Ron Paul is a Republican candidate for president, a congressman from Texas, a staunch conservative known for his advocacy of limited government, low taxes and free markets, and a doctor who has delivered more than 4,000 babies.
That much is widely known about Mr. Paul, who is making his third run for the American presidency.
A lesser known aspect of his biography is that in 1953, his classmates at Dormont High School, where he was president of the student council and a track star, voted him "best all-around." The Dormont Historical Society still has the yearbook to prove it....
For Ron Paul, life began in Green Tree, a small community southwest of the city of Pittsburgh, and later Dormont, another small borough south of the city, where he attended high school....
Born in 1935, he was the third of five sons of Margaret and Howard Paul. He worked on the Green Tree Dairy, his family's farm, won the Pennsylvania state championship in the 220-yard dash and graduated from Dormont High School in 1953.
He went on to Gettysburg College and Duke University School of Medicine, married Carol Wells, another Dormont High School graduate, and did his medical residency at Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland before moving to Texas.
Yet as his political career has progressed, Mr. Paul has cast himself more as a man of ideas than a particular kind of personality, Mr. Hogan said. And that's why, even in the Pittsburgh region, more people would identify Mr. Paul for his commitment to libertarian ideals than for his upbringing in Green Tree.
But although Mr. Paul left the South Hills of Pittsburgh long ago for Texas, Congress and now a national campaign that had him unveiling his economic plan in Las Vegas last week, there are still some here who remember Mr. Paul as Green Tree's native son.
"People mention it. We always make sure to order any books about him or by him, and they do get checked out," said Adaena Tray, the director of the Green Tree Public Library.
And as Mr. Paul won congressional elections, ran for president on the Libertarian ticket in 1988 and then the Republican ticket in 2008, Marilyn Albitz, president of the Green Tree Historical Society, has been steadily tracking his career, saving articles she finds and others send her about Mr. Paul.
"Everything I find I cut out," she said. "We've got quite a thick file on him."
There's another thick file on Mr. Paul's accomplishments filed at the Dormont Historical Society, as well as a "Ron Paul 2008" campaign poster, a milk carton from the Green Tree Dairy where Mr. Paul and his brothers worked, a quarter with Ron Paul's image on it and a picture of Mr. Paul and his wife on a poster of married couples who met as students at Dormont High School.
Dormont High School was replaced by Keystone Oaks High School in the 1960s, but the Dormont Historical Society still keeps a shelf filled with Dormont High yearbooks.
In the 1953 yearbook, a young Ron Paul describes his pet peeve as "stuck up girls," his pastime as "keeping up with sports" and his ambition "to go to college."
His classmates voted Mr. Paul and a female classmate, Marlene Santomo, as "best all-around."
Marlene Santomo, now Ms. Holmes-Dunn, still lives in Dormont and works as a financial adviser. She never heard her former classmate discussing any of the political or policy views he holds today, but remembers him as well liked and friendly to everyone.
"I have always thought very highly of Ron," she said. "He did come to a couple of our class reunions when he was a [congressman] and actually, everyone thought very highly of Ron. The more and more I read about him right now, I think he has wonderful ideas, and I wish he was getting more attention."
Ms. Holmes-Dunn's complaint is a common one voiced by Paul supporters, who point to his strong grass roots support, his second-place finish in the Iowa straw poll and his consistent presence near the top of presidential polls as reasons the media and voters should give his campaign more attention.
