Meet Your Neighbor: For Weirich, success is not just winning

CLYDE - During the long basketball season, David Weirich’s work week — much of which is volunteer — easily swells to 65 hours.

He has a lot to balance: family, ministry work at Harvest Baptist Temple, a volunteer position as Athletic Director and JV basketball coach for Harvest Temple Christian Academy (HTCA), and his job as Chief Operator of Clean Air Radio. But Weirich is motivated to push through those long days by one simple concept: compassion.

His life Bible verse, he said, is Jude 22: “And of some have compassion, making a difference.”

“I’m not the world’s best basketball coach or radio host,” he said. “But the world’s a nasty place, and if more people showed compassion, it would make a difference.”

Weirich joined the staff at Harvest 19 years ago and began working at the church’s onsite radio station 18 years ago.

“I came here to come on staff, and it morphed into radio. In 2011, I became chief operator,” he said.

Clean Air Radio broadcasts locally on 90.5 FM and has affiliate stations in Findlay and Coshocton. Through its web presence, the station reaches around the world. Clean Air offers live radio, conservate Christian music, and local programming, including sermons by local pastors. Weirich edits nine of those sermons a week.  

“We’re actually live on the radio eight hours a day. We have local weather and local stories, and I host Morning Light five days a week 7 to 10 in the morning. I tell stories, talk about my boys and give encouragement for the day,” he said.

When the basketball season begins in the fall, Weirich’s weeks stretch out even longer. He began volunteer coaching in the late 1990s and became head JV coach in 2009.

As volunteer athletic director, he oversees the varsity and JV teams. His duties include scheduling all of the games and tournaments, recruiting bus drivers, reserving hotel rooms for out-of-town tournaments, scheduling restaurant stops for after game meals, and emceeing varsity games.

Weirich also coaches the JV boys basketball team, which includes students from Harvest Temple Christian Academy in Clyde, Temple Christian Academy in Fremont and homeschool and public school students. This year, Weirich added a mini elementary league to the roster. He and his wife, Lynette, have 10-year-old twins, Travis and Lucas, who play on the team.

Although Weirich has influenced hundreds of boys — both athletically and spiritually — through basketball, he said coaching didn’t come easily for him.

“Some people are natural coaches. I’m not. I had to push myself out of my comfort zone to do this,” he said. “But I found I love it.”

That love of coaching is grounded in the same compassion that underlies all that Weirich does in life — a compassion that has kept his focus on the most important lessons learned in basketball.

“I want to try to be a positive role model to them and help them have success, but success isn’t just winning. It’s scoring a basket for the first time and learning to dribble for the first time,” he said. “What I love about coaching is the relationships — the talking and the joking.”

But winning can be fun, too, and last year the JV team ended with a 17-1 record and won the ICSO State Championship.

“It’s a day I’ll never forget. I feel like I’ll always have a connection with that group. We did something the school never did before,” Weirich said.

Weirich invites the public to attend the HTCA Annual Invitational varsity boys basketball tournament on March 2-3. Eight teams will travel to Clyde for the event.

“We’re a small program, but we probably have a couple hundred people in here for the tournament,” Weirich said.

Although his days are long during the basketball season, Weirich said he is grateful for those who help, including HTCA tenth-grader and assistant JV coach Gabe Harner and the players’ parents.

“Gabe’s been a huge help this year. He really adds a lot to the program,” Weirich said. “And we have incredible parents. They are the best parents in the world.”

Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.