The start of the high school athletic calendar is Aug. 1. But Charlie Ridenour and Ethan Pensante couldn’t wait that long.
Every minute counts when you are tasked with replacing highly-regarded athletic directors.
Ridenour is taking over for Pat Lewis at Shelby High School. Pensante will succeed Jeff Fisher at Ontario High School.
Both have big shoes to fill.
With the 2026-27 school year just around the corner, there has been precious little vacation time during the traditional summer break.
“The official first day is Aug. 1, but there are a lot of things that have to happen in July for things to happen come August,” Ridenour said. “A lot of the summer is spent in the office doing administrative tasks.”
A 2018 Ontario graduate, Pensante began his responsibilities June 1. He worked in the district for the past year after completing a master’s degree at Heidelberg.
“It’s going about how I expected,” Pensante said. “I had the opportunity to work under ‘Fish’ for so long. He helped me grow both personally and professionally.”
Fisher served as Ontario’s AD for seven years.
“He showed me the ropes,” Pensante said. “Without him, I wouldn’t feel so prepped and ready.”
The same goes for Ridenour, a 2005 Shelby grad. Lewis was Shelby’s AD for 20 years.
“Being able to work alongside Pat for a little while to get my bearings was helpful,” Ridenour said. “My goal is to build off the framework that he established.”
Ridenour is the son of late Shelby Daily Globe sports writer Chuck Ridenour. The younger Ridenour was also a longtime middle school track and cross country coach at Ontario and has been a basketball referee for the past two decades.
“I’ve had a unique perspective into scholastic athletics for a while, from following my dad around as a toddler to getting into high school athletics myself,” Ridenour said. “Then I got into teaching and coaching and I was a basketball official for 20 years.
“That has provided me with a unique perspective. I can relate to players and coaches and officials and administrators.”
Both Ontario and Shelby are members of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference. The Warriors joined the MOAC in 2017 and the Whippets came onboard a year later.
Unofficially, the two schools have combined for 100 MOAC team championships across all boys and girls sports.
“We had a lot of success under ‘Fish.’ He handed me the keys to the car,” Pensante said. “I want to continue to build on that success.”
Ridenour agreed.
“We want to maintain what’s already in place,” Ridenour said. “In the future we can make adjustments if needed but initially we’re not going to make any big changes here.”