Ohio National Guard News

Ohio Guard member watches daughter compete
at state track meet while on leave from Iraq

By Kevin Wiseman, Athens Messenger sports editor
This article was originally published June 3, 2011 in The Athens Messenger and is reprinted with permission.

Ohio Army National Guard 1st Sgt. Chad Savage (center) poses with his daughters, Taylor (left) and Tia.

Ohio Army National Guard 1st Sgt. Chad Savage (center) poses with his daughters, Taylor (left) and Tia. Chad has spent the past five months in Iraq and was granted military leave so he could watch Taylor graduate from Trimble High School and compete in track and field. Taylor Savage will compete in the long jump today in the State Track and Field Championships in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus. (Courtesy photo)

COLUMBUS, Ohio —Taylor Savage will stand alone today on the track at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. She'll put on a Trimble High School Tomcat uniform for the last time to compete in the long jump, capping off a successful athletic career and a stellar nine-month stretch.

The senior was all-league in both volleyball and basketball. She set a Tri-Valley Conference track and field record in the long jump. She's made the state track and field tournament for the third year in a row.

One of her biggest fans missed almost every basketball game, and wasn't around when Savage led Trimble, located in Glouster, to a sectional title in volleyball. But he will be sitting in the stands today in Columbus, as the State Track and Field Championships get under way.

Chad Savage has spent the past five months in Mosul, Iraq. He spent the previous three months before that in Fort Sill, Okla.

"Knowing you're going to miss her senior year, that was kind of tough," Chad said. "We've lived in Circleville for nine years, but we've always came to the games."

Chad Savage, Taylor's father, is a first sergeant in the Ohio Army National Guard's Battery C, 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. He's currently deployed for the third time — all coming since 2003 — on an assignment that started back in September when Taylor's volleyball season was just getting under way. He is enjoying three weeks of military leave so he can watch his daughter graduate and compete in a state tournament.

With Taylor's senior year barely under way, the star athlete at Trimble said goodbye to her dad in the fall. He would not only miss her exploits on the athletic fields, but he wouldn't be around to help her decide where she would go to college.

"His last deployment I was in eighth grade," she said. "So he was gone but it wasn't such a big year to me. But my senior year I've had a lot of decisions to make. It was a real stressful time. We were still able to talk about it. Before he left, he took me out to college visits. We did a lot of stuff to kind of prepare me for this year. But still, I didn't know what to do."

Chad knew situations like this were impossible to avoid. He graduated from Nelsonville-York High School in 1988. By 1992 he still wasn't sure what to do with his life. He ran into somebody that was in the Army around Thanksgiving and by New Year's, Savage had made up his mind.

"I literally left two years before New Year's Day in '92," he said. "I called my mom, I said, 'nope, I'm not coming home. I just signed up for six years. I'm going to Fort Jackson (S.C.) to do my basic and I'll be on active duty for six years, so I'll see you then.'"

Chad stuck with the training and joined the National Guard in 1997. He had found his path in life.

"Myself and my parents came to understand that I needed to grow up and the best place to do that was active duty in the Army," he said.

So when the time came to leave last September, Chad knew it was something he had to do, no matter how hard it would be to miss Taylor's senior year.

"You have to do it," he said. "I signed. I knew what I was getting into. I volunteered to do it.

"I had to focus on the things I could, and that was spending what time I could with them, being optimistic that they're being taken care of."

So Chad got to witness the start of volleyball season, then it was off to Oklahoma for 87 days. Back in Glouster, Taylor was the best player on the Tomcats' volleyball team that advanced to the district semifinals. Volleyball turned into basketball season, where Taylor was a four-year starting point guard.

Taylor and her sister, freshman Tia Savage, tried to communicate with their dad when they could. They signed him up to Facebook before he left — that way they could send messages and make it easier to check up on each other. Chad checked online articles and made a scrapbook to track Trimble's progress and had game broadcasts from Nelsonville TV Cable mailed to him by his mother.

"I like to think that we're really tight, father-daughter," Chad said. "I knew I still had some time with Tia, but (Taylor's) senior year was really kind of weighing on me."

Chad got to see one basketball game, when Trimble played Belpre in December as part of a four-day break before leaving the country. By Christmas, Chad was a world away in Iraq, starting the daily grind that would continue through May.

"Weekends — there's no such thing," Chad said. "Holidays — there's no such thing. It's just the same day. Every day's a Monday."

As a first sergeant, Chad said he "oversees the health and the welfare of the Soldiers in your unit. Basically, I take care of a lot of the logistics. Take care of the health and the welfare while those guys can do their jobs."

While Chad took care of business in Iraq, Taylor did the same on the basketball court, posting a string of January triple-doubles that Chad would get to hear and read about eventually.

Family at home helped during the past nine months for Taylor and Tia, including their mother Teresa and their stepmother Jenica, as well as two young stepsisters that live in Circleville.

Taylor and Tia also became closer than ever, as Tia was also a regular on the varsity basketball team.

"Through everything, we've grown a lot closer than we have through the years," Tia said. "I don't know, we're just good friends. We're best friends, actually. We became best friends. She's helped me out a lot. It's kind of valuable. We do a lot of stuff together. We pretty much do every sport together. We've been with each other the whole time."

Along the way, Taylor made her college choice. She'll head to Otterbein University in the fall to play volleyball. Chad assisted in any way he could, even giving the college coaches a call to discuss Taylor's future.

Winter turned to spring and Taylor turned her focus to track. By the time last weekend's regional meet was held in Lancaster, her dad was back in town.

Chad got 21 days of military leave, including travel time to and from Iraq. That leaves 15 days to be in Ohio, a stretch that started May 23.

With Chad in attendance, Taylor got second place in the long jump at regionals to return to the state meet. Taylor kept the approach to the meet as simple as possible.

"I was just running and jumping," she said. "I was excited for him to be there. But I didn't feel too special or anything, you know? Just kind of rolled with it."

The main reason for taking the military leave was to attend graduation, which was last Sunday. Taylor graduated with honors, is a member of the National Honor Society and was in the top 10 of her class.

The extra track meets are just a bonus for Chad, who's soaking up every moment he can while being home.

"That was our big bench mark — I wanted to be home for graduation, nothing else," Chad said. "And then we timed it so that if she got back to the state, that I'd be able to be here for two weekends."

The high school athletic career of Taylor Savage comes to an end today. The long jump competition starts at noon and Chad will be there in Columbus, not having to rely on a Facebook message to find out the final result.

"I'm glad that I'm able to be there at all," he said. "I'm just going to be supportive. I'm going to sit back in the stands and not make a sound, which is different for me."

By Wednesday, Chad will be making the long journey back to Mosul, Iraq. He will be there until mid-September, meaning he won't be back in time to help Taylor move in to Otterbein.

But he's made it back just in time to see not only graduation, but to see his daughter compete against the best athletes in the state. For now, that's more than good enough.

"It means a lot," Taylor said. "It's a good ending. I want to do really good and kind of have a grand finale. It's just nice that everyone's going to be there. I know that a lot of people from Glouster are going to take off work to drive all the way up. So I'll have a lot of people there supporting me."

Perhaps none more supportive than 1st Sgt. Chad Savage.


EDITOR'S NOTE: At the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III State Track and Field Championship, Taylor Savage reached a distance of 16 feet, 6 inches in the long jump, placing 11th.