2018 Telethon: It’s time to give back
Lead Summary
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
One of my lasting memories and messages from the late Ernie B. Blankenship was a simple one: “You have to give back.”
And the time to give back is now.
The Hillsboro and Greenfield Rotary Clubs will host the 46th annual Ernie Blankenship Radio-Telethon for the benefit of the Highland County Society for Children and Adults on Wednesday, March 28.
The event will be broadcast live from 6-9 p.m. from the NCB main office in Hillsboro on the local community access channel of the Time Warner Cable System and on WSRW FM 101.5 and WSRW AM 1590. In Greenfield, the event will be broadcast from 6-9 p.m. from McClain High School on the local community access channel of Time Warner Cable System and on local radio station WVNU FM 97.5. The HCP will be there, too, of course.
Ernie Blankenship served as master of ceremonies of the annual telethon that bears his name in parts of six decades – from the 1960s until his final telethon in the spring of 2013. The Hall of Famer passed away at age 77 on Oct. 8, 2013.
Ernie and I sat down for one of my earlier job interviews more than 38 years ago at his office at Rotary Forms Press, Inc. on South High Street in Hillsboro.
When I think about High Street in Hillsboro, I think about all the places I’ve worked on High Street, beginning at 106 1/2 North High Street. I have worked at five different businesses on High Street in Hillsboro since 1970, including the one I now own.
What is really appreciated, though, is this: Some of my former High Street employers were some of the finest men in the community. Ernie Blankenship was one of them.
I’d like to share a portion of one of my last interviews with Ernie from a few years prior to his passing.
Too often, it seems, we see the end result that has become a successful and prosperous life without pausing to consider the process and the roads traveled. As Ernie shared a few of his lesser-known personal – and a few private – recollections with me, I came to realize a little more about the man. The man who left rural Neon, Ky., just across the Virginia state line, some 70 years ago. The man whose lifetime achievements would surpass even his own wildest expectations.
We all know Ernie for his 50-plus years as the sports voice of WSRW Radio. We’ve heard many of his thousands of high school sports broadcasts. We’ve witnessed his countless volunteer efforts of the last 40 or more years with the Highland County Society for Children and Adults. We know of his love for the Hillsboro Indians and all the county high school teams.
We know he was a big Notre Dame football fan, too.
On a personal note, back in my journeyman press operator days, I once was with Ernie at a Friday night high school football game, at a Saturday afternoon Fightin’ Irish football game in South Bend and at a Sunday Bengals game at Riverfront Stadium. Not on three separate weekends. But on three consecutive days. I was in my late 20s, and it wore me out. But not Ernie. He was good to go.
Of course, there are other – more significant – things that Ernie shared. His father, Stanley Blankenship, died in 1948, when Ernie was 11. His mother, Lulu Blankenship, then moved the family from Letcher County, Ky., to Columbus, Ohio.
Because of the family’s financial struggles, she was forced to place Ernie and his three brothers and sister in St. Vincent’s Catholic Orphanage for four years. Later, after his mother moved to Hillsboro to find employment and also to be close to relatives, the children were reunited with their mother.
“We were at St. Vincent’s for four years, while my mother worked,” Ernie told me. “I will always be very grateful for the education I received at the orphanage and for everything those people did for us.
“We were poor when we first came to town,” Ernie told me. “We ate more beans and cornbread than you can imagine. But there were good times, too. I remember the things that people like Heber Duckwall, Jim Ford, Boltz and Haggerty, Bill Mason, Sr. and George Steele did for me. I learned about the importance of helping others because of the help they gave me.”
And there you have it.
Helping others. That was Ernie.
Not only did Ernie learn the importance of helping others, he fine-tuned the practice to a work of art. A genuine humanitarian, philanthropic, Good Samaritan work of art. He was the emcee of the annual Highland County Society for Children and Adults radio-telethon for decades.
College scholarships still bear his name, courtesy of NCB, for local student-athletes.
Ernie always told me he did these things for the children. And he was always grateful. Always thankful.
As HCP sports editor Stephen Forsha wrote, Ernie’s final radio broadcast was most fitting, a heated rivalry match-up between two Highland County teams, with the Hillsboro Indians and McClain Tigers battling for the Rotary Bowl. The game belonged to the Tigers, 28-15.
But the evening belonged to Ernie Blankenship.
On that night, the Dean of Ohio High School Sports Broadcasters, surrounded by many Highland County football fans, his personal friends and his family, was fittingly honored at halftime by Rick Earley and Terry Fouch, superintendents of Hillsboro and Greenfield schools, respectively.
