Restoring a championship past
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Championship trophies represent not only the season engraved, but represent a time in history when something was truly great. But as with anything in life, those memories of a championship time period can fade away and even perhaps disappear underneath a black soot, or in a few boxes, only to be stuck in the past, perhaps forever.
That was the recent resting place of the championship trophies from the "old" Marshall High School ... that was until the Marshall Township Committee lent the treasured pieces of hardware to the Highland County Historical Society, who, in turn, handed them over to the caring hands of Helen Ford.
In that time, the trophies went from being covered with dirt and dust from the school and the township fire station to becoming shining beauties that will eventually be displayed under glass (along with the Marshall time capsule) on the second floor of the Highland House Museum.
Marshall merged with Hillsboro in the fall of 1960 (for the 1960-61 school year). In that first year (1960-61), four of the five starters on the Hillsboro team were former Marshall players.
Obtaining the trophies took some time. Marshall Township Trustee Jeff Patton contacted Highland House Museum executive director Catie Schafer as the township trustees were trying to decide where to display the trophies and time capsule.
At first there was a bit of disagreement on where to display the trophies, until the offer by Schafer and the Historical Society.
"We offered to restore them, and I don't think anyone else was offering the time to restore all the trophies because some of them needed quite a bit of work." Schafer said. "We offered safety to the trophies, and another big thing was – and I voiced this – was I didn't want to split up the collection. Others wanted to split it up, but I was against that.
"I'm very pro- keeping collections intact because if you split it up, they may never get back together. I told them if we can't display all the trophies at the same time, we promised to keep them together and keep them secure."
The trophies that once were covered in so much dirt and dust now sparkle and shine, showing off the championship glare they once did when they were presented to the winning teams.
Some of the trophies are still in need of some repair, but the crown jewel of all championship trophies in Highland County, the 1928 OHSAA Class B Boys Basketball State Championship trophy, has returned to its original glory.
The Marshall team, who were known as the Red Flashes, won the 36-team Athens District tournament twice, a feat that had never been accomplished.
After losing in the state level the previous season, Marshall won the state crown, led by Lowell Smith and Joe "Shorty" Vanzant, who were both first-team All-State.
There were more than 1,000 Class B schools in Ohio, including Marshall (who finished the year 25-4).
Eighty-three years later, history has been restored and given a new life.
"When I was cleaning off the silver trophies … it was like uncovering a beautiful sight, it really was," Ford said. "It took at least three days to clean them up. I used silver cleaning polish on the silver ones, of course, and on the brass ones, some of the wood needed to be restored with a preservative-type cleaner.
"The rest was just warm water and soap."
The simple mixture of soap and water, along with a little love and care, not only restored the trophies but brought back to life a state championship team, along with many other teams of the past that may have been forgotten over time. Those teams included boys and girls teams ranging from the 1920s up to 1960.
The trophy collection also included Highland County and district championships.
"The trophies when we first got them were as black as night," Ford said. "With my association through the years with people from Marshall … with the memories of them … I just feel honored that I've been able to do it. Mr. (Paul) Cummings (a member of the 1928 state championship team) was a real good friend of my dad. They were people I've known all my life, not all of them, but some of them."
A lifetime resident of Hillsboro, Ford even spoke about which ones were her favorite, including a 1928-29 boys Highland County tournament champion trophy, which was presented by the Highland County Alumni Association, from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.
"What is interesting about this trophy ... well first, it is a nice trophy, and up on the top there is a person holding a (wreath) and it is just beautiful.
"This entire process I enjoyed. I love taking something old and making it new. I really enjoyed the honor of getting to do it, I really did."
The new home of the Marshall collection is a good place for not just residents of Marshall, but for the entire community of Highland County to see the history of the proud section of the county back with all its might.
"This is a good, natural place for the community to come and view the intact collection, the capsule and the Marshall championship photographs we already have here," Schafer said. "We have quite a bit of Marshall pictures and documents, so it made sense to bring the trophies here."
The Highland House Museum will officially display the trophies, time capsule and other Marshall memorabilia on April 7 at 7:30 p.m. with a presentation by guest speaker Bob Patton, who is a local historian and weekly contributor to The Highland County Press.
If anyone has Marshall High School items they would like to lend or donate to the collection, contact Catie Schafer at (937) 393-3392 as the museum will operate from the hours of Friday, 1-5 p.m. and Saturday/Sunday, 1-4 p.m. starting on April 7.
