SHS Alumni Association & Whippet Echos update

Still Expanding the Network: When Whippet Echoes debuted in September 2001, that first edition went to just 21 SHS alumni, the only ones for whom we had email addresses. We encouraged them to forward the edition to other alums for whom they had email addresses. As we enter the 22nd year of Whippet Echoes that now going to 2,400 alumni, faculty, and former faculty, if you know of an alum and you’re not sure if he/she is receiving the newsletter, let us know at gdaniel0488@gmail. com, and we’ll check to see if he/she is in the database. If not, we’ll send two back editions and invite them to join the database.

Alumni Association Leadership. At the association’s November Board meeting, Brooke Potter Burkhalter ’92 was elected to succeed Mary Lee Hannafus Barr ’66 as secretary, and John Gies ’84 was elected to succeed Sue Robertson Winans ’60 as treasurer. Mary Lee and Sue continue as Board members. Tom Armstrong ’70 continues as president and Dave Winans ’60 as vice president until the end of 2023.

Here is the complete roster of Board members:

Toni Martinez Anspach ‘62, Tom Armstrong ‘70, Mary Lee Hannafus Barr ‘66, Brooke Potter Burkhalter ‘92, Kim Burkey ‘84, Greg Daniel ‘71, Cathy Dodge ‘65, Christina Yetzer Drain ‘75, John Gies ‘84, Susie Bashore Henkel ‘62,

Mike Johnson ‘63, Janet Kehres ‘64, Char Kenney Schiffer ‘66, Chuck Schiffer ‘64, Janet Page Whitehill ‘62, Dave Winans ‘60, Sue Robertson Winans ‘60.

Alumni Association by-laws allow the Board to total of 20 members. At the moment there are 17 members. If you are interested in learning more about the role of a Board member, email Tom Armstrong at tomaclass70@yahoo.com.

YOUR Alumni Association continues to fulfill its mission. That’s right, YOUR Alumni Association as all SHS students upon graduation automatically become members. A core purpose of the Association’s mission is to enrich the academic environment for current and future SHS students. Here are the two most recent Association gifts to SHS: a Nikon D7500 camera with a zoom lens and two camera bags for use by Scarlet S yearbook staff – $1,400. 20 graphing calculators to be used by math students of teachers Scott Gurney and Andy Carver – $3,127.66. Scott ’83 and Andy ’95 are SHS grads and are at sharvey2@neo. rr.com and carver.andy@ shelbyk12.org. Those two alumni donations bring the total of Association gifts to $280,590.71.

If you’d like to donate to the Association and in particular to the Bill Wilkins Memorial Student Achievement Fund, write a check made payable to SHS Alumni Association and send it to Treasurer, Shelby High School, One Whippet Way, Shelby, OH 44875. honor Chuck at his calling hours. I spoke with Shelby head football coach Rob Mahaney about Chuck’s passing and he said, “One of the many things I loved about Chuck was I knew he was always going to put the players in a positive light”.

Chuck was an unashamed Shelby ‘homer’ and that was evident in everything he did covering Shelby sports. He spent 40+ years covering Shelby athletes so mom/ dad, grandparents, neighbors, could read about their sons/daughters. Chuck didn’t miss a beat. Whether it be a state final four football game or JV baseball game, Chuck was making sure something was in the paper.

As stressful as meeting deadlines and conducting interviews after tough defeats could be, Chuck always kept his cool demeanor/professionalism and wore that trademark smile. Coach Mahaney added, “After games, I knew Chuck had deadlines to meet, but he always allowed a few minutes for me to hug my girls before we conducted our interview.”

I read tribute after tribute on social media regarding Chuck. People stating they had boxes of articles that they saved when they were playing 30+ years ago. Or how parents had a cedar chest full of article about their kids. Or grandparents tacking pictures on their refrigerators to ‘brag’ a little when the neighbors came over. Beth and I have boxes full of articles/ pictures of the boys that Chuck took. Every win or loss, we saved the articles.

Chuck was an oldschool guy who still used his trademark 4-color pen cover the games. He was a master of that craft. Chuck could keep every play in his

notebook while also taking pictures during the game. Trust me, that’s a feat to

behold. I kept stats for Chuck during football season, he gave me stat sheets that I remember using 30 years ago, when I helped Chuck during my high school days. I guess the adage, “don’t fix what isn’t broke,” applies.

Chuck was a humble guy who would pay for pictures if a child couldn’t afford

them. I remember him calling me one night saying a child didn’t submit a picture form, I told him I didn’t think that was in the family budget, he told me he’d be at the next game to get a picture of the player because no player was going without pictures. If a child was ill or for whatever reason missed pictures, Chuck would go so far as to put a backdrop in his living room and take the pictures.

Chuck won numerous writing awards Including being honored with the Ohio High School Athletic Association Media Service Award through their Sportsmanship, Ethics, and Integrity Program in 2020 and was honored with the Charles C.W. Williams Sixth Man Award by the Shelby basketball team in 2017. But I truly believe the best way to honor a Shelby icon is to have the Whippet Athletic complex press box and the Shelby basketball scorers table be named in Chuck’s honor. I think that’s the least our school/ community could do for a man who meant so much to us over 40+ years.

There will never been another Chuck, Chuckles, master of his craft, 4 color wizard, the GOAT. I’ll sum it up the best I can: Chuck and I talked a couple years ago about the best athlete to come out of Shelby. We bantered back forth about 4-5 athletes, but we could never agree on who was the best. But I think we can all agree that the person to have the greatest impact on Shelby sports was my dear friend, Chuck Ridenour.