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Walk of Fame

Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame Nomination Due Feb 5th

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The deadline to nominate a Daytonian for the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame is 5pm on February 5, 2020. The online nomination form and narrative, along with any accompanying materials must be emailed to daytonwalkoffamejudges@gmail.com  
NOTE: Nominations will be considered active for three years from the date of submission after which a new form must be submitted, officials from Wright Dunbar, Inc. advised.
The Walk of Fame began in 1996 as part of the Dayton Bicentennial celebration. The Walk honors individuals or groups from the Dayton region who have spent a significant amount of time in the region and have made an enduring impact on the local community, the region, the nation and/or world. Memorial stones for each honoree are placed in the sidewalks of Dayton’s historic Wright-Dunbar District along West Third Street between Shannon and Broadway Streets.
“We look forward to the community nominating those who have done great work in support of the region, the nation, and the world,” said Harry Seifert, Wright Dunbar Inc. president and chair. “We know there are many in business, community service and other actives who deserve to be recognized. The region’s Walk of Fame provides recognition to those who are worthy and helps motivate a new generation to do great things.”

The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Betsy Whitney, John Gower and Jessie Gooding were the class of 2019 Inductees.

Nominations may be made in the categories of arts and culture, aviation, business and corporate, education, entertainment and media, environment, government and military, invention and innovation, law, medicine, philanthropy, science, significant personal achievement, and sports.
Nomination forms are available for download at: https://www.daytonwalkoffame.citymax.com/walk-of-fame-application.html . The website includes a list of past inductees.
The 2020 inductees will be honored at a luncheon at Sinclair Community College on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020.

Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame Inducts New Honorees

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Three individuals and one performing arts organization joined the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame today at the 2019 induction ceremony held at Sinclair conference Center today. The Walk of Fame, located in Wright Dunbar includes over 180 Dayton individuals and organizations.  Granite pavers are located on the sidewalks on both sides of West Third Street between Shannon and Broadway Streets and on Williams Street in Wright Dunbar
 “We have another year of outstanding inductees.  They are all excellent examples of the exceptional people who make this area a great place to live and raise a family,” said Harry Seifert, president and CEO of Wright Dunbar, Inc.
This year’s inductees are

Walk of Fame 2019 – Jessie Gooding from Knack For Substance on Vimeo.

Jessie Gooding (1926-)
One of the Dayton region’s foremost civil rights leaders, Jessie Gooding was born and raised in Minden, La. After serving in the segregated U. S. Army, he studied at Wilberforce University and became a chemist at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Witnessing—and experiencing—discrimination in the workplace, Gooding established equal employment opportunity and sensitivity training, which became mandatory in the Air Force in the 1960s. He also advocated for the Air Force to recruit top science and engineering students from historically black colleges and universities. Gooding is the longest serving president of the Dayton chapter of the NAACP (1982-2002.) Under his leadership the Dayton NAACP increased voter registration and pressed for reforms to end discrimination in education, employment, housing and law enforcement. He is co-author with Rosalind Vera Osinubi of Freedom and Justice for All: My Life and Dayton Civil Rights History.
“It’s indeed a pleasure and a great measure of honor to be among individuals chosen for the Walk of Fame,” Gooding said.
 

Walk of Fame 2019 – John Gower from Knack For Substance on Vimeo.

John Gower (1953-)
John Gower is a life-long Dayton resident who has devoted his career as an urban planner to preserving Dayton’s history and making it a more enjoyable place to live. His advocacy for Dayton began as a student at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, when he volunteered weekends in Dayton to board up abandoned homes in his Dayton View neighborhood. He has worked as Dayton’s downtown planner, director of community development, urban design coordinator, and most recently as reimaging strategist. The Living City Project he led has been called a catalyst for revitalizing downtown housing. He led architectural preservation efforts that resulted in the city’s Historic District Zoning and Landmarks Commission. His preservation advocacy continues even in retirement, and he has been a leading advocate for restoring the downtown Dayton Arcade.
Lifelong Dayton resident John Gower called his hometown “probably the greatest place on the face of the planet.” He said it’s “the perfect size” for individuals to be able to have an impact locally and even globally.
 
“Anybody here can make anything happen,” Gower said. “If you want to make the world a better place, you start with your city.”

Walk of Fame 2019 – Betsy & Lee Whitney from Knack For Substance on Vimeo.