As the Tigers and Indians bands completed their halftime performances, John Barney, the HHS public address announcer, asked fans to turn their attention to the 50-yard line.
With his voice cracking ever so slightly, John said to the Richards Memorial Field crowd, “We’d like to recognize a great community leader, a family man and a cherished friend.”
After Mr. Earley and Mr. Fouch expressed their appreciation for the Voice of Southern Ohio Sports, the field microphone was handed to Ernie, with his grandson, Beau, by his side. And perhaps for the first time since he began his long and storied career, Ernie admitted to being nervous. That was OK, Ernie. We understand. We’re all a bit nervous in such circumstances.
“I want to thank all of you from Hillsboro and Greenfield for allowing me into your homes for all these years. It has been my privilege,” Ernie told the fans in attendance and radio and internet listeners. “Thank you, and God bless you.”
Because of Ernie, I reported to Rotary Forms Press foreman John Ames at 7 a.m. on a Monday in October 1980. In the ensuing 38 years, I’ve come to realize that my story wasn’t all that special. Ernie had helped many others find employment simply by taking the time to listen – and care.
Ernie actually hired me twice, but that’s another story. Only my family and a few friends have heard that one.
Let’s just leave it at this: Ernie Blankenship has given more to others than he’s ever expected in return. That’s not a bad legacy for anyone, is it?
2018 Telethon March 28
• The hosts of this year’s Hillsboro broadcast on March 28 will again be the dynamic duo of Rick Williams and Herb Day. The first hour of the broadcast in Hillsboro will feature students from county schools and youth organizations which have raised funds for the event.
The Hillsboro portion of the radio-telethon will be on the internet, thanks to Terry Mikkelsen, who has provided the camera and technology services for the local community access station broadcast for the past several years, assisted by Ron Hennison, Jr. Watch the live stream on the web by logging on at http://www.tech-t.com/telethon/.
From 6-9 p.m., Rotarians will take pledges by telephone or in person for those who come to the bank during the broadcast. Pledges can be made during the telethon by calling 393-4246 or 981-7731. Any donation, no matter the amount, will be appreciated. Checks may be dropped off at any local bank or mailed to the Society at P.O. Box 258, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133.
As Ernie would say, it is time to give back.
Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press, Highland County’s only locally owned and operated newspaper.
And the time to give back is now.
The Hillsboro and Greenfield Rotary Clubs will host the 46th annual Ernie Blankenship Radio-Telethon for the benefit of the Highland County Society for Children and Adults on Wednesday, March 28.
The event will be broadcast live from 6-9 p.m. from the NCB main office in Hillsboro on the local community access channel of the Time Warner Cable System and on WSRW FM 101.5 and WSRW AM 1590. In Greenfield, the event will be broadcast from 6-9 p.m. from McClain High School on the local community access channel of Time Warner Cable System and on local radio station WVNU FM 97.5. The HCP will be there, too, of course.
Ernie Blankenship served as master of ceremonies of the annual telethon that bears his name in parts of six decades – from the 1960s until his final telethon in the spring of 2013. The Hall of Famer passed away at age 77 on Oct. 8, 2013.
Ernie and I sat down for one of my earlier job interviews more than 38 years ago at his office at Rotary Forms Press, Inc. on South High Street in Hillsboro.
When I think about High Street in Hillsboro, I think about all the places I’ve worked on High Street, beginning at 106 1/2 North High Street. I have worked at five different businesses on High Street in Hillsboro since 1970, including the one I now own.
What is really appreciated, though, is this: Some of my former High Street employers were some of the finest men in the community. Ernie Blankenship was one of them.
I’d like to share a portion of one of my last interviews with Ernie from a few years prior to his passing.
Too often, it seems, we see the end result that has become a successful and prosperous life without pausing to consider the process and the roads traveled. As Ernie shared a few of his lesser-known personal – and a few private – recollections with me, I came to realize a little more about the man. The man who left rural Neon, Ky., just across the Virginia state line, some 70 years ago. The man whose lifetime achievements would surpass even his own wildest expectations.
We all know Ernie for his 50-plus years as the sports voice of WSRW Radio. We’ve heard many of his thousands of high school sports broadcasts. We’ve witnessed his countless volunteer efforts of the last 40 or more years with the Highland County Society for Children and Adults. We know of his love for the Hillsboro Indians and all the county high school teams.
We know he was a big Notre Dame football fan, too.
