Good evening!

I wanted to share a major accomplishment completed by Kayleigh Johnson the past two weeks.  I may be partial since she is my daughter, but I wanted to share this since this has such an impact on Carroll County in how she represented our hometown of Hillsville.

Kayleigh went through an extensive application process and was one of 33 students accepted in the Sorenson Institute’s High School Leaders Program (HSLP) that was held July 13^th through 27^th at the University of Virginia.  She was one of only two who represented Southwest Virginia, with the other participants primarily coming from Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Tidewater.  

The HSLP is designed to engage students in public policy challenges facing the Commonwealth and prepares them for civic leadership.  It also aims to help students become advocates in their communities and schools through a curriculum that offers practical skills and political knowledge.  During the two weeks there, Kayleigh heard from speakers such as representatives from the Attorney General’s Office, Secretary of Transportation’s Office, and others that impact our state government.  She also had the opportunity to travel to Richmond to tour the Capitol and Governor’s Mansion.  She was assigned to play the role of a Senator in a simulation of a General Assembly session where they created and passed a state budget bill.  Additionally, she participated in a Constitutional Convention where legislative concepts were developed that will eventually be brought up in the Virginia General Assembly.  She also worked to create a policy that will be presented in the General Assembly related to cover crops reducing run off in agriculture applications.

The biggest accomplishment that Kayleigh had during her two weeks there was her representation of Carroll County and Southwest Virginia.  There is no doubt that she left an indelible mark for Southwest Virginia; her fellow classmate, in her address to the cohort, specifically mentioned Kayleigh for making her realize that there’s much more to our great Commonwealth than she knew from her “Richmond bubble.”  I’m blown away at the number of her classmates that want to come visit Carroll County to see how great it is after spending two weeks with Kayleigh.  Specifically, after her classmates discovered that Kayleigh is the 2024 Miss Carroll County Ag Fair, many of them want to come and visit our fair since the idea of a community fair like ours is so foreign to them.  On LinkedIn, one program leader wrote that Kayleigh was a “bold champion for SWVA,” a “fierce advocate for her community,” and that she was “incredibly grateful for the ways she challenged her classmates’ perception of rural Virginia.”  Matt Hall from the AG’s Office commented that he was “so thankful that Carroll County is being represented so well.”  Describing his interaction with Kayleigh, a staffer from the Governor’s Mansion wrote that “the future is in good hands.” 

To witness firsthand the impact Kayleigh had on changing her classmates’ views – and even those of the adults – of Southwest Virginia was incredible.

At the graduation ceremony on Saturday, Kayleigh was one of two students that was presented the 2024 HSLP Spirit of Citizenship Award.  This award summed up Kayleigh by stating that the HSLP “was made better by her presence at every turn.”

Again, I wanted to share this with you all because not only is this an incredible accomplishment for Kayleigh, but also because of the impact she made during these two weeks on many people’s perceptions of Carroll County and all of Southwest Virginia.

Billy J. Johnson

Thank you Mr. Johnson for sharing such an uplifting story with us !

Kayleigh Johnson is a shining star 🌟 on the rise ! Please keep up your wonderful journey 🙏…

In the words of Hix Miller :

I don’t even know where to begin to describe what the Cavalier Baseball Program means to me, so first off, forgive me for being long winded but I have to start at the beginning.

First off, I have to thank my parents for instilling the “go get it” hard work ethic. My love for the game of baseball started long before I was old enough to even play, passed down from my dad, Doug “Bubba” Miller. Dad didn’t come through Carroll County. He actually graduated from Fries High School and was a phenomenal athlete. He was the MED player of the year, as a catcher,  for two consecutive years so I had some BIG shoes to fill.

The very first two influences, and probably the most memorable and important, of my baseball career were my dad, and Jimmy Burcham (Casey’s dad). Fast forward to when I started playing, Dad was there. He would take me to the local baseball field close to our home to take batting practice many days a week after working long, hot hours in a furniture factory. He always pushed me to my limits and beyond to be the absolute best I could be. So I wouldn’t have made it as far as I did if it hadn’t been for that fire that he instilled in me to be the best. Dad coached my little league team all the way up until I was old enough to try out for school ball. Dad and Jimmy were best friends so growing up i knew Casey and his sister Jamie really well.

I always thought of Jimmy and Lynn as another set of parents and always looked up to Casey like a brother and still do, so to see Casey at the head of the Cavalier program makes me so proud and makes me a bit boastful of the guy I’ve always considered my “big brother”. And if you ever got to see Casey hit a baseball you know what I mean when I say I always wanted to hit like Casey Burcham. I’ll never forget one thing Jimmy said to me and Casey one time taking some hitting practice.

