Mays

GROVE CITY — Ted Penar is completing the cycle. Earl Mays is completing the hat trick.

The Butler High graduates will be honored in conjunction with Grove City College Athletic Hall of Fame ceremonies Saturday night.

Penar, 90, graduated from Grove City in 1942. He played football and competed in track and field there. He went on to join the college staff as chairman of the Department of Education in 1953 and eventually became dean of the college.

Founding the cross country team there as well, Penar is one of four individuals receiving GCC's second annual Athletic Heritage Award.

He has served as a student, athlete, coach, educator and administrator at the college.

"I'm very pleased and very surprised," Penar said of the Heritage award. "You never expect these things to happen."

After 38 years of service, Penar retired from Grove City College in 1990. He went on to serve as president of Butler County Community College for three years.

Mays is a 1956 Butler graduate who went on to excel as a diver at GCC. He is one of eight inductees into the Grove City College Athletic Hall of Fame this weekend.

Mays was a charter member of the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame and was one of three charter inductees into the GCC Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame in 1985.

"I guess this one completes it," he said of the Hall of Fame hat trick. "All three inductions mean the world to me. I'm proud of what I accomplished."

Mays swam in a four-lane, 20-yard pool at the old Butler High. He competed in the individual medley and dabbled in diving before deciding to concentrate on the latter.

"When I stood on the (diving) board, my head was maybe four feet from the ceiling," Mays recalled. "That wasn't a high ceiling and we had to be careful.

"I just adjusted to it at the high school pool. On my reverse dive, my chest came within inches of hitting that ceiling."

But Mays spent summers serving as a lifeguard at the Butler Memorial Park pool, "where they had better equipment and I could practice a lot more."

Longtime Grove City College swimming and diving coach Jim Longnecker convinced Mays to come to the school — three years after Mays graduated from high school.

"I got out of school and took a job at Armco Steel," Mays said. "After a year, I was laid off. That turned out to be good fortune. I got tired of collecting unemployment and decided to go back to school."

Mays was unbeaten as a 1-meter diver through four years of college. His lone loss in his entire career was to an all-American in a 3-meter diving event at Kent State.GCC's swimming and diving team was unbeaten during the 1961-62 school year.Mays left Grove City as the college record holder in 3-meter and 1-meter diving.Penar was a halfback for the Wolverines' football team and led the squad in scoring in 1941. He returned a pair of kickoffs for touchdowns in a game against California (Pa.)."Our equipment then wasn't as fancy as it is now, but it served the same purpose," he said. "It kept us safe."Penar married a fellow 1942 GCC graduate, Marie McMunigle. The couple had four children and each graduated from GCC."I wouldn't say it was important that all of our children went there," Penar said. "The education was important. (All four attending GCC) made me feel good, though."I owe a lot to Grove City."

Penar