A. O. Mathias Made Learning A Matter Of Principle

In the spring of 1950, the principal stopped the son of Greek immigrants in the halls of Withrow High School and asked what he planned to do after graduation.

“I don’t know” was the reply.

Akila J. “Ike” Misali, whose parents ran a small dry-cleaning store downtown, was a product of the Cincinnati riverfront area, then commonly known as the Bottoms. He wanted to attend college but didn’t have the money.

THE PRINCIPAL, A.O. Mathias, who began his teaching career in a one-room Adams County schoolhouse in 1907, sensed Misali would make it in college.

In early August that year, with his future still in limbo, Misali unexpectedly received a letter from Raymond Walters, then president of The University of Cincinnati.

Walters invited Misali to attend UC on a full-tuition scholarship because of his record and Mathias’ recommendation.

Kent Holwadel, a stockbroker and president of Withrow’s 1950 senior class, said Mathias helped make it possible for dozens of students like Misali to attend college.

A. O. Mathias began teaching at Withrow in 1919. He became principal after teaching at Withrow for 29 years.

During the next 10 years, more than 50 percent of Withrow’s graduates went on to college. He always made a policy of asking the better students what they planned to do and if they needed any help.

Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes alumni who have rendered outstanding, faithful and selfless service to their alma mater.

 “Part of the fabric of the university” and “campus legend” are clichés too often tossed about, but they clearly apply to Ike Misali, whose love affair with the University of Cincinnati has lasted six and a half decades — and counting.

 A Cincinnatian to his core, Misali grew up downtown roughly where Third and Broadway streets intersect today. After graduating from Withrow High School, he went to college just down the street after receiving a freshman scholarship on the recommendation of his principal A.O. Mathias.

Never forgetting his personal life lesson about the value of a scholarship, Misali established The A. O. Mathias Scholarship Fund that covers freshman tuition to UC for a Withrow graduate (named for the principal who started Misali on his UC journey).