Highland graduate Luke Raley is heading to professional baseball, as the Lake Erie College outfielder was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the seventh round of the MLB Draft on Friday.

The 21-year-old Raley, the 221st overall pick, is the first Medina County native drafted since Highland’s Ben Klafczynski in 2011.

A 6-foot-3, 220-pounder, Raley was a third-team Division II All-American for the Storm. He batted .424 with 12 home runs, 39 RBIs and 54 runs as a junior this spring.

The Dodgers entered Friday second place in the National League West with a 32-29 record.

Read The Gazette on Saturday for more details.

Ben Falkenberg. (PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RON SCHWANE)

Albert Grindle

Basketball was so important to Ben Falkenberg, Joe Capotosta and Nick Goddard that they made the West Gym of the old Wadsworth High their sanctuary.

Even on Sundays when no one was around.

“We had a three-phase system of getting in,” Falkenberg recalled with a grin.

Yes, the three amigos were caught sneaking into the school eventually — more on that in a bit — but only after they shot hoops to their hearts’ content.

Phase No. 1: John Gramuglia was coaching in the adjacent wrestling room, so a back door was propped open for wrestlers to enter. Piece of cake.

Phase No. 2: One of the exterior doors was a “prison gate” with vertical bars. Falkenberg was so skinny he could contort his body to get through the gate and unlock it from the inside. A little more difficult, but possible.

Phase No. 3: On Fridays after — or even during — school, one of the three grabbed a piece of mulch to jam the door lock. The door would appear closed to the naked eye. A mischievous deception.

“We did that every other weekend,” Falkenberg said.

Falkenberg, Capotosta and Goddard probably knew the gym as well as the janitors. They figured out how to run the electrical system to ensure only the lights behind the baseline curtain were turned on — just in case someone walked by the main entrance — and left no evidence.

Finally, a janitor caught them red-handed. According to Falkenberg, no one with authority was overly upset but perplexed as to how the three gained access.

“We would say, ‘The door was open. I promise you the door was open,’ which technically wasn’t a lie,” Falkenberg quipped.

No discipline was handed out, just an ultimatum to give up the secret — not playing basketball after hours, but how to get in.

Such a story encapsulates what the sport meant to Falkenberg, who will be inducted into the Medina County Sports Hall of Fame during Thursday ceremonies at The Galaxy Restaurant in Wadsworth.

However, don’t forget Falkenberg always had Goddard and Capotosta by his side. The real story is the lifelong friends met and memories were gained along his basketball journey meant more.

The inspiration

Falkenberg was technically born a Grizzly, coming into the world at Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital as Bob and Elizabeth’s first child on Aug. 10, 1985.

Bob was a teacher for Wadsworth but soon got a job elsewhere, meaning Ben and sister Laura, two years his junior, spent their childhood in Westerville, a Columbus suburb. The family then moved to Toledo before returning to Wadsworth in 1998, and Bob ultimately became a principal for Cloverleaf.

Ben was entering seventh grade when the family returned. He was a burgeoning soccer star, and his Columbus club team recommended Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy.

Falkenberg instead chose to play for Wadsworth, mainly to meet his future classmates.

“That was one of the best things I ever did,” he said. “They hated all the kids on the (CVCA) team.”

Though soccer was Falkenberg’s first love, he gave it up partly because playing basketball was how he really became one of the guys.

Those two years in Toledo helped Falkenberg’s development, especially because he was 5-foot-8 and maybe 120 pounds. Playing against bigger, faster and stronger competition in Toledo made Falkenberg a fearless scorer at Wadsworth Middle School, even if he couldn’t shoot a lick quite yet.

Attending a Grizzlies varsity game as an eighth-grader on Feb. 9, 2000, changed Falkenberg’s world.

Wadsworth was playing rival Medina. Bees guard Tony Stockman became a legend that night, scoring 38 points in the final 17½ minutes en route to a school-record 42 as Medina rallied to win 71-59.

After witnessing Stockman dazzle despite the Grizzlies student section harassing him with sing-song chants of “One-man tee-eem,” Falkenberg knew what he wanted to do.

“I remember coming home and talking to my parents and them saying, ‘That was nuts, huh?’ ” Falkenberg said. “I said, ‘Yeah, I’d really like to be like that.’

“(Stockman) was really having fun and doing whatever he wanted. This is weird because it felt like it was out of a movie, but I said, ‘I want you guys to push me. I want to be like him.’ ”

Bob obliged, videotaping Ben’s shooting mechanics in the driveway and critiquing with meticulous detail. Falkenberg became arguably the greatest shooter in county history on pure willpower.

