James Allen Rhodes, the 61st and 63rd governor of Ohio (1963-71, 1975-83), was born in Coalton, Ohio, on September 13, 1909, the son of James and Susan Howe Rhodes. The father was a coal miner and led that day-to-day existence. Clothes came from relatives, food from a Coalton grocery, and inspiration from the mother. "Dad was in the pit from before dawn till night," Rhodes once stated.

When his father died of influenza in 1918, it first appeared that young Jim and his sisters Garnet and Della were destined for a children's home, but then their mother called them together and said, "Your father's gone. There's no one left. If we stay together, it will be a struggle. You'll never be like other children who run and play. All you will know is work." Said Rhodes, "The first Christmas after Dad died, all we got was an orange and a little bag of peanuts (from Joe Michael of Michael's Ice Cream). Mother used to read to us or take us to church and that's the only entertainment we knew."

Thus began the story of the rise of a boy in the Horatio Alger tradition. Rhodes carried newspapers for Jess Cory of the Smoke House, a sundry store on Main Street (room on the west side of Terry's Pawn Shop) in Jackson. He attended elementary school at Mound Street and Portsmouth Street (Old Methodist Church) schools and junior high school at Broadway School (Old Central) on Broadway Street in Jackson.

He became the janitor of the two frame buildings used for home economics and manual arts (now industrial arts) that were located between Old Central and Kinnison School and received ten dollars per month. He was also known to play hookey to go fishing or swimming in Salt Lick Creek until Superintendent James Kinnison gave him five "good sound thrashings."

Interested in sports, he played both football and baseball. His junior high football team once played and defeated the high school team 6-0 in a practice game. Among the team members were Wally Jenkins as fullback, Hugh Jenkins at left half, Eddie Barlow at right half, Rhodes at quarterback, Nug McCoy at end, Willie Castle and Mick Wykle at tackles, Charley Davis at center, Jiggs Crossin at guard, Maurice Coll, Casey Geiger and George Abraham.

While Rhodes was in the eighth grade, the family moved to Springfield, Ohio. There he continued working as a newspaper boy, clerk, errand boy, and at other odd jobs. One Springfield acquaintance said, "That kid was running all the time." While attending Springfield South High School, he made the second all-state basketball and football teams and had a chance to play in organized professional baseball.

He hitchhiked to Columbus in 1930 to attend the school of journalism at The Ohio State University. He organized first the Governor's Club and then the Young Republican Club. He also opened a restaurant known as "Jim's" at 17th Avenue and High Street. His keen business sense soon made it one of the most prosperous in the university area. It was while operating his own business that he organized the Knot Hole Gang to help youngsters attend the Columbus Red Bird professional baseball games at little or no cost.

Rhodes dropped out of college in 1932 to concentrate on earning money to send home. In 1934, at the age of 23, he was elected a committeeman in the 16th Ward, the youngest committeeman ever elected in Franklin County. He next was elected journal clerk in the Ohio House of Representatives in 1935 and was re-elected to that position in 1936. In 1937, at the age of 27, he was elected to the Columbus board of education, the youngest person ever elected up to that time.

In 1939, he carried on a successful campaign for city auditor and was re-elected two years later by a 2-1 margin. This was followed by his election as mayor of Columbus in 1943, and at the age of 33, he was the youngest mayor in the nation. As mayor, he put Columbus "on a sound, pay-as-you-go basis." He expanded the Columbus police and fire departments and provided them with modern equipment. When juvenile delinquency became a civic problem during World War II, he organized the first national chapter of Junior Police and later the Columbus Boys' Club. He won re-election in 1947, the first two-term mayor in 20 years.

In 1953, he began a ten-year stint as auditor of state and proved to be an able administrator of the state finances. In 1962, he was elected to the first of four terms as governor of Ohio.

He married Helen Rawlins of Jackson County in 1941, and they became the parents of three daughters, Susan (Mrs. Richard Moore), Saundra (Mrs. John Jacob), and Sharon (Mrs. William Markham). There are nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Helen Rawlins Rhodes passed away on December 9, 1987. The older sister, Garnet Rhodes Ewing, is now deceased, and the youngest sister, Ardella Rhodes Graves, still resides in Columbus, Ohio.

Rhodes is currently a partner in James A. Rhodes & Associates in Columbus. The firm is now marketing HealthAir, the most complete and comprehensive indoor air filtration system in the world today, providing a level of indoor air purification that exceeds virtually every known air filtration standard.

***

Courtesy of the Jackson City School District