Catching up with Paint Valley alum, former coach Jeff Everhart

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio. — It is fun to get into our sports time machine and rewind to find some of our county’s best in sports history. I went to Bainbridge and looked back to the 1990s. There, I caught up with Jeff Everhart, a 1996 graduate of Paint Valley and a standout in both basketball and baseball. On the hardwood, he was one of the county’s best-ever three-point shooters. He knocked down 59 triples in one season, which still stands as a single-season record at Paint Valley (tied by Hanna Uhrig this past winter). During the spring, he was a key member of an outstanding baseball team which won the 1995 OHSAA State Championship and then returned to the Regional tournament the following season. In fact, Jeff hit three monster home runs in tournament wins during that state title run his junior season.

“There are so many things – so many thoughts – when I think back on that time,” said Everhart, when asked about what he remembers most about his playing days. “It was just really fun to play and compete with my teammates.”

As an adult, Jeff continued to give back to Paint Valley. He has coached basketball for both boys and girls at multiple levels in multiple roles. From 2008-2011, he was the head coach for the girls’ varsity program, where he led the Lady Bearcats to back-to-back Sectional championships in 2010 and 2011.

Today, Jeff is an IT Specialist at Atomic Credit Union. He still lives locally, is a big fan of sports, and enjoys following the entire athletic scene. Due to his playing and coaching days, he feels strongly about young kids playing sports.

“I really believe that if kids are involved in the right type of program, kids can get great life skills from it all,” said Everhart, who is one of 12 PV boys to ever score over 1,000 career points in basketball. “It creates discipline and a will to win. Even though in the moment it is just a game, those skills give you a chance to be successful in life. It gives you a great foundation in terms of character.”

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