Lillstrung

A deep and skilled Hathaway Brown was in direct pursuit of the Hawks there and will be at state.

The minutes after a meet are chaos, trying to locate exiting student-athletes on deck with whom you want to speak for your story or a Twitter video interview.

And in the midst of that annual chaos, that aforementioned reinforcement suddenly arrived through a four-word text:

“Paulette Welch died today.”

It stopped me in my tracks.

Suddenly, the inner workings of swimming and diving and the road to Canton didn’t matter as much.

For those who aren’t aware, Welch was a longtime sports information director for Notre DameCathedral Latin and also did work for other area schools, including University.

Chances are, your school has its own Paulette Welch, someone who helps coordinate information and events in some form to help disseminate to a broader community.

Welch was highly supportive of our work at The News-Herald — and I’m certain that sentiment is shared by my colleagues, at other local media outlets and within our area high school sports landscape.

If I was missing a preview form or all-star nominations from a coach, the email went out and was answered within minutes, and the issue was usually solved within a day.

If there was a headshot required for a NewsHerald player of the week, consider it handled.

If there was a box score in football or basketball, presented in a time-saving format, consider it sitting in our inbox.

If there was an NDCL story or content that needed to be shared with the Lions’ faithful on social media, consider it done.

In good times, and yes in the occasional negative moments, too, she was a positive presence, ensuring any matter would be resolved.

I have spent many afternoons and evenings in Munson Township on NDCL’s campus over the years for a football game, soccer match or other event, exchanging pleasantries with Welch before zeroing in on my work.

We also shared quite a few memorable interactions on Twitter.

I’ll never forget the night I was covering an area boys soccer match a few years ago and overheard a conversation. One person was trying to tell the other the reason their side moved up an OHSAA division was because they were “too good” for the lower division.

“Yeah, we were winning too much in the other division, so they moved us up,” the person said, slightly paraphrasing.

Obviously, that’s not how it works.

I tweeted about it to let off some annoyance, and within seconds, Welch responded with multiple face-palm emojis. It made me laugh, and I moved on with my night.

I also want to note publicly, whenever I’ve had my Twitter laments about people taking our copyrighted stories and pictures and sharing it how they see fit — illegally making it available for free elsewhere — Welch was consistently supportive.

In short, Welch was one of those people who made things just a little bit easier, the type of person and type of people we all need around to make high school sports function in the way that it does.

While we lament her death, I believe it should also be a reminder of the value people like her have for us.

If you’re around a given sport or school long enough, there’s certain people you see, time after time and year after year.

The ticket takers. The concession workers. The public-address announcers. The scorebook keepers and team statisticians. The scoreboard operators. The athletic trainers. The maintenance workers and custodians. The security guards and police officers. The information runners. The rink attendants. The hurdle crew. The timers. The officials. The administrators. The coaches.

The proverbial list goes on.

In many of those cases, you can’t really classify them as a close friend per se, someone with whom you frequently interact outside of high school sports.

Yet there’s an appreciation and a commonality within that shared experience, knowing what they do, no matter how trivial or thoroughly important it is, makes your day go more smoothly.

Since we’re amid hockey and swimming right now, for which I’ve had a deep personal connection having covered both for much of my News-Herald career, 16 years for swimming and diving and 22 for hockey, instances spring to mind.

At the Baron Cup every year, the same PA announcer handles those duties at Brooklyn. When you hear his voice, with that familiar “Good afternoon, hockey fans, and welcome to the John M. Coyne Recreation Center,” or that certain inflection for “icing” or “man advantage,” it’s a reassurance in a way.

In swimming, for district meets over the weekend, there was a need for timers on the blocks at CSU as the usual backup in case the automatic system malfunctions. The calls for timers were answered within minutes by volunteer parents and attendees, ensuring the meets could start punctually.

As part of this high school sports dynamic, every year we celebrate milestones, achievement, longevity, parents, senior student-athletes and more.

Maybe it would be advisable if we set aside more time at our schools seasonally to recognize the more unsung heroes of event management and implementation as well.

Because without those people, really where would we be?

I’ll miss sending those emails to Welch and seeing those replies, not to mention of course seeing her at NDCL and elsewhere and our interactions with a shared purpose and sense of humor to it.

Our high school sports community feels lesser than today without her.

My deepest condolences are extended to her family and to the school communities she served so admirably at NDCL, US and beyond.

May her memory be a comfort, and may her selfless work continue to serve as an example of how the toil of unsung heroes amid high school sports is appreciated and never goes unnoticed.