Malone Alumni News

Pamela "Pam" Smith '77 of Canton, Ohio, passed away peacefully on June 28, 2026.  Pam graduated from Canton McKinley High School in 1960 and pursued music at the St. Louis School of Music in Missouri, training as a concert pianist after beginning piano lessons at the age of six. She later earned a bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Malone College.  Pam taught kindergarten and first grade at St. Paul's Catholic School and Edgefield Elementary in Plain Township before concluding her career teaching fourth grade at Amherst Elementary in Jackson Local Schools.  After teaching, Pam and her best friend, Carol, co-founded The Village Goose Country Store, which grew into a popular curtain and home décor shop before retiring after over 20 years. Our thoughts and prayers are with Pam's friends and family during this difficult time. To read the full obituary, click here . 

  Congratulations to Shane Byler '14 and the Lake Center Christian Tigers on winning the OHSAA Division VI state championship!  Shane played baseball at Malone for two years before choosing to stop and begin his coaching career in 2012. He graduated from Malone in 2014 with his BS in Middle Childhood Education. Over the past fourteen years, Shane has developed and grown the LCCS program; last year, they made it to the state championship and lost to Hiland High School. This year, they defeated that same team to secure their first state championship.  Congratulations to Shane and his entire team on this accomplishment! For more details, you can view his post-game video interview with the Canton Repository here . 

Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (CVCA) has hired RiCarlo "Rico" Bell '16 to serve as the school's athletic director. Rico joins CVCA after serving with Fellow of Christian Athletes, and in management and sales positions before that. Rico played football for Malone from 2013-2015 and graduated with his BA in Exercise Science. Congratulations to Rico on this accomplishment! We look forward to seeing how you keep Christ's Kingdom First in this new chapter at CVCA! For the full press release, click here .