HOUSTON — The Hardin-Houston Local School Wall of Honor Committee will welcome Dave Stang, Dr. Conrad Booher, Ruth E. Heins, Sgt. First Class Charles Gregory Huston, and Stacey Ritter into the Hardin-Houston Local School Wall of Honor during a ceremony between the junior varsity and varsity basketball game against Fairlawn on Friday, Nov. 26, at Houston High School.
Dave Stang is a 1957 graduate of Fort Loramie High School. He served in the Army Reserves from 1957 to 1963. He has been a resident of the Hardin-Houston School district for 57 years. During that time, he has been a proud supporter of the Hardin-Houston Local School.
Stang has always lived by the motto “Don’t be a person that complains unless you are also going to be a person that steps in to help fix it.” For this reason, Stang has been actively involved in many school committees, the Board of Education, and several other support groups. Stang served as a school board member for 19 ½ years and president for 16 of those years.
Stang has been active with the Hardin-Houston Athletic Boosters, served as a substitute bus driver for 18 years, started the fifth- and sixth-grade girls basketball program and ran it for 11 years. He was an integral part of numerous levies for the Hardin-Houston Local schools, including the Hardin building addition, the high school gymnasium, several permanent operating levies, and building the new school.
He has also been active in the community, serving on the Washington Township Zoning Board for nine years, the Washington Township Zoning Board of Appeals for 12 years. Dave served as a Shelby County Board of Elections Poll worker for 20 years, served on the United Way Board for three years, and as campaign chairman for one year. Stang has held several positions within the Holy Angels Church including Eucharistic Minister for 25 years, Financial Committee chairman for 25 years, Parish Council for six years, and Parish Picnic Ticket chairman for five years.
Stang retired from the Stolle Corporation/Alcoa after 43 years as a production superintendent.
Dr. Conrad Booher, affectionately known as “Doc,” was a 1950 graduate of Houston High School. After serving in the United States Air Force from 1950 to 1954, he attended the International Chiropractic College of Dayton and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1959 with a Chiropractic degree.
While attending Houston High School, Booher was a member of the baseball, basketball and track teams. His specialty was the high jump, and he held the school record for a time.
Booher was a 20 year member of the Hardin-Houston Local School Board of Education and served as president. Booher was also a member of the Houston Athletic Boosters. Booher was a proud supporter of Hardin-Houston Local School. Booher attended many sporting events, graduations, band concerts, and other school activities. Booher’s five children attended and graduated from Houston High School, four of which went on to follow in his footsteps and graduate with Chiropractic degrees. Booher was always ready and willing to help the Hardin-Houston Local School.
Booher was involved in standardbred harness racing as a licensed owner, breeder and driver.
Booher was a former member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks., the Piqua Country Club, Ohio Harnessman’s Association, the U.S. Driving Association, Ohio State Chiropractic Association, American Chiropractic Association, and was a member of the Piqua Kiwanis Club, earning the Kiwanis International Legion of Honor Award for his 50 years of active membership.
Ruth E. Heins graduated from Green Township High School in 1945, then earned her education degree at Defiance College in 1950. Heins spent her first six years teaching between Piqua and Sidney City Schools before beginning her 25-year tenure at Hardin-Houston Local Schools teaching grades 4 through 6 and retiring in 1982.
As an educator, Heins was fierce, creative, and caring. She kept pictures, notes, and even grade books from her years of teaching. Heins was proud of all her students’ accomplishments and encouraged them to pursue whatever they loved, but especially to take up careers in education (and of course, to attend her beloved Defiance College). In true teacher fashion, Heins made sure her former students were all on track long after they left her room, knowing their careers, marriages, children, and even grandchildren, writing them letters and calling them on the phone to check in – a testament to how the love of a teacher goes far beyond the classroom walls.
Heins was a well-known mentor to her fellow educators: always having materials for projects, reference books for lessons, and a listening ear for any problem. Long after her retirement, she was often stopped in public by former students and coworkers, just to let her know how much she impacted them. Heins was an active member of the Houston community and could always be counted on to be at any local event — especially a Wildcat basketball game — until her passing in March 2019 at age ninety-one.
Heins had a passion for education and a dedication to making her part of the world better one student at a time, inspiring her children and grandchildren to follow in her path.
Sgt. First Class Charles Gregory Huston was a 1963 graduate of Houston High School. While at Houston High School, Huston was on the basketball and baseball teams for four years, track for three years, chorus for three years, yearbook staff one year, and participated in the senior class play.
After graduating from Houston High School, Huston served in the US Army, rising to the rank of Sergeant First Class. Huston served with the Command and Control Detachment, 5th Special Forces Group.
On March 28, 1968, an 11-man reconnaissance patrol, that included SFC Huston, in the Savannakhet Province of Laos engaged an unknown size enemy force and requested helicopter extraction. The helicopter lowered a rope ladder and as the men climbed up it, one at a time, the helicopter came under heavy enemy fire. The ladder broke with one U.S. soldier on it, and he fell to the ground. The helicopter was then forced to leave the area. The U.S. soldier who had fallen and two other U.S. soldiers, one of which was Huston, remained on the ground.
A search team was inserted into the area three days later but was unable to locate any evidence of the men either alive or dead. Once formal search efforts were terminated, the three men were listed as Missing in Action.
State Route 66 in front of Hardin-Houston Local School has been designated the Sgt. First Class Charles Gregory Huston Memorial Highway. Hardin-Houston Local School also flies a POW/MIA flag over the baseball field for Sgt. First Class Huston.
Stacey Ritter was a 1992 graduate of Houston High School and a 1997 graduate of Robert Morris University with a degree in Business Administration. She is widely considered to be the best athlete to ever attend Houston High School.
Ritter was a four-year member of the basketball team. She is the all time leading scorer for Houston High School with 1,566 points in her career. She also holds the season field goal record with 196 field goals in the 1990-1991 season. She was team MVP multiple times and voted the Shelby County Player of the Year.
Ritter was also a four-year member of the track team. She holds the school long jump record with a jump of 18-feet, 5.25-inches, the 100m dash record with a time of 12.2 seconds, the 200m dash record with a time of 25.54 seconds, the 400m dash record with a time of 59.4 seconds, and was part of the 4×200 meter relay record. She won events at every level from county, district, regional, and concluding with winning the 200m dash, the long jump, finishing second in the 100m dash, and sixth in the 400m dash at the 1992 state meet which culminated with a team runner-up place.
Ritter was also a four-year member of the cross-country team and made it to the state cross-county meet every year.
Ritter first attended the University of Rio Grande and was a member of the Women’s basketball team. She was the MOC Conference Freshman of the Year, 1st team MOC Bevo Francis Tournament, David Lipscomb All Tourney Team, Great Lakes All Region Team, and participated in the NAIA Women’s National Basketball Championship. She was a member of the MOC Conference Championship teams of 1993 and 1994.
Ritter then attended Robert Morris University, an NCAA Division 1 member of the Northeastern Conference at that time. In 1996, while a member of the Women’s Basketball team, she was named the team MVP after leading the team in steals, assists, second in scoring, and second in rebounding. She was also named to the 1997 Northeastern All Conference second team.
Ritter scored a total of 1335 points for her college career at both the University of Rio Grande and Robert Morris University.
