in memory of Loramie basketball teammate John Gephart. And of note, The Redskin Memorial entrance sign was designed and funded as an Eagle Scout project by Devin Wray.

This blog was written while listening to the thrilling Loramie victory over Minster Friday night on ScoresBroadcast.com; almost but not quite like being there in person. Go Redskins! Great start.

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just click here to send me an email request and your name will be added to the distribution.

Woodward Dream Cruise - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Woodward Dream Cruise

Saturday’s Woodward Dream Cruise did not disappoint; some favorite photos follow:

Sponsor Ford Opening the Cruise

 Mustang Alley

 Bronco Corral

1933 Willys Delivery Coupe

Jay Leno & his Ford Lightening EV

1957 Chevy

1948 Ford Pickup Truck

2019 BMW I8 Sports Car

Chrysler PT Cruiser Decked out in Skulls!

Spiderman on a Kawasaki Motorcycle

Proud Marine Displays Lady Liberty

Red White & Blue Vette

Mini Classic Ford Cruises Woodward

Pretty in Pink ’57 Thunderbird

Blues Brothers Jake & Elwood in their Bullet Ridden Dodge Police Car

 Low Rider Strutting Its Stuff

BMW Does a Burnout Donut Right on Woodward

Cops Chase Down the BWW Driver

Cops Catch BMW Driver and Arrest Him

Bob Seeger Song Commemorated ’60 Chevy

Our Cruiser - 2004 Retro Tbird

Aerial View of the Cruisers

Until next year! Click this link for previous Dream Cruise editions.

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just click here to send me an email request and your name will be added to the distribution.

Our interview with Nashville recording artist Jake Hoot

Winner of NBC's The Voice, Jake Hoot, headlined opening night of Schaferpalooza 2022

This past weekend marked the third annual Schaferpalooza, a two-day live music event founded by Dan & Toni Schafer of Houston, Ohio. The entertainment included a strong lineup of performers, headlined on both Friday and Saturday by a couple of Nashville recording artists in Jake Hoot and Noah Smith. Fish Report got the opportunity to go backstage on opening night and meet the Texas-born Jake Hoot before his 9:30 show. Jake talked about a variety of subjects including winning NBC's The Voice back in 2019 and playing the Grand Ole Opry 14 times. Below is our Q&A with the rising country music star.

FR: First of all, welcome to Ohio Jake! When was the last time you’ve been to the Buckeye state?

JH: This is the second time in probably a year I've been up here. The last time both Noah Smith and I were opening for Collin Raye. That's also when I met the Schafer's and they invited me up to play Schaferpalooza.

FR: Are you aware you’re performing tonight in Houston (HOW-stun), not Houston (HUE-stun)? Also, some of these fans came from a town about a mile away spelled R-U-S-S-I-A, but pronounced ROO-she.

JH: I did not know that! That's awesome. I've been telling people I was heading to HUE-stun Ohio for a show and how do pronounce the other town, ROO-she? I would have been concerned if I was told my next show was in RUSH-uh. I'm going to talk about that with the crowd tonight, this is going to be fun!

FR: Around this part of Ohio the way of life pretty much revolves around family, faith and sports. I read that’s kind of how you grew up too?

JH: Absolutely. I'm one of nine kids and my parents were missionaries. We all loved sports and I was actually blessed enough to play college football. Those three core things - family, faith and sports are very monumental in my life. My wife and two daughters back home are everything to me and I still carry those values with me today.

FR: You mentioned playing college football and I know that you played for Tennessee Tech. I also read you played baseball in a Dominican league at one time?

JH:  Yep, we moved to the Dominican for a while when I was 9-years old. Playing baseball is probably a pretty loose term. I was more like the kid chasing butterflies in the outfield when balls were rolling past me. I was a switch hitter and my brother was a pitcher. Our team was okay, we weren't great. Kids in the Dominican are playing at such an elite level and even when they're young. There wasn't enough contact and I got bored, but it was definitely a good learning experience.

FR: Growing up I'm guessing you had more thoughts of being a professional athlete than a professional singer?

JH: When I was playing football at Tennessee Tech there was maybe a split moment where I thought I could be a pro, but it didn't work out and God has his plan. To be honest, I never thought about being a professional singer until after I won The Voice. I was working in radio and playing guitar on the weekends at the time when The Voice came along. When they announced my name as the winner and I later processed what happened, that's when I thought maybe this should be a full-time gig. I'm just very blessed and very excited to be doing what I love.

FR: Let's talk about The Voice some more. Other Nashville recording artists have found success on that show. Danielle Bradberry won in 2013 and she's enjoying a fine country music career. Morgan Wallen was on the show in 2014 and didn't win but he's one of the hottest tickets in all of music these days. What are your thoughts about the show after your win?

