YORKVILLE – Buckeye Local officials are remembering a beloved football coach by naming the field at World War II Memorial Stadium in his honor.

School board members took action at the June 30 meeting and agreed to call the site Ron Pobolish Field, while a formal ceremony may be set during the football season in Yorkville. Superintendent Coy Sudvary said Pobolish was a respected coach who led the football team to the state championships.

“We’re going to name the playing field Ron Pobolish Field,” Sudvary said. “It will still be World War II Stadium. He was a longtime, successful coach in the district and we were state runner up during his coaching years. It’s a tribute to someone who set the foundation for Buckeye Local football.”

Pobolish, who passed away last year, led a remarkable 40-year coaching career that also included stints at Cadiz, Harrison Central and John Marshall as well as West Liberty State College. His many accolades included being a three-time Eastern District Coach of the Year and Ohio Valley Football Coach of the Year with inductions into the Ohio Valley Football Coaches Hall of Fame and the Buckeye Local Wall of Honor. Pobolish also will be posthumously inducted into the 2025 OVAC Hall of Fame this August.

The Dillonvale High School alumnus was a successful athlete who continued to lead on the field as a coach, particularly at his alma mater. He spent two years at Buckeye South and earned a 9-11 record, then another two years at Buckeye SouthWest to yield a 14-6 result with that team. Following the district’s final consolidation in 1990, he helmed the BLHS football team for six seasons and ended with a record of 53-13. Pobolish would lead the Panthers to the OHSAA Division II State Championship, where they were runner-up. He would leave Buckeye Local but return one last time, coaching for five years and reaching the playoffs twice in 2008 and 2009 before officially retiring. The Panthers would win three OVAC Class 4A championships, five River Valley League titles and one Buckeye 8 distinction.

In other sports-related matters, the board made plans to upgrade the track at Buckeye Local High School following years of repairs. Leaders approved a $609,451 bid from Vasco Sports Contractors of Massillon to replace the track and work should occur over the next several months.

“We’re getting the track resurfaced,” Sudvary explained. “It will be stripped all the way down and get redone. It has been patched and painted for the last 20 years and there is a failure in the integrity of the track. It’s not safe for the kids to run on and we haven’t been able to hold events due to the condition.”

He added that McKinley Architecture and Engineering of Wheeling is also involved in the project and work should be done in late summer or early fall.