Betsy and Lee Whitney (1930-, 1930-2018)
Betsy and Lee Whitney have been exemplary leaders in arts, social services, history and business organizations. Born in Yellow Springs, Betsy Baldwin  met Leon “Lee” Whitney in college at Ohio Wesleyan. They married in 1953. Lee joined his father-in-law’s insurance company, which grew to become Baldwin and Whitney with Lee Whitney as president. The Whitneys have been generous with their talents and resources.  A past president and board chair of the YWCA, Betsy served on boards and/or fundraising committees for the Dayton Art Institute, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Dayton Visual Arts Center, Human Race Theater Company, Victoria Theatre Association, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, Dayton History, Leadership Dayton, Dayton Foundation and Wright-Dunbar Inc. Lee served as president of Dayton Children’s, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Downtown Dayton Partnership and the YMCA, and as a board member of the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance, United Theological Seminary, and Westminster Church. Through his countless volunteer hours at Carillon Historical Park. He saw the need for a picnic shelter for schoolchildren. The Whitney Pavilion there now proudly serves visitors of all ages. Both Whitneys served on additional nonprofit boards and committees too numerous to list here.
Betsy Whitney, speaking for herself and her late husband Leon “Lee” Whitney, said the Dayton community “welcomed us with opportunities to serve” when they arrived in 1954. While Lee built up the insurance company started by Betsy’s father, both became active philanthropists and took leadership positions in numerous community organizations. “We have enjoyed every challenge along the way,” she said.
 

Walk of Fame 2019 – DCDC from Knack For Substance on Vimeo.

Dayton Contemporary Dance Company
Nationally and internationally acclaimed local group on the dance stage and in film, DCDC has been a recognized cultural amenity in the Dayton arts scene for over 50 years. Few individuals or arts organizations in the region have represented Dayton on a larger scale. DCDC represents the Dayton region around the world. In this decade it has toured in Chili, China, Russia and Kazakhstan. PBS featured DCDC in the 2007 documentary “Dance in America: Dancing in the Light.” The film documentary “Sparkle,” which featured DCDC dancer Sheri “Sparkle Williams,” was selected to screen at Silverdocs, America’s largest and most prestigious documentary film festival in 2012. DCDC won the prestigious 2016 “Bessie” Award for Outstanding Revival for its performance of “Rainbow ‘Round my Shoulder” at the David H. Koch Theater in New York. DCDC was founded by Jeraldyne Blunden (1940-1999,) who was inducted in the Walk of Fame as an individual in 1999.
Representing the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company were Ronita Hawes-Saunders, its chief executive officer, and Debbie Blunden-Diggs, chief artistic administrator and production director and daughter of DCDC founder Jeraldyne Blunden. Diggs said her mother “planted her feet in Dayton 50 years ago because she wanted this company here.” Even as DCDC performs at venues around the world, she said, “there’s no place like home for us.”

Nominations Being Accepted For Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame

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TheDayton Region’s Walk of Fame began in 1996 as part of the Dayton Bicentennial celebration, with over 170 people or groups having been recognized since then. Memorial stones are located in the sidewalks along Third and Williams Streets in the Wright Dunbar Business District. A mural designed by artist James Pate highlights the Walk at the corner of West Third and South Williams.

photo by Cathy Ponitz

Wright Dunbar, Inc. announces that 2018 Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame nomination forms are now available online . A list of past inductees is available on the same website.

Paper nomination forms are also available at the Wright Dunbar, Inc. office, 1139 West Third Street, Dayton, OH 45402. Nominations must be received by noon on Thursday, March 1, 2018 online or in the Wright Dunbar office.

Individuals or groups from the Dayton region or who have spent a significant amount of time in the region and have made an enduring impact on the local community, the region, the nation and/or world are eligible for nomination. Arts/Culture, Aviation, Business/Corporate, Education, Entertainment/Media, Environment, Government/Military, Invention/Innovation, Law, Medicine, Philanthropy, Science, Significant Personal Achievement and Sports are the categories highlighted. Last year’s honorees were Oscar and Marjorie Boonshoft, Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., Cathy Guisewite, The Honorable David L. Hobson, Allison Janney and Tecumseh.

The Walk of Fame began in 1996 as part of the Dayton Bicentennial celebration, with over 170 people or groups having been recognized since then. Memorial stones are located in the sidewalks along Third and Williams Streets in the Wright Dunbar Business District. A mural designed by artist James Pate highlights the Walk at the corner of West Third and South Williams.

