COLUMBUS — With a softball career that spanned 28 seasons, saw his teams win more than 400 games and make a pair of state final fours, former Circleville coach Dave Truex was honored last week with induction into the Ohio High School Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
“It’s a great honor, but it’s for everybody,” Truex said, referring to all the players, assistant coaches, administrators and other supporters who were part of the success his Tiger teams had.
He and the Tigers had a 416-272 record during his 28 seasons, won four district titles and finished as state runner-up in 2006 with a return to the final four in 2007.
“Honestly, we never won the league. But I guarantee you nobody wanted to play us,” Truex said.
Truex was presented at his induction by longtime assistant coach, former player and daughter, Jada Truex.
“Dad never needed to be liked, but always wanted to be respected,” she said. “If any young coach is out there wondering how you coach for decades, this is the secret. Not everyone liked being coached by coach Truex, but they respected him if they stuck with him.”
Truex didn’t have interest in coaching softball until a friend approached him about the open softball position at Circleville and tried to convince him “it’s just like baseball.”
“I agreed to do it for one year,” Truex said. “It was the most enjoyable sport I ever coached — the competition, the strategy, the players, most parents, some coaches and even a few umpires.”
Along with softball, Truex spent 24 seasons coaching football (nine as head coach), 10 coaching baseball, three coaching girls track and he even did a year of middle school wrestling and basketball. He also spent 18 years as athletics director for the high school and middle school.
“I can’t say how much I enjoyed, and how much I miss, the association with the coaches,” Truex said. “The first guy I ran into when I walked in today was Chris Downing from Groveport. Him and I got to be buddies, and we played winter ball up there the last five years of my coaching. And guys we played against — (Mark) Paxton (Sheridan) and I, we used to butt heads, we were too much alike. We really, I don’t think, liked each other for a long time and then a couple things happened and we ended up being best buddies.”
Truex had the opportunity to coach all three of his children — Jada, Jill and Mitch — during his time at Circleville.
A standout three-sport athlete as well, Truex was a thousand-point scorer in basketball for Circleville and was part of the inaugural Circleville Hall of Fame induction class in 1997. In 1999, he was brought into the hall of fame at Capital University, where he played baseball and football, and was inducted into the Mid-State League Hall of Fame in 2024.
Inducted last week along with Truex were Tim Miswander of (Mansfield) Madison High School, Jim Stevens from West Jefferson and Brenda Stieger from Fairfield High School.
