Community rally humbling to young Coach Isler

It’s been a little over two years since Jaden Isler became head coach of the Elida girls’ basketball team, a promotion that came about for the saddest of reasons: The death of then-head coach J.D. Isler — Jaden’s father — in an auto accident north of Clovis on Jan. 11, 2015.

The younger Coach Isler was working as his father’s assistant with the Elida Lady Tigers at the time. After his dad’s passing, he went on to lead the talented Elida squad to its fifth straight state championship, with memories and advice from his late father playing an important role.

For instance, Jaden Isler always wore a lapel pin with his father’s initials on it to games, and he was never far from a black Titleist backpack that held some of his most cherished possessions. Contents included “notebooks of my father’s that had 25-plus years of his notes and thoughts, a purple and white coaching dry erase board, and three letters that my father had written to me that I always keep with me.”

Early last Thursday morning, Jaden Isler’s black Dodge Charger was burglarized in front of his home on the 2100 block of Wallace Street in Clovis, and that treasured backpack was taken.

“I look over the letters before each game in the locker room as my team is out at warm-ups,” Isler said. “Their contents are personal. The knowledge of the contents in his notebooks is irreplaceable as they were from his entire coaching career.”

Isler, who is focused on leading his Lady Tigers team to what he hopes will be a seventh consecutive state championship, immediately took to social media to offer up a $200 reward for return of those letters and notebooks.

What he didn’t expect was the outpouring of responses he received from friends and family in Clovis, Elida, and surrounding communities … even other states.

His original post was shared by hundreds of people, and his supporters have pledged enough additional funds to bring the potential reward up to $3,000.

“People in this community have been unbelievably gracious and supportive to me,” Isler said. “I am blessed to have the friends, family, and community that would support something like this that they really didn’t have to.”

Isler hopes that whoever took the backpack might have abandoned it somewhere after it was discovered to be full of papers, or that possibly the lure of a large reward will help bring it forward.

He asks anyone with information to call him at 806-283-4712, or contact the Clovis Police Department at 575-769-1921.

“Whether the items are ever returned or not,” Isler said, “I am absolutely humbled by all of the people who have helped me share my message and been so generous with their own money. It makes me proud to be from this community.”

Betty Williamson is hoping for a happy ending. You may reach her at:

[email protected]