PHOTO from Bluffton High School Wall of Fame

By Bill Herr

Bluffton High School has had many outstanding teachers. One taught there for only four years, but coached a team that won an Ohio State Championship. He was Mr. Paul Stauffer. He taught forensics (Debate), drama and speech. He was very knowledgeable in all three because he had actively participated in them at Blufton College. Stauffer also directed class plays, both at the high school and at Bluffton College.

Bluffton High School students used to have interclass debates. In 1931, Mr. Stauffer's first year teaching at Bluffton, a girl qualified for individual debate in the National Tournament. Mr. Stauffer took the girl and her mother to Racine, Wisconsin, where the tournament took place. She didn't win, but in Mr. Stauffer's words, "We learned what to do and what not to do."

The next year, Coach Stauffer had three students represent Bluffton by participating in round-robin District tournaments. Teams were selected not by the size of the school, but by how they won District tournaments. The team members were Ralph Locher, Don Smucker and Gordon Alderfer. They continued to win District tournaments until they went to Columbus on Saturday, April 9, 1932, to compete for the Ohio State Championship. The Ohio State High School Debating League held the tournament in the Ohio State University Chapel. The program read BLUFFTON HIGH SCHOOL VS. CANTON MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL. In what I call the "Superbowl of Academics in Ohio High Schools," the Bluffton debate team won the State Championship by defeating the largest school under one roof in the state at the time.

Each debater had to speak for 10 minutes on the following proposition: "Resolved that the United States Should Enact Legislation Providing for Compulsory Unemployment Insurance." The team then went to Racine, Wisconsin, to compete in the Nationals. They didn't win, but the Bluffton debaters each went on to be very successful after graduation. Ralph Locher was the 50th mayor of Cleveland and later became a member of the Ohio Supreme Court. Don Smucker was a college professor and later became president of a college in Canada. Gordon Oliver became an outstanding writer for municipal magazines.

A photo of the debate team with their coach accompanies the Icon article A lost but hallowed Pirate trophy.

One of my students, Cara (Young) Davies, helped me conduct an interview with Stauffer. We found him to be very friendly and highly intelligent. The interview is on DVD and is currently stored at the Bluffton library where it can be checked out.

I asked Mr. Stauffer why an outstanding teacher and coach like him only taught four years. He said, "I got out when you couldn't grab a misbehaving kid by the shoulders anymore." Stauffer's daughter, Ann, filled me in on him as a person and what he did after teaching. He married Evelyn Gratz, one of his former debaters. Paul worked for many years as a purchasing agent for Triplett Corporation in Bluffton. He also was a salesman for the Bluffton Slaw Cutter Company. He and his close friend, Ropp Triplett, developed a catalogue for household items.

I asked Ann what she liked most about her father. She said, "He taught me and my sister Jean to work hard and do your best, even if it is small." She said he built them a dollhouse. When they lived by the Riley, he built a bridge. He was very active in First Mennonite Church. He was a "stickler" who made sure his daughters completed their schoolwork. He had a good sense of humor.

Mr. Paul Stauffer was a man of high character. Coaching the Bluffton High School debate team to the State Championship in debate was a remarkable accomplishment. As a person, he was certainly unforgettable.

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Columnist Bill Herr taught high school mathematics and science for 32 years before serving as a volunteer and then as a staff chaplain at two nursing homes.