The Delaware County Board of Commissioners has voted to rename one of the county's popular streets in honor of Dimitrious Stanley.
According to a report from ABC6 in Columbus, Alpine Drive will be called Dimitrious Stanley Way, effective Saturday, July 1, after the former Ohio State wide receiver's death on Feb. 9. The board's action comes three months after it received a petition from Stanley's wife, Jessica, requesting the county change the street's name to honor her late husband.
"A dedicated member of society, Dimitruous' passion in life was to bring more joy and contagious laughter wherever he went," Jessica Stanley wrote in a letter to the board. "His contribution to family, friends, and civic duty was insurmountable. He rarely turned down a request to volunteer to speak or donate his time and talents. He knew no strangers."
On April 20, the board held a public hearing regarding the street's name change, with an official motion brought into order by one of its commissioners. The motion was passed, and the name change was set for Saturday.
Stanley was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2019 and passed away on Feb. 9 after a four-year battle with the illness.
Today our Buckeye family mourns the loss of Dimitrious Stanley. May he rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/PuCASfXXal
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) February 9, 2023
From 1993-96, the Worthington, Ohio, native recorded 63 catches for 1,136 yards and 13 touchdowns for the Buckeyes. He was Ohio State's leading receiver during his senior year when he caught 43 passes for 829 yards and eight touchdowns and led the Buckeyes to an 11-1 season that ended with a 20-17 win over Arizona State in the Rose Bowl.
Following his Ohio State career, Stanley played in the Canadian Football League and Arena Football League. He later went on to a career in home health care and worked in television and radio as an Ohio State football analyst. After his diagnosis of prostate cancer, Stanley started a foundation, Brave Men Inc., to raise awareness about prostate cancer and funds for others fighting the disease.
Stanley told Eleven Warriors in 2020 that he wanted to share the message that “Real men talk about health.”
“You don’t have to get to the point where I did if you get yourself to the doctor,” Stanley said. “All the stuff that I’m going through, I hope people are looking at me and saying, ‘You know what, this could happen to me, but I don’t necessarily have to go through what Dimitrious is going through because I decided to go see the doctor regularly.’ And if something changes in my body, instead of as a man, we go, ‘Oh, it’ll just go away, whatever,’; go get it looked at, just in case. And that’s kind of what I want people to get from my experience.”
Throughout his battle, Stanley received support from fellow former Ohio State football players, including Tyson Gentry, who started a GoFundMe to raise proceeds for Stanley and his family to help them pay for his cancer treatments. Gentry told Eleven Warriors in February that the GoFundMe had raised more than $32,000 for Stanley’s wife, daughter and stepdaughters. As of June 30, that fund has exceeded $38,000.
