DISTINGUISHED SERVICE

Induction Year: 2012

Paul Luttrull was born May 4, 1930, in Lone Tree, Iowa, in the middle of the depression.  His father worked for $1 a day and that paid for the house they lived in and the food they ate.  Things were so bad that his father moved his family back to Indiana to the family farm where they grew what they ate.  Paul grew up not knowing how poor they really were. His father paid $5 for his last Model T.  They lived on a dirt road until 1936, when the WPA came in and put gravel down on the road.  He rode a horse drawn school bus to a one room school house for three years.  When the one room school house closed, he and his brother and sisters went to Winslow City Schools.  Paul quit school in his junior year to help his father work in the service station.  In those days, they pumped the gas for you, and you paid $0.269 per gallon!

Paul was drafted into the Army on May 7, 1951, where he served two years with the 11th Armored Calvary Tank Division.  After returning home for a few years, Paul moved to Portsmouth, OH, in 1953.  He drove a truck hauling blacktop until he could finally get a job with the Atomic Energy Plant as an apprentice operator.  He worked for several years on that and other projects around the area.  He came to Springfield to help build I-70, which is now Rt. 4 coming into Springfield from the west.  He also helped construct I-75 from Piqua to Franklin. 

With two kids in the Tecumseh School District, it was time to quit moving and put down roots.  While living in a mobile home, Paul and his wife, Barb, decided it was time to build a house.  In the early 1960’s, he started a new job with Danis Construction Company that would last 30 years.  

Paul’s contributions to the Tecumseh Athletic Department would come in the form of good honest “labors of love”.  In the late 1960’s, he used his welding equipment to help build the new entrance to the football field.  This project launched him into the Boosters, where he went on to become a dedicated contributor to every event.  He supplied the generator to run the lights and popcorn machine at the festivals in Park Layne. He was there when the Boosters purchased the first wrestling mats. He was there with many of the dedicated Boosters selling and collecting tickets at football games, basketball games or fund-raising events.  He borrowed and ran equipment with many others as they built the first concrete stadium.  He dug the trench for the new curb that he poured around the track and ran the grader for the new stone on the track with borrowed equipment. Paul went on to help build the baseball field.  Paul even created and welded the goal post for the football field that still stands today.  He and a Booster’s friend also welded the Tecumseh Indian head on the post and set it.  Paul continued to give time, supplies and labor for 13 years with a group of very dedicated Booster parents. At his age of 82, he hated to try to mention them all by name.  Paul held the position of Vice President under three terrific Booster Presidents.  I will tell you that one of the hardest things Paul ever did was watch as the baseball field he so painstakingly help build, level and set the drainage on, was replaced by the beautiful new Tecumseh Middle School.  He so wanted to watch his grandson, Mason, play baseball on that field. 

Paul and his wife, Barb, were involved parents with the Boosters as their two children, Paula and Gregg, and most recently his grandchildren, Emily and Mason, worked their way through the school system.  In the last few years after the passing of Paul’s wife, Barb, Paul now enjoys sharing stories with his wife, Millie, and their family and friends.