Sep. 1—HAMILTON — It was "heartbreaking" to be one of the last people to leave the former Champion Mill when it closed in March 2012, said Dana Mehl.

"This place meant so much to me," said the last production manager to leave the plant. "It was all about the Champion culture. They were all about their people, they were family-oriented. They were ahead of their time."

His heartbreak was so severe that he and his wife, Martha, couldn't drive past the shell of the former paper mill for 18 months after its closure.

"It tore me up," he said.

When asked what was so special about the culture of Champion Mill, Mehl couldn't put it into words. "You had to have been here," he said.

Hundreds of former Champion Mill employees visited the renovated former plant that's now the nearly completed $165 million, 1.2-million-square-foot redevelopment of the Spooky Nook at Champion Mill complex on North B Street that features a conference center, 233-room hotel, and a sports and events center.

Champion Mill operated the paper plant from 1893 to 2012 along the Great Miami River. Thousands of people, mostly from Hamilton and multiple generations of the some families, worked at the mill.

The former employees toured Mill 2, or No. 2 Mill as it was called during the plant's operation, on Tuesday. Spots where some operated machines or sorted paper is now open space, a conference room or a hotel space. Though they didn't see Mill 1, or No. 1 Mill as it was called, but that's where things like basketball courts and a huge multipurpose room will now reside.

The former paper mill employees spent much of the two hours on Tuesday catching up with former colleagues, some of whom they see regularly, but others hadn't seen their former colleagues in years.

Spooky Nook CFO Michael Dollard said they are "humbled to follow in the proud footsteps" of the Champion Mill. "Generations of hard-working people armed with grit and determination overcame incredible obstacles over several decades to create this historic international business, based in Hamilton," he said.

Dollard said it was "incredibly important" for the company to show the former Champion employees what has become of the facility, which sat vacant for a few years before Sam Beiler came in with his team six years ago. He said the facility is being "returned to its former glory with a new purpose."

"We are interested in learning their shared stories, experiences, and history so that we can better understand what happened before we arrived," Dollard said. "We hope to share this legacy with the millions of visitors who will visit Champion Mill in the years to come."

Though Mehl felt like family to his colleagues at Champion, for many of the employees, they were family.

Betty Crosby's father, Gilbert Pyles, worked for a long time at the paper plant. Betty Crosby, who started on the back lines, came on board in 1949 and worked until she retired in 1992 where she worked on the first line. Her husband, Luke Crosby, came on a year after they were married, working from 1955 until his retirement in 1994.

And their son, Pat Crosby, worked at the mill from 1982 until leaving in 1995. He said it was hard to get a job at the paper mill decades ago.

"You had to know someone to get a job at Champion," he said, adding it was that way at many of the manufacturing plants around the greater Hamilton area. "It was a good place to work."

Betty Crosby's role is forever etched in the history of Champion Mill. She was one of the paper sorters in Mill 1, or No. 1 Mill as it was called during Champion's operations, and an image was captured of her during work. That image was etched on an ice bucket in 1982 and awarded to employees with perfect attendance.

A few of her family members received an ice bucket.

Tom Stanton worked here for 38 years, and only left when the plant closed. It was hard for Tom and his wife, Cindy, to drive past the shell of the former plant. They relied on the job, though they did, and still do, have rental properties.

Tom Stanton said the redevelopment is "impressive" as he looked around the convention center side of Mill 2. He worked mostly in shipping on the east side of the Great Miami River, but said he "worked in here a little bit. I help clean this place out."

Cindy, who didn't work at the mill but acknowledged "I feel like I did," said, "I love the fact that somebody's making something out of it."

She's 100% behind the project.

It's been a decade since Tom Stanton walked into the Champion Mill facility, and he was asked if it was weird being back. As he stared around the development, picturing what used to be there compared to how it looks today, he shook his head and said, "Not really, not really."

Five days after trudging away from his opening lap crash in Belgium, Lewis Hamilton rediscovered his smile and some optimism on Friday when he was third-fastest in opening practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.

Chase Winovich revealed what he said to Bill Belichick after he was traded to Cleveland.

D.J. Short and Ed Williams give info on WWE Clash at the Castle on Peacock, including predictions, match card, how to watch, start time & more. (Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)

The New York Giants released veteran LB Blake Martinez on Thursday, which was apparently a "mutual decision."

The Donovan Mitchell trade awoke the NBA offseason from its slumber and impacted many teams around the league. Who won and who lost?

Pat Daugherty, Lawrence Jackson, Pat Kerrane and Matt Stroup attempt to put together a dominant fantasy team based on Yahoo ADP. (David Reginek-USA TODAY Sports)

The 23-time Grand Slam champion joked, "I just got lighter. Use your imagination," when asked about the bathroom break during her press conference.

Friends and family have been seen at Serena Williams' box at the US Open, which she says will be her last tennis tournament before retirement.

Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady‘s still-unexplained absence for 11 days of training camp continues to be a hot topic in league circles. And things are about to get even hotter, in more ways than one. The New York Post reports, via its notorious Page Six gossip column, that Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, have had [more]

Far from “hating” LIV - as Rory McIlroy declared he does earlier this week - Phil Mickelson believes that the Northern Irishman and the rest of the top players should be “appreciative” of the Saudi rebel circuit in forcing the PGA Tour to introduce huge incentives to appease the elite golfers.

With a preseason under their belts, Wright is one of 10 steals so far from the 2022 NFL draft:

He's said family has always taken a "back seat" to football and it sounds like they're going to have to wait a little longer.

Couples ripped Cameron Smith, the 2022 British Open champion and latest golfer to defect to LIV Golf.

Patrick Daugherty ranks his top 25 quarterbacks, 50 running backs, 60 receivers and 25 tight ends before the final draft weekend. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

Gary Player on LIV: 'How can you ever be a champion playing a tour with 54 holes and no cut? What sort of tour is that?'

Yeah, Mohamed Ibrahim still can run the ball. Trey Potts, too. Yep, Kirk Ciarrocca and Tanner Morgan still can hit the right notes. And yes, the Gophers still can play stingy defense. All of that came together in a 38-0 rout of overmatched New Mexico State on Thursday night in the Gophers' season opener at Huntington Bank Stadium. The pregame intrigue surrounded the one-sided feud between ...

Tom Brady recently took off 11 days from preseason training due to personal reasons, and now sources are alleging that there might be trouble in paradise with wife Gisele Bündchen. It seems that the athlete’s decision to un-retire might be the reason, too. “Tom and Gisele are in a fight right now,” a Page Six […]

SEC football predictions Week 1: Our experts pick the winner of every game involving league teams, including Florida-Utah and Georgia-Oregon.

Want to commemorate Baker Mayfield's highly-anticipated season-opening clash with the Cleveland Browns? Now you can!

Say it ain't so, Coach!