The stars were removed and are being restored with digitally copied signatures also restored.
Justin Montivon puts the finishing touches on a name under one of Portsmouth's floodwall stars. G. Sam Piatt/Daily Times
By G. SAM PIATT
PDT Staff Writer
After more than 15 years of exposure to the harsh elements along the Ohio River, the stars on Portsmouth's wall of fame have deteriorated to the point of replacement.
Local artists Justin Montivon and Mike Doherty, who have worked under Louisiana's Robert Dafford on the floodwall murals, have been busy repainting the stars and the names of celebrities under them.
They also are redoing the signatures of those who signed the stars with a black marker pen.
"Each of the signatures was photographed with a digital camera, and they will be painted back. The signatures will be exactly the way they were," Doherty said.
The same kind of long-lasting masonry paint used on the murals is being used on the stars.
"They're restoring what was already up there, and this time, it's being done right," said Bob Morton, president of Portsmouth Murals Inc. "They look very nice."
The signing of the stars by the stars started during Mayor Frank Gerlach's administration (1990-1997).
"During the city's celebration of its 175th anniversary, a young man - can't recall his name just now - guaranteed he would paint 175 stars along the outside of the floodwall," Gerlach said. "He got about 155 of them up there and then quit."
"So here we had these stars and I was asking myself, 'What will we do with the stars now?'" Gerlach said. 'I thought about Hollywood's and sports halls of fame, and decided Portsmouth could have a floodwall 'Wall of Fame.'"
Kathleen Battle, Portsmouth's famed opera singer, was the first to sign a star. That was on April 1, 1991, Gerlach said.
"They put her on a high-lift chair to sign her signature within the star. Television cameras whirred and her songs were played as background. It was impressive," Gerlach said.
One of the stars, redone now by the artists, has Dan Quayle's name under it but no signature by the former vice president, who has ties to Portsmouth.
"I reserved him a star and when he was in town, right before the election (1992), we tried to get him to sign it," Gerlach said. "But the Secret Service wouldn't approve it. His guards said there was too much open space in those Kentucky hills across the river, from where somebody with a high-powered rifle could have shot him."
A mayor's committee now decides who meets the criteria to be selected to sign one of the floodwall stars, but in Gerlach's day, he reserved that decision for himself.
"My criteria was that they had to be well-known at least throughout Ohio, or better - like Roy Rogers - known nationally and internationally," he said. "I would catch people when they were coming to town, like the sports stars, and get them up there to sign a star. I would put a name under a vacant star and get them up there with a marking pencil, and they would sign their name."
Some sports stars who have a star on the wall, after leaving the area and going on to become players on national teams, include Gene Tenace, Larry Hisle, Rocky Nelson, Chuck Ealey, Curt Gentry and Don Gullett.
As of Saturday, there were about 125 stars repainted by the artists. About 55 of them have no names under them.
The original stars were "a low-budget operation," said Gerlach. "I'm very pleased, as is Bob Morton, to see that it's now being done right."
G. SAM PIATT can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 236.
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