Humble Beginnings and Endings
There have certainly been few who could match Dr. Charles Dodrill as an awesome presence on campus. He was indeed such, and not only on campus but in the central Ohio community and in national theater circles. But, it wasn’t always so. When "Chuck" came to Otterbein College in the late fifties he was a beginning theater teacher with an MA degree, and as such was pretty low on what was overall a low salary scale. (Photo from 1961 Sibyl.)
Chuck, with his height, thin build, clipboard and measuring wheel, walking around the campus every day, created an image not likely to be forgotten.
David Deever (myself, left photo)
These tunnels, which still exist and have been added to, are about four feet wide and four feet high inside. Sandy made for us a small wagon just the right size to fit between the pipes, into which we shoveled the muck. When it was full we would drag it to the nearest manhole, lift it up through and out, and dump it into a container provided for us and eventually emptied by others. Each time we emptied the wagon we allowed ourselves a few minutes to lie flat on our backs on the ground to get out some of the kinks. (No such thing as OSHA then.)
By the end of the day we were filthy and achy, hardly able to stand straight for a while. But, at least, in contrast to Chuck, we had the advantage of doing our humble work underground and out of sight.
But, it didn’t stop there. Somehow, in his first year with the On The Road program in the early sixties, Charles Kuralt heard of Prof. Smith and included him in one of his episodes. The national attention this brought landed him a spot on What’s My Line, the show where a panel tried to decide from among Prof. Smith and two impostors which was the real professor turned janitor.
I remember talking with Prof. Smith after his return from the show in California. He claimed that he had been able to say "Otterbein College, Westerville, Ohio" 17 (or some such number) times during the program. A true speech teacher to the end.