MARTINS FERRY — For the first time since 2019, the Martins Ferry Hall of Honor will induct five new members this weekend.

The ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Martins Ferry High School cafetorium.

This year’s inductees, who all have ties to the community, include Karl W. Sommer Jr., Terry Wildman, Dave Bruney, and brothers Ralph Lester Dennis and Henry Lee Dennis.

Vicky Capuano, a member of the Hall of Honor committee, said organizers welcome all to attend the free event that will honor these “decorated citizens.”

“The Dennis’ give scholarships every year to students in the Ohio Valley, Bruney dedicated his life to helping mold students, Wildman has served on council and the fire department, and Sommer gave to his community,” she said of the inductees.

∫ Sommer graduated from Martins Ferry High School in 1953. While in high school, he was a member of the Purple Riders football team, where he played the positions of fullback and center.

, was a three-year letterman, earned all-Eastern Ohio honors, and was inducted into the Martins Ferry Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015. He married his high school sweetheart, Shirley Sanders, in 1956. The couple raised three children together — Karl III, Susan and Carolann. After his wife died in 1992, he married Nancy Lee Teeters in 1993. They lived together in the city until Sommer’s death in 2015.

Sommer earned a football scholarship to Ohio State University and was a member of the Ohio State Buckeyes’ football team, coached by the legendary Woody Hayes, which captured the 1954 National Championship with a 10-0 record including a victory over USC in the Rose Bowl. After graduating in 1957 with a bachelor’s in business administration, he went on to attend Franklin University College of Law, graduating in 1963. He then moved back to the city and began practicing law in 1964 with a law office on Fifth Street.

Sommer was a member of the Ohio State and Belmont County Bar Associations, admitted to practice law before the Ohio Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967, and he served the city of Martins Ferry as law director for 16 years. He was a member of the Martins Ferry Civil Service Commission, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Lions Club, Martins Ferry Booster Club, and an honorary member of the fire department’s Alert Engine Company. He was also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

Sommer served the city in various roles in his lifetime with one of his most impactful contributions to residents being “selfless and often anonymous acts of kindness,” according to the committee. Some of those were unknown to even his family until the time of his funeral — paying residents’ past due utilities to avoid disconnection, purchasing food and Christmas gifts for needy families and clients, and providing pro bono legal services.

*Wildman joined the U.S. Marine Corps shortly after graduating from Martins Ferry High School in 1965. He served two tours in Vietnam from 1967-1969. Upon his return from Vietnam, he joined the Ladder Company with the Martins Ferry Volunteer Fire Department and the EMS department a year later. He served as assistant fire chief from 1977-1979 and earned six green crosses from Martins Ferry EMS, symbolizing life-saving measures using the Jaws of Life.

Additionally, Wildman has served on Martins Ferry City Council, Martins Ferry Board of Education, and the Belmont-Harrison JVS school board. He has been the recipient of the following honors: numerous awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a Special Life Saving award for rescuing a jumper from the Bellaire Bridge in 1986, the Ohio Electric Utility Institute award for Valor from AEP for saving a young girl from possible death during a thunderstorm in 1976, an award from the Veterans of Martins Ferry in recognition for his dedicated services to veterans in 2017, and an award from the Belmont County Veteran’s Clinic for the Hero’s Wall Honor Forever, which is located at the Tri-State Veterans Military Museum in Belmont. He was featured as an Unsung Hero in the Wheeling News-Register in 2001. Wildman, with assistance from former state representative Jack Cera, initiated the naming of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway along Ohio 7 that stretches from the city to Bellaire.

Wildman married his wife, Janie, on July 16, 1966. They were married for 51 years before her death in 2018. They share two children together — Taralyn and Terry Jr.

Wilman remains an honorary member of the Ladder Company with the MFVFD and volunteers at the veterans clinic in St. Clairsville.

