Alumni Hall of Fame
Athletic Achievement (2015)

H. Burdette "Bus" Schamp, a native of St. Marys was a member of the St. Marys Memorial High School Class of 1932. Mr. Schamp distinguished himself as an outstanding athlete in baseball at St. Marys Memorial High School and at the professional baseball level.

Throughout his high school years Bus played both basketball and baseball. Within a decade of graduation from Memorial High School, in the 1940s, Bus Schamp was recruited by and tried out for the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians, and the New York Yankees. Schamp turned down a lucrative professional baseball contract to stay in St. Marys to work and raise a family. After World War II, the Cleveland Indians organization named H. Burdette Schamp a "bird dog" scout. As a result, he helped recruit for Major League Baseball fellow Alumni Foundation Hall of Famer Chuck Huwer and local baseball great Wally Post. As well, Schamp maintained a friendship with Fellow Alumni Foundation Hall of Famer and local sports great Galen Cisco.

However, his passion for baseball never left him, Burdette would play for and help administrate several area baseball leagues. He ran the Western Ohio Semi-Pro Baseball League until the mid - 1960s. He dedicated a tremendous amount of time and energy to all levels of baseball in the St. Marys community that included ACME baseball, Legion baseball, Little League baseball, and Pony League baseball. Bus Schamp umpired and worked baseball and softball games at all levels until his health limited his participation in the early 1970s. In the 1940s, in an effort to spread his love for baseball and to enhance the skills of baseball players locally, Mr. Schamp would use scrap rubber from the local Goodyear plant and scrap metal from the local Spoke Works plant to make baseball tees. Legend has it, that a man from Toledo, Ohio, asked Mr. Schamp for one of his baseball tees, Bus obliged the man's request. A few years later that man patented the baseball tee.

However, baseball was not the only sport where Burdette Schamp shared his love for athletics. He would organize several local basketball leagues and referee basketball games. Bus Schamp also found success from a young age in the obscure sport of horseshoes. At age 9, he came in second place in a local horseshoe competition, and afterwards the rules were changed as to the age limit for participation -- the adults did not like that the cute little youngster showed up the old guys. Burdette won the Ohio state title twice, the World B Class title once, and over 100 other local, state, and national titles over his lifetime. He was involved with local horseshoe tournaments until his death in 1987. The horseshoe pits in Armstrong Park in St. Marys are named in memory of Bus Schamp

For his outstanding and superior athletic achievement at the high school and professional levels, and along with his fellow Alumni Foundation Hall of Fame members Galen Cisco and Chuck Huwer, Bus' example is now set forth for every child in the St. Marys community to see that hard work and dedication can allow one to achieve their dream of playing in the big leagues, the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation inducts H. Burdette "Bus" Schamp into the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation Hall of Fame for Athletic Achievement.

The above text, in its entirety, is embossed on a St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Hall of Fame plaque permanently on display in Memorial High School.