Heidelberg Athletics Hall of Fame
It was indeed a special Christmas that day of December 25, 1925 when Donald McKillip was born in Tiffin. Little did anyone realize at that time that this youngster would go on to excel in football in high school and at Heidelberg College.
With his induction, it will mark the first father-son induction into the Heidelberg Hall of Fame. His son, Gary, a 1974 Heidelberg graduate,was inducted in 1989 for his talents in football and track.
Graduating in 1943 from Tiffin Columbian High School where he lettered in football four years and was All-Buckeye League second team, McKillip continued his success on the gridiron at Heidelberg.
He lettered three years with the Student Princes and earned All-Conference honorable mention honors his senior year. During his playing days for the Tricolor he was a member of the Ohio Athletic Conference championship team in 1948.
In 1949 he was a member of the Heidelberg squad which set an OAC record as the best in the nation in rushing at 3,368 yards or an average of 374 yards per game. He was also on the squad that had a record of 16 straight wins. That mark held until 1972 when the Stagg Bowl championship team topped the record.
Good friend Norm McElheny said of McKillip, "Don was always a highly motivated player and very appreciative of the opportunity to receive a college education. A very successful and loved coach and school administrator at Marysville and Gahanna schools, Don is the perfect example of the fine citizens Heidelberg produces."
After serving two and a half years during World War II in the U.S. Navy, McKillip attended Heidelberg and graduated in 1950 and later received his master's from Ohio State University in 1955.
In 1949 he married the former Jane Kloss, a 1949 graduate of Heidelberg, and the couple has three sons, Mark, Gary, and Todd. Mark graduated from the University of Cincinnati, Gary earned his degree at Heidelberg in 1974, and Todd graduated from Cark Technical School.
Athletics was not the only category that McKillip was known. From 1950-52 he was a teacher and coach at Bloom Township Schools in Bloomville before serving as teacher and coach at Marysville Schools in Marysville from 1952-65 where he was principal at Edgewood Elementary School, Elementary Supervisor of Marysville Exempted Village Schools Athletic Director.
His next stop in education was principal of Goshen Lane Elementary School in Gahanna from 1965 to his retirement in 1986. In addition to his athletic achievements at Heidelberg, McKillip was a member of the History Club and Excelsior four years, "H" Association three years, Student Christian Association and Spanish Club and Education Club, two years each. McKillip was also a Kappa Delta Pi, Education Honorary his senior year.
Remaining a member of the "H" Association since 1950, McKillip was also president of Fellows, received a Heidelberg Alumni Citation, Central Ohio Alumni Association of Heidelberg College.
He is a member of the Central Ohio Teachers Association and Executive Committee, as well as the Ohio Education Association Executive Association.
McKillip served as the president of the Franklin County Elementary Principals' Association and president of the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators and received the State Association Distinguished Principals Awards in the State of Ohio.
(This profile appeared in the 1991 Hall of Fame Banquet program. Mr. McKillip passed away in 2014.)