The inspiration came from a Wadsworth rival who eventually became Falkenberg’s friend, as they worked out together in Medina when Stockman was playing professionally and Falkenberg was in college.

Those days gave birth to an argument that burns wildly to this day: Who was the better shooter?

“I’m a much better shooter than Tony was,” Falkenberg said in a playful tone. “I will fight that until the day I die, and I’ve told him that to his face.

“He couldn’t guard me, but I couldn’t guard him. … He’s the best player out of here (Medina County). It’s not even close.”

Grizzly nation

Wadsworth was coming off its 17th straight winning season when Falkenberg entered high school, so he wasn’t delusional. Junior varsity was the only goal.

Falkenberg was content being a JV star and developing chemistry while practicing with the varsity. Sneaking into the gym for extra reps with Goddard and Capotosta also became a habit.

Falkenberg’s first varsity start was opening night as a sophomore, Nov. 30, 2001, at Hudson. Goddard was bombing 3-pointers and 6-7 All-Ohio center Doug Bell was gettin’ buckets as Wadsworth led by double-digits after three quarters.

But Bell got in foul trouble and the Explorers rallied to tie the game with seven seconds left. Wadsworth coach John Martin called a play for Goddard to take the winning shot.

He wasn’t open. A long-ago frazzled Falkenberg fired out of desperation.

It went in. Wadsworth 79, Hudson 76.

“That was pretty cool,” Falkenberg said. “There was nothing that can really compare to your first varsity game hitting a game-winner.”

The rest of the season wasn’t as rosy for Falkenberg, who averaged an inconsistent nine points — he once followed a 26-point game with two — but grew leaps and bounds mentally. He had to adjust to more physically mature opposing players, co-exist with a back-to-the-basket big man and handle adversity when the Grizzlies started 10-0 but finished 7-6 and lost the Suburban League title to Tallmadge.

Though Bell graduated, Falkenberg, Goddard, Capotosta and D.J. Schrock were returning starters in 2002-03. They went undefeated in the summer, setting the stage for a winter showcase.

With a relentless, pressing, run-and-gun system often featuring five-man substitutions, Wadsworth completed the only 20-0 regular season in county history and won the SL for the first time in six years. The Grizzlies won 16 games by double digits and completed perfection with a 107-49 blowout at Highland.

The 5-10 Falkenberg averaged 15.8 points while shooting a county-record .554 from 3-point range. He took fewer shots than Goddard and led the Grizzlies in assists but remembers instead the team’s synergy, athleticism and unselfishness.

Goddard was Klay Thompson to Falkenberg’s Steph Curry, fearlessly launching hand-in-face 25-footers. D.J. and Ben Schrock were the undersized, hard-working posts. Capotosta was the glue guy with a high basketball IQ. Mike Marshall and Paul Macko were the football-tough athletes who wreaked havoc defensively. Austin Seigneur, Griff Wilson and Brett Smith had their moments as well.

Falkenberg, Goddard, D.J. Schrock and Smith still text each other nearly every day.

“When we weren’t together on the court, we were together off the court, too,” D.J. Schrock said. “Everyone noticed it because we always spent time together no matter what it was — playing basketball, playing video games, going to the pool, whatever.

“We always pushed each other. We were really, really competitive. We’d play 2-on-2 or 3-on-3, and every time — as much as we liked each other — we’d get in fights with each other, but in the long run we knew we’d be best buddies.”

“I’ve talked to the guys now and tell them, ‘High school basketball is supposed to be fun,’” Falkenberg added. “It’s different. It’s loose. Everything about that year was how fun it was.”

Except the way it ended: a 49-46 loss in overtime to Medina in the Copley Division I Sectional finals. Goddard was sick. Bees coach Jody Peters’ slowdown game plan was stifling. Falkenberg was outscored 19-6 by another future summer workout partner, Dontaie Anthony.

The 11-10 Bees beating the 20-0 Grizzlies remains one of the biggest stunners in area history.

“I’ll be 31 this summer,” Falkenberg said, bringing up the game unprovoked. “I still think about that — I don’t even know — maybe weekly. It still affects you. It sounds like you have to move on, but I’ve actually only been to the Copley gym one time in 14 years because it makes me so upset.

“We panicked a bit because we didn’t know how to handle close games. Goddard had mono. Everything went wrong at once. We still talk to this day, group text all day, and we talk about that game every March.”

Wadsworth fans forgot about the loss quickly because of Falkenberg’s brilliant senior season.