(Bob Patton contributed to this article.)[[In-content Ad]]
That was the recent resting place of the championship trophies from the "old" Marshall High School ... that was until the Marshall Township Committee lent the treasured pieces of hardware to the Highland County Historical Society, who, in turn, handed them over to the caring hands of Helen Ford.
In that time, the trophies went from being covered with dirt and dust from the school and the township fire station to becoming shining beauties that will eventually be displayed under glass (along with the Marshall time capsule) on the second floor of the Highland House Museum.
Marshall merged with Hillsboro in the fall of 1960 (for the 1960-61 school year). In that first year (1960-61), four of the five starters on the Hillsboro team were former Marshall players.
Obtaining the trophies took some time. Marshall Township Trustee Jeff Patton contacted Highland House Museum executive director Catie Schafer as the township trustees were trying to decide where to display the trophies and time capsule.
At first there was a bit of disagreement on where to display the trophies, until the offer by Schafer and the Historical Society.
"We offered to restore them, and I don't think anyone else was offering the time to restore all the trophies because some of them needed quite a bit of work." Schafer said. "We offered safety to the trophies, and another big thing was – and I voiced this – was I didn't want to split up the collection. Others wanted to split it up, but I was against that.
"I'm very pro- keeping collections intact because if you split it up, they may never get back together. I told them if we can't display all the trophies at the same time, we promised to keep them together and keep them secure."
The trophies that once were covered in so much dirt and dust now sparkle and shine, showing off the championship glare they once did when they were presented to the winning teams.
Some of the trophies are still in need of some repair, but the crown jewel of all championship trophies in Highland County, the 1928 OHSAA Class B Boys Basketball State Championship trophy, has returned to its original glory.
The Marshall team, who were known as the Red Flashes, won the 36-team Athens District tournament twice, a feat that had never been accomplished.
After losing in the state level the previous season, Marshall won the state crown, led by Lowell Smith and Joe "Shorty" Vanzant, who were both first-team All-State.
There were more than 1,000 Class B schools in Ohio, including Marshall (who finished the year 25-4).
Eighty-three years later, history has been restored and given a new life.
"When I was cleaning off the silver trophies … it was like uncovering a beautiful sight, it really was," Ford said. "It took at least three days to clean them up. I used silver cleaning polish on the silver ones, of course, and on the brass ones, some of the wood needed to be restored with a preservative-type cleaner.
"The rest was just warm water and soap."
The simple mixture of soap and water, along with a little love and care, not only restored the trophies but brought back to life a state championship team, along with many other teams of the past that may have been forgotten over time. Those teams included boys and girls teams ranging from the 1920s up to 1960.
The trophy collection also included Highland County and district championships.
"The trophies when we first got them were as black as night," Ford said. "With my association through the years with people from Marshall … with the memories of them … I just feel honored that I've been able to do it. Mr. (Paul) Cummings (a member of the 1928 state championship team) was a real good friend of my dad. They were people I've known all my life, not all of them, but some of them."
A lifetime resident of Hillsboro, Ford even spoke about which ones were her favorite, including a 1928-29 boys Highland County tournament champion trophy, which was presented by the Highland County Alumni Association, from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.
"What is interesting about this trophy ... well first, it is a nice trophy, and up on the top there is a person holding a (wreath) and it is just beautiful.
"This entire process I enjoyed. I love taking something old and making it new. I really enjoyed the honor of getting to do it, I really did."
The new home of the Marshall collection is a good place for not just residents of Marshall, but for the entire community of Highland County to see the history of the proud section of the county back with all its might.
"This is a good, natural place for the community to come and view the intact collection, the capsule and the Marshall championship photographs we already have here," Schafer said. "We have quite a bit of Marshall pictures and documents, so it made sense to bring the trophies here."
The Highland House Museum will officially display the trophies, time capsule and other Marshall memorabilia on April 7 at 7:30 p.m. with a presentation by guest speaker Bob Patton, who is a local historian and weekly contributor to The Highland County Press.
If anyone has Marshall High School items they would like to lend or donate to the collection, contact Catie Schafer at (937) 393-3392 as the museum will operate from the hours of Friday, 1-5 p.m. and Saturday/Sunday, 1-4 p.m. starting on April 7.
(Bob Patton contributed to this article.)[[In-content Ad]]