Champion board receives portrait of Gradishar

NFL player’s photo will be displayed at high school

CHAMPION -- The Champion Local School District has been presented a picture of one of its most famous graduates.

Resident Rex Fee, a former township trustee, this week unveiled a picture of Randy Gradishar, a 1970 graduate of Champion High School who excelled in football both in high school and in the NFL.

Fee said he was at the high school this spring at a track event with his grandson and saw a picture of Gradishar in one of the trophy cases by the high school gymnasium. He said there should be a much bigger picture of Gradishar because of his successful career as a professional football player.

Fee located one that he presented to the Champion Board of Education earlier this week. Champion Superintendent John Grabowski said the picture will be displayed at the high school near the gymnasium.

Fee said Gradishar excelled in the NFL from 1974 to 1983 and was named "National Football League Defensive Player of the Year" in 1978. On Feb. 8, 2024, Gradishar was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which Fee said was long overdue. He became the first member of the 1977 Denver Broncos to be selected for the Football Hall of Fame.

Fee said Gradishar excelled in so many ways in athletics and recommended the school board consider a marker on school property to honor Gradishar or to consider naming the football field in his honor.

"What better name for the football stadium than one of our graduates who has achieved so much,'' Fee said.

Gradishar was a linebacker for 10 seasons with the Denver Broncos during the 1970s and 1980s. Gradishar was a one-time consensus and one-time unanimous All-American playing football for The Ohio State University Buckeyes.

During his high school career, Gradishar lettered all three years in both football and basketball. As a high school football player, he received honors including All-League, All-County and the Star Helmet Award.

Fee, who is a 1974 graduate of Champion High School, said he hopes the donation of the photo will be the start of other ways to honor Gradishar.

Also attending the board meeting was Arno Hill, a 1971 graduate of Champion, and former Lordstown mayor, who said he also remembers Gradishar.

"He deserves the recognition," Hill said.

Grabowski said the Champion school district has honored Gradishar in the Athletic Hall of Fame. He said the picture will be displayed at the high school next to the football signed by Gradishar.

In other business at Monday's board meeting, numerous students were honored for earning perfect scores on Ohio's state tests last spring at the elementary and middle schools.

The board also:

• Accepted the retirement resignation of Sheryl Cozad at the end of the current school year who has served as school nurse and administrative assistant for 20 years.

• Approved the school bus routes, bus stops and bus time scheduled as submitted by Mark Harper, director of facilities. The pay for substitute bus drivers was set at $17.41 per hour.

• Received a $400 donation from the Champion Education Association for the Murduck Science Lab on the school property.

• Approved Tabitha Shiflett as coordinator and administrator of the new Farm to Table lunch offerings for the high school.

• Approved Nicholas Komara as music director and steel drum director at the elementary school.

• Approved Peter Politsky as FIRST Robotics director and Adam Miller as assistant robotics adviser.