One seat at Peden Stadium will stay empty on purpose from now on. Ohio University has unveiled a POW/MIA Chair of Honor at the Athens stadium, a permanent tribute to American service members who were prisoners of war or remain missing in action, the university announced November 12.
The chair was unveiled during the pregame show ahead of Ohio’s October 24 home football game against Eastern Michigan, part of the university’s Military Appreciation Game. It stands near the Army ROTC Red Leg Brigade cannon emplacement, where the university says it will serve as a visible reminder of the service and sacrifice of American military personnel.
The night before the game, more than 50 members of the Ohio University and local military communities, including university executive leadership, gathered for a private unveiling ceremony. Among the speakers was OHIO alumna Robin Smith, whose father, U.S. Marine Corps Col. Robert N. Smith, was declared missing in action after his plane was shot down over North Vietnam in 1969, the university said.
Smith and her family spent decades searching for answers about her father’s fate, an experience she documented in two films, “He’s Only Missing” (1978) and “Letting Go” (1995). At the ceremony, she shared that the last thing her family did together before her father left for Vietnam was attend an Ohio football game at Peden Stadium — the same stadium where the chair now stands as a tribute to her father and to all service members who have not returned home, according to Ohio University.
The chair was donated by Albany Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9893, through a partnership with Ohio Athletics and the university’s Veterans and Military Student Services office. Lt. Col. (Ret.) Terry St. Peter, who directs that office, said in the university’s announcement that he was humbled and deeply grateful for the community’s support surrounding the dedication.
“To see so many people share in the passion and purpose behind bringing the POW/MIA Chair of Honor to Peden Stadium was incredibly rewarding,” St. Peter said in Ohio University’s announcement. “It reinforces that this chair represents something much bigger than a physical tribute — it is a collective promise that we will never forget those who have not returned home and the families who continue to wait.”
A second POW/MIA Chair of Honor is also planned for the Convocation Center, extending the tribute from football Saturdays to the basketball arena. The Peden Stadium chair will remain in place permanently — an empty seat, reserved for those who cannot be present, at every Bobcats home game from here on.