Frog Prince

Clay Rose is the face behind one of the city’s classic traditions

WHETHER BY COINCIDENCE or by a twist of green and slimy fate, 14-year-old Clayton Rose III, who goes by “Clay,” happened to be present for one of the seminal moments in the history of the Kiwanis Club of Dublin: the creation of the club’s annual frog jump.

For some reason (he doesn’t remember why), Rose had accompanied his father, Clayton Rose, Jr. – a founding member of the local Kiwanis – to the meeting at which the idea of a frog race was first discussed.

He couldn’t have guessed that 45 years later, he’d be in charge of planning the Dublin Kiwanis Frog Jump, now a celebrated community event.

“About five years into the club’s existence, in late 1966, they were looking for the club’s signature fundraiser and one of our former members came in with this frog jump competition. He’d seen something about the one that they do in California called Calaveras County,” Rose says. “It just started from there.”

The event, this year scheduled for June 23 in Coffman Park, features a series of races for kids up to age 13. Previously, the competition was open to those as old as 17, but the club noted little interest from teenagers.

“They get into an inner ring with their frog, and on the count of ‘One, two, three, go!’ the frog has to get from this ring to the outer ring – and the first frog is the winning frog,” Rose explains. Winners in the first heat go on to compete in a bracket-style competition until a final winner is named.

Rose competed that first year and has been involved in one way or another most years since.

“I won a ribbon, but I didn’t get much further than the first round. I got my taste of it, I guess you could say, from that,” Rose says.

A competitor can bring his or her own frog or rent one from the Kiwanis. Up until a few years ago, Rose was among the Kiwanis volunteers sent out to hunt down roughly 500 frog contestants in the Dublin network of ponds.

“We break down into teams of two and three and they’re out until all hours doing it,” Rose says. “We use a net that’s on the end of a pole that’s probably 8 feet long and a flashlight. One team member spots the frog and flashes the flashlight in the frog’s eyes, which mesmerizes the frog. Then the other one comes up (from behind) and nets (it), and then you put them into a damp pillowcase.”

Post-race, a similar number of frogs are returned to the areas from whence they came.

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Having grown up in Dublin and graduated from Dublin High School when there was only one, Rose has a familiarity with the community that is rarely matched.

“I’m one of the blessed few who got to grow up here and stay,” he says.

He went away to college for a year, but quickly found himself homesick and returned to finish his undergraduate degree in accounting at The Ohio State University. After graduating, he worked for a firm Downtown until his uncle offered to let him buy Dublin-based accounting firm Rea & Associates, Inc. It was around that time that Rose joined the Kiwanis himself, spurred by his father’s admonition that joining a civic organization was the best way to grow a business.

“I’ve been pretty heavily involved with the frog jump ever since,” Rose says.

Since he turned 60 this year, Rose has decided that rounding up frogs is for younger Kiwanis members, but he and his wife, Lynn, will still head up planning for the frog jump; she’s the volunteer coordinator. Now that Rose’s accounting firm is more established, he’s had more time to devote to his hobbies, such as golfing and traveling with his family – and, of course, Kiwanis.

Over the years, he’s fielded many questions from other groups that want to host their own frog jumps. Many have sprung up around the country, but few are as large as Dublin’s; the event draws thousands of spectators each year.

It’s the Kiwanis’ only annual fundraiser, and it typically generates $4,000$5,000 from sponsorships – race fees are just $1 each, and thus don’t contribute much to that total – half of which goes toward a designated cause. This year it’s a local food pantry and scholarships given out to Key Club members from Dublin high schools. The rest supports the club’s other programs.

“This is a small, community-type event,” Rose says. “It was never designed to generate $100,000. We don’t want to do it that big. It’s about families getting together at the park, kids learning how to touch a frog and not shudder.”

He laughs as he tells the story of his daughter Abby’s first Frog Jump.

“She’s sitting there saying ‘Eeee! I don’t want to touch a frog!’ and the (Kiwanis) member grabbed my wife’s hand and pulled it out and put the frog in it and said, ‘Look, your mom’s holding a frog!’ That was the first time Lynn had ever touched a frog as well, and she didn’t dare flinch.”

Lisa Aurand is editor of Dublin Life Magazine. Feedback welcome at laurand @pubgroupltd.com

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