Jake Ferro's athletics work ethic a boost for Cherry Blossom Festival

Macon's Cherry Blossom Festival doesn't officially begin until Thursday, but it has been up and running for most of March. We already have seen, among other events, the Cherry Blossom pageant, concerts featuring CeeLo Green, as well as Lee Fields and the Expressions, the Cherry Blossom Road Race, the Ocmulgee Duck Dash and just last Saturday, the annual parade, which was held so as not to conflict with Easter weekend.

Cherry Blossom CEO and president Jake Ferro and his board have done an excellent job in putting this year's event together. Ferro, who is in his fourth year with the CBF, didn't have a "special events" background when he took over at the end of 2012. He had been president of the clay division of the J.M. Huber Corporation for almost two decades before retiring in 1996.

While he didn't have the festival history, Ferro was a pretty good college athlete, and that usually means a good work ethic, and you knew he was going to make things happen. I have known Ferro for quite a number of years and was aware he played football at Youngstown State in Ohio but didn't learn until recently how good he actually was. Youngstown State is the home of the Penguins where former Ohio State football head coach Jim Tressell is now the president. Tressell won four Division I-AA national championships at Youngstown State as its head coach before taking over as the Buckeyes' head coach where he won a national title in 2002.

Ferro played high school football in his hometown of Niles, Ohio, where he was an All-Ohio lineman for the Red Dragons in 1960 and was a first-team Trumbull County All-Star. Ferro was a true student-athlete, winning the top scholar-athlete award in his junior and senior years at Niles.

He initially enrolled at Iowa, where did not play football for the Hawkeyes, before transferring to Youngstown State following his freshman year. Ferro was big into weightlifting going back to his high school days, which helped take him from a 158-pounder to a 195-pounder almost overnight. While at Youngstown State, he won the 1963 weightlifting (heavyweight class) title of the Ohio championships. That accomplishment caught the attention of Penguins football head coach Dwight "Dike" Beede, who urged him to play football, and Ferro accepted the coach's challenge.

In his three seasons at Youngstown State, Ferro helped the Penguins to a 17-6-3 record while playing both on offense and defense. He was chosen for Maine's All-Opponent team on both sides of the ball in 1965.

Ferro was a team captain for the 1966 Youngstown State team but missed the majority of the season after suffering a torn Achilles tendon against Central Michigan in mid-September. Despite that injury, he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins of the AFL in the 15th round with the 372nd pick. The Dolphins took future Hall of Famer Bob Griese with their first pick that year.

Ferro won the Ben Sharsu Award from the Mahoning Valley Coaches Association in both 1965 and 1966, which is given to the best scholar-athlete among small colleges in the area. At his college graduation, he received the Henry A. Roemer Prize for scholarship, leadership and sportsmanship in athletics.

Ferro was elected to the Youngstown State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.

Contact Bobby Pope at bobbypope428@gmail.com

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Jake Ferro's athletics work ethic a boost for Cherry Blossom Festival ."