Locals chip in for new school scoreboard

FOSTORIA — Fostoria individuals, businesses and organizations have long been willing to put time, money and effort into stepping up when a need arises for those needing help.Such was the case when Fostoria City Schools needed assistance in purchasing two new scoreboards for the main gymnasium at Fostoria Junior/Senior High School.A solution came to fruition last month when the new scoreboards were dedicated at a high school boys basketball game. The scoreboards were put to work for the first time, with representatives of five donors on hand to be recognized.The Imagine for Youth Foundation was the lead donor, with its founder, Fostoria High School graduate and retired NFL defensive back Micah Hyde, in attendance for the dedication program. Imagine for Youth, which evolved from a class Hyde took at the University of Iowa, has a mission "to help children achieve a healthy, active and educated life."Also contributing to the project, which Fostoria Athletic Director Thom Loomis said cost about $24,000, were Premier Heating and Cooling, American Heritage Realty, local dentist Dr. Ryan Kinn and North Central Area Transit.Each donor is recognized on one of the scoreboards, manufactured by Fair-Play Scoreboards, of Hazelwood, Missouri.If the new scoreboards look the same as the previous ones, which were on the gym walls for about two decades, they should."There are numerous scoreboard manufacturers, but we went with Fair-Play because that's what we had previously here in the gym and they lasted a really long time and we were happy with the product," Loomis said. "When you look at them, if people don't know, they can walk in the gym and think they're the same ones, but they're not. The old ones said 'Home' and 'Visitors,' and now they say 'Redmen' (on one side), as well as the corporate-sponsorship panels that are on the bottom."Acquiring the new scoreboards had become a necessary move, Loomis said."I guess the first conversation happened, like, two years ago," Loomis said. "The scoreboards were getting pretty old. The controllers were repeatedly needing to be repaired — not so much the actual boards on the walls, but the stuff that made them work. It was just getting to the point that it was being cost-prohibitive. You know how it is when you have an old car? At what point in time do you stop putting money into an old car and bite the bullet and make a change?"The school district contracted with Power Ad, of Franklin, Ohio, to handle the raising of funds in such a way that the athletic department would benefit financially beyond the cost of replacing the scoreboards. The district provided various details and the company did the legwork."It's a win-win," Loomis said, noting that the costs of such items as equipment have, like most everything, risen significantly in recent years. "Obviously, they're a marketing company that's going to get their piece of the pie. But they're in it for helping schools raise funds. "The way it works is there's a contracted percentage that they get X amount of dollars and we get X percentage of the dollars raised. But the way they structure the program is that it's sustaining over a number of years. So, if their marketing program goes well, then once the price of the scoreboards is paid for, all of the extra revenue is where we get a really nice percentage that comes back to the athletic department."The sponsorships of the previous scoreboards had expired, so that was an immediate point to address when the project got started in January 2025."(Power Ad) kind of hit us up about being a sponsor with it," said Tracy Troxel, chair of lead sponsor Imagine for Youth's board of directors. "Micah and I talked about it and we were, like, 'We'd like to make a major contribution to be the permanent, primary sponsor. So, we talked with (Loomis) and the administration about it. It's just a matter of wanting to send back some gratitude and some appreciation to the school for all the support they've given us, for Micah growing up and his family and all the support for the football camp and everything else the school does to help us be successful in the community. We thought that was a good thing we'd do for the school."Loomis expressed gratitude to everyone who was involved."Back in the heyday of Fostoria, when we had all kinds of factories and everything, getting a project like this done would not have been difficult," he said. "We could have asked and it would have been taken care of. Unfortunately, post-great economic decline of 2008 and 2009, this isn't the same town. So, we're grateful for all the partners we do have that are still here and are willing to step up."Loomis said he hopes to continue forging partnerships in the community while not being over-reliant on the generosity of a hometown hero's foundation."We know how supportive Micah and the Imagine for Youth Foundation are, but we also don't want to continually just go back and be asking for things," he said. "We're grateful for everything they do. We truly are. But when they're already out there with the Micah Hyde Champions Club and all the things that they're doing for our kids, and the Micah Hyde Football Camp and all of the things that they do for all of the schools around, where kids come in — those are fantastic things and as long as I'm AD, I'm not going to be the guy who's always coming around with my hand out, asking for something. We'll do everything we can to involve all of the businesses and community supporters around the Fostoria area. That's really important to us as well."