Circleville Alumni Association

2026 Circleville Alumni Association Achievement Hall of Fame Inductee Terry Dean, Class of 1960.

Terry Dean’s recent gift of artificial turf for Circleville boys’ baseball and girls’ softball is only a continuation of a philanthropic hitting streak that began decades ago.

It has been said that those who aren’t born into wealth are especially likely to give back. Terry proves this sentiment to be true. He started on the ground floor, moving from home to home as a child often without running water, indoor toilets, or other necessities we think of today. He retains a vivid memory of one life changing event. “It was my freshman year of school and dad told me to sit down at the table. He showed me $1300 dollars he had saved. We had never seen that much money.” Terry recalled. “‘Terry, he said, ‘we’re buying a house in Circleville and we aren’t moving around any more.’”

Terry became a talented baseball player but his name was seldom associated with academic prowess. He recalls his Latin teacher Mrs Elma Raines providing validation of this on the second day of class. She asked him to stay late and Terry recalls “She said ‘Terry, I know you’re a good baseball player but if you want to see the ball field you had best get out of my class.’”

Terry took two full time jobs after graduation and together they earned a little more than $80/week. In 1964, he joined United Parcel Service, which at the time had a presence in only a few states. At his retirement 30 years later, UPS was worldwide and his investments in UPS stocks created opportunities to help others: improvements in Circleville parks, water wells in South Africa, and gifts to a myriad of other charitable causes both public and private.

Terry hopes he can continue his charitable ways for a long time. At 84, he still plays slow pitch softball and is on a traveling team out of Columbus. He also enjoys acting as an umpire for softball games. To-date, he has umpired more than 15,000 games and was inducted in 2001 to the Columbus Softball Hall of Fame.