*Bruney is a 1969 graduate of Martins Ferry High School. He was a three-year starter and co-captain of the 1968 Purple Rider football team. He was also voted captain of the Ohio squad for the 1969 OVAC All-Star game. Following high school, he attended Ohio University on a football scholarship from the fall of 1969 through 1973 and was a two-year regular for the late Bill Hess. He was recruited by Cliff Hefelfinger, who was a 1937 graduate of MFHS.

Upon graduation, Bruney began a 45-year career in education and coaching. His first five years were spent as an assistant to Bill McHuch at Buckeye North in 1973, to Bob Bruney at MFH from 1974-1976, and to coach Frank Ellwood at Marshall University in 1977.

In 1978, Bruney accepted the head coaching position at Bridgeport High School, where he led the Bulldogs to a 9-1 record and the OVAC AAA Championship. He accepted his dream job in Martins Ferry in 1979 upon the retirement of coach Bob Bruney. He remained in that position for the next 39 years while also serving as assistant track coach for 18 years, and athletic director for six years. Bruney’s overall record of 284-135 ranks well into the top 20 all-time in Ohio high school football history. He coached teams, posted four unbeaten seasons, six more OVAC championships, and made the OSHAA playoffs 14 of his last 20 years. The 2004 team went 12-1, losing only to state champions Youngstown Cardinal Mooney in the state semi-finals.

In 2010, Bruney was inducted into the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was honored with the Ohio Football Coaches Achievement Award by the Minor Pro-Football Hall of Fame at Heinz Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2014. In total, Bruney spent 42 of his 45 year career in the community and school he has always loved.

Bruney is married to Cheryl Porter, with whom he shares three children — Zac, Ashley and Trevor, all of whom graduated from MFHS.

*Ralph Dennis, born Jan. 10, 1899, lived on his family farm at Scotch Ridge outside of Martins Ferry, which he helped to maintain alongside his brother, Harry. Upon graduating from high school, he began his teaching career in the fall of 1916. He attended night classes at Muskingum College and the University of Pittsburgh until he received his teaching degree.

Ralph joined the U.S. Army in 1917. When World War I ended, he completed his enlistment and returned to the Ohio Valley. He married Helen Myrtle McKim in 1923; they had a son, Kenneth R. Dennis.

During World War II, Ralph worked part time at the steel mill in Martins Ferry. By then, he had been made principal of Elm School in the city. He worked Saturdays and in the summer at “The Hub” in Wheeling.

Ralph was a member of the Ohio National Retired Teaching Association, Ohio Education Association, Belmont County Teachers Association, and the American Legion Post 38.

Ralph and Helen built a home on Elm Street across from Elm School, where he remained until his death on Dec. 13, 1977. He was buried on the hill at Riverview Cemetery in Martins Ferry.

*Harry Dennis, born Sept. 20, 1897, graduated high school in 1914 and began teaching school at Bush Run. He attended classes at the University of Pittsburgh to receive his degree in teaching.

In 1930, he married Edith Irene Loy of Martins Ferry. The couple had three daughters – Martha Elizabeth Dougherty, Ruth Louise Gross and Sylvia Lee King. They built their home on Hughes Avenue in Martins Ferry.

During World War II, Harry was an air raid warden, going out after dark to make sure no lights were seen in town.

Harry became principal of North school in Martins Ferry. Even though his house was at the other end of town, he was an avid walker and soon became a familiar figure in the city. He attended First Presbyterian Church in the city, served on several boards, and was Sunday school teacher of the adult class for many years. He worked a second job at “The Hub” in Wheeling, working on Satrudays and during the summers. Harry retired from teaching in May 1965.

Harry and Edith sold their home in the early 1960s and moved to St. Clairsville. Although he retired from teaching, that did not stop him from working. Harry worked five days a week for Weather Rite Construction in Bellaire as a bookkeeper and worked every weekend showing and selling mobile homes at Stewart’s in St. Clairsville. He worked until the time of his death on Dec. 21, 1975.