Before he was a political force in the state, Todd Portune helped save Oberlin College football as a student there

As a highly recruited high school track and cross country runner, Todd Portune likely never had the intention of playing football when he enrolled at Oberlin College in the fall of 1976. But even though he had no experience playing the sport, the Cincinnati native stepped out of his comfort zone and walked on as kicker his sophomore year. Aside from the coaching staff, teammates and his closest friends, nobody probably thought much of Portune's decision. But when the Oberlin College General Faculty Council (GFC) began pushing a resolution for the elimination of football in February 1978, Portune was among the first to step up, dig in his heels and fight to save the sport. Portune, who was a student rep for the Heisman Club, lobbied faculty and staff vigorously to keep the struggling football program — and succeeded. A 1980 graduate of Oberlin College, Portune, who went on to be force in Democratic politics in the Cincinnati are for more than 25 years, died Jan. 25 at age 61 after battling cancer for 20 years. "The football program was costly because it was one of the more expensive sports to maintain with equipment, traveling and maintenance of the fields," said former teammate Nate Eisler, an inside linebacker. "Todd was a student rep for the Heisman Club and he really got out in front and center to defeat a vote to disband the football program." The football team had been struggling for years. The Yeomen were coming off of three straight two-win seasons under coach Richard Riendeau (1975-77). While the Yeomen were 9-9 in two years under Cass Jackson (1973-74), they were just 38-83-2 under William Grice from 1958-72. Still, Portune made the Oberlin GFC think twice about axing the program "Todd just went around meeting with faculty members in an organized way and getting his message across about how important football is to the diversity of a college," said Eisler, a New York City attorney who spoke at Portune's funeral Feb. 3, which was held at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati. "Oberlin is a place that prides itself on diversity. It was a normalizing aspect for an American college campus to have football and how could we give that up? It's just part of the college experience. If you're interested you have a college football game to go to every other Saturday." Oberlin College football continued to go through some ard times. In Portune's junior, the Yeomen were shut out in seven games en route to an 0-9 season in coach Don Hunsinger's first year. It had a 16-game losing streak from 1977-79 before beating Kenyon 7-3 in week No. 5 of 1979. It rebounded to finish 3-6 in 1979. But thanks in large part to Portune's efforts, the GFC pulled back on its efforts to dismantle the program. "Todd succeeded at that and it was just an example of how much of a leader he was," Eisler said. "He wasn't the captain of the football team and wasn't a central player on the football team yet he was the one who spoke out the loudest against disbanding football. And that's just typical of him. That's one small example of what he did as a student. "He just fought for everything that was right. He was often successful. You could see that he was going to be a leader in life as he obviously proved to be. Oberlin was sort of where he cultivated what would become Todd Portune for the next 40 years." Portune even took on a bigger role on the team. Because its numbers were down — the Yeomen had just 16 players coming into the 1977 season — Portune had to also play defensive back. While his role was limited at the start, his responsibilities quickly grew. "It was a much tougher situation than when I coached for Elyria High," said Hunsinger, who coached Oberlin College from 1978-89. "Todd was a real leader. He was an exceptional young man as far as attitude and work habits. You couldn't ask more of an athlete. ... His attitude in practice every day was special. That kind of thing is infectious, especially for the younger players." Portune was inducted into the Oberlin Heisman Hall of Fame in 1998. He set seven school records and earned All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors eight times in track. His 1980 outdoor school record of 1:54.4 in the 800 meters lasted for 35 years until broken in 2015. In 1979 he was the OAC indoor 880-yard champion and the Great Lakes Conference champion in the 800 meters outdoors. He was voted the track team's most valuable performer in 1979 and ′80. "He was a good place kicker the whole while," said Eisler, also a 1980 Oberlin College graduate. "It was amazing for someone who didn't play football in high school and became a legitimate college football player. He wasn't a big, muscular guy. He looked like an intermediate distance runner from track, but he was fast and just a good athlete. He served himself well as a football player." Portune was the Yeomen's most valuable defensive back in 1979 and was named OAC defensive player of the week for his play against Case Western in 1979. Portune ran track and cross country in high school for Cincinnati Colerain High School, which finished seventh at the Division I state cross country meet in 1974 and ′75. A government major at Oberlin, Portune went on to study law at the University of Cincinnati and became a partner in the Cincinnati law firm of Cohen, Todd, Kite and Stanford. Portune was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Cincinnati City Council in 1993. He won elections to two-year terms in 1993, ′95, ′97 and ′99. The first Democrat in his position in 36 years, he served as a Hamilton County commissioner from 2000 until early 2019. He last won re-election as a county commissioner in 2016. The fact Portune could serve in public office for so long was a medical miracle. Doctors in 1996 discovered tumors on his spine and warned they could paralyze him if they continued to grow. Treatment for a blood clot in 2002 caused the spinal tumors to hemorrhage, paralyzing the former track star from the chest down. An aide would go to the hospital with work. Portune continued to introduce motions from his hospital bed. He eventually improved to where he could walk with the help of crutches but never regained use of his left leg. Portune had the leg amputated in 2018 when a connective-tissue sarcoma was found. Losing a leg only took him out of work for a month, during which he still phoned into meetings from his hospital room. He was fitted with a computerized artificial leg and quickly returned to work full time. "He had the same attitude about his hardships as he did about his playing," Hunsinger said. "It was inspirational to see his attitude through his suffering. You couldn't ask for a better attitude, in my humble opinion." Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.