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by Skylar Sobansky
What began as a heartfelt idea between four lifelong friends who are graduates of both Steubenville High School and West Liberty University is now something set to last forever.
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STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — What began as a heartfelt idea between four lifelong friends who are graduates of both Steubenville High School and West Liberty University is now something set to last forever.
The West Liberty University Foundation announced that the Blangor, Bunch, Hudson, and Spinner Scholarship has now reached permanent endowment. To achieve this milestone, the scholarship needed to raise a minimum of $25,000.
That number has now been exceeded and one of the scholarship founders, Clifton Spinner, said it was all made possible through support.
"A lot of help from friends and family, a lot of people in the community, both in Steubenville and all over the country,” Spinner said. "And a lot of help from our former coaches and mentors like John Craig, who was a longtime educator and coach at Steubenville Big Red, and I can go on and on and on."
Born from the deep-rooted friendship of John Blangor, Bryan Bunch, Neal Hudson and Spinner, the scholarship was established. The four formed a bond while growing up and it strengthened through years as student-athletes at Steubenville and West Liberty.
"We were all born and raised in Steubenville and Steubenville High School was a very special place for us and, so, we wanted to get together and be able to provide this scholarship help students from our high school to also attend our alma mater, which is West Liberty University,” Spinner said.
A shared passion for giving back to their hometown laid the foundation for this scholarship.
Their goal with the scholarship is to remove financial barriers for Steubenville graduates aspiring to pursue higher education at WLU.
Now that the scholarship is endowed, the group is working through the final decisions about its structure.
"We haven’t decided yet if we are going to actually do just one scholarship and make that a full ride or whether we will just do multiple scholarships,” Spinner said.
Scholarship applicants must be a Steubenville High School graduate, have plans to attend West Liberty and be in good academic standing.
The scholarship will be available for recipients for the first time in the 2026-2027 academic year.
If you want to donate to the scholarship or apply, visit wlufoundation.org/give then in “Special Request Box,” indicate that the donation is for the Blangor, Bunch, Hudson, and Spinner Scholarship or BBH&S Scholarship to ensure that the gift is properly registered and goes to the correct scholarship fund.
For complete information on the WLU Foundation, please call (304) 336-5635.
