He’s bald. Like shiny and forever bald. So bald you can search the internet and there are no non-bald photos. THAT bald.
So bald you want to make fun of him for being bald. But you can’t be critical, not even a hint of humorous, because as soon as you think you can crack a joke, he places his baldness on a campaign shirt and wins the election.
Again, THAT bald.
But that’s because David Croft is THAT good. Not only is he one of the leading transaction/mergers and acquisitions attorneys in the region, but Croft also is in his second term as a member of the Ohio County Board of Education. What makes him so effective in both positions is passion, a wish to make his hometown better than it was the day before, and because he refuses to take anything for granted.
He sips on joy but never dares gulp, and Croft contemplates his next moves the vast majority of the time because each step taken, he believes, needs to be forward toward another broad smile.
While the majority of your classmates from Wheeling Park High’s Class of 1985 now live elsewhere, you have chosen to live here in your hometown. Why?
Wheeling is my home. When I graduated high school in 1985, most of my family lived in Wheeling and I lacked the compulsion to leave. I focused on gaining an education that would permit me to stay in Wheeling. I was lucky in finding secure employment practicing law with the law firm Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC.
In addition to family matters, Wheeling is an amazing place to live and raise a family. The cost of living is low with a high quality of living. Our public and private schools are excellent, and the residents can easily travel to larger cities to enjoy the larger city attributes. Our community is filled with good, hard-working, considerate people. I have zero regrets staying.
What’s more important about a restaurant? Is it’s food menu or its bourbon menu?
Without a doubt, food. Because of bourbon allocations, it is difficult for any of the local restaurant’s to consistently carry a significant bourbon menu. Besides, good bourbon cannot overcome the experience of bad food. There are several individuals in the community that have extensive bourbon collections and are willing to share them.
Who is the one mentor you remember most and why?
I cannot name a single individual mentor that I remember most. Rather, I have been blessed to have had good people nudge me in the right direction where I might have taken a different path. My former high school coach and now friend, Ken Steiner, taught me disciple and how to achieve results by putting in the work.
While in college at West Liberty, I worked for Meredith family at the Washington Avenue True Value. Don Meredith treated both employees and customers with respect and was a great example of how to run a business. Since I began working as a professional, I have enjoyed the guidance of several talented lawyers, which I still look to for advice today.
What does a high school student need most?
Motivation. The opportunities are now available for high school students. However, those opportunities will be lost if young motivated people do not take advantage of those opportunities. Motivation is closely followed by having a strong work ethic. If you throw in ability, integrity, and humility, then that person has no ceiling on what that person can achieve.
Do you miss having a full head of hair?
It’s been so long since I have had hair I do not know. What I do know is that I have never considered hair transplants or some kind of treatment to regrow hair. I don’t spend much time looking at myself, and I don’t really care what others think of my appearance, so there is really no motive to have hair or to think it’s somehow going to improve my appearance. I am what I am.
Most importantly, my wife likes me as I am.
