“Saddened to hear last night of the passing of Jim VanDeGrift,” Fornshell posted on Facebook. “There is no Mt. Rushmore of Lebanon Athletics — There’s just Jim, and then everyone else.”
VanDeGrift was inducted into the halls of fame of the Miami Valley Football Coaches Association and Lebanon High, where he coached from 1967-81 and had the football stadium named in his honor.
The football team finished second in the state in 1980 and VanDeGrift also coached track and field and cross country, according to the school.
VanDeGrift proved to be a popular public servant. Starting in 1991, he was elected to nine, four-year terms as a township trustee, according to the Warren County Board of Elections.
He ran unopposed six times, won the most votes in another election and gained 65% of the ballots cast last year in a two-person race, election records show.
“My last conversation with Jim was last Wednesday night during a meeting to discuss the upcoming LHS Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony,” Fornshell said.
“Once the meeting ended, and in typical Jim fashion, he asked how my kids were doing, and who their next game/match was against. My relationship with Jim was not unique,” he added. “There are thousands of other people in our community who could describe similar or even closer relationships with Jim.”
VanDeGrift was inducted into the Lebanon HS hall of fame in 2011. A year later, he was inducted into the MVFCA hall along with Jim Place, Bob Gregg, Mike Schneider and Al Hetrick.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss,” Lebanon Athletic Director Keith Pantling said in an email.
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