Playing for Roosevelt High School in 1958 — “The Mighty, Mighty Teddies,” he said with a grin — Harden was first team All-City as both a linebacker on defense (his second year in a row) and as a receiver on offense.
Such lofty status on both sides of the ball was rare enough back then that the Dayton Daily News saluted him in a November 16 article that year as the city’s “Mr. Football.”
Another newspaper clipping from that season gave you an idea of his prowess.
In a Sept. 20 game against Dunbar, he caught a short pass from Teddies’ quarterback Lowell Caylor and turned it into a 76-yard touchdown. He later caught a two-point conversion toss and on defense he intercepted a pass that helped preserve Roosevelt’s 32-18 come-from-behind victory.
That same season, his brother, Willie Joe, a bruising fullback for the Teddies, was featured in a Dayton Daily News story about Roosevelt’s 55-0 rout of Belmont after he returned one punt 55 yards for a touchdown, returned another 46 yards for a score and also had a 22-yard TD run.
Charles said a couple of his other brothers — there were 12 kids in the family ― played football at Dayton City League schools. He said one nephew, Isaac Harden, played at the University of Cincinnati. Another nephew, Alvin Hall, (his sister’s son) starred at Fairview and Miami University before playing six seasons as a safety and kick returner for the Detroit Lions.
And last season his great nephew, Maurice Harden, was named Ohio’s Division II Football Coach of the Year after he led Xenia High to its first-ever 10-0 regular season.
But regardless of that old “no mess” rule, a bunch of football guys did tackle Charles Harden on Saturday.
Actually, they tackled his yard, the exterior of his house on Latham Street and his over-stuffed basement.
The University of Dayton football team — which was divided into four separate work details to handle projects around the Edgemont and Carillon neighborhoods on Dayton’s West Side, near Welcome Stadium where the Flyers play — took part in the annual Rebuilding Together Dayton Day as it has for some 15 years now.
The team joined other volunteers from local businesses, civic groups and schools to work on eight homes owned by elderly people and also on three community projects.
At the home of the 82-year-old Harden, the Flyers worked alongside some contractors who were doing more extensive work, gratis, as part of the rebuilding effort.
“Everything went really well,” said Cathi Spaugy, the Rebuilding Together Dayton construction coordinator at Harden’s home. “We replaced all the storm doors, put in electrical outlets, cleaned gutters, painted the porch, removed brush, mulched, planted flowers, cleaned the basement and did some other things.”
Trevor Andrews, UD’s new head coach and once a Flyers player himself, summed up the effort: “It was a good day for the community and a good day for our football team.
“We’re only a little ways off campus here and there are some people — especially older people — who can use some help and we’ve got the strong, young kids who can do it.
“To be truthful, we may get more out of it than the older people do. It’s good to get our guys away from campus and into the real world and show them they can do some good.”
Derek Willits, a fifth-year wide receiver and team captain from Centerville who played at Alter, agreed: “Doing this is really a win-win for everybody. It’s good for our guys to open their eyes, get some diverse experiences and help people in the community.
“And for me growing up here, it means even more. Whether it’s painting houses, taking out honeysuckle or whatever. it’s pretty rewarding to see the before and after on these projects.”
Willits has been part of the Rebuilding Day effort each season he’s been a Flyer, but coming to Harden’s house struck a chord:
“He’s an old Mr. Football. It was pretty cool making that connection with him.”
Flyer involvement
Rebuilding Together Dayton was formed in 1996 as a non-profit community partnership designed to enable elderly Dayton homeowners, many of them low income, to get repair and rehab projects done to let them stay safely in their homes. It also works to beautify and preserve the people’s neighborhoods.
More than just a one-day, big splash event, Rebuilding Together Dayton — with the help of volunteers, cash and in-kind donations — provides year-round assistance for long-time homeowners like Harden who has been in his place 56 years.
UD’s involvement began 15 years ago when local builder Marty Coates, a former UD football player, joined the Rebuilding Together Dayton Board of Directors.
When he heard the organization needed as many volunteers as it could get, he thought of the Flyers football team and then head coach Rick Chamberlin, who was a Good Samaritan of the shoulder pad fraternity. Through work with his Neff Road church, he had long helped people in tough situations on Dayton streets and with mission work to Mexico and Africa.
Chamberlin retired after last season and since then Andrews has embraced the Flyers’ Rebuilding Dayton effort.
Harden was especially appreciative to be involved with UD. He feels a special connection to the school.
One of his daughters, Jewel, graduated from Dayton.
And Father Joe Davis, the brother of his former wife, Janet Harden, was a Marianist priest who served on UD’s Board of Trustees and for whom the Father Joe Davis, S.M. Memorial Library is named.
Lending a hand to ‘Mr. Football’
As the UD players busied themselves outside of his home late Saturday morning Harden sat at his kitchen table with a couple of family photo albums, some old photos of his Roosevelt teams and a laminated newspaper clipping from his football days.
Above him was a clock that was running an hour late. That was appropriate because, with a bit of prompting, he stepped back into the past.
He was born in Elmore County Alabama in 1940 and moved to Dayton with his mother in 1943. His father already was here, working as a bricklayer.
Raised in the Crown Point neighborhood of West Dayton, he said he was the ninth of his mother’s 12 kids and nurtured his sporting interests at places like the Linden Center and the downtown Dayton YMCA.
Besides football at Roosevelt, he also was a hurdler on the Teddies’ track team.
Although he said he visited the football programs at the University of Cincinnati and Kentucky State when he came out of high school, he wasn’t offered any scholarship. Finally, a Roosevelt teacher helped him walk on to John Pont’s team at Miami University.
Still without a scholarship and soon with a back injury, he came back home after a semester and began to work.
He bought the Latham Street Home in 1967 and eight years later married Janet Davis.
They had three children: Charles, Jewel and Calista.
Charles played basketball at Chaminade Julienne, got an associate’s degree and has two daughters.
After getting her undergrad degree at UD, Jewel got her master’s degree at the University of New Orleans. She lives there now. Her married name is Harden Barrios, she has a son and works as a clinical research coordinator.
Calista attended the prestigious Darlington School in Rome, Georgia, as a high school boarding student. She got a scholarship to Villanova, where she was an honor student, and then got her master’s at the University of Michigan. She and her husband live in Cincinnati, have a college-bound daughter and she’s the president of a consulting firm for the education and health sectors.
As he showed photos of his children and grandchildren and talked proudly of their lives, Charles Harden’s eyes filled with tears.
Eventually Spaugy asked him to come out ono his front porch so the UD players could gather around him for a group photo.
“Where are the linebackers?” he asked with a grin. “I want the linebackers with me.”
Just as he reached out to the UD defenders, one of them went out of the way for him.
“I looked up once and there was one of our defensive tackles in the dumpster out front, just jumping up and down smashing tree branches,” Andrews laughed.
“I said, ‘Buddy, get out of there!”’
Sometimes part of that the old refrain still rings true:
“Don’t mess with them Harden boys.”
At least not their dumpster.
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