The Grizzlies remained dynamite, going 20-3, repeating as SL champions and averaging nearly 70 points per game. Falkenberg posted 21.8 points, 2.9 assists and 3.2 steals and was named to The Associated Press Division I All-Ohio first team as one of the state’s best one-on-one scorers.

Falkenberg was known first as a tremendous 3-point shooter, but that hardly told the entire story. He patterned his game after Duke star Jay Williams’ headiness, bald-headed NBA guard Jason “White Chocolate” Williams’ flashy handles and Stockman’s ability to shoot off the dribble.

The high pick-and-roll with the beefy Ben Schrock was Wadsworth’s half-court bread and butter. Falkenberg only needed a sliver of room, either pulling up for a 3-pointer, breaking down the defense from the high post or finishing at the rim acrobatically. Being square to the basket meant little because Falkenberg could nail fadeaways from awkward angles.

Falkenberg wasn’t a spot-up 3-point specialist. He was a scorer. Period.

“He was so electrifying hitting those 3-point shots,” D.J. Schrock said. “But the way he could handle the ball and create his own shot was magnificent.”

The turning point in the 2003-04 season came with a 55-48 home loss to Green that snapped a 24-game SL winning streak. The Bulldogs ran a triangle-and-two defense, with David Lough and Bill Cundiff holding Falkenberg to three points. Lough is an outfielder in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, while Cundiff got an NFL tryout as a quarterback.

According to Falkenberg, there was minor friction within the team because he was shooting more than the previous season. The Grizzlies’ seniors were still learning how to play together because Falkenberg’s development had been a year ahead since eighth grade.

As with everything in Falkenberg’s life — on the court or off — a negative turned into a positive.

Wadsworth won the next seven games by an average of 14.6 points as Falkenberg pumped in 25.7. Included was avenging the loss to Green in the district semifinals.

“Coming out of that (Green) game, we sat down as a team and said, ‘OK, we can’t have that,’” Falkenberg said. “I’m always looking for guys and thankful for screens, but that was a good reminder of like, ‘There’s a reason I am who I am.’

“The guys were so supportive. It was, ‘All right, we need you to score. We need to do what you need to do.”’

That reality check resulted in the most epic scoring performance in school history.

The Grizzlies opened the tournament against 14-7 Hudson, which lost to Wadsworth 70-65 early in the season. The day began poorly for the Falkenberg family, as Laura’s Grizzlies girls team lost to Barberton 60-59 in the district finals after a controversial call on an inbounds play.

“Dad was like, ‘Ben, we can’t go 0-2 today,’” Falkenberg said.

Son made sure Pops got a worthy consolation prize.

Falkenberg was locked in, scoring 17 points as Wadsworth led 21-15 after the first quarter. He was held to five points in the second — all in the first 2:42 — but Macko scored 14 in the period to put the Grizzlies ahead 43-30.

Falkenberg was just getting started, as he scored 24 points in the second half — mostly from the foul line — and Wadsworth won 80-63. Falkenberg had 11 field goals (six 3-pointers) and 18 free throws to break legendary point forward Bob Lyren’s 44-year-old school record with 46 points.

“The previous year we lost in the first round, so carrying that weight into the game I said, ‘I can’t let this happen again,”’ Falkenberg said. “I remember being in the (pregame) captains’ meeting and yawning. One of refs was joking, ‘You awake? You going to be all right?’

“But I was so naturally calm. The game hit and it was on.”

The Grizzlies reached the Copley D-I District title game before falling to Medina in double overtime in front of an overflow crowd of 3,056.

Falkenberg finished with 1,031 career points. He shot approximately 51 percent from the floor, 50 percent from 3-point range and 89 percent from the foul line as the Grizzlies went 57-10.

Wadsworth is 138-131 since he graduated.

Cougar chronicles

Falkenberg committed to play for the United States Naval Academy early in the recruiting process. The Annapolis, Maryland, campus was the most impressive he’d ever seen. How could he say no?

Reality hit when Falkenberg officially arrived at the school. He instantly regretted going to Navy to play basketball instead of going to become an officer while having the privilege of playing basketball.

The retirement of head coach Don DeVoe was the deciding factor. Falkenberg left midway through his freshman year and “was a man without a country” and “embarrassed” to return home.

In stepped a relationship with Mount Vernon Nazarene coach Scott Flemming, who met Falkenberg while recruiting Bell. The up-tempo, offensively-driven NAIA school was giddy to accommodate, so Falkenberg enrolled shortly after leaving Navy.

