Charlotte’s Male Athlete of the Year made a family decision on his path to App State

Olympic High School is a familial institution for Jeremiah Burch Jr.

That’s partly because of the classmates and teachers he’s been entrenched with during his two years at the school, but it’s also true in a literal sense. His mother graduated from the school, along with his father, uncles, aunts and countless cousins.

Olympic became Burch’s dream school, a place where he could continue the family legacy with his own accomplishments. Now The Charlotte Observer’s 2022 boys athlete of the year, he did just that as a football and track star.

Burch’s success came with a central tenet that he’s applied to all aspects of his life, whether that be on the football field, in track practice or in an elementary school classroom.

“I love helping people,” he said. “Helping is just — it calls to me.”

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The day before the Appalachian State track-and-field commit made his own trip across the stage to receive his diploma, he thought about the impact the school had on him.

“My whole family went here,” he said. “They all graduated from here and I just wanted to be a part of that and our legacy.”

Burch played two football seasons at West Mecklenburg High School under his father, Jeremiah Burch Sr., who coached there at the time. After Burch Sr. left coaching, it was time for the younger Burch to move back to the family’s school and play for a program that he’d been a part of since a young age.

Burch’s father coached at Olympic when his son was in elementary school. Desperate to be with the team but knowing there was no way he could suit up against high school athletes, Burch found his role as a ball boy.

“You’re gonna have to stay beside me the whole time because I’d be damned if you get run over,” Burch recalled his father saying to him.

He remembered how he’d sprint onto the field to give the ball to the referee — all the while being cheered on by the crowd as the little boy handed the ball to the official.

Burch’s first game at Olympic was one of the first times his father saw him play in a high school game from the stands rather than as a coach, a memory he cherishes.

“I think that emotion was authentic of course, (him) competing on the same field that I competed on. It definitely was a joyful occasion at the first game,” Burch Sr. said.

As a center, Burch’s responsibilities included protecting one of his guards with a double-team or assisting his quarterback with various pre-snap signals. His role put him in a position to help others.

He started participating in track as a thrower in the eighth grade and quickly found out that much of what he did in football translated to his new sport.

He needed good balance in football to avoid “being put on (his) butt.” That same balance would soon allow him to excel as a discus and shot put thrower, but that natural talent needed to be paired with his rigid work ethic to be fully realized.

“He would put in extra hours, so it would be six o’clock and he’d be out there sometimes training with another coach … or he’d just be working on little things by himself,” Olympic track and field coach Stuart Belizaire said.

As Burch Jr. became more confident and knowledgeable with track, he began to stay after practice to help teammates that were either new to the game or needed extra assistance, Belizaire said.

The track coach Burch often worked with after practice, Desmond Blackett, was also part of the school’s Ernest Young College MAP program, which looks to help students with the college admissions process.

Burch became a member of the program which provided him SAT preparation, college essay workshops, mentorship and advice on applying for scholarships.

With those tools in hand, Burch paid his time forward by reading books and speaking to kids at Statesville Elementary School, using his athletic exploits as a vessel to talk about the importance of academics, Blackett said.

That’s something Blackett is sure will be a part of Burch’s future in Boone as he competes in track as a Mountaineer.

“Even though he’s gonna grow older, and he’s gonna go to higher heights he’s going to always look back at (giving back),” Blackett said. “He made the call to … give back to the community and I think he’ll continue to do that as he grows into an adult.”

This story was originally published June 23, 2022 at 6:00 AM.