JH: The way that the show is built, they do an incredible job of taking people and not changing who they are. Just taking their story and putting it out on national television. This sounds corny but having success on The Voice is mainly about your voice! I found out afterward there are so many people that watch the show. I can be in the most random place and folks will come up to talk about seeing me on the show. It was an incredible experience and I recommend it for anyone. It was fun, everyone there was very genuine and the notoriety of being on the show helps your career whether you win or not.

FR: You’ve been on a lot of big stages now including the Grand Ole Opry. I have to imagine that's a dream come true?

JH: Absolutely! I used to go there when I could afford tickets and I would tell my grandparents how awesome it would be if I could play the Opry some day. Now I've played it 14 times. A lot of country music artists probably don't count how many times they've played certain venues, but I think most count the number of times they've played the Opry. It's such an incredible stage and my favorite place to play. It's also the only stage I still get nervous before going on. I'm very blessed they keep having me back.

FR: What are you enjoying most about your career right now?

JH: One of the most addicting things is to get on stage and watch people sing the words back to a song I made up in a room. Not only that but to have people come up and tell you how that song impacted them in some way. When a song is able to be a conduit or a tool to help people going through whatever they're going through, whether it's a death or heartbreak, it's just an incredible thing. And being out here in the country and seeing all these farms, these farmers are the ones busting their backs every day. I realize I get to sing songs for a living and feel very fortunate about my career.

FR: What kind of show can fans expect here tonight?
JH: I haven't figured that out yet? No, just kidding! We're going to do a couple songs I played when I was on The Voice, just for the folks that watched the show. I've been writing a lot in Nashville lately. So, I'll be playing a lot of originals, some that haven't been released yet and some that have. I love to have a good time and include everybody. So, we'll do some sing-along stuff and I'll probably pick on a few people from the stage to get some laughs.

FR: It sounds like new music is in the works?

JH: All the time. I feel like if you're not making new music you're just kind of stagnant. I've been fortunate to get in the room with some really great writers and we're writing new stuff every week. Picking the songs that you want to record is the hard part. We've got quite a few new songs that are coming out this year and next year as well. We're excited.

FR: I’ve been told you like to give back to charity as much as possible. What causes mean the most to you right now?

JH: I call myself the modern day Clark Griswold. I love Christmas and everything about it. Last year I was introduced to a man by the name of Frank. He has a non-profit up in New York called Baking Memories for Kids. Each holiday season they bake and sell cookies with all the proceeds used to send terminally ill kids and their families to major parks down in Florida like Disney and Universal. I was able to be apart of one of the giveaways last year. I went to a little boy's house and gave him and his family a trip to Disney. It's partnered with Christmas and I'm happy to be a part of it. We also try to help out with the Habitat for Humanity back in Cookeville, Tennessee and building local houses. 

FR: Finally, if folks want to find out more about you or listen to your music what’s the best way?

JH: The website is jakehoot.com. I'm on every social media if you search Jake Hoot or Jake Hoot Music. I'm constantly posting crazy things. Send me a message, I love hearing from folks.

Backstage at Schaferpalooza with Jake Hoot

Jim Bornhorst RIP - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Jim Bornhorst - RIP

To honor recently deceased Ft. Loramie farmer and civic leader, James J. Bornhorst the following write-up from his 2015 Loramie Schools Wall of Honor induction is provided. I had the pleasure of working for Jim during high school as documented in these previous blogposts. He taught me so much and I’m so grateful for having had the opportunity to know him, his wife Carol and their family.

Ft. Loramie Schools Wall of Honor Induction Ceremony - September 27, 2015 - Honoree Jim Bornhorst

James J. Bornhorst was born and raised on a farm west of Fort Loramie. After the passing of his father in 1951, Jim became the third generation owner of that family farm (pictured below).

In 1950, while still in high school, Jim started the Fort Loramie Livestock 4-H Club, Jim himself being the club’s advisor. He saw the need to help the youth in the community who were interested in the raising of livestock. That 4-H club is still in existence today (photo below). Jim also served as a member of the Shelby County Fair Board from 1954-1958.

2022 Ft. Loramie Livestock 4H Members

After serving two years in the U.S. Army, Jim married Carol Jean Buehler on September 29, 1956. While still farming, he worked at Minster Machine for eight years. Jim and Carol have six children, 24 grand- children, and 20 great-grandchildren. They will celebrate their 59th anniversary this year.

In 1968, the “Old Fashion Fourth of July” celebration was revived in Fort Loramie. Those who revived the celebration wanted to have one large community event to raise money for the various organizations and to provide the community with a good time. Jim volunteered to haul in the lumber that would be used for the various stands and continued to procure the lumber for this event for a number of years thereafter. Jim served on the St. Michael Catholic Church’s Parish Council during the tenure of Father Francis and Father Bensman. He was instrumental with the project of attaching a garage to the parish house.

