Press Box
Recent announcements by the OVAC has landed two area coaching greats on the list of the latest additions to the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022. The event is scheduled for Saturday, August 13, at Belmont College west of St. Clairsville due to construction at the Wesbanco Arena which houses the OVAC museum.
Paden City legendary coach Henry ‘Hen Healy’ and Magnolia’s Dave Cisar the winningest baseball coach in OVAC history will both be honored during the induction ceremony.
Healy was ultra successful throughout his career as an athlete and as a coach. His coaching career began at his high school alma mater St. John Central in 1954, and he led the team to the schools only unbeaten season in football in 1956. In 1957 he was named OVAC coach of the year. He also coached the schools basketball team during that period and won the OVAC in 1956. In 1957 he took over the Paden City football and basketball teams and built a dynasty that’s still talked about today.
His teams won the West Virginia Class A state championship in basketball in 1960, and were state runnersup in football in 1968-69, before capturing the crown in 1970. His 1959 and 1963 football teams went undefeated, but failed to qualify for the playoffs under the two top ranked team system. In 1966 he produced a 9-0-1 team but again missed the playoffs. Several of his athletes went on to play Division 1 ball following high school.
Healy has been inducted into the West Liberty Hall of Fame where he plaed football and basketball for four years. He is also a member of the Wetzel County Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 2019. He passed away at age 76 in 2003.
Coach Cisar set a standard at Magnolia that may never be matched. Known throughout the state for his coaching skills he has a combined 1,051 victories in baseball and football at Magnolia. He spent 48 years as head baseball coach and compiled 893 wins, including nine 20 win seasons and five 30 win seasons. He was named West Virginia State High School Baseball Coach of the year in 2007.
Cisar was an exceptional athlete growing up in Benwood, he played his high school ball at Bishop Donahue where he was an All-State baseball player and quarterback of the football team in 1964. His college career began at Miami-Dade Junior College, he transferred to West Liberty after one year and was a standout pitcher for the Hilltoppers for three seasons and a two year captain of the team.
Coach Cisar is a member of the West Virginia Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, the Ohio Valley Football Coaches Hall of Fame and the West Liberty University Athletic Hall of Fame. He was recently inducted into the Wetzel County Hall of Fame and the City named the roads leading to the athletic fields ‘Dave Cisar Way.’ I like to say, ‘Dave Cisar Way, the right way.’
Both of these former coaches left positive influences on many athletes and also their communities. We congratulate them both for their success in teaching others the skills to be better athletes as well as people.
Also being honored at the event on August 13, will be two former standouts from the area, Richard Summers of Sistersville who holds the high school single game basketball scoring record for the Tigers (70) points, and is currently the head volleyball coach at Tyler Consolidated. River high school will be represented by D.J. Duke a former track and field standout for the Pilots.
Remember back in high school when you had to dress up on game days? It’s hard to imagine kids today having to do that. I don’t remember one kid that didn’t follow the rules. Oh, we didn’t always want to, but we knew there would be consequences if we didn’t, so we never took the chance.
These guys mentioned above remind me of those days. One of them once told us, ‘don’t question me, I’m the coach not you or anyone else.’ We knew where we stood with him. Back then if you wanted to play you got in line and earned it. Nothing was given to you. Coach said you provide self confidence, and self discipline and I’ll motivate. All of that is true, we had more than enough players waiting in line. Another thing was most all parents stayed out of it. When you joined a team the coach became your boss.
We need more coaches like those above. I watched a game just last week where a player talked back to the coach. You didn’t do that with these guys, believe me you if you did you wouldn’t be around to do it the second time. These coaches above did amazing stuff when it came to teaching kids not just sports, but respect and attitude. They taught kids how to win and how to lose, but more importantly they taught them discipline, and in a lot of cases right from wrong.