 Dave was three sport athlete for Fenwick, lettering in football, baseball, and basketball. While he did play an important role on the basketball team, it was in the other two sports that he received more recognition for his contributions, receiving first team All-MML honors in both sports.
In football, Dave quarterbacked the Falcons to a 11-0-1 season, the only team in Fenwick history to go through the entire season without losing a game. While the Falcons, under Coach Jerry Harkrader, relied heavily on the run Dave completed several key passes in critical stiuations throughout the season to keep the Falcons' offense rolling.
In the playoffs, the Falcons defeated perennial power Newark Catholic 34-6 in the semi-finals, and followed that with a 21-0 victory over Fremont St.Joseph to clinch the 1974 Class A state championship.
In baseball, Dave played on the varsity all 4 years. His junior year he played centerfield for Coach Fred Nori's 1974 Class A state championship team that finished with a 27-3 record. The Falcons defeated Van Wert Lincolnview by a score of 3-1 in the semi-finals and finished with a 6-3 triumph over Bloom-Carroll to clinch the championship. Dave was an excellent fielder and his throwing arm, as in football, was extremely accurate. At the plate he was a contact hitter, consistently advancing runners and keeping innings alive. In his senior season he was first team MML.
After graduating from Fenwick in 1975 Dave attended Bluffton College for one year. He returned to Middletown and joined the Fire Department. He worked his way up the ladder to the rank of Captain before he received a medical retirement. In 1980 he returned as an assistant football coach at Fenwick, where he stayed for 21 years. He then became an assistant coach at Middletown High School for four years, serving under former Falcons Head Coach Dick Martin and then under Head Coach Ron Johnson.
Dave married his wife Julie in 1977 and they have two sons, Chris and Jaime, and two grandchildren, Brooks and Ali. Both Chris and Jaime attended Fenwick and played football. Dave joins his father Roger South in the Fenwick Athletic Hall of Fame. |
