A Local Artist and Former Football Coach is Helping to Raise Money for Two Organizations

The Sulsberger Stadium that was built in 1964 in memory of John D. Sulsberger is now available as a painting at the Salvation Army and Anchor Church.

John D. Sulsberger was a former Zanesville High School (ZHS) Blue Devil football player, who died of cancer just months after signing to play at Ohio State University.

This past October, former Football Coach from 1969 to 1980 at ZHS, Ron Apperson, was inspired to create a painting of the stadium.

“So that the stadium came about of that. Ron Bucci was a fellow student of John and they were good friends and he kept getting on me to paint Sulsberger Stadium,” Apperson stated. “That’s one of my past times now. I’m more than a one trick pony other than a coach. There’s not many coaches that paint, but I painted the stadium.”

Apperson said the painting took him 50 hours to complete.

Coaching will always be his passion, but he knew there was more for him.

“I wanted to play the piano and sing after I got out of coaching. I took piano lessons for two years and I found out I didn’t have a talent for that so I quit and a fellow that I was talking to is an artist here in town said ‘Ron why don’t you try painting?’ So I got my wife and some of my friends and their wives and we started a little painting class. That was 10 years ago. So I’ve been painting for 10 years and I enjoy it. I get two joys out of it, one is to paint it and the other is I give my originals to my children and grandchildren,” Apperson said.

The prints of the stadium painting is located at both the Salvation Army office and the Anchor Church and will have a history rundown located on the back of it that was written by Jim Rudloff, ZHS Sports Information Director and is also signed by both former ZHS Football Coach Whit Parks and Head Coach, Chad Grandtaff. 

A $25 donation is encouraged and the organizations will receive the income from the donation in John D. Sulsberger’s name.