On a personal note, back in my journeyman press operator days, I once was with Ernie at a Friday night high school football game, at a Saturday afternoon Fightin’ Irish football game in South Bend and at a Sunday Bengals game at Riverfront Stadium. Not on three separate weekends. But on three consecutive days. I was in my late 20s, and it wore me out. But not Ernie. He was good to go.
Of course, there are other – more significant – things that Ernie shared. His father, Stanley Blankenship, died in 1948, when Ernie was 11. His mother, Lulu Blankenship, then moved the family from Letcher County, Ky., to Columbus, Ohio.
Because of the family’s financial struggles, she was forced to place Ernie and his three brothers and sister in St. Vincent’s Catholic Orphanage for four years. Later, after his mother moved to Hillsboro to find employment and also to be close to relatives, the children were reunited with their mother.
“We were at St. Vincent’s for four years, while my mother worked,” Ernie told me. “I will always be very grateful for the education I received at the orphanage and for everything those people did for us.
“We were poor when we first came to town,” Ernie told me. “We ate more beans and cornbread than you can imagine. But there were good times, too. I remember the things that people like Heber Duckwall, Jim Ford, Boltz and Haggerty, Bill Mason, Sr. and George Steele did for me. I learned about the importance of helping others because of the help they gave me.”
And there you have it.
Helping others. That was Ernie.
Not only did Ernie learn the importance of helping others, he fine-tuned the practice to a work of art. A genuine humanitarian, philanthropic, Good Samaritan work of art. He was the emcee of the annual Highland County Society for Children and Adults radio-telethon for decades.
College scholarships still bear his name, courtesy of NCB, for local student-athletes.
Ernie always told me he did these things for the children. And he was always grateful. Always thankful.
As HCP sports editor Stephen Forsha wrote, Ernie’s final radio broadcast was most fitting, a heated rivalry match-up between two Highland County teams, with the Hillsboro Indians and McClain Tigers battling for the Rotary Bowl. The game belonged to the Tigers, 28-15.
But the evening belonged to Ernie Blankenship.
On that night, the Dean of Ohio High School Sports Broadcasters, surrounded by many Highland County football fans, his personal friends and his family, was fittingly honored at halftime by Rick Earley and Terry Fouch, superintendents of Hillsboro and Greenfield schools, respectively.
As the Tigers and Indians bands completed their halftime performances, John Barney, the HHS public address announcer, asked fans to turn their attention to the 50-yard line.
With his voice cracking ever so slightly, John said to the Richards Memorial Field crowd, “We’d like to recognize a great community leader, a family man and a cherished friend.”
After Mr. Earley and Mr. Fouch expressed their appreciation for the Voice of Southern Ohio Sports, the field microphone was handed to Ernie, with his grandson, Beau, by his side. And perhaps for the first time since he began his long and storied career, Ernie admitted to being nervous. That was OK, Ernie. We understand. We’re all a bit nervous in such circumstances.
“I want to thank all of you from Hillsboro and Greenfield for allowing me into your homes for all these years. It has been my privilege,” Ernie told the fans in attendance and radio and internet listeners. “Thank you, and God bless you.”
Because of Ernie, I reported to Rotary Forms Press foreman John Ames at 7 a.m. on a Monday in October 1980. In the ensuing 38 years, I’ve come to realize that my story wasn’t all that special. Ernie had helped many others find employment simply by taking the time to listen – and care.
Ernie actually hired me twice, but that’s another story. Only my family and a few friends have heard that one.
Let’s just leave it at this: Ernie Blankenship has given more to others than he’s ever expected in return. That’s not a bad legacy for anyone, is it?
2018 Telethon March 28
• The hosts of this year’s Hillsboro broadcast on March 28 will again be the dynamic duo of Rick Williams and Herb Day. The first hour of the broadcast in Hillsboro will feature students from county schools and youth organizations which have raised funds for the event.
The Hillsboro portion of the radio-telethon will be on the internet, thanks to Terry Mikkelsen, who has provided the camera and technology services for the local community access station broadcast for the past several years, assisted by Ron Hennison, Jr. Watch the live stream on the web by logging on at http://www.tech-t.com/telethon/.
From 6-9 p.m., Rotarians will take pledges by telephone or in person for those who come to the bank during the broadcast. Pledges can be made during the telethon by calling 393-4246 or 981-7731. Any donation, no matter the amount, will be appreciated. Checks may be dropped off at any local bank or mailed to the Society at P.O. Box 258, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133.
As Ernie would say, it is time to give back.
Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press, Highland County’s only locally owned and operated newspaper.