At Stivers, Jerry Wirth earned two letters in Basketball. He was very modest about his basketball skills and preferred to give his team mates the credit for winning. By his senior year he was a key player and seemed to always step up at the right time. In his senior year, Stivers won the City Championship. Stivers had to win their last two city league games. First, they defeated Kiser – with 37 seconds left in the game, Jerry grabbed a rebound and put it back up for a basket and the win at 42-40. This set up the deciding city league game with Chaminade. Although Chaminade was expected to prevail, Stivers trounced the Eagles 51-37.
In the District Tournament that followed, Stivers upset Middletown (rated #5 in the State). It was the first time in 11 years that Middletown had not made the district finals. Jerry was the high scorer in that game with 12 points. Stivers then defeated Dunbar – Jerry tied for high score for Stivers with 10 points. In the District finals, Stivers defeated Roosevelt 42-40 in a thriller. Jerry was the high scorer in that game with 15 points. Wirth graduated from Otterbein College in 1956. During his basketball career at Otterbein, he started every game in 4 years – except one (a senior day event) – and averaged over 15 points /game. In 1954, Jerry was selected as an Honorable Mention, Associated Press All Ohio College player.
After college, Jerry worked for Monsanto Mound Lab for over 30 years. While working there, he went to night school and earned a law degree while working full time as a department manager. He practiced law part-time until 1988, when he retired from Monsanto to practice law full time.
Jerry enjoyed talking with friends and family about sports and Stivers. He passed away on June 16, 2012 after an extended illness.
