ABOVE) Rick Shaner in 2000 with Varsity basketball page spread from the Buccaneer yearbook. The yearbook is online at BHS Wall of Fame
By Bill Herr
Bluffton Icon columnist
Who was the greatest coach of any sport at Bluffton High School? I don't claim to be the best qualified to make that choice, but I am one of the oldest, having seen most sports teams at the high school since 1946 when my brother Don played football and basketball. I attended Bluffton Exempted Village Schools for 21 years and after college came back and taught at Bluffton for 19 years. I love Bluffton Schools and I have a shirt I wear proudly that has the words, "Pirate Pride is Forever."
Who was the greatest coach? Was it Darlie Stuckey? She coached the 1927-1928 girls basketball team, which was undefeated at 18-0 and Allen County champions. Was it Dwain Murray? He coached the 1928-1929 boys basketball team. The team won their first 23 games–the longest winning streak in BHS history–before losing by one point to Akron St. Mary's in the Class B state championship game. ▶︎
Did a legendary sports figure once appear in a Bluffton school? The answer is yes. I know because I sat behind him at a basketball game in our gym. His name is Rufus Brassell. He was originally from Lima. In the late 1970s he moved his family to the Bluffton area to live. His kids went to Bluffton schools.He was a Lima legend in two ways. This column is his story.
Rufus was born in Mississippi to Freeman and Carrie Ward Brassell, Jr. They moved to Lima. Rufus had no siblings.He attended South High School and graduated from Lima Senior High School in 1963.
He became interested in boxing while in junior high. He liked it and became very skilled. ▶︎
CORRECTION In 1991 the Bluffton School Board president was Nancy Schweingruber.
PHOTO Page 3 of the 1992 Bluffton High School Buccaneer. View the yearbook in its entirety on the Bluffton Schools website HERE.
Bill Herr taught high school mathematics and science for 32 years. Next, he served as chaplain at a nursing home for 24 years. In this column, he returns to a favorite subject, Bluffton sports.
By Bill Herr
What is the greatest Bluffton High School football team ever? A very interesting read is "A Century of Pirates," a compilation of stories, photographs and records of Bluffton High School championship athletic teams and players of the 20th century. Included are photos and player names of 20 outstanding football teams that played between 1929 to 1998. Fred Steiner compiled this amazing record. It is a treasure to read for those that follow Pirate sports.
Bill Herr taught high school mathematics and science for 32 years. After retiring from teaching, he began a nursing home ministry, first as a volunteer and then as a nursing home chaplain. He has written columns for the Icon on Bluffton sports history and on being a chaplain.
Columnist Bill Herr taught high school mathematics and science for 32 years before serving as a volunteer and then as a staff chaplain at two nursing homes.
By Bill Herr
American culture places a premium on a person being physically attractive and having a friendly, outgoing personality. Movies and television promote this. The opposite is a person that has advanced Alzheimer’s Disease or some other physical disability that renders the person unable to do any activity except to breathe.
At the nursing home a female resident had experienced several strokes and was unable to move her body at all. She simply lay prone in her bed all day and stared straight ahead. She did not speak or respond at all when I spoke her name and read scripture or prayed.
When she died, I went to the funeral home visitation. Looking at a collage of pictures of the resident, I was stunned to see a photo that revealed a beautiful young lady in shorts standing at the edge of a woods smiling while holding a shotgun pointed upward. It was the resident. She looked like a movie actress.
Columnist Bill Herr taught high school mathematics and science for 32 years before serving as a volunteer and then as a staff chaplain at two nursing homes.
By Bill Herr
One of the most difficult things in life is to forgive someone that wrongs us with words or actions. In the nursing home almost all residents were kind to staff members and other residents.
Yet some of the kindest ones were hard on immediate members of their families. They would naturally rather live in their own home than in a nursing home. If family members are instrumental in the decision to move a loved one to the nursing home due to health issues or age, there is a tendency to hold family members responsible for feelings of dissatisfaction.
