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Mount
Union 31 by Dick Ross |
RETURN TO NORMAL Prior to the outbreak of war Henry Solomon Lehr had been a student at Mount Union College and though he was not a graduate, he was able to sufficiently impress the Ada School Board, who hired him as schoolmaster, with the understanding that he would be able to use the facilities after hours to teach a "select school" for those wishing education beyond that offered during the day. Whether the term "select school" was borrowed from Mount Union's O. N. Hartshorn, or was a commonly used term for private education, during this period, is difficult to tell at this point in time. Within five years Lehr was sufficiently well established in Ada to begin planning a campus and an academic building. 1871 was a very busy year for Mr. Lehr: In addition to raising monies, hiring faculty, establishing a curriculum, writing a catalog and supervising construction, he also felt the need to complete his degree at Mount Union before his own school started. While it was not completed for
some time, Northwestern Ohio Normal School opened with one thing that it had taken Mount
Union nearly twenty years to accomplish: Its own building. In the fall of 1871,
Theodore Presser, Mount Union music student and instructor, became the first of many
Unonians to travel west to As a "normal" school, one whose primary function is to train teachers, Northern along with Mount Union was a pioneer in establishing summer sessions, so that teachers could continue their education, without taking time off from their teaching jobs. In the early Twentieth Century, Northern briefly operated a large Agricultural College which, though short lived, contributed its farms to the sizable campus which the university enjoys today. Mount Union first played
football against ONU in 1907. When Larry Kehres took over as Mount's head coach, the
series with ONU was 12-12-1. Going into today's game the count is 30-12-1; ONU's
most recent victory was in 1984. In a trend which will continue for the next few weeks fall colors, only hinted at in Cleveland, showed increasing orange and yellow as we traveled south. Streetsboro, once just a wide spot in the road and the turn off for Kent State, is now a conglomeration of megastores, motels, restaurants and gas stations, which usually have the lowest gasoline prices along the way and we make a note to top off on the way home. When we got to Alliance we found that the Alumni Association was well represented in the homecoming parade by Bob Buchs '54, President; Dwight Jordan '71 and Dwight's 2 seater BMW convertible: A fine example of one of the reasons for higher education. Instead of the buffet this
week, I opted for the donors reception. A good crowd in the Campus Grounds and a
nice spread with special recognition of President emeritus Harold Kohlenbrander who was
presented with a portrait, which will be hung with the other former presidents, in the
library and a bronze bust, which will be displayed in the lobby of the
Kohlenbrander-Harter Information Services building. A few weeks earlier, I had heard
that a picture of Dr. K would join "all the presidents who had been hung in the
A "return to normalcy" was a phrase coined by presidential candidate Warren G. Harding of Marion, Ohio to describe America's readjustment following the first World War. Hopefully, this is a process on which we are now embarked, though our definition of "Normal" may never be quite the same. Alliance, today, buried former resident U. S. Army CWO William Ruth age 57 who perished, along with nearly 200 others, in the September 11th attack on the Pentagon. At 1:30 p.m. the two teams
took the field with 5,023 in attendance, a temperature of 58 degrees, and a brisk breeze
out of the northeast blowing the flag, raised back to full staff, directly at my seats in
section three. The Polar Bears took the field in white jerseys, with their names on
the backs, solid black helmets and trousers; Mount wore its playoff black jerseys with
purple pants and helmets, which meant not nearly The game opened slowly with
ONU running well. Coach Montgomery's adjustments did not wait for half time but
followed the early first downs. It was not until near the end of the quarter with
runs by # 10 Sr. On the ensuing kickoff the
Northern man was streaking down the far side when Rodney coiled up his entire 5'9"
and made a tough open field hit that earned him a line on the defensive stat sheet. With the first touchdown scored, Presidents Kohlenbrander and Ewing combined for twenty pushups, ten each, to get things rolling for the home squad. Mount got the ball back with
just over four minutes to go and marched 71 yards, capped by a 7-yard pass to Chuck Moore
which put him past Marshall Faulk and tied with Ron Dayne on the all-time all division
scoring list, with 19 seconds remaining in the half. Either the referees have been
disarmed or they had a misfire, or they were just not paying attention as the half ended
with the ONU quarterback pointing out the triple zeros to the officials as time expired,
and the Mount Union band waited patiently to take the field. FINAL SCORE: MOUNT UNION 31, OHIO NORTHERN 3
Contact Dorothy Davis for
details, if you did not already get a flyer. If you should happen to live near
either site, plan to attend. The Wilmington game, especially, is a long way from
home, and the team could use your support. I plan to be on that big motor coach next
Saturday - see you there, under the bridge, down along the Ohio.
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assist the school that became Ohio Normal University in 1885. Adding programs in
Engineering, Pharmacy and Law, the school became Ohio Northern University, in 1903.
In 1899, seeking to insure the permanence of the institution, Dr. Lehr was able to sell
the institution to the Methodist Church.
Following the reception I
tried to help a bit by filling helium balloons in the Alumni Association tent outside the
Southeast corner of the stadium until Dorothy Davis brought over list member Julio
Sanclemente '90, visiting from California, who had played WR for Mount during the
transition between coaches Ken Wable and Larry Kehres. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting
Julio and his hearing his insights, during the game.
Chuck Moore of Mogadore, # 31 Jr.
Dan Pugh of Norwalk, and a 29-yard pass to # 9 Sr. WR Jason Candle of Salem/West Branch
that Mount got the ball inside the five, but the advance stalled and # 1 Sr. Rodney Chenos
of Hilliard/Davidson was called on for an extra point length field goal.
the ball down to the one where it,
uncharacteristically, remained after two Chuck Moore line plunges, until Moore swept the
wide on the right side planting the ball directly on the north end goal line.
Chenos followed up to hike the score to 10.
The Ada contingent moved the ball to
the Mount six, with a fourth and three, down by Hartshorn Street where they were stopped
by a big hit by # 89 Matt Campbell, Sr. DE from Massillon/Perry and # 23 Sr. LB Jason
Perkins of Wakeman/Firelands, but one of the biggest cheers of the day was the
announcement that Heidelberg had tied John Carroll at 21 all (JCU went on to win, 44-21).
The leading defender, on the day, was # 92 Sr. DE Todd Braden of McArthur/Vinton
County who not only matched Perkins' nine tackles, but also recorded two quarterback
sacks, for a total of 18 yards in losses. ONU's sole score of the day was a 34-yard
field goal at the south end with four minutes left in the third period.
The team will be wearing road white the next two weeks. We'll be in Marietta
Saturday evening, October 6th and at Wilmington Saturday afternoon, the 13th. The
Alumni office is sponsoring buses, from Alliance, to both games.