Newbury High School’s final home football game — ever —held fond memories and generated a few tears Oct. 25, as alumni gathered to cheer their home team one last time.
Newbury High School’s final home football game — ever —held fond memories and generated a few tears Oct. 25, as alumni gathered to cheer their home team one last time.
Black and orange souvenir shirts were selling briskly, as many wore the Black Knight team colors to honor almost a century of tradition. The school district is scheduled to be transferred at the end of the school year to West Geauga Schools.
“This field looks exactly the same as it did when I was here in 1968,” marveled Bill Ward, who played clarinet in the marching band when he was a student. Ward, an actor and professional voice-over announcer, still lives in the community.
“My wife told me I should be here for the last game,” Ward said. “She’s in Florida.”
David Gifford, township resident and former Newbury Schools Board of Education member, is a 1969 NHS graduate whose children also attended Newbury Schools.
“Back in those days, we had a championship football team, with back-to-back state championships,” Gifford recalled. “We were very proud to be called the ‘Home of Champions.’”
Gifford played saxophone in the band during junior high school, and center and guard on the NHS football team.
Patrick Casseday, NHS class of 1977, is the son of longtime coach and teacher Roger Casseday, who recently passed away. He played football, basketball and baseball during his time at Newbury.
“I always wanted to be a history teacher because of your dad,” Ward told Casseday. “Think of all the young people he helped along the way.”
Sam Warren, class of 1975, said his family sold their farm and moved out of Newbury before his senior year, but he played junior varsity football at Newbury in 1974. He still fondly remembers his time at Newbury.
“It’s sad to see the school closing down. It holds a lot of good memories for me,” Warren said. “We had coach George Cervenka for football, Roger Casseday as basketball coach and Harry Wilkins for baseball.”
“We were a close-knit little group, in a close-knit little community,” Ward said. “We were one big family in a small school in a small community.”
David Lair, NHS class of 1968, said he kept a low profile during his years at Newbury, but he enjoyed going to football games on a Friday night, hanging out with his friends and cheering on the team.
“We had a football dynasty back then,” Lair said. “And one of our graduates, Kenny Blair, Jr., class of 1980, was a walk-on for The Ohio State (University) football team.”
Lairs’ family participation in Newbury Schools goes back four generations, from his in-laws, to himself, to his three children, and the most recent family member, a grandchild who graduated from NHS in 2019.
“I remember on Oct. 9, 1992, at the homecoming game, my daughter, Debi, came back from Akron (University) to join our other daughter, Staci, on the field to cheer together,” Lair recalled. “As I was filming it, a big green streak zoomed over the field and I got it all on tape from the stands. It was the Peekskill meteor and my footage from that night is now in the space museum.”
Sue Felberg Ferry, whose family has lived in Newbury for several generations, met her late husband, Rich, in the fourth grade at Newbury Elementary. They were married for more than 45 years, until his death.
Wearing Newbury’s orange and black in his honor, she wiped away tears as she talked about what the school has meant to her family.
“We raised our family here,” she said. “Our daughter, Nicole, now Zembiak, was homecoming queen. So many wonderful memories. I didn’t think I’d have tears, but I just can’t help it.”
