Bernard “Bernie” M. Hovan, ’63 M.Ed. ’65, was a husband, father, scholar, teacher, coach, and mentor. He was a positive force who left a lasting impression on countless students and student-athletes who passed through the halls of two local high schools in Northeast Ohio.
Bernie taught high school physical education, health, driver’s education and speech. He coached baseball, football, boys’ basketball, wrestling and girls’ tennis during an accomplished career that spanned nearly three decades; however, his legacy lives on.
“My dad worked for a medical firm after high school but soon realized that business wasn't really his thing,” said Michael Hovan, Bernie’s oldest son. “He always enjoyed sports and working with people, being part of a team and teaching kids.”
A Pennsylvania native, Bernie enrolled at and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1963 while playing baseball for four years as a walk-on freshman. After graduation, Bernie accepted a position as the first football coach at Ashland High School. Two years later he secured a Master of Education from ’s College of Education, Health and Human Services.
His coaching career at Nordonia High School is worthy of legendary status, according to Superintendent Joe Clark. After a few years at Nordonia, he transitioned from football to his first love, varsity baseball, racking up more than 350 wins and staying active with youth and interscholastic baseball for decades, and hosting many summer baseball camps for kids in the area.
In 1987, Bernard was named Man of the Year by the Greater Cleveland Baseball Coaches Association. Soon afterwards, he received two additional accolades when he was named to the Northeast Ohio Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Ohio Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame. In 1991, he was inducted into the Nordonia High School Athletic Hall of Fame and in 2019, he was inducted into the Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame. He also coached six Northeast Ohio high school baseball all-star teams.
Bernie’s passion for baseball was recognized in Northeast Ohio, and he was asked to help coach a local all-star team that played during the summer months in Cleveland-based leagues. At the end of each summer, the team journeyed overseas, making stops in England, Germany, Australia, Italy, and Holland.
“I was on that team,” said Michael. “Dad was coaching all-star high school seniors from all over Northeast Ohio. The team’s sponsors were lobbying the International Olympic Committee to consider baseball as an Olympic sport.”
Although Bernie passed away in 2020, his legacy lives on through his students and in the place where he coached so many of them. In May 2021, hundreds of people, including family, friends and former students, turned out to witness Nordonia High School name its baseball facility The Bernie Hovan Memorial Field in his honor.
“The ceremony was very emotional and gut-wrenching, because the reality of it was my dad’s passing and you’re doing something because he has passed,” said Michael. “There were many tears. But the amount of people that showed up spanned 20 to 30 years of Nordonia graduates.”
Classic Designs of Oakwood Village manufactured the engraved, granite plaque depicting Bernie’s likeness that’s positioned along the first base line at Nordonia High School’s baseball field.
“I had Bernie for gym class,” said Chris Corradino, co-owner of Classic Designs and a former student of Bernie’s. “He was really good at relating to kids. He knew how to get into your head and talk to you on a level where you respected him. He treated you like a mini-adult and held you accountable. If we had a thousand more Bernies we’d be doing a lot better.”
“He was a big part of who I am today,” said Dave Straight, owner of Steel Supply in Macedonia, which created the frame for the new baseball field sign mounted directly beneath the scoreboard in right center field.
Bernie had a reputation for being a tough but fair coach. He was also known for doing more than giving instructions to student-athletes from the sidelines. When he really needed to get his point across, he participated in practices.
“He would do a lot of the workouts with us, running right alongside me,” said Dave, who played varsity football for three years. “He physically did everything that we were doing. And that’s the way I learned. I miss him.”
Family and friends also created The Bernie Hovan Memorial Student-Athlete Annual Scholarship awarding $500 annually to a graduating Nordonia High School senior.
“Right up until the day he left school he enjoyed every bit of it,” said Michael. “And he's one of those people that was just really fun to be around; you could tell he just really enjoyed what he was doing. I always remembered that because he was one of the few teachers I can say that about.”
Before retiring, Bernie was teaching and influencing a second generation of students – the children of parents he had taught or coached decades prior.
“We could go anywhere in town and everybody knew him,” said Michael. “Our family would be sitting at a restaurant table waiting 15 minutes for him to shake hands and greet everyone. I was always impressed with how many people would come up and say: ‘You made such an impression on my life, and if it wasn’t for you, I don’t know where I’d be.’”
In addition to Michael Hovan, Bernie Hovan is survived by Jean C. Hovan, his wife of 56 years, and children John L. Hovan, Debbie J. Chessar and David C. Hovan.