'Bigger than what happened to them:' Coach remembers boys killed in triple shooting
On the pitcher's mound of Field 4 behind Monroe Elementary sits a bouquet of red, white and black flowers, a baseball and a hat with the number 99 on it.
It's Clayton Doerman's number on that hat. The small memorial on Field 4 is where the 7-year-old played his last game June 14.
Just a mile down the road, Clayton and his two younger brothers, Hunter, 4, and Chase, 3, were killed June 15. Their father, Chad Doerman, has been arrested and charged with the killings. Prosecutors say he executed the boys with a rifle. No one is saying why.
But Clayton's coach doesn't want to talk about how Clayton and his little brothers died. He wants to talk about how they lived.
"These boys are bigger than what happened to them," Dwayne Kuhn said.
Kuhn coached Clayton for three years in the New Richmond Youth Sports Association. Kuhn's son played with Clayton on the Riverbats. The team should be closing in on the end of their season of coach pitch baseball, but they canceled the last three games in the wake of the tragedy.
"They were so much fun to be around. Super energetic. Joking, laughing, having a good time," Kuhn said. "They were always at the fields together."
He remembers Clayton as a "feisty lefty" with an infectious smile. A grin that would spread to your own face even if Clayton was doing something he shouldn't.
One game, Kuhn recalled that Clayton was getting distracted playing first base and kept tossing little pinches of dirt around. Kuhn said he needed to keep his eye on the ball so he wouldn't get hurt.
Clayton said OK, but his grin said he was probably going to keep doing it anyway, Kuhn said. The coach couldn't help but smile back.
In the middle of another game, Clayton just looked over at Kuhn and asked, "Do you want to come over to my house and go swimming and watch fireworks this weekend?"
"He wanted to be everybody's friend," Kuhn said. Clayton cheered loud for his teammates and was quick with a pat on the back when someone was having a bad game.
Despite being a jokester, when Clayton got up to bat, he was all business, Kuhn said. He said he saw a future for Clayton as a pitcher. His older sister pitches on her softball team, and Kuhn thought Clayton, as a lefty, might follow in her footsteps.
Now the team is heartbroken, Kuhn said. He said he's not sure how to explain to a group of 7-year-olds that their friend is gone.
"I have a hard time explaining it to myself," Kuhn said.
Kuhn grew up playing ball in New Richmond. On Friday, he took the back way to get to the ball fields because he wasn't ready to drive past the Doerman house yet.
"It's hard. It's been tough," Kuhn said. "There's nothing that can prepare you for something like this. My heart just hurts for that family, for that wonderful mother and sister."
Kuhn knows how important these teams are to the community and to the family. Games are a family event, and he remembers his daughter playing tag with Hunter while Clayton was on the field.
He said the teams bring kids together from different elementary schools. Clayton was home-schooled, so when the baseball season started up, his son was also excited to spend more time with him.
"When you get smaller towns like this, people rally around youth sports because they know what it did for them in the past and they know what it can do for kids in the future," he said. "It really helps to build the friendships that these kids have. The friendships that are made on the baseball field are amazing connections."
On Sunday, much of the team and the community will gather at Field 4 and other diamonds at the New Richmond Youth Ballfields at 6 p.m. to share memories about the boys and honor the first responders who tried to help them.
Visitation and funeral services for the boys will be at the First Baptist Church of Glen Este, located at 1032 Old State Route 74 in Batavia Monday beginning at 4 p.m.
"It's going to be a hard thing to get through," Kuhn said. "We're going to find a way to continue to keep Clayton's memory alive on our team. As long as I'm head coach, he will be on our team."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Coach remembers Doerman brothers killed in Clermont County slaying
