COLUMBUS — The Ohio High School Athletic Association will honor four Ohio greats during the 2024 Boys State Basketball Tournament on Saturday (March 23), as part of its Circle of Champions recognition program.

Headlining those being saluted is Jim Tressel, former head football coach at Ohio State and Youngstown State where he won five combined national championships.

Also included in the recognition program are Dick LeBeau, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who played 14 years for the Lions and won two Super Bowls as the defensive coordinator for the Steelers; Caroline Mast Daugherty, who played on and coached teams at River View that won OHSAA girls basketball state championships and was the all-time leading scorer at Ohio University, and Major League Baseball’s longest tenured umpire, Jerry Layne, a graduate of Marion Elgin High School.

The Circle of Champions program recognizes individuals who had prominent roles in the history of Ohio athletics.

The state tournament will be held at the University of Dayton Arena — from Friday (March 22) through Sunday (March 24).

The OHSAA Naismith Meritorious Service Awards are presented annually to two people for their contributions to the sport of basketball or interscholastic athletics.

The 2024 winners were selected from the OHSAA Southeast and Southwest Districts, respectively, and are Harold “Bud” Sayre and Ed Zink.

Sayre is a retired school administrator, teacher and coach.

He first taught and coached at his alma mater, Portsmouth West High School, before moving to assistant principal and athletic administrator.

He stayed in the latter role for just a year before becoming the school’s principal.

In 1993, ­he became the superintendent of the Union-Scioto School District in Chillicothe — and retired in 1999 as the superintendent of the Eastern Local School District in Pike County.

He served on the OHSAA’s Southeast District Athletic Board for 12 years, and served two years on the OHSAA Board of Directors.