When members of the Optimist Club volunteered to mentor and coach the entrants, Fred Ross, a Middletown attorney and club member, scanned the list of names and recognized Clarence’s last name. Ross handled the estate of Mitchell Page, Clarence’s grandfather, and he knew Clarence’s grandmother, Carrie, was a Middletown elementary school principal.
So Ross crossed young Clarence’s name off the list.
In that one instant — in the time it takes to say, “I’ll take Clarence” — two lives were changed. For the next two years, when Clarence was 14 and 15, Ross helped correct his stuttering and, probably more important, regain his confidence.
As a child, Ross stuttered, and once he shared that with Clarence, that connection built a bridge that no age or racial differences could divide.
When Clarence Page walked into Ross’ office for their initial meeting, Ross remembers thinking he wasn’t tall, wasn’t short, “just a kid, you know.”
Then Clarence opened his mouth and only letters, the same two letters — not words — came out.
Ross was stunned.
“This kid has guts,” he remembers saying.
In that first year, Ross worked extensively on Clarence’s speech impediment. He stressed slowing down, proper breathing. One word at a time.
Clarence completed his five-minute Optimist speech, and afterward, Ross, who attended the competition, said: “Let’s work on next year.”
The two continued their friendship, and Page recently wrote a syndicated column about his stuttering. Page, as well known for his radio and TV appearances as his columns, praised speech therapists in the Middletown school district and Ross for their work.
Page connected his speech difficulties with the “King’s Speech,” a movie about Britain’s King George VI, a stutterer.
Page wrote that in his second oratory contest, he “stunned the crowd with a near-flawless performance.”
Clarence finished second. But he was a winner.
“That,” Ross said, “began an upward climb for him.”
Page graduated from Middletown High School in 1965, worked at The Middletown Journal and The Cincinnati Enquirer as he made his way through Ohio University, where he graduated with a journalism degree in 1969.
In 1989, Page, now 63, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for commentary. He also has written two books: “Showing My Color: Impolite Essays on Race and Identity” and “A Bridge to the New Media Century.”
Page, Fred Ross and his wife of 45 years, Sondra, have remained close friends for nearly 50 years. Whenever Page is traveling in the area, for a book signing or public speaking engagement, he often visits with Fred and Sondra.
Fred Ross refuses to take any credit for Page’s success. Of course, has anyone heard of Morgan Freeman’s first acting coach?
“All I did was encourage him,” Ross said. “I didn’t give up on him.”
In fact, he pushed him. Before Page graduated from high school, Ross, 85, told him: “I expect you to be the first black president of the United States.”
He was beat by another man from Chicago.
Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.
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