By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Dayton High School students get a taste of history whenever they sit down for lunch in the cafeteria. There are trophy cases and plaques on all four walls celebrating the success of past athletes and teams at the historic high school that started conducting classes in 1895.
Organizing the sports memorabilia was a project Jay Brewer was determined to complete before he stepped down as superintendent of Dayton Independent Schools.
Dayton superintendent Jay Brewer and staff member Gina Byrd helped organize the trophy cases in the high school cafeteria.
“I am retiring in June so this was on the checkbox list of mine to accomplish in a way that matches our mission statement, and that’s Inspire, Engage and Grow,” said Brewer.
“There’s so many inspiring stories here at Dayton that touching base with the kids and making sure it was all packaged together was an important component before I made my exit.”
The project started with refurbishing the trophy cases that had been in the cafeteria for years and adding sliding glass doors for easier access.
The next step was going through the hodgepodge of trophies dating back to the 1920s and reorganizing them to get a better sense of the Greendevils’ sports legacy. Each trophy case now has a theme posted above its glass door.
“Prior to this it was pretty much just stuff a trophy in where ever you can find the space,” Brewer said. “So we had a 1944 state runner-up trophy in basketball that was some where near a third-place trophy from some invitational in cross country.”
Jay Brewer found sports trophies that dated back to the 1920s during the project.
Now that ornate state runner-up trophy is more prominently displayed along with the 1966 Class 1A state championship trophy the Greendevils won in football.
The cafeteria trophy cases also celebrate the numerous Class 1A region and state titles Dayton collected in boys and girls cross country and track. Four of those teams brought home state championship trophies.
In one of the cases, there’s a video loop showing Dayton runner Adrienne Hundemer coming from behind to win a relay race at a state meet. She won a total of 20 gold medals in state track meets, which is believed to be a state record.
“The overall vision for all this was now when you come in here you’ll have that flashback to the past that can inspire kids for the future,” Brewer said.
One wall of the cafeteria has a large poster dedicated to John Wooden, who began his head coaching career at Dayton in 1932 and went on to become one of the most successful college basketball coaches in history. He ended his career at UCLA, where his teams won 10 NCAA championships, including seven in a row.
The poster includes a Dayton yearbook photo of Wooden posing with his players. One of them is the grandfather of Gina Byrd, a current staff member who helped Brewer transform the cafeteria into a sports museum.
One wall of the cafeteria has a poster about legendary basketball coach John Wooden, who began his career at Dayton in 1932.
“We have a lot of great history that needs to be recognized,” Byrd said. “I’m just glad we did this before (Brewer) retired because you don’t know if a new person is going to be interested in doing something like that.”
Two doors on one side of the cafeteria lead into the high school gymnasium that was updated last summer and continues the sports history theme. On one wall, the words to the school fight song were painted next to the new stands. Near the entrance, there’s a plaque that honors former Dayton basketball coach and athletic director Stan Steidel.
Steidel was the driving force behind the All “A” Classic that has given small schools across the state a chance to compete for state championships in basketball and other sports that do not have classes based on enrollment.
At Dayton basketball games, concessions are sold in the cafeteria so fans have an opportunity to see what Brewer helped create for Dayton High School before he moves on.
“It really was a fun project for me,” he said.
