I’m sure someone could compile an impressive list of Wayne Kemper’s statistics as a Springboro player and coach over the past 50-some years, but I guarantee the countless people who stood in line for more than two hours at his memorial celebration Thursday night were there because of quality that cannot be measured in numbers — his heart.
He was a loving brother, an admired classmate, a loyal Springboro citizen, a proud military veteran, a cherished husband, a dedicated father, a doting grandfather, and a powerful coach, all of which goes way beyond how many touchdowns he may have scored or wins he would have achieved.
He embodied what it means to be love and light. Since his sudden passing last Sunday morning, there is obvious sadness that he is now gone, but there is also so much celebration in the fact that he was ever here. The world is a better place because of his 71 years living in it.
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WHEN MY FAMILY moved to Springboro in 1964, we lived two houses down from the Kemper family on Redbud Drive. Because Wayne and his twin brother Wendell were twelve years older, I was the little pipsqueek who was always looking up to what all the Kempers (which also included Sharon, Karen, Jack, and Joyce) did ahead of me.
While I played pickup games in the backyard or on someone’s driveway, Wayne and Wendell played varsity football, and Wayne and Jack played varsity basketball. I could only dream of one day doing what they did.
Years later, when my involvement with Springboro sports continued, first as a sportswriter and then as a dad, I would see Wayne all the time because he had become a coach. Not surprisingly, he enjoyed an excellent reputation because of the way he treated his players. He got positive results by exuding a positive energy. I soon realized I had yet another reason to look up to Wayne.
I took this photograph of him a few years ago before a Panther home football game, figuring I would use it someday after sitting down with him and then writing a feature on all of his Springboro experiences. I regret that I never got around to doing that.
But in the past few days, so many others have told those stories here on Facebook, and they have done it so well. Wayne’s impact will live on in the lives of all those he touched.
That’s because his heart touched theirs.
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THERE WAS ANOTHER moment just last year when I asked Wayne to take his photograph. It was Hall of Fame Night at a Springboro home basketball game and all of the current members were asked to line up along the baseline during the halftime festivities.
I said to Wayne, “Let me put you more to the center. I want to use this photograph someday.”
That’s when Wayne said something that stunned me. “Jeff, I’m not in the Hall of Fame.” I thought for a second he was kidding me, or just being shy. Surely, after for that 50 years of his service to Springboro, as a player and a citizen and as a coach, I just assumed he had already been inducted. In my eyes, he was living proof of what it means to be “The Heart of the Panthers.”
Then it occurred to me. To be eligible, he had to retire from coaching. And Wayne showed no signs of doing that anytime soon.
In the years to come, I do not know when or if Wayne will ever be inducted into the Springboro Athletic Hall of Fame. That is up to a committee that works hard to make those decisions.
But I do know this.
Regardless of whether he is ever in the Hall of Fame in the game of sport, he is definitely in the Hall of Fame in another, more important arena. The game of life.
I will continue to look up to him.
To Dianne, his wife; and to Sean and Stacie, his children; and everyone else in his family, I am so sorry for your loss.
Rest in peace, Wayne. God bless you.