Otto Mahler '25 graduated from BW in 1925 and was inducted into the Alumni Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1973.

In his senior year at Berea High School, Otto captained the 1920-21 basketball squad to a 19-4 mark, the best in the school's history. He entered Baldwin-Wallace in the fall of 1921, played football, and lettered on the Jacket varsity basketball team as a freshman. Sustaining an injury which kept him out of the 1922-23 season, Mahler returned in his junior year. In B-W's 12th straight victory that year, Otto tallied seven of the Jackets 21 points. In his final year, Mahler was the high scorer of the Yellow Jacket quintet.

After graduation from B-W, Otto taught and coached at Bay Village High School for three years, during which time he met his wife-to-be, Mabel Edwards of Milan, Ohio.

Upon the death of George Gray, proprietor of Gray's Candy Kitchen in Berea, Mahler purchased his former employer's enterprise and set up a shop which was known as the "popcorn center" of Berea for 43 years. His business was not only his interest in Berea, however, and he served on the city council and many of its committees, chaired Berea's Recreation Committee, and he is a charter member of the Berea Chamber of Commerce. For several years he has been a trustee of the Methodist's Children's Home where he had lived for 17 years.

In 1967, the Chamber of Commerce honored Otto Mahler with the "Grindstone Award," as an outstanding citizen. At the ceremony, Henry Barr, a Berea businessman, said, "Mahler has probably influenced more boys and girls in a positive way than any other single individual in our area. He has offered understanding to the misunderstood, encouragement to youth, a readiness to help others, and a ready wit to those who challenge his humor...."

On July 1, 1970, Mahler locked the door of Gray's Candy Kitchen for the last time, after 65 years of business.