The 55th Curbstone Coaches Hall of Fame banquet, sponsored by Briarfield Health Care Centers and Ed and Diane Reese, is set for Sunday, May 5 with 12 new members set for enshrinement during ceremonies at Mr. Anthony’s Banquet Center in Boardman.
Former NFL official and current national network television rules analyst, Gene Steratore, will serve as guest speaker.
Weaver was born February 14, 1959, and is one of six coaches this year to gain entrance into the hall of fame.
A 1977 graduate of Southington Chalker High School, she was an all-around athlete for the Wildcats where she played basketball, softball and threw the shot put-discus in track, and played both trumpet and French horn in the band.
She took classes at the Kent State-Trumbull campus and played on their women’s basketball team for a season while working in the factory at the Johnson Rubber Company in Middlefield.
She worked nine years at JRC as a receiving clerk, shipping clerk and in their purchasing department, meeting her future husband, Irv, at the company.
They were married in 1983, their first daughter, Stephanie, was born in 1985 and in 1987 she started taking adult evening classes at the Trumbull County Joint Vocational School.
She completed and received her merit certificate from their EKG technician course in December of that year and became a Certified Phlebotomy Technician in April of 1988, also completing her medical assistant course.
In 1990, her second daughter, Nicole, was born.
She began coaching her eldest daughter in softball for seven years at the Champion Athletic Club – she served as CAC secretary for two years – then coached both of her daughters’ travel softball teams for 11 years with the Rapid Fire and Chain Reaction organizations in 12-U, 14-U, 16-U and 18-U.
She served as Mathews High School’s junior varsity softball coach during the 1998-99 school year, coaching the Mustangs’ eighth-grade basketball team the following year.
She started her varsity coaching career in 1999-2000 when she accepted the head softball opening at Champion High School, a position that she has held for the past 24 years.
Since that time, she has led the Golden Flashes to a 498-119-3 overall mark (.806 winning percentage) in 620 games coached, transitioning the program into one of the most respected in the state and a program that other schools have chosen to model their programs after.
The architect of 16 league titles, she has led CHS to 19 sectional crowns, 12 District titles and seven District runner-up finishes.
Under her direction the Golden Flashes have won eight regional championships, also boasting two regional runner-up finishes.
While other programs dream of a state title, Weaver’s Golden Flashes have a stranglehold on the OHSAA title trophy, one they cannot seem to let go of for too long.
She led her 2004 unit to their first state “Final Four” appearance, followed that up with a state runner-up finish in 2006 and is the author of six state championships, those coming in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
A 16-time Trumbull County “Coach of the Year” honoree (2004, 2006, 2008-13, 2015-19 and 2021-23), she was named the National Federation of State High School Association’s “Coach of the Year,” Ohio High School Fast-pitch Softball Coaches Association “Coach of the Year” and National Fast-pitch Coaches Association “Coach of the Year” in both 2015 and 2019.
The recipient of six Curbstone Coaches awards (2011-12, 2015, 2017-19), she was named MaxPreps National Small School “Coach of the Year” in 2018.
She is a two-time Northeast Ohio High School Fast-pitch Softball Coaches Association “Sportsmanship, Ethics, & Integrity Award” honoree (2016 and 2018) and in 2018, was inducted into the Trumbull County Sports Hall of Fame.
She and her husband Irvin, reside in Bristolville while daughter Stephanie (Anthony) Gressick resides in Bellevue, Washington and daughter Nicole is a Columbus resident.
