Thoughts and Prayers for Derrow Family

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Here is the story for Tuesday's Times-Journal.


Wellston two-sport coach Derrow dies

By PAUL BOGGS

Sports Editor

WELLSTON — Two Wellston High School boys athletic programs will enter new eras next season.

However, they will do so amid the shocking and tragic loss of a longtime fixture at the school.

That’s because Jim Derrow, the head varsity boys basketball coach at Wellston High School for the past 25 seasons and head varsity baseball coach for the past five, died of a heart attack on Monday morning.

The 52-year-old Derrow also served, for an entire decade, as the district’s athletic director.

His name was so prominent throughout Wellston that many people simply referred to him as “Coach Derrow.”

“We’ve lost someone who has had an impact on the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of athletes in not just the community of Wellston, but southeastern Ohio,” said Wellston girls basketball coach Scot Sturgill, who played for Derrow at Wellston in the late 1990s. “For 25-plus years, Coach Derrow was an educator, a coach of young men, a friend to a lot of people. He was my mentor and a lot of other guys’ mentor when it came to x’s and o’s. I was just up at the school last night (Sunday night) talking to him about basketball, about summer plans for our programs. He was excited about next season. It’s hard to believe the next morning he is gone. It hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s a sad day throughout the community and his loss is being felt I’m sure outside of Wellston.”

He also coached the WHS golf team in 2006.

However, he will always be remembered for the highs and lows in his quarter century along the boys basketball bench.

Derrow had guided the Golden Rockets since the 1986-87 season, and amassed 286 career coaching victories against 238 losses in his 24 full seasons and two games in the 2008-09 campaign.

He is the school’s all-time winningest coach in the sport.

Under his tutelage, Wellston won three Tri-Valley Conference championships, including outright titles in 1989-90 and 2002-03.

He captured six sectional championships as well, including three consecutive from 1989 thru 1991 with his final one coming this past season.

“He had some outstanding basketball players and teams for a long time,” said Jackson radio color commentator Dan Morrow. “His teams always played hard and they always worked hard on defense. He had a knack for his kids playing very hard for him. He put a lot of pride into Wellston basketball, and had the program for a long stretch at one of its highest points in school history, if not the highest.”

In 1989 and 1994, Derrow’s ‘Runnin’ Rockets raced all the way to the Division III district championship game.

His first conference crown in basketball came in his second season, and was a tri-championship with both Belpre and Trimble.

“The Wellston High School Athletic Department is deeply saddened by the sudden and unexpected death of our boys’ basketball and baseball coach Jim Derrow. We’re all in shock,” said Wellston High School Athletic Director Jeff Hendershott in a statement to The Jackson County Times-Journal on Monday. “He and I were at a baseball meeting (Southeast District Baseball Coaches Association meeting) together this past Saturday night and he seemed in great spirits. I heard he played some basketball on Sunday and everything was fine. It’s just hard to believe.”

In 2007, Derrow took over the Wellston High School baseball program for longtime and successful coach Pat Hendershott, and proceeded to win at least 15 games in each of his first four seasons.

His first and only TVC championship in baseball was also a tri-title — with Meigs and Alexander in his initial season.

The Golden Rockets advanced to the Division III sectional championship game in each of his first four springs, and finished as back-to-back district runners-up in 2009 and 2010.

He won 76 games as the WHS skipper against only 48 losses, and won at least seven league games in each of his first four seasons.

Derrow graduated from Wellston in 1976 and the University of Rio Grande in 1981, where he played baseball for four seasons.

He assisted Pat Hendershott with the 1985 team, which was the Class AAA state runner-up.

He was also a man of many connections, and was the architect and event director of the annual National Hoops Classic, which featured some of the top boys basketball teams from all over the country.

The National Hoops Classic was held for several years in Columbus before relocating to the Wellston High School gymnasium.

It was during Derrow’s time as the district’s athletic director, from 1993 thru 2003, that the event expanded from the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens to Battelle Hall and the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

His Rocket clubs also faced some of the top programs — and players — in the country.

Among those teams and individuals were Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary with LeBron James (2003) and North College Hill with O.J. Mayo (2005).

James and Mayo moved on to be top selections in the National Basketball Association’s Draft Lottery.

When Wellston first hosted the National Hoops Classic in 2003, the host Rockets played the prominent program of Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Va.

“We’ve been talking for the past couple of hours (since Derrow’s death on Monday morning) about all of the exposure he gained for the program and for the community of Wellston,” said Sturgill. “With the National Hoops Classic, we had some of the best teams in the country playing right there in the gym. A lot of high school kids don’t have the opportunity to play against some of the teams and players that Wellston has played in the past. Coach Derrow did a lot to make that happen here.”

