Racine, Ohio: Between tonight’s junior varsity and varsity basketball game verses South Gallia, Southern’s Superintendent, Mr. Tony Deem led the induction (supported by Beth Bay, Tricia McNickle, and Daniel Otto) of the Class of 2025 of Southern Local’s Hall of Fame.
Once again I stand before you with great pride in presenting the Southern Local School District Hall of Fame Class—the class of 2025.
On January 9, 2013 the Southern Local Board of Education unanimously voted to establish the Southern Local School District Hall of Fame. The purpose of the Southern Local School District Hall of Fame is to recognize Southern Local School District graduates, employees, and major contributors who have distinguished themselves by their individual contributions in scholarship, athletics, career, community service, and or society as a whole.
Individuals can be nominated by anyone, but must be approved by the selection committee. The committee voted on and confirmed two candidates for this year.
Now, I bring to you the 2025 Hall of Fame Inductees.
First inducted: Mr. Howie Caldwell
Our first inductee began teaching and coaching at Southern High School in 1975. He spent 23 years teaching and coaching at Southern Local. His overall teaching career lasted 38 years and his coaching career lasted 49 years.
At Southern he taught English, Speech, Physical Education, and Health. He had a genuine enthusiasm for his subject matter and a dedication to help students succeed. If you were a student in his class you always could expect to work bell to bell, because he utilized every minute of class time and he had the uncanny ability to reach all students.
One thing is for sure, all students learned to take sentences up the ladder. He is most known for having students learn a poem by Robert Frost called “The Road Not Taken”. The number of times, over the years, that students have referenced this poem and having to learn it for English class, is immeasurable. With the exception of two students over his career, every student learned this poem. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” is often a big topic of discussion on Facebook and it always ends with “he was my favorite teacher”. Many former students have chosen to take the road less traveled by, and they say that has made all the difference.
Racine Southern Basketball has been a big part of his life. He spent the first 10 years as a JV coach under a gentleman by the name of Carl Wolfe who taught him so much more than coaching. Coach Wolfe said “He is hard working, dedicated, an outstanding coach, and a great friend. ” In 1986 he took over as head coach and proudly held this title for 13 years. He also served as Athletic Director at Southern for 13 years. The years coaching at Southern contributed to a little less than half of his coaching career with some big accomplishments: He achieved 183 wins as the head coach, 4 league titles, 7 sectional titles, 1 district title that advanced the 1988 team to Regionals. He was the league Coach of the Year 5 times.
His total coaching career of 49 years notched 610 wins adding up between Southern, Eastern, Federal Hocking, and Trimble. His teams combined have won 18 league titles, 26 sectional titles, 9 district titles, and had 1 regional appearance.
Jeff Caldwell, a player on the 1988 team said “I am very thankful I had an opportunity to play for Coach Caldwell. Playing for him helped me become the best player I could be and a better person in my life after basketball. One of the many things we learned from him is nothing of value is ever achieved without hard work. We worked hard in practice and it led to success.”
During his coaching career, he was involved with four teams that participated in the State Tournament games.
While at Southern,he was the Head Volleyball coach for 5 years and had 69 wins. Overall, he coached volleyball for 12 years and had 325 wins.
He coached softball for 8 years and had 113 wins.
He conveyed the following sentiments:
“There are countless people to thank for this blessed honor- fellow coaches, assistant coaches, teachers, students, administrators, players, and the committee members who felt I was worthy. All of my years at Southern were special and long lasting friendships were gained. Fans were phenomenal! In 1988 we had a special team that played in the regional semi-finals. There were two people who were working in Washington, D.C. that would work, drive like mad men to get to the game, watch, and then go back- Wolfie and Mac- I will never forget it. Thanks to my mom and dad, Howard and Marviene, brother Bob and his wife Terri , and sister Martie and her husband Tim, for always supporting me. Also special thanks to Raberta, Keri Lynn, and Cynthia who had to endure so much.”
Now that he has retired, he truly enjoys being able to attend his grandchildren’s sporting events.
Please join me in honoring this year’s inductee, Coach Howie Caldwell. Joining him to accept this honor are his dad, Howard, his children and their spouses - Raberta and Jered Hill, Keri Lynn and Travis Smith, and Cynthia and Brody Bauers. Grandchildren Bre, Bobby, Lauren, Rachel, Tyler, Daniel, Landen, Lyddia Jane, and in spirit watching from afar, Kaylyn.
Second inducted: Kevin Teaford
Our next inductee is a 1985 graduate of Southern High School. He played basketball all four years of high school and was selected to represent the Tornadoes and the SVAC in the Southeastern Ohio All-Star Game in 1985. He served on the Student Council during his sophomore and junior year, and was selected by the student body as Student Council President in his senior year. He was inducted into the National Honor Society in his junior year. He was voted Most Likely to Succeed by his senior class and was awarded the Danforth Citizenship Award, among other class recognitions.
