The Heldman Scholar-Athlete Award and Scholarship
Is given in memory of
Otis R. “Bub” Heldman, SHS ‘64
Otis Senior was born in Struthers and graduated from Struthers High School, Class of 1931.
He attended the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, and also Youngstown College, which later became Youngstown State University.
He was elected to the Struthers Board of Education in the late 1940’s and served for two four-year terms. As President, he was instrumental in the design and building of Struthers Memorial Fieldhouse and presided over the dedication of the Fieldhouse in 1951.
He passed away at his home in November 2016.
Otis R. (“Bub”) Heldman, Jr.
Otis Junior was born in 1946 and graduated from Struthers High School, Class of 1964.
He was elected into the Struthers High School Hall of Fame as a scholar-athlete. He was a member of the football, basketball, and baseball teams and also a member of National Honor Society.
He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio in 1968.
He was a Vice President at Zurich Kemper Insurance when he was killed in an auto accident in Chicago in October 1999, along with his only son, Matthew Otis Heldman.
The senior Mr. Heldman’s ideal of excellence in academics and sports also influenced two grandsons who were scholar-athletes:
James Andrew Rego, PH. D., graduated from Forest Park, OH High School in 1981 where he was a member of the National Honor Society as well as a varsity football player. He graduated from the University of California at San Diego in 1985 and the University of Colorado in 1994. He taught at Swarthmore College in PA and Reed College in OR and recently retired as Professor of Organic Chemistry at California Polytechnic University.
Matthew Otis Heldman graduated from Libertyville, IL High School in 1994 where he was a member of the National Honor Society as well as a First Team All-State Basketball player. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1998 and was a member of the “Fighting Illini” Basketball team for four years. As a senior, he was the starting point guard of the team that won the 1998 Big Ten Championship. After a season of pro basketball in Europe, he was killed with his dad in 1999.