David Wade

David Wade grew up in Huntington but started elementary school in Ohio while his mother was in graduate school. When they returned to Huntington, Wade attended the Marshall Lab School, Meadows Elementary, Lincoln Junior High and graduated from Huntington High School. After high school graduation, he went to Fork Union Military Academy for one year before coming back to Huntington to attend Marshall University on a basketball scholarship. He played for four years. He then worked as the program developer at the Guyandotte Boys Club and executive director of the A. D. Lewis Community Center before going overseas to play basketball for Club San Miguel for two years.

Upon his return to Huntington from overseas, Wade worked as a corrections officer; at the West Virginia Children’s Home Society; as a Marshall University Police Officer; and with the Bureau of Prisons for 10 years.

In his younger years, Wade represented West Virginia in national AAU basketball tournaments five times, winning two national championships, two runner-up awards and one third-place award. He was a member of all-state football and basketball teams for three years at Huntington High and was an All- American in football and basketball in 1979.

Wade was inducted into the Marshall University Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 and became the second African-American from Huntington to achieve that accolade, the first being Hal Greer.

He is working on his master’s degree in divinity at the Payne Theological Seminary and works with the Southwestern Community Action Council as a participant/assistant with the 55 and older program.

Wade’s goals are to finish his master’s degree, become pastor of Young Chapel AME Church and to be a community leader who helps youth.