Garaway Wall of Fame to honor 8 individuals, team Sept. 26

The Garaway High School Wall of Fame for 2025-26 will honor eight individuals and a relay track team during a ceremony at the football field Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. prior to the Pirates' football game against Claymont.

Each year the district honors outstanding individuals, teams, coaches and contributors.

This year’s recipients are as follows:

Jason Andreas

The 1999 Garaway graduate was a four-year letterwinner, All-Ohio in 1999 and Most Valuable Player of the 1999 North/South basketball game. He was a member of the 2000 national champions at Michigan State, where he played four years on Final Four and Big Ten championship teams and was team captain his senior year. He played professional basketball overseas, has an MBA, and currently resides in Lake Orion, Michigan and is employed at Google as a security sales lead.

Matt Andreas

The 1996 Garaway graduate was a member of the football, basketball and track teams. He was All-Ohio in 1995, was a football team captain and MVP, was All-Ohio in basketball, and made the state track meet in 1996. He attended Baldwin-Wallace University and was a three-year football letterman and received a tryout opportunity with the Cleveland Browns in 2000. He played in several football leagues from 2001-02. He is co-owner of Andreas Farms with his father and Dan Andreas.

Bill Mallernee

The 1999 Garaway graduate and basketball standout earned All-Ohio status in 1999. In high school he scored 1,009 points and had 517 rebounds. He played basketball at Capital University and then Youngstown State University. He is a sergeant with the Columbus Division of Police. He was head coach at Northridge High in Columbus and is currently head coach at Sheridan High.

Eric Johnson

The 1999 Garaway graduate and football standout was All-Ohio in 1991 and 1992. He attended Lehigh University, playing football for four years, earning a B.A. in Psychology in 1997 and a master’s degree in school counseling from Cleveland State University. He has been in education for over 25 years and is currently employed as a counselor at North Royalton High.

Matt Rice 

The 1993 Garaway High graduate was a multi-sport athlete, earning All-Ohio status in both baseball and football. The baseball team qualified for the regional finals. He pitched and won five consecutive games and batted .560, a Garaway record at the time. He attended Mount Vernon Nazarene and played baseball until his passing in 1995 in a tragic car accident. The Baltic Little League field is named after him.

Team

The 1959 300-yard relay team (track) of Claudia Stevanus-Arnold, Eileen Putt, Key Deetz-Zehnder and Karen Miller represented the district in 1959 at the National AAU track and field championships in Cleveland. The team took fourth place overall, just missing going to the Pan American Games. They were the first Tuscarawas County quartet to win at this level at that time in history.

Coach

Don Hertler Jr. was the football coach at Garaway from 1987-94 with a record of 66-15. His teams won four Inter Valley Conference championships and made the state playoffs in 1994 with a record of 10-0. He spent 19 years at North Canton Hoover and a short stint at Conotton Valley. He has an overall record of 218-104. He appeared in the state playoffs 12 times and was inducted into the Ohio High School Hall of Fame in 2019, retiring from coaching in 2023.

Contributors

Richard “Buzz” Zehnder and Raymond “Max “Regula are being inducted into the Wall of Fame for service to the basketball team for keeping the books and clock for 39 years. The men are remembered for serving the students of Garaway Local School District.

Zehnder graduated from Walnut Creek High and was inducted into the Holmes County Hall of Fame. He drove bus in the district for 16 years and owned the Western Auto Store in Sugarcreek. He was nominated to the OHBAA to keep books for all the state tournament games held in Columbus. He passed away in July 2003.

Regula graduated from Baltic High in 1945. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Japan. He eventually owned his father’s gas station, Regula’s Sunoco, and worked for Eckert Ford Sales, retiring in 1992. He passed away in June 2010.