ABOVE: Tom Seifert and Haley Loerts gauge the ball diamond in 2016 during the pair's first season as assistant and head coach of the Fairmont High School softball team. This was year one of four for the duo. Submitted photo.

FAIRMONT – Long-time Fairmont athletics supporter Tom Seifert passed away on Oct. 26 at the age of 69. After graduating from Fairmont High School in 1974 and playing football and baseball, Seifert continued to leave his fingerprints on the overall sports community, helping coach baseball, football, basketball and softball at various youth levels.

Seifert was also constantly involved in the area through his job as a custodian at Fairmont Area Schools for 26 years.

“I raised three kids who went through the elementary school, and you know, they just loved Seifert, everybody did,” Fairmont High School boys basketball head coach Jared Thomspon said. “When you see them go through the halls, all the kids would take notice of him, give him hugs, and those kinds of relationships. Everything was just so positive with him.”

However, Seifert’s greatest impact was seen in the countless generations of young athletes he mentored throughout his extensive coaching tenure. After finishing his coaching career, Seifert was inducted into the 2022 Cardinal Hall of Fame. He was also a part of the football, baseball, and softball associations.

When former Fairmont High School baseball head coach Jerry Brooks joined the roster in 1994, Seifert was already on staff as an assistant, helping the 1993 team make a run as state runners-up. Brooks decided to keep him on staff after meeting with Seifert a handful of times, hoping to sustain some roster continuity going forward.

Seifert eventually became a coach at the junior high level due to additions to the varsity coaching staff, showing his unselfishness and passion for helping anyone who needed it.

“Anytime you have this organization trying to create these programs for these kids, to have somebody who is pro-kids, versus just pro-winning, he [Seifert] had a sound mind and was very reasonable. His priority was always what’s best for the kids,” said Brooks.

Thompson first met Seifert during this time, playing baseball for the legendary coach at the junior high level. When Thompson returned to Fairmont to coach varsity high school basketball in 2009, Seifert was already heavily involved in the Saturday Morning basketball provided by the CER.

The two continued to work through this program together, with Thompson saying that Seifert was always there to help at a moment’s notice.

“He was just always there,” Thompson said. “I had young kids, and if we had tournaments going on, he was just always the guy that you would call and say, ‘Hey, Seif, can you run this for me on Saturday because I will be gone?’ And he was instantly a yes, always there for you.”

Current Fairmont High School football head coach and activities director Mat Mahoney vividly remembers Seifert coaching him in eighth grade for the junior high basketball travel team, describing the experience as on that left a positive impact.

“He did our traveling season maybe a month after school ball,” Mahoney said. “He was just a blast, he made it fun while never taking anything too personal or serious. It was always just a fun atmosphere to be around with him.”

When Mahoney returned to Fairmont as the coach for the varsity football team, Seifert was also embedded with the program in a variety of ways.

From helping coach the junior high team for many years to being a part of the “Football Chain Gang” for the past 15 seasons, Seifert was always available to put his time towards the development of young athletes.

“When I first came back to Fairmont, he was a custodian at the high school, so I would see him now and then,” Mahoney said. “You look back as a young boy, and having him as a mentor, and then he kind of comes back into your life, which is just a great experience, and I’ve been around him the past 20 years.”

As Haley Loerts was preparing to take on her new position as the Fairmont High School softball varsity head coach in 2016, she was looking for new staff members to build around her new team. She met Seifert while working at her current position as the Fit and Wellness teacher at the elementary school.

Knowing Seifert’s history of coaching softball, the transition to joining her staff as an assistant coach was no problem. Loerts called his time on the staff “everything an assistant encompasses.”

The two had much success during their four-year run at the varsity level, and in 2017, the Cardinals racked up what was a program-best 17 wins.

“Helping at practice and helping debrief the games, even allowing me to vent

about stuff and talk things through,” Loerts said. “He learned how to gauge me, too. … Through coaching, we just became closer and closer.”

Through his time in Fairmont athletics, Seifert played a big part in leading a handful of smaller youth activities, constantly trying to provide his time and energy into building a strong community with the Cardinals.

The CER Flag Football program, Fairmont Kiwanis, VFW, and the American Legion were some of the other entities he had his mark on over the years, constantly committing to these athletics while truly embodying what it meant to be a Fairmont Cardinal.

“He stepped up to the plate,” Mahoney said. “We had a lot of great assistant coaches come through, but Seif always did the little things that nobody really took for granted. … Not the flashy stuff, but he was helping the youth in developing them, just being a great impact on kids.”