Sun Sep 05 2010
(Editor's note: This is another in an occasional series highlighting career accomplishments of area graduates. Today, Montpelier High School alumnus Jon Husted, state senator for Ohio's 6th Senate District and candidate for Ohio Secretary of State in 2010, is featured.)
By JARED ORZOLEK
Jon Husted has come a long way since spending time fishing in farm ponds and excelling at high school sports in Williams County.
Husted, 42, a 1985 graduate of Montpelier High School, is a former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and is currently serving his first term in the Ohio Senate.
"Growing up in a rural community, you learn good values. Your faith is important to you and your neighbors are important to you," Husted said. "The world would be a better place if the values of northwest Ohio were the values that everyone lives by."
The Republican senator from Kettering is the son of Jim and Judy Husted, who raised their family in a home on County Road J in rural Montpelier.
Husted played basketball, baseball, track and football in high school and was named The Crescent-News player of the week after scoring five touchdowns in a game against Delta.
After high school, Husted attended the University of Dayton, where he played football and was a member of the 1989 Division III national championship team.
"I wasn't really into politics or government while I was in college. I wanted to be a college football coach," Husted said.
It was after graduating from the University of Dayton that Husted first became exposed to political life.
He said he was working as a graduate assistant football coach and volunteering for a political campaign when he was offered a coaching position at the University of Toledo. When the political campaign also offered Husted a professional position, he was left with a decision to make.
"That was the fork in the road in my life," Husted said.
He explained that taking the political road led him to work for the Montgomery County Commissioners office and later serve as vice president of Business and Economic Development at the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.
He was first elected to the state legislature in 2000, representing Ohio's 37th House District. He now represents the state's 6th Senate District and has declared his candidacy for the 2010 Ohio Secretary of State race.
Husted experienced controversy when current Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, issued a ruling that said he is not eligible to vote in Kettering, which he lists as his home address.
He has appealed that ruling and said he is running for Secretary of State to make sure outside influences don't corrupt Ohio elections.
The senator said he still has many family and friends who reside in northwest Ohio.
"I still think about my roots. I follow all the high school football scores," he said.
He said his high school football coach, the late Hip Klotz, was a mentor that shaped his early years and helped inspire him to lead a successful life.
"He really helped push me and understand that I could do bigger and better things than I thought I could. I would say that I was largedly shaped by a lot of the coaches ih my life," Husted said. "When you grow up in a smaller school, you get to play all the sports. You get to find out what you like and what you don't like."
He also said Father Todd Dominique, currently the pastor at St. John's Catholic Church in Defiance, is a childhood friend and current mentor.
Husted has three children, a 14-year-old son, a 2-year-old daughter and a newborn daughter. He and his wife, Tina, have been married for four years.
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