A SPORTS OPINION 

    A small fire has been burning within the Tallmadge athletic community. Why do you ask? Information that the Athletic Department has made the decision to remove the sports record boards, moving them online, and removing the pictures of the school’s All-Suburban League athletes from the trophy case has been released to the athletes and coaches. The response from the Tallmadge athletic community shows that this decision was made without much feedback from the community, athletes or coaches. 

    “The record boards will eventually be removed. The records will be available on the Tallmadge Athletics website. Where the records boards currently are will display our championship teams. We have a number of teams from recent years that are not recognized on the gym hallway walls because we’ve run out of room,” Athletic Director Tim Mosher said.

    While yes, our schools need to recognize our school’s championship teams, we also need to recognize our school’s individual athletes. Removing the record boards takes away recognition from much needed individual athlete’s success. Senior Thomas Naiman, who currently has the third fastest time on the record board for Cross Country, does not believe the record boards should be removed.

    “I think it’s unfair that (the Athletic Department) is getting rid of the record boards because (all the athletes) worked really hard to get up onto that wall. I don’t care what [sport] you’re in, everyone on that wall worked hard to get there. I believe that it’s disrespecting our school’s history by getting rid of the record wall,” Naiman said.

    The record boards not only show our school history, but it also serves as a physical reminder of the goals for our youth athletes to work towards. Sophomore Ty Hurst, who currently holds the record for most passing yards in a game for Tallmadge Football, believes that the removal of the boards takes away more than just the recognition of individual athletes.

    “When you walk down the hallway as a youth athlete, you dream about seeing your name up on that wall. Growing up, it has always been one of my goals to beat the team wins record in the sports I play,” Hurst said.

    Even if the record boards are being moved to the athletic website, athletes believe that the recognition is not enough.

    “Looking at the boards, you recognize the hard work of all of the athletes regardless of the sport you play. I don’t think recognition on a website is even comparable to the boards in the hallways,” Hurst said.

    The Tallmadge athletics record boards were introduced in 2013 as a collective effort by former Tallmadge Athletic Director Don Seeker, the Tallmadge Athletic Booster Club and Columbus-company School Pride to try to preserve the history of Tallmadge Athletics. 

     “Tallmadge High School has a very rich tradition in athletics. Our athletic history is something that is very important and should be preserved. Individual records are a big part of that history,” Seeker said in a 2013 interview with the Tallmadge Express. All of this information comes from an article written by the Tallmadge Express in 2013.

    When it comes to the recognition of individual athletes, all that is used is the record wall and the All-Suburban League pictures. Mosher has a plan to still recognize individual athletes who earn All-League honors with a new board that would be hung up in the gym hallway. 

“(The All-Suburban League) photos only recognized the first team recipients. The plan is to recognize all recipients (first, second, & Honorable Mention) on a board dedicated for that purpose,” Mosher said.

Athletics is the epicenter of high school culture. High schools should be proud of their past and current teams and athletes.  Displaying athletic records and athletes who have earned All-League honors is a big way for the Athletic Department to do that. Not only does this affect how the community views our athletic programs, but it also affects how other communities see it, too. Visiting teams should continue to be able to enter our building and view our records, and we should continue to be able to say that, as a community, we are proud of our athletics, past and present.

If this worries you, talk to your coaches and email the athletic department with your concerns and opinions that the record boards should remain. If we can band together, we will be able to put a stop to the removal of our school’s history.