Persistent coach recruits a soulmate

Mary and Elmore Banton

Elmore "Mo" Banton is certain he saw his wife, Mary, when they were students at Ohio University in the mid-1960s. "I used to sit on the wall outside Baker Center and look at girls, and I know I saw her because I saw every pretty girl on campus then," he says, laughing.

He saw her for sure nearly 20 years later in an Athens tavern and made his move right away. He introduced himself and asked her to marry him. She'd heard of him, of course. As an undergraduate in the '60s, she knew of Mo Banton, the All-American track star. As a graduate student in the '80s, she knew of Mo Banton, the Bobcats' track and cross-country coach. But she wasn't about to marry him.

But he called. And called. And called.

"He's a good recruiter," Mary says. They talked on the phone for hours and met for coffee a few times. Having seen him only in the evenings, she wasn't exactly sure what he looked like. Then one day she came out of Ellis Hall, and he was leaning on the steps leading up to Alden Library. "I thought, 'Wow, he's good-looking.'"

Of course, it wasn't just about looks. What attracted Mary was the force of Mo's personality and his character. "He's a really good man," she says.

For Mo, it was the whole package. "I found out she was a Christian, intelligent, and cared about people - it just went from there."

The pair were married a year later, on Christmas Day 1987. They have been each others' supporters through Mo's successful coaching career and Mary's doctoral studies in education administration and current job as a Washington County elementary school principal. They've raised three children from previous marriages: Mary's children, Jack and Julie, and Mo's son, Brooks.

"I've gained about 20 pounds since we got married," Mary says. "My daughter calls it happy fat. That's how the past 12 years have been: happy, just plain happy, and at times joyous."