In 1969, Jim was elected as clerk for McLean Township and served until 1975. He also served on the advisory board of Wapakoneta Production Credit Association from 1973-1985. His duties were to make recommendations to the staff to better serve the credit needs of local farmers.

Jim served two terms on the Fort Loramie School Board from 1976-1983. He served as president of the board in 1979 and in 1982. In 1977 there was one very crowded school building for grades K-12. The gymnasium was too small to host home basketball games, so area gyms were rented. During Jim’s first term on the school board, a much-needed new high school building was built on the corner of St. Rt. 705 and Greenback Road. This new facility was a center of pride for the entire community, providing for the educational and extra-curricular needs of the school district.

To accomplish the building of the school, funds were stretched to the maximum. Jim and fellow board members convinced the community that, through volunteerism, the seemingly-impossible process could be accomplished. Volunteers donated many hours of labor for such tasks as ground-preparation, inserting water and electric lines, and painting the interior. Passage of the tax levy for the necessary funds to build the school did not include the gym. Jim and eight community members co-signed a loan to provide the funds to build the gym. This was the formation of the GYM Committee, which continues to be in existence to this day.

Jim also helped to organize a project to create a cinder track behind the old school. He asked area farmers and business owners to provide trucks to haul the cinders from the Piqua Power Plant. This cinder track like pictured below provided the school district a practice track at no cost.

Jim was willing to participate in any work that was necessary to get an important job done. He wasn’t reluctant to talk to people and encourage them to get involved. As Lynn Dildine, principal of the elementary school in 1977, states, “Jim provided more than his share of the leadership necessary to convince the community that the money was well-spent, because the students were the main beneficiaries.”

Jim Bornhorst has always been a “behind the scenes” kind of guy. He has a lot of good ideas and follows through on getting things accomplished. Jim has instilled his children with those same values of service and volunteerism to their communities.

 
Rest in peace, my friend; deepest sympathies to Jim’s family.

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just click here to send me an email request and your name will be added to the distribution.

G.O.A.T. - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

G.O.A.T.

There’s always a lot of debate about who’s the greatest of all time (G.O.A.T.) in various sports. So this blog sets the record straight once and for all! My comments reflect personal observations and memories about seeing each in action. The list only includes those athletes I’ve observed in person, not on TV or through the media. So here goes, starting with baseball:

Pete Rose is my baseball hero, as he led the Reds to multiple World Series championships during the Big Red Machine era in the 1970’s. As a lifelong Reds fan. he was such a great part of so many memories at Crosley Field and later Riverfront Stadium. Charlie Hustle was clearly an appropriate nickname for him. One of my favorite Pete Rose memories as documented in this previous blogpost occurred in his second season, and coincidently Johnny Bench’s rookie season and involved the two connecting up to make a special day for me and my brother who was attending his first Reds game.

For basketball, Michael Jordan was not necessarily a favorite of mine since he was a nemesis of the Detroit Pistons back in the late 1980’s when both the Bull and Pistons seemed to always meet in the semi-finals of the NBA playoffs. They had to get through each other to get to the Finals each year during that era. Detroit had the so called Jordan Rules for defensing Michael. It involved the best defensive guard facing up Jordan before the mid court line to try to force him to pass. If he happened to get around Dumars, it was Nick Mahorn’s job to confront him, definitely not let him get to the basket and try to get him to pass it up. Mahorn was to foul him if necessary to keep him from driving to the basket. If Mahorn couldn’t stop him, Bill Laimbeer was to literally hog tie Jordan. It worked for two seasons, as Jordan would tire by the 4th quarter from all the abuse and wasn’t nearly as effective. The Pistons won an NBA championship both years. However, eventually the Bulls figured out an offensive scheme to neutralize the Jordon Rules and the Bulls then beat the Pistons several years in a row. Jordan is the greatest basketball player I’ve ever seen.

Tom Brady is my football G.O.A.T., and ditto for many other fans. Ironically, when he played for the Michigan Wolverines in college, he was not a favorite. There was an underclassman quarterback named Drew Henson whom I felt should have been starting. But by the end of Brady’s senior season in 2000, after winning close games against Ohio State at the Big House and Alabama in the Orange Bowl, I was on his side and have been ever since. But at no time during his college career did I foresee the success he was to realize in the pros. Seven Super Bowl rings - Wow! G.O.A.T. for sure.

