Editor's Note: This is the third in a five-part series looking at those who are and have been in charge of Ohio athletics.
Depending on whom you talk to, you may not find many people who knew or knew of Harold McElhaney, but his contributions from 1978-1995 as athletic director at Ohio are invaluable.
Excelling in football as an all-conference player and ranked second in the state (85-pound class) as a wrestler, McElhaney experienced success in sports at an early age.
Such success allowed McElhaney to attend Duke on a football scholarship. He also wrestled at the university, where he graduated in 1958 with degrees in history and education.
Wrestling and football are complementary sports; they feed off each other
McElhaney said. When you're on the line one-on-one it's just like wrestling. I always told my players that.
McElhaney spent a few years coaching at Dickenson College before a coaching position opened up at Duke, allowing McElhaney to return to his alma mater to coach linebackers.
An athletic director position then opened at Allegany College.
That was the crossroads of my life McElhaney said. I decided coaching football was boring and that athletic director seemed more appealing.
In 1978, a similar opportunity opened up, this time at Ohio, and McElhaney seized the opportunity to do the same for Ohio that he had for Allegany.
At Ohio
While at Ohio, McElhaney was sure not to overlook Olympic sports.
I treated all sports with equal interest
McElhaney said.
McElhaney expanded seating capacity at Peden Stadium from 12,000 to 19,000 in 1986. Weight and locker rooms were part of the five-story 1990 addition deemed Peden Tower
which also provided a better press box for football events.
McElhaney raised more than one million dollars from the state of Ohio to fund Peden Tower by having many athletic-related classes meet in the new addition. Now, such classrooms have become offices and press rooms for football.
It was McElhaney who began the planning in 1979 that led to the Aquatic Center where Ohio's swimming has enjoyed a home since it opened in 1984. McElhaney also organized and led much of the fundraising for Bob Wren Stadium.
Ohio baseball coach Joe Carbone is grateful for what McElhaney has done.
He's one of the finest people I've met in athletics
Carbone said. All of the coaches here respected him. He was very good to me. He hired me and was very supportive of baseball and would do anything he could
within reason
to help us win.
McElhaney started PAWS (Providing Athletes With Scholarships) and patterned it after what he saw during his stay in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Investing money in endowments, McElhaney was able to use the interest earned to increase and create more athletic scholarships.
The philosophy of equal treatment for sports paid off well for McElhaney, who enjoyed 30 Mid-American Conference championships during his stay at Ohio, but he said his greatest achievement at Ohio had to do with athletes off the field, not on it. In 1993, Ohio was recognized by the Award for Excellence Program, which honors schools for high graduation rates in their sports. Ohio football was second in the nation in graduation rate in 1993.
That means a lot more to me than MAC championships
McElhaney said.
The end at OU
Despite all of McElhaney's successes and contributions to Ohio, Robert Glidden, newly elected president of the university, decided not to renew McElhaney's contract in 1995.
It was my observation when I arrived here in 1994 that our athletics administration was not prepared to face the future
in terms of revenue generation
staffing
