David F. Honaker
The success of David F. Honaker as an athlete encompasses three sports and spans from the playing field to the coaching arena. An Ashland native, Dave has achieved recognition and high honors in basketball, baseball, and softball, both as a player and as an outstanding coach.
On the basketball court, he helped Ashland win three straight Cardinal Conference titles. Named All-Cardinal Conference in his junior and senior years with Ashland High School, he was named All-District in both those years. Named All-Ohio his senior year as well as Most Valuable Player, he remains among the top 20 all-time scorers at AHS. He went on to play college basketball at Alderson Broaddus College in West Virginia and Wooster College.
Dave served as assistant basketball coach in the Ashland City Schools for 15 years. The past two years, he has been head coach at Hillsdale High School where he holds a record of 31-12 and named District 4 Coach of the Year in 1999. An enduring competitor, he continues to play in many independent leagues. He played two years of varsity baseball at AHS and was all-Cardinal Conference his junior year. He received an invitation to try out with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
Dave has served as District Commissioner for the Amateur Softball Association for 25 years where he has been a state leader in registration of teams, tournaments, and umpires. In 1996, he was inducted into the Ohio A.S.A Hall of Fame. He has been a strong voice in keeping fastpitch alive in Ohio.
A commanding presence on the playing field, Dave has competed in both fastpitch and slowpitch for over 25 years. He has pitched and played third base in fastpitch. He pitched in the 40 and Over National Fastpitch Tournament in San Antonio, Texas, in 1994, placing fifth, and in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1993. In 1989, he pitched in the “B” Nationals in Sacramento, California. Dave was named All-Ohio twice and All-Regional once as a player. He has managed the Ashland Abbott team, winning the state title in 1996 and going 2-2 that year in Nationals at College Station, Texas. In 1998, Dave and his team went 2-2 in Nationals in Prescott, Arizona. The following year, his team went back to College Station, Texas, and went 3-2, finishing 13th in the U.S.A.
A lifetime resident of Ashland, Honaker has been with the Western-Southern Life Insurance for 25 years and has been a long-time top produced for the company, earning many sales awards. He has four grown children and one granddaughter. Chad, who is the all-time leading scorer in AHS basketball history, is 26 and a CPA. He and his wife, Erika, have a daughter, Ryleigh, who is one year old. Jeff, also a top ten all-time scorer at AHS, is 23 and attends Akron Law School. Twin daughters are 21: Hayley Marth, married Chad Marth, resides in Missouri where her husband is stationed in the U.S. Air Force; Heather is a beautician and resides in Columbus. Dave was raised with sports and community-mindedness a strong presence. His father, Howard Honaker, is also a member of the Ashland County Hall of Fame.
Nominator: Howard Honaker