Forced to redshirt, Falkenberg watched from the sideline impatiently. He also gained 20 pounds of muscle in the weight room and quickly developed chemistry while practicing with the team.

Falkenberg picked up where he left off.

In four years at Mount Vernon Nazarene, Falkenberg scored a school-record 2,616 points while shooting .472 from the floor, .441 from 3-point range and .893 from the foul line. The Cougars made the NAIA D-II national tournament all four years, highlighted by a quarterfinal appearance in 2006, and compiled a 98-33 record.

Playing in a starting lineup that once went 7-0, 6-8, 6-6 and 6-3 along with himself, the electric, now-5-11 combo guard was a three-time All-American, including first-team nods as a sophomore and junior, and two-time NAIA scholar athlete.

Falkenberg finished 10th in college basketball history — regardless of division — with 463 3-pointers.

Mount Vernon Nazarene is 89-127 since he graduated.

“It’s hard to put into words because it was everything that I hoped college would be like,” Falkenberg said. “I loved basketball so much and worked so hard at it, it’s hard to describe. Your whole year revolves around it. Your whole summer revolves around it. All the hard work paid off.

“Walking in there, it seems like so long ago. I didn’t even remember what my life was like, but I go back and see my name here, my picture there and it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah. I used to do this.”’

Falkenberg began eyeing a professional career. He had the perfect mentor in Stockman, who played in Europe and South America, and produced highlight films featuring shake-and-bake buckets for agents.

But Falkenberg’s body began to fight back. He broke his wrist as a sophomore, had plantar fasciitis as a junior and endured multiple bumps and bruises as a senior. His newlywed wife, Tonya, was extremely supportive, but Falkenberg was mentally fried.

“I remember sitting down and telling my wife, ‘I’m so excited to do something else. I don’t want to do this anymore,”’ Falkenberg said.

Life without basketball

Falkenberg was a pre-med major at Mount Vernon but didn’t have a vision of a professional future without basketball. His sister suggested anesthesiology because it didn’t require rigorous schooling.

So that’s what Falkenberg did, eventually landing with Mercy Medical Center in Canton. He’s been there five years and loves what he does.

Falkenberg also settled down, buying a house just north of downtown Wadsworth in 2013. His daughters — Nola, 2, and Lena, who will turn 1 shortly after the hall of fame banquet — have provided “more fun than I could have ever imagined.”

Falkenberg hasn’t shot a basketball in two years. He went back to soccer and tried tennis for a time, but really fell in love with road cycling, which keeps him in tremendous physical shape.

Even though it feels like a past life, he’ll always have a spot in his heart for basketball.

Basketball is what provided him an avenue to make friends at Wadsworth.

Wadsworth basketball is what got him an appointment to the Naval Academy, which in turn steered him toward Mount Vernon Nazarene.

Mount Vernon Nazarene is where he met his wife.

In his wife he found his companion and children.

And in his wife and children his life came full circle — back to Wadsworth.

“It’s always felt like home to me. It really has,” he said. “I love Wadsworth. A lot of people when they move away from Wadsworth, they realize how neat of a little bubble it is.

“It was really cool (playing basketball for Wadsworth). I remember the first time we moved back, we went to the gym and I couldn’t believe it. I was starstruck by how big this gym was. I could not wait to play in that gym. Everyone talks about that gym. It was such a magical place. I loved the rims, I loved the backboards, I loved the scoreboard. It was a love affair.

“To be surrounded by so many great people, it was special. Coach Martin, I had a lot of respect for him as a man the way he treated us. To be a part of that was great. It was really a cool thing. You take it for granted when you’re in that moment, but when you get out of it you realize how special it was. I’m always thankful that was something I got to be a part of.”

Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.

From 1993 to 2015, only three Medina County players were selected in the MLB Draft.

That statistic was blown to smithereens over a 24-hour span, as Brunswick resident Michael Horejsei (Ohio State), Medina native Mike Ellenbest (Saginaw Valley State) and Highland High graduate Chad Sedio (Miami of Ohio) were drafted on an historic Saturday for area baseball.

Horejsei, a St. Ignatius graduate and left-handed reliever, went in the 21st round (626th overall) to the Chicago White Sox. Right-handed starter Ellenbest went in the 24th round (732rd) to the Toronto Blue Jays, while shortstop Sedio went in the 27th round (805th) to the Detroit Tigers.

Horejsei and Sedio are out of college eligibility. Redshirt sophomore Ellenbest could have returned to school but will sign a professional contract.

