2010-07-09
An important figure in the history of the University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande Community College was lost recently with the passing of George Steinbrenner.
Steinbrenner is most well-known as the famous owner of the New York Yankees, but he also played a key role in forming Rio Grande Community College, and he coached basketball against the famous 1950s Rio Grande basketball teams led by Bevo Francis.
Steinbrenner even wrote the forward to the 2005 book, “Shooting Star: The Bevo Francis Story,” by Kyle Keiderling.
“I remember the first time I laid eyes on Bevo,” Steinbrenner wrote in the forward to the book. “ I was coaching at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus, Ohio. We had a fine basketball team made up of many experienced college players. Out comes this really tall kid - all arms and legs - so much that you didn’t think he would have the coordination to play basketball. But once he hit the court, his physical grace dispelled all such notions.”
Steinbrenner is also quoted several times in the book discussing the games that he coached against Bevo Francis and Rio Grande.
“There was no pretense about Bevo. He was the real deal,” Steinbrenner said in the book. “He is an important part of college basketball history. Bevo’s story is one of the greatest stories in sports. It’s one that everyone should know about - and nobody should ever forget.”
The author of the book, Kyle Keiderling, also states in the introduction to the publication that Steinbrenner encouraged him to write the book and have it published.
While Steinbrenner crossed paths with Rio Grande at an important time in the institution’s sports history, he also was a part of the institution’s academic history in 1972.
At that time, Steinbrenner was a member of the Ohio Board of Regents and Rio Grande officials were working to form Rio Grande Community College.
Herman Koby, Ph.D., a longtime Rio Grande administrator and former Gallipolis resident, explained that in 1972 the Rio Grande officials were making very little headway with the Board of Regents until one of the Rio Grande trustees had an impromptu meeting with Steinbrenner.
Koby was the executive vice president of Rio Grande at the time, and he and other Rio Grande representatives were attending Ohio Board of Regents meetings regularly in order to keep up with any discussions the Board had about the plans for the community college.
“The Board of Regents kept tabling our motion for recognition,” Koby said, explaining that the motion was needed for the community college to officially form.
One day when Koby and other Rio Grande officials were standing in the hallway outside of the meeting room, Steinbrenner walked by and said hello to Sam Davis, who was on the Rio Grande College board of trustees. Steinbrenner knew Davis and asked him why he was there, and Davis explained to him about the plans for the community college.
According to the book, “Rio Grande: From Baptists and Bevo to the Bell Tower” by Ivan Tribe and Abby Gail Goodnite, soon after Steinbrenner talked with Davis in the hallway, he made a motion at an Ohio Board of Regents meeting (seconded by Marvin Warner, an industrialist from Cincinnati) to recognize Rio Grande Community College.
Koby said that while he does not know for sure why Steinbrenner made the motion or why the Board of Regents finally gave its approval, it is likely that Steinbrenner’s history with Sam Davis played a part.
“The fact that he saw Sam Davis, I’m sure increased his interest in Rio Grande,” said Koby, who lives in Columbus today. “We must have gone to 8 or 9 or 10 months of meetings, and the Regents were always on the borderline of approving it.” Koby added that he believes that Steinbrenner had some input in the Ohio Board of Regents granting the approval and at least helped to tip the balance in Rio Grande’s favor.
That approval helped Rio Grande Community College form, and today the college plays a key role in the region.
Rio Grande is a unique institution that is part private university and part community college. This relationship helps keep tuition prices low for students while also providing a high-quality education.
Rio Grande prides itself in having small class sizes and individual attention for its students. It also prides itself on its long and fascinating history, a history in which New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner played a big part.
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