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Knox Pages – Knox County News & Info
Local News by Local People
FREDERICKTOWN — The Fredericktown High School Alumni Association is pleased to announce the Roy McKinley Scholarship.
It will be joining the “Freddies Helping Freddies” family of endowed scholarships to recognize the indelible footprints Roy left during a distinguished career as a coach, teacher and superintendent at the Fredericktown schools over a 15-year span.
McKinley, a native of West Jefferson, earned his college education by working his way through Muskingum College where he played football during the Great Depression years.
He worked on the Lyons Dairy farm for his board and room, getting up at 4 a.m., milking 17 cows, walking one mile to his college classes at 8 a.m., practicing football after class, returning back to the dairy farm to do the second daily milking, and to study for the next day’s classes.
“I can’t believe I did it,” Roy said of his rigorous college experience.
After graduation, he dreamed of landing a coaching job, but the only job opportunity was to be an elementary teacher in his home town West Jefferson Schools.
McKinley felt fortunate to find employment. In 1937, he finally got his chance to coach.
Roy came to Fredericktown with his wife and high school sweetheart, Pauline. Roy signed on to be the head coach of the football and basketball teams and to teach English; Pauline was hired to teach Home Economics.
This was to become their first of two tours at Fredericktown, this first tour lasted five years and started the local legend of Roy McKinley as a beloved teacher, coach, and community leader, known as a gentle, fun-loving person, with a sense of humor, who could get things done.
Roy’s major accomplishments on his first tour included many successful seasons in both basketball and football, capped by the undefeated 1941 football team that featured football legend Ollie Cline in his sophomore season.
Ray also was a driving force in starting the Fredericktown Lions Club in 1938, serving as President and growing membership to over 100. With Roy as the most persuasive fundraiser, the Lions Club started strong and became Fredericktown’s powerhouse “do good” organization for many decades.
Roy and Pauline decided it was time to start their family, so Pauline was needed at home and Roy needed a bigger paycheck. This prompted a move to a larger school at Wilmington to coach and teach, until the war broke out, then Roy was pressed into non-military government service.
At the end of the war in 1945, Roy wanted to return to teaching; Fredericktown was able to woo Roy back with a “free move” and a big promotion to be the Superintendent.
For the next seven years, Roy’s legendary status grew at the school and in the community.
In addition to leading an efficiently running school and starting the National Honor Society in 1947, Roy was in high demand as a speaker, a master of ceremonies, and as “Mac the Magician,” creating good will across the state.
Most importantly, Roy was known for bringing out the best in the students, the teachers and every person in the community that he touched while routinely accomplishing the seemingly impossible.
One story that demonstrated Roy’s persuasive skills was solving the need for more land adjacent to the school to bring the athletic fields “on site.”
The Board members said we have “talked to the farmer and he won’t sell.”
Roy went to see the farmer anyway, the result being the farmer, Mr. Struble, gave the land to the school.
In 1952, Roy’s “second tour” at Fredericktown came to a close as he accepted a position as Principal at Coshocton and later served as their Superintendent until he retired in 1972.
In 2008, a group of Roy’s former Fredericktown students and friends, led by Betty Weller and others, were determined to document Roy’s legacy and teachings for posterity and recognized permanently with a scholarship for FHS graduates.
As a fundraiser, the group asked people to write down their memories and prepared a booklet that they called “Footprints of Roy McKinley” which captured personal testimonials of more than 40 people who articulated how Roy McKinley became one of the most influential people in their lives.
The “Footprints” booklet and Roy’s autobiography remains available online at the FHS Alumni website.
The Fredericktown Alumni Association is honored to accept stewardship of the Roy McKinley Scholarship to preserve and share his story with the new and future generations of Freddies.
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