The trio increased the county’s total of 2016 draftees to four. Highland graduate Luke Raley, an outfielder from Lake Erie College, was selected in the seventh round Friday.

Ellenbest

The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Ellenbest is a late-bloomer who shined in the loaded Northeast Ohio Conference River Division as a Medina senior in 2013, going 4-1 with a 2.21 ERA.

Mike Ellenbest

Ellenbest’s baseball trajectory has been swift, as he earned a scholarship to Division II Saginaw Valley State and became the first Medina High graduate drafted since Joe Lazor (Cincinnati Reds) in 1986.

Before being drafted, Ellenbest was playing wood-bat collegiate summer ball for the Green Bay Bullfrogs of the Northwoods League alongside his older brother, Matt. The 21-year-old got the life-changing phone call during batting practice.

“I was shock and awe,” Ellenbest said. “It was a surreal moment. Not a lot of guys can go through what I went through, and it’s special. It’s definitely special, and I feel blessed for the opportunity the Blue Jays gave me.”

That the Blue Jays made the move was not a surprise to Ellenbest, who also received pre-draft interest from the Rangers, Padres and Braves. Ellenbest threw a bullpen session for Toronto scouts, who told him they were going to draft him after the 10th round.

Ellenbest will head to Florida this week to sign a contract. He said he will be assigned to the Rookie-level Bluefield Blue Jays or Low-A Vancouver Canadians.

“I’m already done, sealed and delivered,” Ellenbest said.

Ellenbest redshirted in 2014 before teaming with former Medina teammate Scott Sency atop the Saginaw Valley State rotation the last two seasons.

Ellenbest succeeded immediately with a 5-3 record, 2.57 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 54 strikeouts in 49 innings, earning the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference Freshman Pitcher of the Year award.

The big right-hander was 5-4 with a 3.52 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 53 strikeouts in 69 innings this spring. He limited opposing batters to a .226 average and was named first-team All-GLIAC.

Ellenbest’s fastball sits between 88-92 mph. He also throws a curveball, changeup and slider.

“When you work hard, it shows,” Ellenbest said. “I strive off that. When you see results such as that, that’s what kept me going. Ever since I got to college, that was my main goal — to get drafted. I just wanted to work at it, work at it and work at it. My dream finally came true.”

Sedio

Chad Sedio

Standing 6-3, 205 with the ability to play shortstop, third base and all three outfield spots, Sedio’s versatility made him an attractive third-day pick.

The Tigers apparently liked what they saw when Sedio worked out for them at Comerica Park fewer than two weeks ago. Detroit then swooped and took Sedio, who teamed with Raley to help Highland win the 2012 Suburban League championship.

Sedio will report to the Tigers’ spring training facility in Lakeland, Fla., where he will sign a contract, take a physical and work out with the organization before being assigned to an affiliate.

“It’s unbelievable,” the 22-year-old said. “I sat around all day and my heart was pounding for two hours before I finally heard my name called. It was awesome.

“I was at home (in Montville Township), and I actually watched every single pick. I was going crazy. I had to see what was going on and wait for my name to show up.”

Sedio was a four-year starter at Miami, hitting .269 with career highs for home runs (13), RBIs (30) runs (38) and stolen bases (14) as a senior. He also had a .942 fielding percentage in 259 chances as the Redhawks’ everyday shortstop.

The left-handed hitter batted .296 with 18 homers, 79 RBIs and 112 runs in his 170-game career while also playing center field, right field and third base.

“(Playing multiple positions) helped a lot,” Sedio said. “I went in as a center fielder, moved to right field then third and got drafted at shortstop. That should speak for itself. It helps to be versatile.”

Sedio’s draft stock rose significantly in the summer of 2015, when he starred for the Edenton Steamers of the wood-bat Coastal Plain League and joined Raley on the Perfect Game USA Summer Collegiate All-American first team.

It was there Sedio showed a dramatic increase in power, hitting .403 with 16 home runs and 49 RBIs. He attributed the improvement to strengthening the lower half of his body while rehabbing a broken wrist.

Sedio is impressed that two players hailing from the same local high school were taken in the same draft, as Northeast Ohio is not known to be a professional hotbed.

“I don’t know how to put that into words,” he said. “That’s pretty unbelievable. I don’t remember the last time two guys in the Suburban League were taken, let alone Highland. It’s pretty amazing.”

Horejsei

Michael Horejsei

Horejsei is a 6-0, 200-pounder drafted out of the Ohio State bullpen. One of his teammates was Brunswick graduate Kyle Michalik.

