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General Ohio University Discussion/Alumni Events

Topic: Tom Metters

Topic: Tom Metters

Author

Message

BillyTheCat
General User

Member Since: 10/6/2012
Post Count: 9,454

Status: Offline

Tom Metters

Posted: 5/14/2019 8:08:32 AM

Tom, passed away late last week. Tom was a fixture for decades at local high schools and OHIO University games. An award winning journalist and a good friend to all. Sad day.

Alan Swank
General User

Member Since: 12/11/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 7,022

Status: Offline

RE: Tom Metters

Posted: 5/14/2019 8:13:44 AM

Just saw this online. Many a high school athlete in Southeast Ohio owes Tom a debt of gratitude for his coverage of both boys and girls sports for many many years. Additionally, his history of Ohio University sports was legendary. I had the distinct pleasure of serving on the board of the Green and White Club with Tom from 1996 until the club disbanded. He was a true gentleman and loyal fan and friend.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/athensmessenger/obituar...

Recovering Journalist
General User

Member Since: 8/17/2010
Location: Cleveland, OH
Post Count: 1,839

Status: Offline

RE: Tom Metters

Posted: 5/14/2019 9:03:46 AM

Alan Swank wrote:

Thanks for sharing. I sat next to Tom as a wet-behind-the-ears reporter at the Mess before I even finished my senior year. He was more passionate about local sports than anyone I ever worked with, and I'm sure readers appreciated it. The other thing I remember is how kind he was with his mother. He was a good person.

OhioCatFan
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 14,016

Status: Offline

RE: Tom Metters

Posted: 5/14/2019 1:08:42 PM

Sad day. Just saw the obit in today's Messenger. He was a legend on the local high school sports scene. I worked alongside him one summer during my internship at the Messenger. I reported to Rowland Congdon, the sports editor, who was my adjunct professor and assigned me my grade at the end of the internship. Tom was always a pleasure to work with, and he had an amazing depth of knowledge of high school sports -- current and historically. I learned a great deal from him. I especially remember an interview I conducted with him in his home about the evolution of sports reporting and the different styles in different eras. It was for a paper I was writing in a journalism class, not for a newspaper story. RIP, dear friend!

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

GroverBall
General User

Member Since: 12/3/2012
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 1,241

Status: Offline

RE: Tom Metters

Posted: 5/14/2019 2:00:54 PM

In the early 80s when I was an AHS student a wrote a series of articles on basketball for the A News - Tom was who I tried to emulate. When I moved back to Athens in the late 90s it was always a pleasure to see him.

Ohio69
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 2,992

Status: Offline

RE: Tom Metters

Posted: 5/14/2019 4:06:03 PM

Alan Swank wrote:

He was a true gentleman and loyal fan and friend.

Well said Alan. I agree completely.

Can somebody hit a pull up jumper for me?.....

OhioCatFan
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 14,016

Status: Offline

RE: Tom Metters

Posted: 5/14/2019 6:31:06 PM

A friend of mine, and a high school classmate, sent me the following message today. I asked him if I could post it in this thread. He said OK if I cleaned up his typos and other mistakes, as he said he had just had eye surgery today and couldn't see too well when he sent me the email. I said I would do that. So, here's what Paul Aikman said:

"Tom Metters helped and taught me as a paperboy, starting when I was 9. It was 11/04/53. I had gone to the garage where both the Citizen-Journal and Dispatch newspapers were dropped off for paper boys to deliver. I had come up on my 8th birthday and asked Tom who was the supervising paperboy if I could have a route. He turned to Mr. Berry. Mr. Berry shrugged his shoulders, so Tom asked me how old I was, and I said I just turned 8 today. They both smiled and Tom said to come back one year from now, and we'll give you a paper route. One year later he took me under his tutelage, and I continue to deliver papers until I was in the 7th grade. Without Tom's help, I doubt that I would have learned everything that I needed to know in order to be successful and earn money.

"Now jump to January 1970. I was the head basketball coach at North Gallia High School, and we had come over to play Eastern of Meigs County. In December, and on our home floor, they had defeated my team by 15 points. They were ranked in the top five in Ohio, undefeated, 9 and 0. . . .This team was absolutely state tournament bound.

"Tom and a photographer drove down to the Eastern High School gym. My team was now better skilled and high-scoring. I had taught them five different offenses, man-to-man and full-court pressure with a 1-2-1-1. We were ready, I mean really ready.

"Tom Metters, sports' reporter extraordinaire, caught up with me and said my team looked like the Kentucky Wildcats. Going back to my paperboy days, I said, 'Tom do you remember the awards that we could win by signing people up for papers?' He said, 'Yes.' I said, "One of the awards that I won was is a crystal radio kit. I put it together and I listened to radio broadcasts from Lexington of every Kentucky Wildcat game from the time I was 9 1/2 years old."

"After that exchange, I kidded Tom about putting a picture of my team on the front page of the Sunday Messenger. He was a great Joker Tom was!

"You see, Carl, my team shocked Eastern of Meigs County. We pressed and changed defenses, ran end out-of-bounds and side out-of-bounds plays designed to attack immediately every time. In each QTR, we changed offenses except when they went into a zone.

"We won 84-83. Shocked them.

"Sunday morning on the sports page of The Messenger there was a story by Tom about the game with a picture of me yelling with a twinkle in my eye.

"Tom also wrote in his piece that I was now to be called Paul 'Adolf Rupp' Aikman. The nickname stuck. It wasn't until the Kentucky vs Texas of El Paso NCAA Championship game that I learned that Adolf Rupp was a bigot. Yet Tom nicknamed me that because my team won 19 games, often by coming from behind, and because of my "crystal radio" remark to him.

"This is not about me or my teams. This is me honoring Tom Metters by Standing With My HAND Over My heart and singing both the National Anthem and the AHS Fight Song.

"Tom helped people by reporting accurately and truthful. He attended the First Presbyterian Church. So, I hope to meet him again someday.

"Tom. SALUTE!"

Jeff McKinney
Moderator

Member Since: 11/12/2004
Post Count: 6,045

Status: Offline

RE: Tom Metters

Posted: 5/19/2019 5:21:07 PM

Agree with all the tributes to Tom Metters on here. Along with Alan, I also had the honor of serving alongside Tom on the Green and White Club board for many years.

A personal anecdote: one time Tom invited me to go to a concert at Fur Peace Ranch with him, and also to go on a train tour of southern West Virginia. I always appreciated that.

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