Hall of Fame
Rodney Dunham, the son of Rodney and Juanita Dunham, was born in Richmond, Indiana. He attended his first four years of school in the Richmond Community School District before the family moved across the state line to New Paris, Ohio. Dunham attended Jefferson High School where he played varsity baseball for four years as a pitcher and catcher and varsity basketball for three years. His baseball teams won the County Championship three years in a row and he pitched in the 1963 Ohio State Championship Finals. During his high school career, Dunham had five shutouts, two no hitters, and one perfect game.
Recruited by Coach Walt Mathes, Dunham played four years of varsity baseball under Mathes and one year of junior varsity basketball at Cumberland College (now University of the Cumberlands). His overall pitching record at Cumberland was 22-4. As a Junior, Dunham went undefeated on the mound at 6-0 helping the team advanced to the District finals for the first time in the school history.
While at Cumberland, he enlisted in the Marines and attended Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. Dunham resigned his commission as a senior in lieu of getting married. He graduated from Cumberland in 1968 and went on to earn a Master of Arts degree from Ball State University in 1973. He taught mathematics in Richmond for 37 years, retiring in 2005.
Dunham has coached baseball, basketball, football, softball, golf and track. From 1973-75, he was an assistant basketball coach at Earlham College. He also served on the Ohio ACME Baseball Congress, Inc. Board of Directors and as District Commissioner from 1980 to 1989. He coached National Trail High School ACME baseball teams to eight years of Conference Championships, seven years of District Champions, and six years of ACME Ohio State Finals. His team won the Ohio State Championship in 1984 and he was named Coach of the Year.
In 2010, Dunham was hired to coach the National Trail High School Girls Golf Team. With only one returning player, his granddaughter, the team earned National Trail's best record and a trip to the District for the first time in school history. They were also the first girls' golf team to go undefeated, win conference and sections, and make a trip to the Ohio State Finals. Dunham was named Conference Coach of the Year two of his three years as head coach.
In recognition of his accomplishments, Dunham was inducted into the Ohio ACME Baseball Congress Hall of Fame in 2007. He was also inducted into the Preble County Hall of Fame twice, once as a team member of the 1963 Ohio State Finalists and once for his high school athletic and coaching accomplishments.
As an alumnus of Cumberland, Dunham has proudly sent many students to campus for enrollment, not just athletes. He has had at least six players from National Trail High School play baseball at Cumberland and many others from schools he has been affiliated. Of his alma mater, Dunham says "Through all these years, from 1964 to this day I have loved Cumberland College, University of the Cumberlands, and have always been proud of the way it has grown. What's in a name? It has been the people, the alumni that keep it going."
Dunham now resides in a golfing community near Sebring, Florida with his wife Jane Anne. They have three sons, one daughter, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Their youngest son, Rodney, also played baseball at Cumberland, where he received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Math Education. Rodney now teaches and coaches in Jellico, Tennessee.
