Major upgrades to Rhea County High School’s football stadium scoreboard, gymnasium scoreboard and theater sound system will be underwritten over the next three years by an approximately $540,000 donation from La-Z-Boy, beginning this year.
The donation will be made in installments over the next roughly 36 months, with the first, $140,000
check having been delivered in May of this year.
Jason Smith, senior plant general manager at La-Z-Boy, said the donation – one of the largest of its kind for Rhea County schools – is proof the company is serious about investing in the community’s future.
“La-Z-Boy has a rich history of giving back to the community, but as a graduate of Rhea County High School, this particular project is personal for me,” Mr.
Smith said. “When we consider how large La-Z-Boy’s impact has been on this community for the last 53 years, we wanted this donation to live up to that scale.”
Opened in 1972, La-Z-Boy’s Dayton campus today employs more than 1,400 people and covers more than one million square feet under its roof. The Dayton campus also manufactures the lion’s share of La-Z-Boy’s flagship furniture products which wind up in homes and living rooms across North America, and beyond, officials said.
Mr. Smith, a Dayton native, was a student-athlete while attending Rhea County High School in the 1980s and began his professional career at La-Z-Boy directly after high school. He credits the tutelage of predecessors and fellow locals Bimbo McCawley and David Brown for helping him climb into the ranks of leadership at La-Z-Boy.
Mr. Smith went on to study at Bryan College and graduate with a business degree on his way to the
role of senior plant general manager at La-Z-Boy’s Dayton factory.
Now, he sees an opportunity for La-Z-Boy to sow back into the institutions that prepared him, and
so many more, for life and careers in Rhea County.
“Lessons I learned playing on Bill Horton Field continue to guide me today,” Mr. Smith said. “Teamwork, discipline, work ethic – those traits were instilled in me at Rhea County High School.
La-Z-Boy is investing in the athletic and performing arts because those programs continue to build
and influence tomorrow’s leaders. La-Z-Boy is proud to support our public schools and the pride of
our community, the students who attend them. I want to thank La-Z-Boy and the La-Z-Boy Foundation for helping give back to the community.”
Alex Green, executive director at RheaECD, praised La-Z-Boy for its substantial gift and commitment to education and community.
“They simply continue to raise the bar,” Mr. Green said. “The relationship between La-Z-Boy and Rhea County is an image of what’s right with manufacturing. If national and state leaders are trying to decide what American industry should look like going forward, La-Z-Boy’s operation, leadership
and investment in Dayton are required research.”
Mr. Green, also a Rhea County High School graduate, echoed Mr. Smith’s sentiment on the impactful
nature of La-Z-Boy’s gift.
“As a proud member of the Rhea County High School Class of 2008, thank you, La-Z-Boy,” Mr. Green said.