Born and raised in nearby Niles, Ohio, Jake Ferro is the first to tell you that he wasn't the greatest football player in the land. Yet through hard work and determination, and a will to want to improve so you can compete at your very best each and every time out, he was lucky enough to play at the top of his game all of the time and that is what probably separated him from other more gifted athletes.
While a scholastic gridder for Head Coach Tony Mason, he was introduced to weight training way before it became such a popular sport and in the process, went form a 158-pound player to a 195-pound almost overnight. By the time he was in college, he was 220 pounds of all muscle.
An All-Ohio lineman for the Red Dragons in 1960, he was a First-Team Trumbull County All Star (1960) and was the recipient of the top "Scholar Athlete" award at NHS during both his junior and senior seasons.
He originally enrolled at the University of Iowa (1961-62), returning home in August 1962 to take advantage of a job offer, eventually enrolling at Youngstown University.
The 1963 weight lifting (heavyweight class) champion of the Ohio Championships was urged to play football by Head Coach Dike Beede, and eventually Ferro accepted the coach's challenge.
He helped the Penguins to a three year record of 17-6-3 as his tenacious play was singled out more than once by Beede as he called him "the best lineman on the team."
He was the recipient of the Ben Sharsu award from the Mahoning Valley Coaches Association in both 1965 and 1966, given to the best scholar-athlete among small colleges in the area.
He served as the co-captain of the 1966 squad (along with teammate Ed Matey), but was sidelined early in the season after sustaining a torn Achilles after a game with Central Michigan.
A two way lineman who very rarely spent time on the bench during his collegiate career, his durability was never questioned. For the 1965 season, he was named to the University of Maine's All-Opponent team on both offense and defense.
He was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity, and was a member of the University's Student Council during the 1965-66 school year.
Greatly respected by coaches and teammates alike, he received the Henry A. Roemer Prize at graduation ceremonies in scholarship, leadership and sportsmanship in athletics.
He was drafted and signed with the Miami Dolphins of the old American Football League.
Among his many memberships, he belongs to Rotary International, the National Advisory Board of Mercer University School of Engineering and serves on the Board of Trustees of Wesleyan College for Women and Macon College.
He is currently President of the Clay Division of the J.M. Huber Corporation (Atlanta Ga.), a post that he has held since 1988.
Married to the former Michele Lininger of Girard, they are the parents of two children, Jay (24) and Heather (21).