Harry Seifert, president and chair of the Wright-Dunbar, Inc. board, said, “The Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame serves as a great way to educate the public and instill pride in the accomplishments of the innovative contributions to society that have been made by the region’s outstanding citizens. Celebrating them motivates all us as well to do our best for the region.”

2018 winners will be honored at a luncheon at Sinclair College on Thursday, September 27.

Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame Mural Dedication Ceremony

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Please join City of Dayton Commissioners and Montgomery County Commissioners and Wright Dunbar, Inc. for the Dedication ceremony of the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame Mural, Thursday, September 28th at 2:00 p.m., 1100 West Third Street, Dayton Oh 45402.

 

Since 2008, the City of Dayton has awarded nearly $445,000 to neighborhood organizations through the City of Dayton’s Neighborhood Mini Grant Program. Wright Dunbar, Inc. was awarded $5,000 to fund the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame Mural, at the Wright Dunbar Conference Center, 1100 W. Third Street. The mural features Orville and Wilbur Wright, Paul Laurence Dunbar and symbols that represent the categories of the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame. The Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame is a significant legacy to the City of Dayton with over 160 outstanding individuals or groups honored for their enduring personal or professional contributions to the community, nation and the world. The memorial stones are installed in the sidewalks along West Third Street between Shannon and Broadway. This corridor is the center of the neighborhood where Wilbur and Orville Wright designed the world’s first manned, powered airplane and African American writer Paul Laurence Dunbar penned his world-renowned works.

 

The mural was designed by Wright Dunbar resident and local artist James Pate. Mr. Pate, together with collaboration of Brittini Long, HAALO, Montgomery County Juvenile Court and management from Jerri Stanard, K12 Gallery & TEJAS, have created a masterpiece that will bring awareness to those individuals honored on the Walk of Fame and be another asset to the Wright Dunbar Village Neighborhood and the Wright Dunbar Business District.

 

The mural was also sponsored in part by CityWide Development Corporation, HAALO, Montgomery County Juvenile Court, Hospice of Dayton, K12 Gallery & TEJAS, National Aviation Heritage Area, Primed Physicians, Public Health Dayton & Montgomery County, Texas Beef & Cattle Co., Wright Dunbar, Inc., Wright-Patt Credit Union, and Zik’s Family Pharmacy and Home Medical Equipment.

 

Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame Announces 2017 Honorees

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The 2017 Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame honorees will be announced at the Walk the Walk event in the Wright Dunbar Historic Business District on May 12, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. Wright Dunbar, Inc. sponsors the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame, and the memorial stones are on West Third Street in the Wright Dunbar Historic Business District between Broadway and Shannon and along Williams Street.

The 2017 honorees are:

 

Oscar Boonshoft (1917-2010) and Marjorie Boonshoft (1928-2004)

Oscar and Marjorie Boonshoft lent their names to many charitable projects and organizations that they supported. Oscar Boonshoft was a mechanical engineer with a career spanning over 30 years, including time at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, before his retirement in 1970. Marjorie Boonshoft was a partner in the family’s philanthropic and community activities.

 

The couple’s numerous philanthropic endeavors in the city of Dayton included: the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Boonshoft Center for Medical Sciences at Kettering College, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, and the Marjorie and Oscar Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education, to name only a few. The Chronicle of Philanthropy, who ranked them 41th on a list of national donors, recognized their charitable gifts in 2006. Oscar and Marjorie Boonshoft’s philanthropic work is legendary in the forever grateful Dayton community.

Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. (1877-1970)

Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. was the first African American promoted to the rank of General in the U.S. Armed Forces in 1940, a significant achievement within the segregated military of his day. He was born in Washington, D.C. and was graduated from Washington’s M Street High School, the predecessor to today’s Dunbar High School, where he received his first military training through the school’s cadet program.

 

In July of 1889 he joined the racially segregated 8th U.S. Volunteer Infantry service for the Spanish-American War and was appointed temporary First Lieutenant. In 1905, General Davis was appointed to his first tenure as Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Wilberforce University where he became well known in the area. Over time and assignments, he spent almost 25 years there. General Davis, Sr. retired from the U.S. Armed Forces in 1948 with over 50 years of service. He passed away on November 26, 1970 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

Cathy Guisewite (1950- )

Cathy Guisewite was a pioneer in the media of cartooning, a field dominated by men. She was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1950. In her youth, Guisewite would draw funny pictures, which she considered to be “emotional coping mechanisms” to events in her life and work. Her mother relentlessly urged her to send her comics to a publisher, thus beginning her career. Copley News Service for Early Cartoonists syndicated her first comic strip, Roxbury, from 1963 to 1973.