After high school, he attended the University of Rio Grande before accepting a position as a cadet candidate with the Ohio State Highway Patrol in March 1986. He said becoming a state trooper was his childhood dream. In March 1988, he joined the members of the 117th Academy Class for basic trooper training at the Patrol Academy in Columbus.
Upon graduation the following September, he was assigned to his first field post in Jackson. He served at the Jackson and Gallipolis Posts and was elected by his peers as Post Trooper of the Year in 1991. He was promoted to sergeant in 1994 when he was reassigned to the Ironton Post. He also served at the Gallipolis Post as a sergeant (assistant post commander). In addition to his post duties, he was trained as a traffic crash reconstruction specialist and reconstructed major traffic crashes for the southeast region of Ohio.
He was promoted to lieutenant in 1998, and his first command assignment was to the West Jefferson Post. At the time of his promotion, he was the youngest commander in Ohio. He was greatly admired by the troopers who served under his command due to his support and caring attitude toward them and his willingness to lead by example.
In the summer of 2000, he was promoted to the rank of staff lieutenant and took command of the Labor Relations and Career Development Units in the Patrol’s Office of Human Resource Management at General Headquarters. In this assignment, he was responsible for negotiating and administering collective bargaining agreements for sergeants, troopers, and dispatchers, as well as over 250 civilian staff. He also supervised the Patrol’s promotion process to the rank of sergeant and lieutenant.
He was promoted to the rank of captain in 2006 and assumed duties as the executive officer of the Office Training, Recruitment, and Standards where he oversaw all human resource functions for the Highway Patrol. From September 2009 until the end of the year, he was appointed Interim Superintendent over the Highway Patrol.
In January 2010, he was promoted to the rank of major and served as chief of staff for the superintendent. In 2011, he was tasked with setting up the first-of-its-kind 24/7 watch center that included the Patrol’s criminal intelligence operations and communications at the state’s emergency operations center.
He also served as the commander of the Office of Strategic Services, which consisted of the Watch Center, Finance and Logistics (administering the Patrol’s almost $300 million budget and fleet operations), and Telecommunication and LEADS Sections.
In April, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel by Colonel Paul Pride and assigned to the duties of assistant superintendent in charge of all administrative functions of the Patrol. He would later be assigned command of all statewide operations during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland and through the Covid-19 pandemic and a period of unprecedented civil unrest following the death of George Floyd.
He retired from the Highway Patrol on July 2, 2021, after over 35 years of dedicated and honorable service to the citizens of Ohio.
After his retirement, he was appointed the director of public safety for theCity of Grove City by Mayor Richard L. “Ike” Stage where he oversees the division of police, division of building and zoning standards, and the mayor’s court.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in public administration from the University of Rio Grande (1995) and a master’s degree in public policy from The Ohio State University (2012). He is a graduate of the 200th Session of the FBI National Academy (2000) in Quantico, Virginia. He has served as a professor of law enforcement technology courses at Ohio University and has taught leadership principles at The Ohio State University John Glenn School of Public Affairs’ Public Safety Leadership Academy.
He has spoken nationally on subjects related to traffic safety and recently served on a discussion panel with national safety organization leaders at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. He currently serves as a consultant with the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police.
He served as the varsity basketball coach at Grove City Christian School for 7 years from 2003 to 2010, where he led the Eagles to their first winning season and their first opportunity to play in the Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs. He was recognized as Coach of the Year for the Mid-Ohio Christian Athletic League in 2009-2010.
He currently serves on the School Board for Grove City Christian Schools, which has almost 900 students and 241 daycare children.
He credits his professional and coaching successes to his years spent attending Southern High School and to the mentorship of Coach Carl Wolfe and Principal Jim Adams. Playing basketball for Coach Wolfe and the experience of the summers spent on the Adams Farm taught him the importance of hard work and dedication to things higher than self. Coach Wolfe proudly stated “ This man’s coachability, hard work and determination has made him stand out in his career and life.”
He has been married for thirty-eight years to his wife Becky. They are the parents of one son, Kody. Kody and his wife Stephanie are both successful attorneys in Columbus and the parents of our three granddaughters, Coralie, 6, Sydney, 4, and Gwendolyn, 10 months. He has held many titles in his life, but “Gramps” is by far the most rewarding.
Please join me in honoring this year’s inductee, Kevin Teaford. Joining him tonight is his wife, Becky, his son and daughter in law, Kody and Stephanie, and his granddaughters Coralie, Sydney, and Gwendolyn, his sister Cheryl, and brother Steve.
Congratulations to our new inductees and their families. If you know of a deserving candidate, you can get a nomination packet from Southern Local's website or by emailing daniel.otto@southernlocal.net.