Horejsei was the Buckeyes’ go-to situational reliever, going 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA in 34 appearances. He limited opposing hitters to a .156 batting average, had a 0.84 WHIP and struck out 39 in 31 innings.

Ohio State won the Big Ten Tournament and reached the D-I national tournament, where it failed to advance past the first round.

Like Ellenbest, Horejsei is a late-bloomer. He landed at Ohio State after playing one season at Ohio State-Mansfield, where he was named the 2012 Ohio Valley Regional Campus Player of the Year.

At St. Ignatius, Horejsei was a co-captain, pitched and played first base. He was an honorable mention All-Cuyahoga River Conference selection in 2010 and ’11.

Now two months from his 95th birthday but strong-willed, compassionate, mentally sharp and as gregarious as humanly possible, Lylle Stuart refuses to let Father Time get in the way.

The lifelong Spencer Township resident drives his 2004 Saturn wherever he needs to go. He also rides a bicycle for enjoyment, making multi-mile trips that help him maintain great physical condition.

RON SCHWANE / GAZETTE
Former Spencer High standout Lylle Stuart will be inducted into the Medina County Sports Hall of Fame during Thursday ceremonies at The Galaxy Restaurant in Wadsworth.

In his late 80s, he wanted a deck behind his custom, double-wide trailer home that overlooks the lake at Shawnee Lake Park. So he built one following plans he designed in his head. He’s currently re-staining it.

Stuart isn’t afraid to boast about physical accomplishments — of course, he’s never been accused of being shy. He has never smoked a cigarette, only has a beer — maybe two, if he’s feeling frisky — in social settings and weighs the same as he did in high school: 162 pounds.

His secret to life, however, is not necessarily physical.

“First off all, if you don’t believe in something, you might as well kiss your butt goodbye,” he said. “You have to have certain values in your life that govern what you do and what you don’t do. If you’re not willing to sacrifice a little bit in order to have that, then you’re going to miss out on what’s best. I’ve always lived by that. I always like to treat people the way I’d like to be treated. That’s the way I like to go.

“Life is like a rubber band. If you pull one way, you can only go so far before you have to come back to the middle. You have to find that happy medium. There’s always a way out if you’re willing to bend a little bit.”

Stuart can rattle off vivid memories of his childhood, role as an instructor during World War II, career at General Motors, two happy marriages and founding Shawnee Lake Park just east of Spencer on the corner of state Route 162 and Congress Road. Most stories are anecdotal in nature.

But Stuart’s high school athletic career is hazy.

Stuart is proud that he became Medina County’s first state champion when he tied for the 1940 Class B high jump title at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

He’s also proud of being a star forward for legendary Spencer High basketball coach Sid Sooy and genuinely honored that he’ll be inducted into the Medina County Sports Hall of Fame during Thursday ceremonies at The Galaxy Restaurant in Wadsworth.

What Stuart recalls about sports is his competitiveness, the discipline instilled by Sooy and bonding with his younger brother, Francis. That he will enter the same hall of fame as them is near to his heart.

Forgive Stuart for being vague. High school sports were pure and innocent in that era. Stuart competed to have fun, not to get his name in the newspaper or win ribbons he could brag about decades later.

Stuart gifted his state championship pin to his idol and second father figure, Sooy. The other accolades are displayed at the Spencer Historical Society alongside his brother’s.

Remember: Those four years at Spencer High School make up only 4 percent of his life.

“I always considered myself average, at least,” he said with a chuckle.

Molded by Sid
Lylle Russell Stuart was born Aug. 16, 1921 as the ninth of Cort and Alta’s 11 children. He shared a bed with Francis, two years his junior and an inseparable companion, until graduating high school.

The Stuarts lived on a 164-acre farm on Old Mill Road near the Medina/Lorain county border. Chores were hard and money was tight, but there was always food.

That was important during The Great Depression, so the Stuarts never felt like life was rough. Lylle’s earliest memories were neighborhood softball games — Cort molded popcorn and molasses to make a homemade softball — and eating homemade ice cream while the adults played cards in the farmhouse. Trips to Wellington to watch the series of Tarzan movies were rare treats.

Anything else Lylle and Francis wanted, including school clothes, was earned. They worked constantly throughout their childhoods, helping with building demolitions, painting houses, shucking wheat, running Sooy’s fur trap lines and being “chief honey-dippers” — a sarcastic name for outhouse cleaners.

The brothers also helped their father bottle beer during Prohibition, and they continued to do so after he was arrested — twice.

