BUCYRUS–A sergeant with the Bucyrus Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol is being honored for outstanding leadership and service to the highway patrol.
Sgt. Brandon Spalding, 51, is receiving the 2022 Colonel Thomas W. Rice Leadership Award on Friday during a ceremony in Bellville. Spalding won the award for the OHP’s Bucyrus district, which is one of nine in the state.
“My boss told me he had nominated me,” said Spalding, who joined the highway patrol in 1999, assigned as a trooper at the Bucyrus post. “Yes, it’s a great honor.”
The award, which is presented annually to one sworn supervisory officer in each of the agency’s districts, is named for former Ohio Highway Patrol Superintendent Thomas W. Rice.
It is sponsored by the organization’s Retirees’ Association.
Spalding, who lives in Bucyrus, is also joining other OHP employees who are being recognized for valuable contributions in categories such as trooper of the year and dispatcher of the year. The ceremony is being held at Deer Ridge Golf Club.
Spalding has worked at the Bucyrus post his entire career and was promoted to sergeant in 2012. “I do like it,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen from day to day.
Some days are good, and some are bad, but it’s always an adventure.”
Born in Utah, Spalding and his family eventually moved to Ohio. He graduated from Reynoldsburg High School near Columbus and went on to The Ohio State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in financial management in 1997.
Spalding and his wife, Lindsay, have two children, Corbin and Reagan.