Alumni Hall of Fame
Service to St. Marys City Schools (2023)

Larry Gruber, a native of Kunkle, Ohio, is a 1964 graduate of North Central High School in Pioneer, Ohio. After high school, Larry earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education from Bowling Green State University in 1969, and a Master’s Degree in Science of Teaching from Wright State University in 1978.

Larry’s first job teaching was at Perrysburg High School in Perrysburg, Ohio, in 1969 as a general science teacher. After that year, he considered leaving the education profession. Fortunately, St. Marys City Schools sought an interview with him shortly before the 1970-1971 school year started, Larry accepted the teaching position. This began what would be a fifty year teaching career with St. Marys City Schools as an educator, coach, and mentor.

Mr. Gruber taught Earth Science to Memorial High School freshmen for 42 years. Students have fondly recalled, years after they graduated, Mr. Gruber’s infamous and dreaded “rock test.” Mr. Gruber also taught many other courses through the years, including Astronomy, Geology, Anatomy and Physiology, and Botany. Teaching Botany allowed Larry to talk about his second favorite topic after rocks: plants. He loved sharing his passion for science, especially rocks and plants, with students. And he embraced this passion with gardening in his home life. Mr. Gruber also served at various times as a class advisor, an advisor to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and an assistant coach with the men’s Tennis program. Mr. Gruber retired from St. Marys City Schools in 2012, having taught over four decades. He continued to substitute teach until the global pandemic in 2020, serving nearly 50 years at Memorial High School as a beloved teacher and mentor to thousands of students.

Mr. Gruber’s influence on multiple generations of St. Marians extended well beyond the classroom. In 1971, he and Bob Priddy, a teaching colleague, established the St. Marys Memorial High School Wrestling Program. Coach Gruber has been part of all 52 seasons of the Roughrider Wrestling Program. During this time, he has served as Head Coach for 43 years, establishing an enduring legacy of success that has greatly benefitted St. Marys City Schools, the wrestling program, and the hundreds of young men he has mentored and coached over five decades. Mr. Gruber’s influence on the wrestling program has shown tangible results:

In 1974, in just the third year of the wrestling program, St. Marys had its first wrestler, Dana Etter, individually qualify for state; 

Under Gruber’s coaching, St. Marys has had 25 individual wrestlers qualify for the state meet from 1973-2023. Six of these wrestlers placed at the state meet with Dave Weilbacher and Tyler Hisey giving St. Marys their highest finish at 3rd place; 

Numerous Roughrider wrestlers have won individual Western Buckeye League Championships from 1973-2023. 

In 1978, St. Marys won its first Western Buckeye League Team Co-Championship; 

St. Marys won the Western Buckeye League Team Wrestling Championship in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. In both 2022 and 2023, St. Marys was undefeated in Western Buckeye League action; 

Coach Larry Gruber was named Western Buckeye League Coach of the Year in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.     

In addition to these illustrious accomplishments, Mr. Gruber has influenced generations of Roughriders – coaching the sons and grandsons of his former students. This includes two father/son duos who qualified to wrestle at the state meet during their high school careers: (1) Scott Cisco (1981) and sons Caleb (2004, 2005), and Josh Cisco (2006, 2007); and (2) Paul Lauth, Sr. (1986) and Paul Lauth II (2009). Mr. Gruber also coached individual state qualifiers, the Hisey brothers: Trevor Hisey (2020, 2022 – 7th Place) Tyler Hisey (2020, 2021 – 3rd place, and 2022 – 5th place), and Tate Hisey (2022 – 5th place, and 2023 – 4th place). And Coach Gruber’s former wrestlers, Tim Hisey and Dave Weilbacher, are now his assistant wrestling coaches and colleagues.

For his unwavering dedication to and positive influence on Memorial High School students as an educator, coach, and mentor; for establishing the Memorial High School Wrestling Program and building and inspiring it to become a powerful force of individual and team champions; and for remaining steadfast to that very program and to St. Marys City Schools for five decades, the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation inducts Larry Gruber into the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation’s Hall of Fame for Service to St. Marys City Schools.