Ira G. Turpin Scholar Program Fund to host first fundraising dinner
CANTON − For years, the life and legacy of the late Judge Ira G. Turpin has been celebrated through an annual scholars program to honor outstanding seventh and 11th graders.
For its 30th anniversary, the program has made some changes. On May 18, the Ira G. Turpin Scholar Program Fund will host its first fundraising dinner to award tuition scholarships to minority high school seniors who plan to pursue the law as a career.
The dinner will be at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Belden Village at 4520 Everhard Road NW in Jackson Township.
Stark County Prosecutor Kyle Stone will be the keynote speaker. Turpin scholars cofounder and retired Pro Football Hall of Fame President Stephen Perry will serve as emcee.
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The dinner also will include a documentary, "Trials to Triumph."
"This is our first fundraising event in 30 years," said Dawn Y. Turpin, organization co-founder and the judge's only daughter. "Our ultimate goal is to assist a law student. Hopefully, in the long term, we can pay the first-year's tuition for a law student."
Ira Turpin was multi-talented
In 1972, Ira G. Turpin made history by becoming the first and only Black judge ever to preside in the Stark County Common Pleas Court. Prior to his election, he was the county's first Black assistant prosecutor and chief assistant prosecutor. He was preceded to the bench by his mentor, the late Municipal Court Judge Clay Hunter, the only Black judge ever to preside over Canton Municipal Court.
In 1983, Turpin was elected to the Fifth District Court of Appeals, where he served until his retirement in 1989. He died in 1990.
"He was multi-talented," said Nate Cooks, an admissions counselor at the Stark State College who has served on the selection committee since 1996. "It's important that people know he served his community."
The Turpin scholars program, which operates under the Stark Community Foundation, goes back to 1993, when the Midnight Basketball League of Stark County hosted its first Judge Ira G. Turpin All-Star Basketball Classic at the North East Community Center. It evolved into a scholars program, which awarded seventh and 11th graders with a medals, $100 savings bonds, and certificates and later expanded to offer a law school grant and loan program, and scholarships for minority students studying law-related curricula at Malone, Walsh or Mount Union universities.
In 2017, the savings bonds were replaced with Kindle tablets, and juniors were eligible for $500 scholarships. From 1994 to 2017, award ceremonies were held at the Edward "Peel" Coleman Community Center. In 2018 and 2019, they were moved to the Onesto Hotel before being disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, committee members delivered the awards to students' respective schools.
Cooks said there were 13 candidates this year. Candidate criteria includes high GPA and test scores, recommendations from teachers, and an essay on the most impactful person in their lives. Minority students from all Stark County schools are eligible to apply.
A $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to one senior who will have the option of reapplying during four years of undergrad study. Three $500 scholarships will be awarded to students in trade school or nursing.
This year's selection committee includes retired Judge Sheila Farmer, attorneys Corey Minor-Smith and Meleah M. Skillern (former scholarship recipient); Melissa J. Elsfelder, donor relations associate with the Stark Community Foundation; Cooks; and Turpin.
Who was Judge Ira G. Turpin?
Born in Canton in 1925, Ira G. Turpin grew up in Canton's southeast quadrant. As a child during the Great Depression, he and his brother Vince tap-danced on the streets for money, eventually becoming professional dancers who performed in nightclubs throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Turpin graduated from McKinley High School in 1943, where he was a varsity basketball player. After school, he entered the Army, serving in the European Theater for 21 months during World War II. He also was briefly a boxer, winning four out of five professional bouts. After the war, Turpin enrolled in Kent State University, eventually graduating from the William McKinley School of Law in Canton.
Turpin launched his own law practice in 1952 while working midnights at the Ford Motor Co. to support his wife, Genevieve, and their children. The high-school sweethearts who married as teenagers had four sons, Roger, Ira Jr., Nigel and Benjamin, and a daughter, Dawn.
"He worked at Ford, then came to his office during the day where he would get some sleep, while my mother worked as his secretary," Dawn Turpin said.
He eventually was hired as an assistant prosecutor by Stark County Prosecutor Norman Putman, where he led the office in capital cases. During his time in the Common Pleas Court, Turpin was the first Black jurist awarded the Supreme Court Superior Judicial Service Award.
Dawn Turpin herself ran for Stark County Clerk of Courts in 1991. She earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Kent State, and worked for the Stark County District Attorney's Office and the Ohio Lottery Commission.
"I grew up in the Prosecutor's Office," she said. "You've heard of 'Take Your Daughter to Work Day.' My dad took me to work with him long before that was a thing. He was a loving and protective father who spent time with his children despite working and going to law school. He was always involved in family matters."
Asked why she thinks there haven't been any Black judges since her father, Dawn Turpin replied she doesn't know.
At the time of his retirement, Turpin was the highest-ranking Black judge in the state.
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Cooks pointed out that Stark County has produced Black judges, including U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Hopkins, who was confirmed this year, and Eighth District Court of Appeals Judge Emanuella Harris Groves.
"I think it's brain drain, and opportunity," he said.
Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com.
On Twitter: @cgoshayREP
If you go
What: Fundraising dinner for the Ira G. Turpin Scholar Program Fund, which provides scholarships to minority students pursuing law careers.
When: 6 p.m. May 18
Where: Holiday Inn Belden Village at 4520 Everhard Road NW in Jackson Township.
Cost: Tickets are $100 each. If interested in attending, send an email to:studentscholarawards2023@gmail.com with your name and contact email. A formal invitation will follow.
To donate: Mail checks to: Ira G. Turpin Scholar Fund c/o Stark Community Foundation, 400 Market Ave. N. Suite 200, Canton, Ohio, 44702 or visit www.starkcf.org/give-turpin.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Scholarship program continues for Stark County's first Black judge
