T-L Photo/Nick Henthorn Jim Crutchfield, one of the most successful basketball coaches in NCAA history who spent 13 seasons coaching at West Liberty University, speaks to those in attendance at Thursday’s St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce annual dinner.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A celebration of local businesses was headlined by a local legend Thursday, as the St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce held its annual dinner to award four different businesses — and one individual — and to hear from longtime West Liberty University men’s basketball coach Jim Crutchfield as the keynote speaker.

The annual dinner, hosted at Belmont College’s Dowler Hall, saw the distribution of five awards — the Safety Professional of the Year, Distinguished Employer of the Year, the Service Above Self award, the Community Improvement of the Year, and the Business of the Year.

Neffs Fire Department won the night’s first award, the Safety Professional of the Year, presented by Linda Kindler on behalf of both the Belmont County Safety Council and the chamber.

Neffs Fire Department won the award as “An organization that quite often risks their lives to protect others in the community,” Kindler said.

“In 1942, founding members recognized the need for fire protection. They started with a phone line, a siren on the roof and a homemade truck. Today they operate multiple trucks and they cover territories in two townships,” Kindler said of Neffs.

Distinguished Employer of the Year went to Chick-fil-A of St. Clairsville. The award, presented for the ninth year by Belco Works, was handed out by Belco Works President Richard Myser, with the intent of recognizing local businesses that have diverse groups of employees from different backgrounds.

An individual took center stage next, as A.J. Smith of the St. Clairsville Rotary Club received the Service Above Self award, presented by Rotary President and chamber Executive Director Wendy Anderson.

“Service above self means putting the needs of other people over our own,” Anderson said of the award. “Lending a hand to those less fortunate and striving to make the world a better place. This is about pitching in when no one is looking, about walking around town on a very cold day to support a food truck. It’s bringing video equipment to a Rotary meeting at a moment’s notice.

“It’s playing in a golf scramble with some so-so players and smiling about it. It’s making a map of the city for our Christmas Parade year after year after year after year. It’s getting into the role of treasurer for the Rotary when it needed to be filled. It’s showing up at events when no one else does. He’s a devoted husband and a dad, and they, too, have volunteered to show up when needed. This Rotarian is a posterman of service about self.”

The penultimate award was the Community Improvement of the Year, which was awarded to St. Clair Building Center and presented by Sarah Barickman, the Annual Dinner Committee chairwoman. Barickman said the award is given in recognition of businesses that show creativity and innovation, that enhance the quality of life in the community and that create jobs.

Finally, the Business of the Year award went to Century Hospitality, a property management company that has in its current portfolio seven hotels, which are locally owned and operated and have won national awards for quality and guest satisfaction. The award was presented by Jess Rine on behalf of WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital, title sponsor of the dinner.

After the awards were handed out, the floor was turned over to one of the most successful basketball coaches in NCAA history, Jim Crutchfield.

Crutchfield began his coaching journey at Cameron High School before eventually landing the head coaching job at West Liberty University, where he inherited a four-win team. From 2004 to 2017, Crutchfield amassed a record of 359-61, had 13 straight 20-win seasons, reached 30 wins five times, won seven conference titles, advanced to eight NCAA Regionals and five Elite Eights. The 2004 West Liberty team finished as national runners-up.

Crutchfield left West Liberty in 2017 to become head coach at Nova Southeastern in Florida, where he inherited a six-win team and amassed a record of 136-21 in five seasons so far. In his new position, Crutchfield won three conference titles, two tournament crowns, three regional championships and coached last year’s team to an undefeated national championship season, overcoming his former team the Hilltoppers in the national championship.

Crutchfield talked about his move to Nova, the odds of playing West Liberty in the national championship (“With 318 D-II teams, everything else being equal, what’re the chances of those two teams playing? It’s 1 in 100,000,” he said), the landscape of college basketball, the difficulties of keeping a team together, his favorite coaching techniques, and the possibility of Nova Southeastern becoming a D-I institution in the near future.

He also imparted some thoughts about successful coaching that applied to successful business ownership.

“If there’s a common bond between coaching basketball, and being a business owner in Belmont County, it’s how you engage all the people within the program, within the business,” Crutchfield said.

Crutchfield relayed a story from his time at Cameron High School, watching LSU in a close game, with head coach Dale Brown being picked up by the TV microphones in a huddle during a timeout.

“I could actually tell what he was saying,” Crutchfield said. “He looked at his team and he said ‘Do you guys think this play will work? Do you think you can make that work?’ And I thought this guy doesn’t even know what he’s doing, he’s asking his players if they think this’ll work. Then I thought for a second: he’s been a very successful coach at LSU, and I’m sitting on a naugahyde couch in Cameron, West Virginia. Maybe he knows something that I don’t.”

“Obviously he did. If you can engage your people, if you can marry them to an idea, if you can make them take ownership in it – he probably had in his mind the play he was going to call, he just wanted his players to take ownership of it. If you do that, the chances of that play working are greater. I think that’s true of any business, if you involve everybody, if everybody is involved with decisions, then the chance of success is greater.”