My hockey G.O.A.T. is none other that Mr Hockey himself, the Detroit Red Wings Gordie Howe. After having seen him play many times at old Olympia Stadium and later Joe Louis Arena and enjoying him lead the Red Wings to a number of Stanley Cup championships, I was a true fan. However, my most memorable Gordie Howe moment was meeting Gordie and his wife Colleen at a restaurant near Traverse City, Michigan on New Years Eve. That made for an especially happy New Years celebration.
https://www.complex.com/sports/2018/09/the-greatest-of-all-time

Jack Nicklaus, with 18 Major championships, is by far my all time golfing G.O.A,T. His 1986 Masters win was the highlight of them all, shown above on Championship Sunday as he drains a long birdie putt on hole 17. Unfortunately I didn’t witness that big win, but did actually play in the group behind him in a pro-am as part of the Ford Senior Players Championship at TPC Dearborn in 1990. Nicklaus not only designed the course but also won the event that year. My 11 year old son followed me around the TPC course for the Pro Am and had the opportunity to shake Jack’s hand and get his autograph on the Golden Bear hat pictured above, a memory that will stay with him for a lifetime. He too is an avid Jack Nicklaus fan. The only issue I have with Jack Nicklaus is the toughness of the courses he’s designed. I’ve played many of them and a common characteristic is typically water in front of most greens, which makes it extremely challenging to reach the green without laying up in front of the water especially for us senior players; fully recognizing that designing a course for seniors is not the best way to notable golf architecture (although G.O.A.T. golf course designer Donald Ross was able to do it and still provide for challenging play).

Track and Field G.O.A.T. is OSU’s Jesse Owens, who won 4 gold metals in the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin under the control of Hitler’s Nazi Germany at the time. Having never seen Jesse compete, I did attend a OSU football game in the fall of 1976 where he was recognized by his alma mater on the 40 anniversary of his Olympic feats. In addition, the Track and Field stadium on the OSU campus is appropriately named after Jesse.

There are two other Olympians I know, one of whom, David Simon won a medal for rowing. He went to high school with my son. The other is an Olympic swimmer Brandon Shuster, the grandson of a friend. Both are my Olympic G.O.A.T.s since I never officially met Jesse Owens, a true G.O.A.T.

Since I’ve never seen Serena Williams play in person, I can’t include her in my G.O.A.T. list, but I did watch Jimmy Connors in a tennis exhibition once while in Florida. He’s by far the best tennis player I’ve ever seen in person and was always a character on and off the court. His matches with arch rival John McEnroe were legendary. Both were feisty and readily verbally challenged each other, the umpires and the fans during their matches - pure theatrical entertainment at the time. I enjoyed this interesting 2018 YouTube interview of John McEnroe about his rivalry with Conners that at the 3:00 minute mark McEnroe compares Connors to my baseball G.O. A.T. Pete Rose, implying the two look and act alike. They do! In fact they both appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated a month apart back in 1974.

My motor racing G.O.A.T. would be NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, primarily due to his winning the Cup three times in 2002, 2005 & 2011, plus an IndyCar championship in 1997. I recall him racing in both the Indy 500 and Coke 400 at Daytona on the same day, dubbed the Memorial Day Double, flying from Indy to Florida between races in both 1999 and later in 2001 when he finished in the Top 10 at both venues. Tony is currently a NASCAR team owner and also bought Eldora Speedway in 2004 from legendary Earl Baltes, both shown in the above photo. I watched Tony race at Michigan International Speedway several times, having won in 2000.

Having never played soccer as a kid, my interest in the sport was very limited; however, I did manage to attend a World Cup event at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1994 when the USA and Switzerland played to a 1-1 tie - boring. The only soccer player on either team I had ever heard of was Lexi Lalas from nearby Birmingham, Michigan. So he’s my soccer G.O.A.T.! This game was the first ever soccer event in an indoor stadium.

Another Michigan native, boxing champion, Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns, was really fun to watch, having fought in 5 different weight classes over the course of his career. Since I never personally witnessed many boxing matches except for Hearns, he’s my boxing G.O.A.T., best known for his 14 round bout with Sugar Ray Leonard in 1981. Both were undefeated at the time if I recall and Hearns lost to Sugar Ray in 14 rounds. The two had a rematch in 1989, with Hearns flooring Leonard twice in latter rounds, but the judges ruled the match a controversial draw; another reason boxing is not a favorite sport of mine.

Last but not least is lacrosse, a sport my son played in high school and college. His team won a state championship in 1997, led by Jay Penske, son of racing legend Roger Penske, who was in my son’s class. Jay was an amazing lacrosse player who went on to play for Penn in college. Jay #7 in the front row of the above state championship photo is my lacrosse G.O.A.T., with my son #1 next to him.

Hope you enjoyed the memories of my G.O.A.T.’s. Who are yours?

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just click here to send me an email request and your name will be added to the distribution.