“Everyone was into bootlegging then,” Stuart pointed out.

No matter what Stuart was involved in, Francis was at his side. Francis later pitched Spencer to the 1941 Class B state tournament, was an All-Ohio basketball player, won the 1942 Class B 120-yard hurdles state championship and signed a contract with the Cleveland Indians after the war.

They were “two peas in a pod.”

“He and I had a wonderful relationship,” Lylle said. “I don’t ever, ever, ever, ever remember being mad at each other. It was one of those brotherly bonds that are few and far between today.”

Something else that is few and far between today is a three-sport standout. Lylle fit the bill.

Though basketball was his favorite sport, the muscular 6-foot-1 Stuart was best at track and field.

Stuart was a superstar locally, helping Spencer win three Medina County League championships. Individual results from his senior season are unavailable, but in 1938 he grabbed top-three ribbons in the long jump, pole vault and shot put. In 1939, Stuart won the 100-yard dash, high jump and pole vault and was third in the discus as the Redbirds crushed the 13-team field by 27½ points.

A few weeks later, Stuart smashed the Mentor District high jump record by clearing 5 feet, 9¾ inches. He missed other state berths in the pole vault and long jump by one placement but went on to take third in the high jump at Ohio Stadium. At the time, he was only the fourth state placer in county history.

“My father was a small person, and my mother was, too, so a lot of it is natural thing,” Stuart said of his versatility. “It comes to you. It’s born into you. It’s a matter of possibly somebody else helping you define it through a science. Here again, I keep mentioning Mr. Sooy.”

Sooy “fine-tuned” Stuart into a state champion.

Stuart initially starred in the high jump using the scissors technique that was popular at the time. The strict yet fair Sooy, a track and field star at Baldwin Wallace in the 1930s, tapped into Stuart’s potential.

Stuart began twisting his body and attacking the bar by arching his back. It was an unrefined version of the Fosbury Flop, the modern technique popularized by Dick Fosbury at the 1968 Olympics.

“When I was doing it that way, it was easier to get my body turned,” Stuart said. “I could throw my whole body into the air and get my back straightened out.

“I would say almost anything I could do and do fairly well, I always go back to the coach.”

The results were impressive.

Stuart was a man among boys as a senior, powering Spencer to an unheard of second-place finish at the 20-team Mentor District. He broke his high jump record (5-10) and won the long jump (20-4) along with grabbing second in the 220 and third in the 100. Francis Stuart (T-2nd, pole vault), Ray Spirek (2nd, mile) and Clarence Walkden (4th, 440) also placed.

On that day, Lylle Stuart became the first four-event state qualifier in county history during an era when the Ohio High School Athletic Association had only two divisions and well north of 1,200 schools.

Stuart doesn’t recall details about his state championship other than being wowed by all of the natural athletes who were at Ohio Stadium. Maybe that’s why he failed to place in the long jump, 100 and 220.

Stuart also recalls Sooy driving him back to Spencer after Friday preliminaries. He graduated that night, returned to Columbus on Saturday morning and won his favorite event, the high jump, at 5-7.

Stuart came home to little fanfare. High school sports weren’t as glorified as they are today, and the only mention in The Gazette consisted of four paragraphs at the bottom of the front page.

The first state track and field meet was held in 1908. Until Lodi’s Bill Heffelfinger won the Class A 220 in 1960, the only champions from the county were Lylle and Francis Stuart.

“Nobody ever beat me, so I figured I was pretty good,” Lylle said.

“It was a good feeling (winning the state championship). You had to feel proud of yourself. For a small farm town to do something like that, to me, it was great.”

Stuart wasn’t passionate about baseball because that was Francis’ sport. Sooy recognized Lylle could run like a deer, so Stuart patrolled center field for the Redbirds, who the year after Lylle graduated reached the Class B state quarterfinals behind Francis’ electric left pitching arm.

Lylle’s main love was basketball.

Though he was among the tallest players, Stuart was a modern-day small forward. He was a dead-eye shooter and used ball fakes that allowed him to either pull up for a set shot or use his leaping ability to attack the basket.

Spencer developed into a standout program under Sooy and quickly became the chief rival of Lodi, which won all four Medina County League Tournament championships during Stuart’s career.

Stuart was the Redbirds’ standout, earning first-team All-MLCT selections as a sophomore and junior. No all-tournament teams were published his senior year, but it’s hard to imagine Stuart not being honored after he broke the school single-game scoring record with 28 points.

