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In Their Words is a weekly feature appearing Sundays in The Blade’s sports section. Blade sports writer John Wagner talked with longtime Ottawa Hills coach Chris Hardman.

When local sports fans think of Ottawa Hills athletics, one person comes quickly to mind: Chris Hardman.

Hardman has spent 30 seasons as the school’s baseball coach, leading the program to a Class A state title in 1986. He just finished his 12th year as the school’s football coach. He also has served as the school’s basketball coach and cross country coach in a tenure that spans the better part of 35 years.

Hardman played football, basketball, and baseball at Piqua, graduating in 1969. He played basketball and baseball at Ohio Wesleyan before graduating in 1973, then got his master’s degree from Bowling Green while assisting with the baseball team in 1974.

He got his first teaching job at Ottawa Hills in 1974, and has been at the school for almost all of the 35 years that have followed.

The only time Hardman has not been associated with the Green Bears was in 1980-81, when he taught at Central Catholic, and the two ensuing years, when he worked for Owens-Illinois.

Hardman returned to Ottawa Hills in 1983 and has been a coach and teacher of both physical education and health every since.

Hardman and his wife, Jeanie, have four grown daughters — Summer, Courtney, Casey, and Jackie — as well as two granddaughters.

“I HAD THREE coaches in high school — Chuck Asher in football, Bill Kennon in basketball, and Jim Hardman in baseball — who all are in their respective halls of fame. I played for three great men who I’m sure helped me develop whatever principles that have directed me as a teacher and coach. Playing for my dad certainly was special. In fact, going to college almost was a bit of a downer because my high school experience was so incredible.

“I wanted to go to Ohio State, but my father was smart enough to realize I should go to Ohio Wesleyan. That was wise, because I was really an average athlete that had benefited from living in a house with a coach. I may not have been more talented, but I feel I was a little intuitive and recognized what it took to be a leader. So I was able to play two sports — basketball and baseball — and I wish I had played football, too. I am proud of the fact that I was captain of the basketball and baseball teams there and earned seven letters.

“I knew I wanted to teach because I saw my father was so happy. I never really contemplated much else than wanting to be like my dad. He directed me to Bowling Green, where I had the good fortune of coaching with Don Purvis and the baseball program.

“After I graduated from Bowling Green, I was going to a wedding in Ann Arbor and I got an interview in Ottawa Hills on the way up. I drove to Ottawa Hills, and I had never been here before, so I drove around and became enamored with the aesthetics of the community. So I had the interview, then drove up to the wedding. Soon after Jim Casper called and said, ‘We want to hire you, but I know you’ll want to think about all the other offers you have.’ So I waited the obligatory few days, then I took the job.”

“HERE’S SOMETHING you may not know: I coached and taught for six years here, but then I left education. I felt the need to make more money, and the stress to raise a young family. I didn’t come back to Ottawa Hills for three years; I walked away thinking I would move on in my life. I did make more money, but I found out that was so unimportant in the final analysis. So then one day I saw that Bluffton High School was hiring, and I applied for the job. I had several interviews, and I remember my heart was racing at the thought of coming back to teaching and coaching — how desperately I had missed teaching and coaching. I didn’t get the job, so I continued to do what I was doing. About three weeks later I got a call from Larry Geresy from Ottawa Hills, and he said, ‘Do you want your job back?’ I just dropped to my knees and thanked God.

“There hasn’t been a day since that I haven’t been passionate to come to this school and work with these kids. I don’t know that I wouldn’t have been that way anyway, but getting away from education was such a powerful experience that helped me appreciate what I had. And then to not only come back to teaching and coaching, but to be able to come back into this community was so good.”

“I THINK KIDS still have character and values and a desire to be good at something. But they have more choices today. Sometimes that’s a wonderful thing, but there are times I think that it’s not so good. I think inherently kids have changed a lot, but I think that’s because the world around them has changed so much. They have so many ways they can spend their time, and maybe that’s not a bad thing. And there are so many more sports to participate in. Kids have opportunities to do things year-round; 35 years ago, when you finished football, basketball started the next day, and when basketball ended, you went to baseball practice the next day.

“I tell our kids that I never remember going straight home after school — I always went to practice or to a game. Kids now have a choice to participate in particular sports year-round. I’m old-school enough to think that there’s a part of that that is not a good thing. When it’s all said and done, is it better to participate in a lot of things and be decent in a lot of things, or to be really good in one thing? I’m not smart enough to have that answer, but I still love three-sport athletes. When I hear people say, ‘If so-and-so concentrated on one thing he’d be a lot better,” I’m not sure I buy that.”

“PEOPLE HAVE GIVEN me far more credit than I deserve [for our baseball success]. The year before we won the state championship, we were 6-22. I was the same guy, so what changed? The kids. If there’s a baseball history that I’m a part of, that state title was the focus. What that did is open, to all the kids in this community, the realm of possibility that you could win a state championship. It changed the thinking about the program.

“We’ve been to Columbus six times, and ironically we may have been there with five better teams, but we’ve never done it again. I remember thinking after 1986, ‘We’ve got five sophomores, so we’ll just do this again for the next two years — and we’ll do it a lot.’ That’s why I tip my caps to programs that are able to do that, such as Coldwater and Newark Catholic, because it’s not easy to do. But our kids will come in to the year expecting to win, and that’s a great thing to have.

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