Jim Tressel was born in Mentor and graduated from Berea High School. He played quarterback under his legendary coaching father, Lee, at Baldwin-Wallace College before embarking on a long and distinguished career as a football coach. After stops as an assistant at four universities, Tressel was the head coach at Youngstown State between 1986 and 2000, leading the Penguins to four NCAA Division I-AA national championships. Named the head coach at Ohio State in 2001, he led the Buckeyes to a 14-0 record and national championship in 2002. During his 10 years in Columbus, he also took OSU to two other national championship games, won or tied for six Big Ten titles and had a 9-1 record against Michigan. Among his numerous honors include selection to athletic halls of fame at Baldwin-Wallace, Youngstown State and Ohio State and induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Following coaching, Tressel was executive vice president for student success at Akron before taking over as the president at Youngstown State in May of 2014 until his retirement two Februarys ago.
Dick LeBeau is a native of London, Ohio, where he was a basketball and football standout. He was on the 1957 Ohio State National Championship football team, playing both halfback and cornerback, and is a member of the OSU Athletic Hall of Fame. He then embarked on a prestigious 59-year career in the NFL, playing 14 years with the Detroit Lions and then coaching for 45 years with seven different franchises that included a two-year stint as head coach of the Bengals. While playing cornerback for the Lions, LeBeau was a three-time Pro Bowl selection, amassed 62 interceptions and is a member of the Lions’ all-time team. He is considered to be one of the greatest defensive coordinators of all time. While coordinating the Steelers’ defense, LeBeau helped the team win Super Bowls during the 2005 and 2008 seasons, and he was part of two other Steelers’ Super Bowl teams and two with the Bengals. He last coached with the Titans in 2017. Dick was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player in 2010.
Caroline Mast Daugherty was a two-time first team all-Ohio selection who led Warsaw River View to the 1982 OHSAA Girls Class AA state basketball championship, scoring 28 points in the semifinals and 26 in the finals. She went on to an outstanding career at Ohio University, where she was a three-time Mid-American Conference player-of-the-year and led the 1986 team to 26-3 record, the MAC championship and an NCAA tournament bid. Daugherty was the Bobcats’ all-time leading scorer for both women and men for nearly 40 years with nearly 2,500 points, was voted the MAC’s player-of-the-decade in women’s basketball and is a member of the MAC and Ohio U. athletic halls of fame and the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. Besides raising four accomplished children with her husband, Bill, she coached River View for six seasons, compiling a record of 132-16 between 2004 and 2009 and winning two state championships with three appearances in the state tournament.
Jerry Layne is the longest-serving active Major League Baseball umpire, first becoming a member of the Major League staff in 1989. He was the crew chief for the 2011 World Series and the 2017 National League Division Series. He also worked the 2005 World Series; four All-Star Games, and numerous other playoff games. Layne was behind the plate for Fernando Valenzuela’s no-hitter in 1990 and worked the plate when Barry Bonds hit his 71st homer in 2001. Before joining the Majors Leagues, he umpired in four different minor leagues, and he was also an instructor at MLB’s inaugural umpire camps and was a long-time instructor at the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School. Layne currently lives in Florida.