BLUFFTON, Ohio — Loud cheers echoed through the gymnasium at Bluffton High School as attendees watched a village native, Trevor Bassitt, run the 400-meter hurdles at the Paris Olympics.
Teachers, students, and old childhood friends chanted “USA” while Mr. Bassitt competed on the world stage Wednesday.
They banged on bleachers and shouted, “Let’s go, Trevor,” after spending more than a month raising $28,662 through a GoFundMe page. They also raised another $1,000 from T-shirts, yard signs, and banners to fund Mr. Bassitt’s Olympic journey since he didn’t have a sponsor.
“It was wonderful to have the whole opportunity to do [this] as a community,” said Alice Basinger, who lives in Bluffton and is Mr. Bassitt’s former music teacher. “It was great seeing different faces and thinking about how they knew Trevor. The track coach sat in front of me. ... It was wonderful to get to do it together.”
Despite the hometown enthusiasm, Mr. Bassitt’s journey came to an end Wednesday when he failed to qualify for Friday’s final.
Bill Theisen, a coach at Bluffton High School for 17 years and Mr. Bassitt’s former coach, said he knew Mr. Bassitt was going to do great things in the sport after he graduated, just maybe not to the Olympics.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Mr. Theisen said. “We expected some pretty good things out of him after he won state. It’s just surprising, surprising in a great way. ... It was there all along. He did well every step of the way.”
Some of the proud spectators wore red shirts that read, “Trevor Against The World, Paris Olympics 2024,” including local hair stylist Lynda Best, who helped create the yard signs and banners for those in the village.
She decided to call some residents to help her make the signs after someone commented on the Bluffton Buzz website that they felt the community wasn’t doing enough to celebrate Mr. Bassitt’s accomplishment.
“I called one of my [customers], and she had a banner made for a school thing,” Ms. Best said. “I said, ‘Where did you get that?’ Then she put me in contact. ... I put on the Bluffton Buzz that I was looking into signs and to let me know who was interested.”
She ended up distributing more than 400 signs to people in the village, having to call her friends to help her distribute the signs out of her hair salon, Village Cut N’ Curl.
When it was all said and done, Ms. Best sold just under 700 signs to residents in the community, which are on display in the yards of some homes in the village, she said.
“We have enough money that we’ll be writing a check to his parents,” Ms. Best said.
Julie Rhodes, the mother of one of Mr. Bassitt’s childhood best friends, wore one of those red shirts while wiping tears of joy from her face after watching Mr. Bassitt compete in the Olympics.
She said she remembers his days running track at Bluffton Middle School and acting as something of a mentor to his best friend, who was a couple of years younger than Mr. Bassitt.
“He was the funniest, the most humble kid,” Ms. Rhodes said. “I think this just shows [that] his work ethic is unbelievable.
“When you hear the words, ‘Hometown hero,’ that’s what Trevor is to us.”
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