By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune reporter
A few years after Ralph Dusing obtained a bachelor’s degree in construction project management from the University of Cincinnati, he helped provide homes for needy families with Habitat for Humanity.
Dusing has continued to donate his time and talents to volunteer projects during his 40-year career in the construction market. His wide range of accomplishments led to his honor as the 2015 Engineering Technology Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Science.
A reception to honor Dusing will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. this Friday at Griffin Elite Sports & Wellness on Dolwick Connector Drive in Erlanger, a facility his company built for the Bob Griffin family. It will give 63-year-old president of Bluegrass Commercial Group L.L.C. an opportunity to reflect on his successful business career and his pro bono work for the community.
“It’s just been a case where every time I needed something good to happen in my life the favor was returned,” he said. “I’m a strong believer in the Catholic faith and everything I’ve done (pro bono) has come back two-fold.”
The site for Friday’s reception is one of Dusing’s many premiere projects. His company handled construction of the sports and wellness facility located on property once owned by Dusing’s family. He remembers his grandfather and father going there to hunt rabbits.
“They never dreamed that somebody from another generation (of our family) would be building something so big on it,” Dusing said with a wistful smile.
His grandfather started Dusing Brothers Ice on Dixie Highway in Erlanger in 1928. Like most members of the family, Dusing worked there while he attended St. Henry High School and Thomas More College
After getting an associate’s degree in physics at Thomas More, Dusing enrolled at the University of Cincinnati where he attained an associate’s degree in civil engineering in 1974 and a bachelor’s degree in construction management in 1978.
He married his wife, Jackie, in 1975 and had a fulltime job during his last four years of college, but he took night classes to get a bachelor’s degree from UC.
After working for several local companies, Dusing became commercial department manager for Ashley Construction from 1993 to 2008. He left that position to become president of Bluegrass Commercial Group in 2009.
Dusing was asked to lead the fledging company by local business leaders he met through his involvement with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. He was on the chamber’s executive board from 2006 to 2014.
Bluegrass Commercial has built corporate and medical buildings, warehouses and restaurants in Northern Kentucky over the last six years. Dusing said Griffin Elite Sports and Wellness is the first athletic facility the company has constructed.
The 52,000 square foot building has a large artificial turf field and three hardwood courts for basketball and volleyball on the lower level. The front lobby extends out to a mezzanine overlooking the courts and field. There are also meeting rooms and therapy rooms on that upper level.
Bob Griffin, former president of Griffin Industries, and his immediate family own and operate the new facility. After Griffin bought the property, he called Dusing and they got together to look over blueprints for the building.
“He threw these plans in front of me that he had done and he gave me about two months to come up with a pretty solid budget number,” Dusing said. “When I got back to my office, I told them, ‘I can’t believe that I got that phone call and it’s really going forward.’ He could’ve called anybody and it was just a blessing that he called me.”
During the reception on Friday, Dusing will invite guests to take tours of the Griffin Elite building. He’s quite proud of the finished product.
“It’s a chance for me to get all my Northern Kentucky contacts there for me that night and then also to see the facility and have Bob (Griffin) show it off,” he said.
Once the Griffin Elite building is completed, Dusing said he will turn his attention to “a high-profile project for the City of Covington.”
He won’t divulge any details of the new project until city leaders make an official announcement.
