Alumni Hall of Fame
Athletic Achievement (2023)

James Ronald “Ron” Schamp was a member of the St. Marys Memorial High School Class of 1959. Ron was an outstanding three sport varsity and All-Western Buckeye League 1st Team athlete earning three letters in football, and basketball, and four letters in baseball. He was widely reported by local newspapers at that time as the best all-around athlete in the Lima area.

Ron played quarterback for the Roughriders his Sophomore and Junior year, earning First Team All-Western Buckeye League honors and Special Mention All-Area Class AA honors his Junior year. Eugene “Skip” Baughman became the Head Football Coach for Ron’s Senior year, and Baughman switched Ron to the halfback position. In his first game, Schamp scored four touchdowns. He suffered a season-ending knee injury on the first play of the Bellefontaine game, and despite playing in only six games for the 1958 season, Schamp scored nine touchdowns, earning Western Buckeye League Honorable Mention and Second Team All-Area honors.

Ron was also an outstanding basketball player, leading the Roughriders to back-to-back Western Buckeye League Championships. In the final game against Celina, his Junior year, Schamp hit a pair of shots near the end of the game to put St. Marys on top, ensuring the Riders the Western Buckeye League title. He was the Western Buckeye League’s scoring leader for the season, scoring 328 points in 17 games for an average of 19.2 points per game. He was named to the First Team All-WBL and First Team Class AA All-Area. In his Senior year, he was named First Team All-Western Buckeye League and Second Team Class AA All-Area. Ron finished his high school basketball career as one of the leading scorers in Roughrider Basketball History, and was inducted into the Memorial High School Men’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022.

Nothing rivaled what Schamp accomplished in baseball, as a hard-throwing right-hander with a sizzling fastball and reputation as the area’s best pitcher. His Junior season, he led the Roughrider baseball team to a Western Buckeye League Championship with a .406 batting average, pitching four of the seven Rider wins, and pitched his first no-hitter and perfect game, against Van Wert in the Sectional tournament. In that game, he struck out 15, establishing a Memorial High School record for most strike-outs in a game. In the summer of 1958, Schamp played on the Celina American Legion Baseball Team. There, he hurled his second no-hitter of his career in the District playoffs against Belle Center, striking out 16 players, as Celina won 15-0. They advanced to the State Finals, but lost to a team that would go on to win the National Championship. Ron later noted that playing in the State Tournament was the highlight of his sports career to date.

As a Memorial High School Senior, Schamp continued his pitching brilliance, winning ten games to set another MHS record for most wins in a season. During his Senior year, he pitched numerous 1-hit and 2-hit games and racked up 104 strike-outs and set yet another MHS record for most strike-outs in a season. True to form, Schamp showed his leadership and athletic talent, hurling his third no-hitter against an undefeated Coldwater team while hitting a pair of doubles, to win St. Marys its second-in-a-row Western Buckeye League Championship. In the stands for that no-hitter was the long-time Chief Scout of the Cleveland Indians, Laddie Plack.

Despite numerous scholarship offers for Schamp to play football at Xavier University, basketball at Wittenberg University, and baseball at The Ohio State University, Plack signed Schamp in June 1959 to a contract with the Cleveland Indians. He played in North Platte, Nebraska; the Florida State League, where in 1960 where he pitched his fourth no-hitter of his career; Selma, Alabama, in 1961; Class A Charleston, West Virginia, in 1962; Class B and then Class A in the Carolina League, and then he retired from baseball.

He earned a Bachelor’s Degree from The Ohio State University, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Evansville. He enjoyed a successful 30-year career with Whirlpool Corporation in Michigan before retiring to Florida. He passed away in 2015 in Florida.

The record of Ron Schamp’s stellar high school pitching career was, unfortunately, lost over time. When Schamp was selected this year for induction into the Memorial High School Alumni Foundation’s Hall of Fame, the Alumni Foundation reviewed the newspaper clippings from Ron’s high school years and realized that his pitching accomplishments had gone unrecognized on the Roughrider Leader Board for 64 years. Ron’s name now hangs on the Roughrider Leader Board at Memorial High School in every single pitching category: Most Pitching Wins in a Season (10), Most Pitching Wins in a Career (19), Most Strike Outs in a Game (15), Most Strike Outs in a Season (104), Most Strike Outs in a Career (221), 1 No-Hitter in a Season (to tie with 8 other Rider pitchers), One Perfect Game on March 28, 1958 and two No Hitters in a Career on April 28, 1959, and May 28, 1959.

For his outstanding athletic ability in football, basketball, and baseball while at Memorial High School; for pitching four no-hitters in his career, two while at MHS, including a perfect game with no hits and no walks; and for setting records in every single pitching record at Memorial High School, all of which remain unbeaten 64 years later; and for his professional baseball career with the Cleveland Indians organization (now Cleveland Guardians), the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation inducts James Ronald “Ron” Schamp into the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation’s Hall of Fame for Athletic Achievement.