Former editor
papers have a duty to help with community activities and promote the good things for the city they happen to be in. And I think we did our share along that line.”
Bob White is remembered for his interest in the regional arts scene as well as his close attention to events in Oxford and the surrounding area.
In 1959, he wrote and narrated “Of Thy Glory” Miami University Sesquicentennial Pageant and portrayed Harry S. Thobe, colorful Miami and Cincinnati Reds booster who “performed at athletic events with umbrella and megaphone, and was gate crasher into 20 World Series games, three Orange Bowls, eight Rose Bowls and Miami’s first Sun Bowl contest.”
In 1976, he wrote and edited the comprehensive Bicentennial Series on Oxford History published by
His “Beneath the Tower” column ran for 41 years on the editorial page of
starting before he became an owner of the paper and continuing past retirement. His annual “Towerrhyme” column before Christmas every year included many local names and references to events of the past year, all done in rhyme with many puns sprinkled throughout. He would begin working on the piece a month or more ahead each year, scribbling notes about events and names and words he could use to rhyme with them.
A journalism research paper by Bill Cottrell, while a Miami student, identified 16 newspapers as having appeared in Oxford but
was, by far, the longest-running of them all.
My 50 years of covering Oxford included regular coverage of Talawanda Board of Education and City Council, although Bob White provided the primary Council coverage before his retirement.
One very memorable school board meeting was held at the Somerville School. It was a contentious meeting lasting until 2 a.m. My wife, Emilie, and I had not been married too long at that point and she was concerned I had gone off the road and was in a ditch somewhere. She called the school, but no one answered since no one was in the office.
I covered Oxford Township trustees for 18 years as well as Area One Court and learned a lot about the law and grassroots government on those two beats. There were a lot of cases through the court in that time, the most memorable the murder of female Miami student in an apartment. Her boyfriend was charged and acquitted of the murder.
I did hundreds of stories about kids in the schools and their projects. One that stands out was at Kramer
School where students had done a photography project and Bob White and I went together. He posed a picture of them all with their cameras pointed toward him and we ran the picture saying they were all taking a picture of “staff birdie Bob White.”
Talawanda High School FFA and FHA-HERO were both a regular source of news stories for many projects and state awards. Bob and I were both inducted as honorary members of both organizations in appreciation of our coverage.
There were, of course, many sports highlights in the area, too:
The Talawanda football win over Princeton in the playoffs in 1991 stands out. Princeton was nationally ranked at the time.
The Talawanda hockey team made it to the Final Four in Columbus in 2004.
Miami’s football team won three consecutive Tangerine Bowls from 1973-75, defeating Florida, Georgia and South Carolina and compiling a three-season record of 32-1-1.
Miami’s basketball team earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament in 1978 and knocked off defending national champion Marquette in the first round with the country looking ahead to a second-round showdown between Marquette and Kentucky.
There were, of course, many more, including the feats of Chris Elzey, who led Talawanda to the regional tournament in basketball after earlier scoring 42 points in one game. In a senior all-star game, Elzey launched a first-half buzzer-beating shot from near the free-throw line at one end of the court to earn a basket at the other end, and that was before the advent of the 3-point shot.
As the sun sets on this final version of we are left with memories of the Oxford community seen in the pages of the town’s longest-running newspaper, which are still on file in the Smith Library of Regional History on the second floor of the Lane Library.