Van Wert and Paulding Counties Alumni Club - About

In the summer of 1986, Dr Carl Jeffery (a Van Wert Dentist and Ohio State Graduate) contacted the Ohio State Alumni Association to see if an alumni club could be formed for Van Wert and Paulding counties. He was put in touch with Tim Brooks, who was the field director for the alumni association. It was Tim’s goal to have an Ohio State alumni club in every Ohio county.

A committee was formed consisting of Dr Jeffery, Tim Brooks, Myra Miller, and Larry Stittsworth. A series of meetings was held at Dr Jeffery’s residence.

It was decided to combine Van Wert and Paulding counties into one club. It was also decided that non-alumni could be members of the club. A chief concern was getting enough people to attend meetings and events because both counties are small in population.

Tim Brooks told Dr Jeffery that for the kick-off event, he would try to obtain any speaker that the committee wanted in order to draw a large crowd. The committee chose Earle Bruce, who at the time was the head football coach at Ohio State.

The kick-off event was held at the Van Wert High School gymnasium in the Spring of 1987. Most clubs draw about 50 to 80 people for these events. Our club had 300 Buckeye fans attend. Tim Brooks said that this was the largest crowd of any alumni club gathering of that year.

As they say…”the rest is history”.