Fighting the Demons of Suicide: Former Bowling Green High School Baseball Coach "Powers Up" for historic run

Katie Botsis, OHSAA Sports Information Intern, September 22, 2009 4:29 p.m.

Former Bowling Green High School baseball coach and member of the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association, Doug Merrill - (Photo courtesy of the OHSAA)

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Former Bowling Green High School baseball coach and member of the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association, Doug Merrill, has experienced firsthand the psychological toll that depression can take on a person.

Coach Merrill has lost eight people in his life to suicides, but hopes to turn tragedy into triumph by using his story to promote suicide prevention. A run along the entire East Coast of the United States, a new Foundation and several speaking opportunities are proof of that.
Doug's first encounter with suicide came when he was just 11, as a family friend chose to end his life.

"It wasn't so much shock as it was confusion," Doug said of the incident. Unfortunately, this would only be the beginning of a trend that has followed him throughout his life.

At the age of 16, a close friend and teammate also committed suicide. Less than a week after, Doug's former girlfriend Dawn had a conversation with Doug in which she asked if their friend was in hell. Trying to comfort her Doug said, "I don't believe he's in hell. I believe when you and I die, we'll sit and talk with him the same way you and I are talking now."

Later that day, she took her own life.

"We were having two different conversations," Doug said, "I thought I was comforting her, but really she was using me to remove doubt about a decision she had already made."

As a high school teacher and coach, Doug saw many of his students and players struggle with depression, and the stigma that comes with seeking help.

"Many people are under the impression that talking about suicide will cause it to occur more," Doug said, "But not talking about it didn't save any of my friends."

After losing two of his players to suicide, and other attempted suicides at the high school, several students began to look to Coach Merrill for advice.

Admittedly, Doug says, "I wasn't doing a very good job. Students were looking to me for direction because they knew what I had gone through when I was in high school, but honestly I still had some unresolved issues of my own. "

In an effort to better help these students, Doug began writing down his thoughts and memories from the suicides he faced while in high school. With encouragement from an English teacher, it became the inspiration for Coach Merrill's book, Fighting the Demons of Suicide and his newly formed, "Power Up Foundation."

The belief of the foundation is that by increasing a person's physical health, you can also improve their mental health. Doug believes so passionately about the issue that he recently resigned from both his teaching and coaching positions to devote more time to the cause, which includes several speaking engagements around the state. Doug hopes to raise $25 million that will go directly to community programs that promote both physical and mental health to people of all ages.

Doug is wasting no time in drawing attention to his cause. "Run for the Keys" is an incredible run he has planned that will begin in Boston, Massachusetts October 4 and finish six months later in the Florida Keys. The coach plans on running 13.1 miles per day, the length of a half-marathon, and taking only one day a week to rest.

Doug has planned several speaking engagements during the trip and will be donating those proceeds, as well as his book sales, directly to the Power Up Foundation.

Doug has also organized a 5k run that will take place at Bowling Green High School September 26. For information on either of Doug's races, or to make a contribution to his foundation, please visit his website, www.PowerUpFoundation.com.