Terry Darby was Captain of the Stivers 1962 football team. That same year he earned “Special Recognition, Offensive Team”, by the Dayton Daily News. Terry was recognized for his football quarterbacking and for his deceptive football handling, which was highlighted by his surprise “naked bootleg” play. He lettered all four years in football, basketball and baseball. His freshman year, Terry was privileged to be a part of the championship team, which came in third in the National Amateur Baseball Federation Junior Tournament, in Altoona, PA in 1960. The team was coached by Mr. Joe Sullivan.
Sports were very time consuming, but Terry managed to maintain academic Honor Roll status throughout his four years. He was a member of the Student Council his junior and senior years. In 1963, Terry was named Student Athlete of the year. The summer of 1962 was an important part of Terry’s high school career as he was chosen to represent Stivers at two leadership camps: Buckeye Boys State at Ohio University and Camp Miniwanka on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan.
As a freshman, Terry won a City Wide High School drafting contest for a house design that he created. That paved the way for a project Terry designed and built for Mr. Sam Chasens’ use in his English and literature classes, which was a large stereo sound system. Terry had a strong interest and talent for architecture and was planning to major in architecture in college; however, his vision for the future was, oddly enough, changed, at Camp Miniwanka, where he felt a calling to the ministry. This led Terry to Otterbein College, to begin a pursuit for a major in theology. Otterbein awarded him a partial scholarship for football his freshman year. Due to his slight build for college football, Terry relinquished his love of football for a new sport – gymnastics.
Terry was elected to be president of his junior class at Otterbein, a position which he would never be able to fulfill. Terry was killed in an industrial accident, while working on a summer job on June 21, 1965.
