Year Inducted – 2018

Ron was born and raised in Dover, Ohio and graduated from Dover High School in 1966 where he won a total of five letters in Football and Baseball. Ron moved to Orrville in 1976 after starting his umpiring career in 1970. He ended up umpiring OHSAA baseball for 33 year and was fortunate enough to be assigned to 120 OHSAA tournament baseball games and was selected to work 5 state championship games. In 1988, Ron was selected to work the Ohio Coaches All-Star Series at the Ohio State University.

Also, Ron officiated football for 38 years where he was selected to work six state final games and 14 state semi-final games and, in all, 78 total playoff games. He was elected to the position of Secretary, Wayne County Officials Association from 1992-present (2018).

His awards include being inducted into the OHSAA Officials HOF in 2008, inducted into the Wayne County Sports HOF in 2006, and inducted into the Wayne County Officials HOF in 2013. He also served as Commissioner of the Ohio Cardinal Conference since its inception in 2002. Ron retired from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department in 2013.

He is married to Lois Antil Dessecker and they have four children – Marc, Natalie, Tracie and Scott – and seven grandchildren as of this writing.