CADIZ — When Todd Dunlap heard he’d been named the Huskies Sports Foundation’s 2018 Booster of the Year, he was dumbfounded.

“Actually, I was at a wrestling match Wednesday night and Rick (Ferri) swung over from their Christmas party and told me,” Dunlap said prior to Friday night’s boy’s basketball battle between Harrison Central and St. Clairsville inside the bowels of the John W. Stephenson Center.

“I was surprised. There a lot more people deserving of this.”

The Huskies Sports Foundation has been supporting athletes at Harrison Central High School since the school was founded at the turn of the century.

Dunlap remembers many of those boosters members during his days as a Cadiz Cardinal. To be included with some of those folks is, in his mind, an honor in itself.

“Those guys do a lot for our kids,” said Dunlap, who graduated from the final Cadiz High class in 1999.

“That makes me humble to get this award. There are a lot of guys who do a lot of stuff,” he added.”

Dunlap is a Huskie through and through. He attended Ohio Northern University in Ada, then moved on to a teaching position at Lima Central Catholic. After a year there, a position opened at Harrison Central and he returned to Harrison County in 2004.

From the start, he immersed himself in athletics, and the boosters. During the past decade-plus, Dunlap has coached golf, wrestling and baseball, with head golf coach, which he still holds, his top position.

As the longest-tenured head coach at the school, Dunlap is also an assistant principal in the schooldistrict, having also served as a social studies teacher and guidance counselor.

“I just like working with kids,” he said. “I never thought about going anywhere else. This is where I’ve made my home.”

And coaching and working with the boosters allows him to bolster their lives; just like they did for him during his playing days.

“As an athlete, you knew (the boosters) were there,” he said. “They got you stuff, but I don’t think you appreciated it nearly as much. I know I didn’t take enough time. I just knew I got a pair of shoes. Now, I think about it terms of all the money and all events they do. These guys work tirelessly for nothing but to provide for our kids. You can’t put a pricetag on that.”

Dunlap is active in a plethora of events for the boosters, many focusing around the sports he coaches and is involved with.

“When I came back as a coach, I started being involved a lot more,” he said. “I try to do the best I can for our school and community. I was born and raised here and it’s something I take pride in.”

Dunlap is passing those beliefs down to his two daughters — Reese, 6 and Harper, 3. He also praised his wife, Jennifer, who he said has been with him every step of the way.

“She supports me in everything,” he said. “She is always there to help me with these things and I couldn’t do it without her.

“And, the community, in general, has been great.”

Dunlap encourages anyone who wants to join the boosters to do so.

“It’s not a huge responsibility,” he said. “Come help out when you can and do what you can do. I would encourage people to join, especially younger people.

“It’s a good time. It’s just a way of life and and a way to give back.”

If you know of someone in sports in the Ohio Valley whom I could feature as an Ohio Valley Unsung Hero, drop me a line at rthorp@timesleaderonline.com or via Twitter @RickThorp1