Good afternoon. Due to several barriers, the 8th grade DC trip has been canceled for this school year. All money that has been paid will be fully refunded. Plans are in motion for next year to combine this year's 8th grade with this year's 7th grade. This should help to ensure that there are high […]
Inducted – May 2018
Hardin Northern Class of 1966
Occupation: High School Teacher and Coach
Bethany Amstutz Elwood graduated from Hardin Northern School in 1966. ln 1970 she received her Bachelor of Science Degree from Bowling Green State University. ln 1995 she received her Master of Arts Degree from the University of Dayton.
While at BGSU she participated in several collegiate sports and received a Varsity Letter Award at a ceremony in 2005 that was presented to athletes who competed before the Title IX era. ln 1970, she was inducted into Delta Psi Kappa, a professional society for Physical Education majors.
After college graduation, Beth’s first teaching job was at Upper Scioto Valley School where she taught Health and Physical Education and helped develop an interscholastic sports program for girls. ln the fall of 1975 she accepted a teaching and coaching contract from her alma mater and started down the path of her illustrious coaching career at Hardin Northern. She coached basketball, track, and volleyball at Hardin Northern but her volleyball teams are where she left an indelible mark. For 20 years the Polar Bears enjoyed her on the sidelines coaching their volleyball teams. Her teams won 15 Conference championships, 8 District championships, a State Runner-Up title in 1984, and finished her career with 403 wins and only 75 losses. She coached several All-Ohioans and was selected as Conference Coach of the Year 11 times, District Coach of the Year 5 times, and received the OHSVCA Coaching Achievement Award 2 times. Kenton Times Sports Editor, Thad Gardner, labeled her a “pioneer” for her dedication and work in establishing high school girls’ sports.
ln 1998, Beth was inducted into the Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame. ln 2013 she was inducted into the Hardin County Sports Hall of Fame.
One of her greatest joys was teaching biology and life science while at Hardin Northern. ln 2004 she was honored as a Jennings Scholar by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation for “being an outstanding classroom teacher and for influencing the lives of your students for the better.”
Edward D. McCann (’51)Edward D. McCann (US Air Force)
Edward D. McCann
Inducted – May 2018
Dunkirk Class of 1951
Captain United States Air Force
Killed in Action in Vietnam 1966
Captain Edward Dean “Ed” McCann was born on November 8th, 1933 on a farm just North of Arlington, Ohio in Hancock County. Ed had an interest in flying from a young age. His room was covered with pictures of airplanes, and model airplanes hung from his bedroom ceiling. His other passions included drawing and painting pictures. Ed was known to be a caring and compassionate member of the school as well as the community, and he really excelled during the time he spent in school. Ed graduated from Dunkirk High School in 1951 and then attended Bowling Green State University on an ROTC scholarship. During his college years, Ed would come home on the weekends to work with his father in the family plumbing business. In 1953, Ed became a member of the Theta Chi fraternity. On June 5, 1955 Ed graduated with honors from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. After college, Ed attended Air Force basic training followed by flight school in Bartow, Florida. It was there he received his wings and became a pilot and met his wife Grace McCann. During his four years of service in the USAF, he was stationed at Perrin AFB Texas, Laredo AFB Texas, and Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. After an honorable discharge, he moved back to Ohio and began working as a Chemist for Kuss in Findlay, Ohio. Ed was still serving in the reserves when he was called back to active duty and was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, where he then became a member of the 558th Tactical Fighter Squadron. After becoming a member of the 558 TFS, he was able to apply his talent of painting and drawing to design the insignia for the 558 TFS.
Ed was one of the first pilots to be chosen to fly the new Phantom F-4 fighter plane, which was a great honor at the time. In the the spring of 1965, he served six months overseas at Naha Air Base, Okinawa. He then returned home in June of 1965 only to be deployed to Vietnam in November of 1965. Ed flew over 150 missions in Vietnam which was well over the amount required for tour. Ed was not going to come home early because he wanted to make sure all of his men made it home. While completing a mission over Vihn, one of the three planes that Ed was traveling with developed a hung bomb. From that point forward, a series of events took place that resulted in the bomb exploding, killing Pilot Captain Edward Dean McCann and two others. It was on September 17th, 1966 that Captain Edward Dean McCann gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country, leaving behind a wife and four children.