The majority of Derrow’s victories came prior to — and included — his final TVC championship.

Since that 2002-03 campaign, Wellston won just 11 games in a single season and went .500 only once — this past season.

In fact, Derrow’s final victory was the 33-31 triumph over River Valley in the sectional championship, when Justus Ousley scored the game-winning basket at the buzzer.

It was a win Derrow almost didn’t have, as his career also included its difficult days.

Last June, Derrow was rehired as the head boys basketball coach by the Wellston City Schools Board of Education — but only by a narrow 3-2 vote.

His 2004-05 team endured a dismal 2-19 campaign, and he won just 10 games combined spanning the 2006-07 season into December 2008.

He suffered a health scare related to his heart in early January 2007, and missed seven games spanning two seasons (2006-07 and 2007-08).

He coached only two tilts in December 2008 before being declared suspended without pay for the remainder of his supplemental contract — the 2008-09 academic year — to coach basketball.

His suspension — as stated in a Dec. 11, 2008 letter from Ohio High School Athletic Association Commissioner Dr. Deborah B. Moore to former Wellston City Schools Superintendent Lee Kaple — was the result of “a recruiting violation” involving a transfer student during the 2007-08 academic year.

Jamie Lambert coached the Rockets for the final 19 games of 2008-09.

In spite of the controversy, though, Derrow served his suspension, returned to the bench for the next two seasons, and was optimistic about the upcoming campaign with his entire team — minus one graduating senior — returning.

“Just recently, I was totaling his basketball wins as he was approaching 300 in his career and trying to decide how we would honor him when he reached that milestone next season,” said Hendershott. “Now we will be honoring him in a completely different and unexpected way for his longtime service to Wellston athletics. Coach Derrow was unbelievably dedicated and committed to Wellston basketball and baseball and to his staff, teams and student-athletes and his passion and enthusiasm will be greatly missed. Our heartfelt sympathies and condolences go out to his wife Sheri and his children, Mandi and Brant, and his entire family.”

Derrow died just three weeks shy of his 53rd birthday (June 2).

He is survived by his wife, Sheri, and their two children, daughter Mandi and son Brant.

Brant Derrow was a standout for his father’s teams in the early 2000s.

Funeral arrangements are pending under the direction of the McWilliams Funeral Home in Wellston.

[email protected]

[Ironman92]

Excellent write up KS.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Ironman92.....Thanks for the kind words

Wish it was one I didn't have to do

[MTSWNGRVSG]

Thoughts and prayers for the family!

[Roger Mink]

Thoughts and Prayers from Mustang Country.

[BubbleGumTiger]

Thoughts and prayers to the family.

[rickuhrig]

Jim will be sadly missed.

[Futurebkstar]

thoughts and prayers from South Gallia's coaching staff.

[jottings]

Understand calling hours will be 12 noon to 8 p.m., Friday at the McWilliams Funeral Home and funeral services will be 2 p.m., Saturday at Wellston High School.

[Huntington Athletics]

The basketball and baseball coaching staffs at Huntington send our thoughts, prayers, and condolences to the Wellston community. Our baseball coach commented as to what a funny guy Jim was to be around, including as late as the District Baseball voting on Saturday. Most people know that our basketball coach has been friends with Jim since their Rio college days.

I have only dealt with Coach Derrow in scheduling the Big Blue Classic games. He once mistyped Classic as "Vlassic", and we starting calling it the Pickle Tournament. His humor came through even by email! He leaves a legacy much bigger than the Southeast District of Ohio.

[jervin]

Understand calling hours will be 12 noon to 8 p.m., Friday at the McWilliams Funeral Home and funeral services will be 2 p.m., Saturday at Wellston High School.

In Lieu of Flowers they are asking for monitary donations be made to the :Coach Jim Derrow Shcholarship Fund, Wellston City Schools, 1 East Broadway, Wellston OH, 45692

[Vladd]

Prayers to all the Derrow Family. This news is hard to beleive. He may have endured some hard times, but he never gave up and he will be missed greatly. My sympathy goes out to the Wellston Community at this time of sorrow.

[eaglesrock]

Thoughts and prayers from Hocking County

[ole_Bobcat]

Sorry to hear it

[boilermaker]

Just got home from the viewing, sad day in Wellston.
Prayers from my household extend to the Derrow family , for strength and comfort in this trying time.

[West Side Pride]

Prayers...