Were he to do it over again, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz might solicit more public input before recommending adding Gene Kranz’ name to that of Toledo Express Airport.
But while telling the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority board of directors Thursday morning he regretted how the proposal “stumbled out into public discussion,” the mayor also said he thought “we would have arrived at the same decision” using a more formal process.
By an 11-0 vote, with two members absent, the port board then joined Toledo City Council in approving the name change to Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport, with several board members lauding the idea.
The Kranz name “exemplifies somebody that speaks so much to flight,” director Nadeem Salem said, while board member James Tuschman said Mr. Kranz was certainly well known to everyone who followed the United States’ space missions of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
And Baldemar Velasquez said that, while logging satellite positions for the National Aeronautical and Space Administration as part of an astronomy class at what was then Pan American College in Edinburg, Texas, he wondered to himself who was in charge of such things.
“I am very honored to have our airport named after this man,” he said.
Mr. Kapszukiewicz said that while Mr. Kranz’ name may not be as familiar to Toledoans as those of actors Jamie Farr or Danny Thomas, his was more appropriate than theirs for Toledo Express.
“An airport should be named after a pioneer of flight,” the mayor told the port board. “If it was a theater, maybe we would name it after Danny Thomas.”
And one of the things that naming a public building or facility after someone can accomplish, he said, is to motivate the public to learn more about the person so honored.
Mr. Kapszukiewicz said he had mentioned the naming idea casually to many people over time before he broached the subject on a local radio station in July. But that was when it got attention from the news media, and it took off from there, he said.
“There should have been a process, and that’s my fault,” the mayor said. But if Mr. Kranz’ name weren’t right for the airport, he said, “I just don’t know who you would ever name it after.”
Born in 1933, Mr. Kranz graduated from Central Catholic High School and then obtained a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from Saint Louis University's Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology in 1954
After a period of active duty with the Air Force Reserve and a stint with McDonnell-Douglas Corp., Mr. Kranz embarked on a 34-year NASA career during which he became best known as a flight director for the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 missions. He was on duty both when the Eagle lunar module landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969 and when an oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 service module exploded the following year, requiring improvised recovery measures.
Mr. Kapszukiewicz said he had recently spoken with Mr. Kranz and hopes to have him present for a “nice event out at the airport” for the formal renaming.
“He is a genuine American hero, a living legend, and an icon of flight,” the mayor said.
Before that can happen, the Federal Aviation Administration first must approve the airport’s official renaming — a process for which the port authority and city resolutions were prerequisites.
First Published September 26, 2019, 4:46 p.m.
