Decades in black and white

For many years, Fostoria's Dee Clay attended several induction banquets for the Ohio High School Athletic Association Officials Hall of Fame."I just admired all of these guys who I knew or I had officiated with," Clay said. "But whether or not it would ever happen to me?"It did," he said with a laugh.Indeed, on Saturday night, four years after Clay watched his longtime Fostoria friend, the late Rick Haddix, enter the hall, Clay himself was so honored at the state induction banquet in Columbus, along with 12 others.Haddix had nominated Clay for the honor, just as Clay had nominated Haddix.Clay, 80, wrapped up his track and field officiating career this past spring after judging the discus for the 32nd consecutive year at the state track and field championships. He finished up as a football official in 2007. Along the way, he garnered a number of honors, including the OHSAA's Official of the Year Award in 2021."It's the pinnacle of my officiating career," Clay said of his induction. "Seventy-five seasons — that's 30 in football and 45 in track and field. It's the greatest honor that I could receive. It's amazing."Prior to and during his officiating days, Clay coached those sports and served as junior high athletic director in Fostoria City Schools. He also proudly sired a stable of officials in sons Joel, John and Jamie.Joel worked two state football championship games before going on to officiate at the college level — most recently in the Big Ten Conference. John has officiated in five state football title contests. In addition to working as an assistant football coach at Rossford High School, Jamie has officiated a state championship basketball game."We may be the only father and three sons who have worked state championships in three different sports," said Dee, whose furthest foray into the football postseason was the regional championships. "I'm proud of that."Clay didn't want to coach his sons in high school football, so he left head coach Dick Kidwell's staff in the 1970s and gravitated toward officiating. His last contest was a playoff matchup between Canton Central Catholic and Youngstown Cardinal Mooney in Wooster. He recalled a play in which a very athletic Mooney defensive back plucked a loose ball from another player's back near midfield and ran for a touchdown."I was on about the 40 yard line and I saw it and I knew what he was going to do, so I hightailed it and started heading to the goal line," Clay said. "He beat me to the goal line."I said, 'That's it, I'm done,'" Clay said with a laugh. "Now, he was a Division I (college) athlete. I tried my best because you never get beat to the goal line. Never. But I did that time. It was my 30th and final year of officiating football. That convinced me it was time to retire."Clay said seeing high-caliber athletes and then following their careers has been fun for him. He remembered seeing well-knowns such well-knowns as Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel throw the discus for Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit High School at state. He was also happy to see athletes from Fostoria and St. Wendelin high schools throw at state. Among the champions he judged was Fostoria High's Cory Echelberry, who in 1999 at Welcome Stadium in Dayton set a state Division II record that remains intact.Clay was working in left field at the discus site when Echelberry's flight went to the ring."There were people sitting out there with blankets and lawn chairs and coolers," Clay said. "I told them, 'We have a lefty coming up and he has tendency to release early and you might want to move back.' So, they picked up and they moved 20 or 30 feet. His first warmup throw hit once and went right into the middle of them. You've never seen lawn chairs and coolers move so fast in your life."I was the one who got to mark that 203 feet, 7 inches. He threw it right out to me in left field and I was (a few feet away) when it landed. I put my poker stick in there. The guy from center field came over with the tape and he put his stick in there. They brought it back to the circle and then we had to call the head field judge down to verify. They pulled out a steel tape and they measured it, and same thing — 203 feet, 7 inches."After it was all said and done, they took a picture of Cory and his dad, Brad, and other family members and teammates, and they said, 'Get in here.' So, I got my picture taken with that group as one of the officials who was there."Clay said he'll miss his connections with athletes in the seasons to come, but he won't miss some of the rotten weather that Ohio poses all too often on the days of track and field meets."I'm going to keep my (officiating) card alive because I enjoy going to our track and field officials meetings and our clinic every year in January," he said. "But if I go to a track meet, I will be a spectator. I will not be in uniform. They can't put me to work, doing anything."It will be weird. But there are athletes who I follow. I can go to all the track meets that I want and not be responsible," he said with a chuckle.Others who were inducted on Saturday were: Doug Ayers, Batavia, football and baseball; Brian Carder, Maumee, football; Carl Davidson, North Canton, football, volleyball, basketball; Rick Delaney, Springfield, football, basketball; Pam Stewart Delaney, Springfield, volleyball, girls basketball; Frank Grubb, Grove City, football, baseball; Butch Minkemeyer, Wheeling, West Virginia, football, basketball, baseball; Ken Rockhold, Westfield Center, golf, girls basketball; Larry Saxton, Defiance, wrestling, softball, baseball; Steve Thomas, Albany, basketball, softball, baseball; Scott Welker, Nashport, football, basketball, baseball; Brian Wisner, Bay Village, hockey."It is an honor to recognize these highly respected individuals with induction into the OHSAA Officials Hall of Fame," said Beau Rugg, OHSAA senior director of officiating and sports management and himself a member of the Hall of Fame. "These outstanding officials are being recognized for their outstanding careers amd the dedication to officiating, which is a service to student-athletes, coaches, schools and other officials. We thank all officials for their service."