 

Guisewite began working on her most popular Cathy in 1976, which was syndicated in 66 newspapers at the time. By 1980, she was working on her comic strips full time as Cathy was syndicated in over 150 daily newspapers. Cathy appealed to many women of her generation with both humor and social significance. The popularity of her comic strip increased rapidly and by the mid-1990s it appeared in approximately 1,400 newspapers, including the Dayton Daily News. In 1992, Guisewite received the Ruben Award for Cartoonist of the Year.

 

The Honorable David L. Hobson (1936- )

When he was an elected official, David L. Hobson always listened to his constituents, was mindful of their needs, and worked in a nonpartisan fashion in the Ohio State Senate and the U.S. Congress representing the Greater Dayton area. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and earned a law degree from The Ohio State University, while also serving in the Ohio Air National Guard. Hobson was elected to the Ohio Senate representing the 10th District in 1982 and was President Pro Tempore of the Ohio Senate during the 1988 to 1990 session.

 

Hobson was then elected to Congress to represent the 7th Congressional District and served from 1991 to 2009. During this time he was chairman of the Military Construction and Appropriations Subcommittee and a senior member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. He paid particular attention to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and helped to secure and expand activities within the Base. While a member of Congress he co-sponsored the legislation that created the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. Hobson also ensured that local institutions of higher learning received appropriate funding for improvements that would allow students throughout the region to have the best opportunities to learn.

Allison Brooks Janney (1959)

During the course of her extraordinary career, Allison Janney has demonstrated versatility on stage and in television and films. She currently stars in the CBS/Chuck Lorre sitcom, Mom, which earned her two of her seven Emmy awards. In 2014, Janney won Emmy awards for her roles on both Mom and Masters of Sex in the same year, a feat that has rarely been accomplished in Emmy history. She was also recently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 

Prior to Mom, Janney is perhaps best known for her role as C.J. Cregg on the popular NBC series, The West Wing, for which she received four Emmy awards and four Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards. She has also had roles in many features, including the Academy Award-nominated film The Help, for which the cast won ensemble awards from the SAG, National Board of Review, and the Broadcast Film Critics. Additional film credits include The Girl on the Train, Minions; Spy; Juno; The Way, Way Back; The Hours, and American Beauty to name a few.

 

A native of Oakwood, Ohio and a graduate of Kenyon College, Janney’s pivotal moment came when Kenyon alumnus Paul Newman selected her for a role in a campus play he was producing. After graduating, she moved to New York to study at The Neighborhood Playhouse; in 1984, she was awarded a fellowship to study at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She made her Broadway debut in the 1996 revival of Present Laughter. She won Drama Desk Awards and Tony Award nominations for the 1997 Broadway revival of A View From the Bridge and the 2009 original Broadway production of the musical 9 to 5. Most recently she starred as ‘Ouisa’ in the Broadway revival of John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation. Through it all, Janney has continued to maintain ties with her hometown.

 

 

Tecumseh (1768-1813)

Shawnee Chief Tecumseh is considered one of the greatest indigenous leaders in the early history of the United States. He possessed outstanding military, political and oratory skills that allowed him to forge alliances of many American Indian tribes. He grew up and lived in various Shawnee towns in the greater Dayton area including, Old Chillicothe, Peckuwe (Piqua), and further north near Wapakoneta, Bellefontaine, and Greenfield. Tecumseh rose to become the principal leader of the American Indian groups opposed to expansion of European-American settlements in the old Northwest.

 

Tecumseh participated as a warrior in the Northwest Indian War in 1785 to 1795. During this time he accompanied his brother, Chiksika, in the Chickamauga raids in Tennessee. This trip allowed Tecumseh to broaden his experience in forging alliances with other tribes and he took on a greater leadership role within the Shawnee war parties. He became one of the primary leaders opposing a series of treaties negotiated between chiefs and William Henry Harrison. These treaties would give over three million acres of land for white settlement, but Tecumseh believed land was not a commodity. He led the American Indian allies of the British during the War of 1812.

 

Tecumseh died at the battle at River Themes on October 5, 1813. He is the first American Indian to be inducted into the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame.

