Alumnus’ Bobcat spirit lives on through scholarship, annual TyAthlon

Fellow Bobcats Andrew Logan (left) and Tyler Weymouth pose in front of the Newseum’s “big screen,” proudly displaying OHIO’s Attack Cat. Logan, BSC ’10, and Weymouth, BSS ’11, worked together at the Washington, D.C. museum. Photo courtesy of Andrew Logan

After graduating from Ohio University, Tyler Weymouth, BSS ’11, swiftly entered the workforce, equipped with the film and video skills he had acquired inside the classroom and through years of experience working as a film projectionist at the Athena Cinema. Weymouth landed a job as a technical operations specialist at the Newseum where he quickly became a rising star and started building his Bobcat family in Washington, D.C.

Less than two years later after joining the Newseum, Weymouth was promoted.

“For his age, it was very surprising that they promoted him to broadcast engineer,” said Andrew Logan, BSC ’10, a native of the Washington, D.C. area and a fellow Bobcat who joined the Newseum as a technical operations specialist in 2013. “If you saw the department, you’d laugh. … Everyone is in their 60s, and then there’s Tyler, a 24-year-old. But he had the depth of knowledge of anyone else on that team.”

Weymouth and Logan did not know each other from their days at OHIO.

“He was the Class of 2011. I was the Class of 2010. I lived on East Green, and he was on West Green,” Logan explained.

Nonetheless, when Logan interviewed at the Newseum, his fellow Bobcat was eager to endorse his hiring, and the two almost instantaneously formed a strong friendship, rooted in shared passion and lively banter.

“We really bonded, and, unfortunately, we were only working together for about nine months,” Logan said.

In November 2013, Weymouth was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. He passed away less than a year later, in July 2014.

In the aftermath of Weymouth’s death, Logan saw an opportunity—to honor his Bobcat brother’s legacy while giving back to a place they both loved and that had brought them together.

In 2015, Logan, with funding from his family’s Revada Foundation and from Weymouth’s family, established the Tyler Weymouth Memorial Scholarship. Awarded to a promising junior or senior enrolled or accepted into OHIO’s School of Media Arts and Studies, the scholarship gives preference to students who are interested in video and film production. Weymouth’s friends at the Newseum are also hoping to establish an apprenticeship in his honor.

“I really hope that we can lay a foundation not only to help educate and lessen the burden and the expense of a great education you get at OHIO, but also set up people to work in major markets because the skill set you get at OHIO is phenomenal,” Logan said of the scholarship.

While the scholarship was a charitable reminder of Weymouth’s professional dedication, his family also wanted to capture his personable spirit.

Members of Tyler Weymouth’s Bobcat family gather for a photo with his family and friends back home during this past summer’s fourth annual TyAthlon, a cornhole tournament that raises money for the nonprofit Tyler Weymouth Memorial Foundation. Photo courtesy of Andrew Logan

In June 2015, the Weymouth family hosted the inaugural TyAthlon, a cornhole tournament that raises money for the nonprofit Tyler Weymouth Memorial Foundation.

“He had an awesome ability to identify what that commonality was between him and whoever he met and then they were able to talk about that one thing for hours on end sometimes,” Andrew Weymouth said of his younger brother. “That’s what I wanted for the fundraiser event—everyone coming together to honor my brother, to talk about how much they knew him and loved him. I wanted something that made everyone socialize together. … The cornhole tournament forces people to have conversations with people they may not know already, but they have that common bond with their connection to Tyler.”

For the past four summers, the Weymouths, their friends and family, and members of the Bobcat family have gathered in Massachusetts, for an afternoon of cornhole and conversation—all in honor and memory of Tyler Weymouth.

And the crowd and the event’s impact are only getting bigger.

“This past year was our largest event yet. I think we had 170 people in attendance,” Andrew Weymouth said. “It’s cool because every year we get more and more people who didn’t know Tyler, but it’s funny because a lot of people leave the event feeling like they knew him because it just sums him up so well, which is everything I could have hoped for.”

Since starting the Tyler Weymouth Memorial Foundation, the Weymouth family has partnered with the Massachusetts-based nonprofit IMPACT Melanoma to install sunscreen dispensers in Weymouth’s hometown and is exploring a donation to the Athena Cinema in Weymouth’s name.

“It’s been inspiring to see Tyler’s friends and family rally to celebrate a young life lost through their efforts to raise money that makes an impact on students following in his footsteps,” said Robin Stock, OHIO’s executive director of development.