With the Stuart brothers carrying the load, the 1939-40 Redbirds were the MCL regular-season champions, runners-up to Lodi in the tournament and Clearview Sectional qualifiers — a big deal considering small schools had to finish in the top three of their county to be eligible for a state title.

Spencer also had a 20-3 record with losses by one, two and four points. Two defeats were to Clearview, which won the Class B state championship two years later, while the other to Lodi was in sudden-death overtime. Stuart scored 12 of the Redbirds’ 22 points in his final game.

“Basketball was what I liked,” Stuart said. “It was competitive. I liked that there was a set of rules you had to go by, and in your whole life there’s always a set of rules — if you want to live by them.

“All I know is I lived to play basketball. I loved the sport. I still do.”

That’s not all: Stuart excelled despite being legally blind in his left eye. He sustained the injury and narrowly escaped death as a child when a horse kicked him in the head.

Life after sports
College wasn’t an option for the Stuart family. There was barely enough money to care for 11 children on a daily basis, let alone pay for advanced schooling.

Lylle was content because he dreamed of being a navy man anyway, but there was a problem: His bad eye that denied him an appointment out of high school.

Stuart went to work in a Chardon rubber factory. Stuart found out about Pearl Harbor on the radio Dec. 7, 1941. Stuart was soon drafted and assigned to the army. He applied for a navy transfer but again was denied.

With his eye keeping him from fighting overseas, Stuart was reassigned to the Air Force as an instructor.

Stuart headed Florida’s Boca Raton Army Airfield, where he trained cadets how to use the AN/APQ13 radar system used by B-29 Superfortresses in high-altitude bombing. The program was top secret.

Stuart was discharged shortly after V-J Day. His wife June soon became pregnant, and Stuart looked for a better job than being an apprentice at the local electrical store.

Stuart applied at General Motors’ Fisher Guide Plant in Elyria, where the highest-paying job available was third-shift buffing. Stuart accepted but soon loathed it, and he begged the electrical department supervisor every day until he became a factory-wide troubleshooter.

Stuart remained with GM for 24½ years but never forgot a dream he had while sitting on a hill at his father-in-law’s farm: Buying 35 acres and building a campground with a beautiful lake.

Decades later, Stuart’s home sits atop that hill, fewer than 50 yards from where the dream was born.

“For the longest time they called me, ‘The Dreamer,”’ Stuart said. “I could sit there and in my mind, if I were to do something, I could look at it and know exactly what to do. I don’t need a print or nothin’.”

Stuart began building Shawnee Lake Park in the 1950s. The facility grew to have 210 campsites, an outdoor theater and activities lodge, nature trails, a dam, a swimming area and other amenities. Now the campground is so popular it only sells seasonal passes.

Stuart sold Shawnee Lake Park in 1980 so he and his wife could travel — he’s been on 15 to 20 Caribbean cruises — but he kept a tiny piece of land and converted a trailer into a small home. The campground has natural gas, water and cable television, so Stuart gets all that for free.

Stuart is a snowbird and lives in Florida in the winter months, but expenses are virtually non-existent when he’s in Ohio because of his hard work and business deals.

“I think my electrical bill last month was $12,” he said with a smile.

Stuart spends most of his time around people — a social butterfly if there ever was one. June died in 1995, his second wife Shirley passed away in 2011 and his son, Rick, followed a year later. Stuart cherishes visits from his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as many live in Northeast Ohio.

“I hate being alone,” Stuart acknowledged.

Stuart isn’t alone much because of the campground, where he gets the biggest kick out of interacting with younger generations. Recently he bought four children slushies on the stipulation they pick up cigarette butts around the campground. He also once had 10 little ones crammed into his home.

Random acts of kindness are routine for Stuart, who has donated money to Native American reservations for the last 15 years. Every year he returns from Florida with chocolate-covered peanuts for the sole purpose of giving them away.

Last week, he bought four quarts of strawberries from Amish friends, who gifted him with a head of lettuce and homemade cookies. Then he went to a local salon for a pedicure — “Try it! You’re not a sissy if you have it,” Stuart insisted — but returned home empty-handed because he gave everything away.

“Stuff like that happens almost every day,” Stuart said.

Such is life for Stuart. There always is a memory to be made.

Past athletic accomplishments are only a small part of who he is. Impacting others is what keeps him going.

“In my lifetime, I’ve just seen so many things happen that upset me to a point,” Stuart said. “It’s like kind of trying to destroy memories, but the thing about that is the memories in your mind, they’re never going to be taken from you.

“I thank the good lord for every day he gives me. I really do.”