 

The honorees will be celebrated at a luncheon on Thursday, September 28, 2017 at the Sinclair Conference Centre. Since 1996, over 160 outstanding individuals and groups and their contributions to the Miami Valley have been memorialized at the September event and with granite stones on West Third Street in Dayton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wright Dunbar, Inc., 1139 West Third Street, Dayton, Ohio, a non-profit organization, is the catalyst and facilitator for urban community and economic revitalization of the Wright D

 

Dayton Region Walk of Fame Accepting Nominations

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Wright Dunbar, Inc. announces that 2016 Dayton Region Walk of Fame nomination forms are now available online at www.daytonregionswalkoffame.org. Paper nomination forms are also available at the Wright Dunbar, Inc. office, 1105 West Third Street, Dayton, OH 45402. Nominations must be typed and received by noon on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 online or in the Wright Dunbar office. 

Individuals or groups from the Dayton region or who have spent a significant amount of time in the region and have made an enduring impact on the local community, the region, the nation and/or world are eligible for nomination. Arts/Culture, Aviation, Business/Corporate Leaders, Community Service, Education, Entertainment/Media, Environment, Government/Military, Invention/Innovation, Law, Medicine, Philanthropy, Science, Significant Personal Achievement and Sports are the categories highlighted.

 

Last year’s honorees were Nancy Cartwright, Dr. Martin Delany, Donald (Don) J. Donoher, Harold (Hal) McCoy, Bette Rogge Morse, Robert (Bob) P. Ross and Norma Ross, Dr. Benjamin Schuster and Marians Schuster and General Janet Wolfenbarger. A list of past inductees is available at www.daytonregionswalkoffame.org.

History Comes Alive at Wright Dunbar Street Party

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Walk2 CollageOn Friday, May 13th from 5-9pm, watch the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame come alive with Walk the Walk; a showcase featuring Walk of Fame inductees, historians, and family representatives. This street party allows visitors to learn from some of the outstanding individuals and groups who have contributed to the greatness of our region. Third Street will be shut down between Williams & Broadway so visitors can walk along West Third Street and interact with these individuals at their respective memorial stones.

Entertainment  hosted by Dayton.com’s Amelia Robinson
5:00pm – Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Principal String Quartet
5:30pm – Gem City Chorus
6:45pm – New Honorees Introduced
7:00pm – live music by Vibe 5
7:45pm – Heads or Tales Raffle for VIP tickets to Patti LaBelle at Rose Music Center
8:00pm – 2nd set from Vibe 5

Food trucks including Zombie Dogz, Go Cupcake, Carvaso’s Mexican Fusian, and Graeter’s Ice Cream will be on hand along with adult beverages from Heidelberg. A brand new Wright Dunbar business, Texas Beer and Cattle Company, will be open and giving tours and opportunities for the public to become co-op owners in the business. Wright-Dunbar, Inc. encourages visitors to bring lawn chairs.13001234_243203109363771_8371651310186425778_n

Additionally, Wright-Dunbar, Inc. will announce the 2016 Walk of Fame honorees at the event. These honorees will be inducted into the Walk of Fame at a Luncheon Ceremony on September 22nd at Sinclair’s Ponitz Center.

Since its inception in 1996 as part of the City of Dayton’s Bicentennial Celebration, the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame has recognized 156 outstanding individuals and groups for their enduring personal or professional contributions to the community, nation, and the world.

In 2003 the Walk of Fame was moved from the Dayton International Airport to the Wright-Dunbar Historic District and is now managed and supported by Wright Dunbar, Inc. Granite pavers are located on the sidewalks on both sides of West Third Street between Shannon and Broadway Streets and on Williams Street.

What Daytonian Belongs On The Walk of Fame?

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Who has had a great impact on the Dayton region? And who would YOU like to see get their paver on the Walk of Fame?

WD DistrictThe Wright Dunbar Walk of Fame was established in honor of Dayton’s bicentennial celebration in 1996. The legacy of this community is rich with individuals who have made their mark regionally, nationally and often, internationally. The Walk of Fame exists to recognize and celebrate their accomplishments—and to share our pride with the rest of the world.

Click here to download a Walk of Fame walking tour brochure, that will include a list of past inductees.

Individual granite pavers line the sidewalks throughout the Wright Dunbar Business district with descriptions of inductees and their unique contributions to the Dayton landscape. New inductees are welcomed into the Walk of Fame family at a celebration each fall. We encourage your participation in the process!

Nominations open now through April 2. Get the form and more info here:http://www.wright-dunbar.org/walk-of-fame-nomination-period-opens/.