Chester A. Rousch

Chester A. Roush – Coach and Principal of Randolph
Alumni of Randolph High School have a fond place in their hearts for Chester A. Roush.
Aged ninety-one in April 2009 and living in Kettering, Ohio with his wife Dorothy. Roush was an
honored guest at the March 28, 2009 program where memories of Randolph High School were
shared by a panel of Randolph alumni and members of the large audience. Here's the rest of
the Chester Roush story, as gleaned from a recent interview with Roush by Joretta and Dick
Weimer, and from newspaper clippings dating from the 1940s and 1950s.
Roush, born in Winchester, Ohio in Adams County, graduated from Alfred Holbrook
College in Manchester in 1940. While at Holbrook, Roush competed for four years in football,
basketball, baseball and track. He had not played football in high school, but Roush started with
his first game as a Freshman and played thirty-four games without missing a minute. This
earned him the nickname, "Iron Man." He was named an All-Ohio end in 1940, and in 1939 and
1940 was nominated All-Ohio as a guard on the basketball team. After college, Roush taught
and coached for two years at Salt Creek High School near Circleville. He entered the Army Air
Corps in 1942 where he earned the rank of Captain in the air force's physical education
department, before being discharged in March of 1946.
In fall 1946, Roush accepted the football coaching job at Randolph. He and young wife
Dorothy moved to Englewood. He recalled, "I remember the first game she attended at
Randolph – they charged her to get in! They gave her money back to her! [Coaches wives could
attend for free.] In his two years (1946-48) of coaching at Randolph, Roush's football team won
the league championship twice, going undefeated in the second year. Roush also taught biology
and history.
Roush's record at Randolph helped him get the head coaching position at Fairmont,
which he held from 1948 to 1952. He continued his successes in football with his Fairmont
athletes, winning two more championships in the MVL in 1949 and 1951. Dorothy wanted Chet
to keep on coaching, but in June 1952 he left athletics and returned to Randolph as high school
principal. They lived with their family of three children in Morgan Place and then on Wolf
Avenue. Roush, in a 1952 interview, said he'd been wanting to get into school administration
for several years, and "Although I'll miss coaching, I'll have a chance to work on a broader
plane with the students and in the profession." Roush succeeded Wilbur Sando as principal and
stayed at Randolph from 1952 through 1954. It was during this period that he made many
lasting friendships with students and faculty. In 2005, Roush nominated Randolph athlete,
Glenn Brumbaugh, to the Northmont Athletic Hall of Fame.
When asked in his most recent interview about his favorite memories of this area, Roush
responded, "The dedication of Randolph Football Stadium in 1947. It was full – both sides!"
When asked what advice he had to give to his former students, he said, "Be good, and you'll be
all right."