We were talking about what kind of bat we wanted and Jimmy looked at both of us and said “it don’t matter what kind of bat you swing. You can take a broom stick to the batters box if you want to because if you can hit, you can hit” and that stuck with me.

Moving forward into school ball, with that same grit and determination that I had from the get go, I decided to try out for the JV baseball team as an 8th grader, instead of settling for just trying out for the middle school team and made the team. Insert the next two influences of my baseball career Coach Brad Bowman (RIP Coach, I miss you every day) and Coach Kevin DeHaven.

These two guys were especially special to me because they seen something in me and took a chance on a scrawny little, speedy outfielder with a somewhat decent arm. Coach Bowman and Coach DeHaven were savvy and knew how to play the game with the team they had. And they believed in the short game (bunting) a lot! So we learned to bunt. And won a lot of games playing “small ball”. I remember one time we were playing at Surry Central and Coach Bowman gave me the bunt sign, I bunted foul, again he gave me the bunt sign, I bunted foul again, he then called time, walked down to me at the plate and whispered in my ear “bunt the ball fair”. I replied “but Coach I’ve got two strikes already” to which he replied “then I guess you better get this one fair and it’s the perfect time, they’ll never expect it.”

As fate would have it I got it down fair and beat it out for a hit. Like I said before, I had the drive to be the best, the speed and the arm, but as much as my dad worked with me on hitting it never quite “clicked” and that probably had a bit to do with my stubbornness. Coach DeHaven started working with me on my batting stance and what bat to use and buddy let me tell ya he knew his stuff and taught me more about hitting than I could ever imagine. He was also a big part of my success as an outfielder, teaching me how to judge and get behind the ball so when it came time to throw, my momentum was moving forward into my throw. Along with that, he taught me the art of drag bunting as a right handed hitter which eventually landed me batting leadoff and led to a big majority of my base hits as my career as a Cavalier.

My freshman year I was back on the JV squad again because there was a fella by the name of Jacob Adams that played “my position” (center field) who was a senior and man what a ball player he was. I would go on to admire him with his speed and his cannon of an arm and I can remember thinking “man I hope I can play that spot as good as him”.

The next chapter of my Cavalier career would be the varsity team as a sophomore through my senior year and that brings the next influences, Coach Joe Tompkins and Coach Rick Nester.  Just like Coach Bowman and Coach DeHaven, Joe and Rick were very baseball smart and bunting was a must. During batting practice we were required to successfully but two fair balls before we were allowed to swing. You only got 10 swing so if you didn’t get two bunts down you didn’t get to swing. I spent a lot of time with Coach Nester since he was my outfield coach and gained a lot of respect for him because he also had that same fire and intensity for the game.

During pre-game warmups, he would always save me for last so that when I threw my last throw which was to home plate, everyone in the stadium, especially the opposing team, would see what they were up against if they were to try to run on my arm. We would go on to have one of the best seasons in school history my senior year. We won our district and wouldn’t you know, we won it with a suicide squeeze bunt and beat our district rivals, Tazwell. During that season we were playing our neighboring school, Grayson County, at Grayson and I was called in to pitch in the second inning. Now I wasn’t much from the mound. From 300 feet in center field, I was pretty accurate but there was a running joke that from 60 feet, six inches (the pitchers mound) I was doing good to even hit the backstop.

That particular game I was on and had an outstanding game. If I remember correctly I pitched 6 innings of an extra inning game, striking out 13 and only walked one or two allowing two hits which caught the attention of a man named Ed Goodson who was from Grayson and was really good friends with a college coach from UVA Wise. He made a call and the next thing I knew there were college coaches coming to watch me play. They got to watch my next game at Richlands as a center fielder. I had a great game then as well. I went 3 for 3 at the plate, made a diving catch and threw one out at the plate. They talked to me after the game and said they would love to see me pitch and would be at our last home game. The day of that game I walked into the coaches office and told Coach Tomkins that the coaches from Wise were coming and wanted to see me pitch, would it be possible for me to maybe get on the mound at the end of the game since he had used me as a closer through the season because I could throw hard. I’ll never forget when he looked up at me over his glasses, tossed me a game ball and said “sure, how about you start”. That meant a lot to me that he had the confidence in me to put that cross town rival game in my hands to begin with but the most memorable moment of that day was right after I finished my warmup pitches, Coach Tompkins called time, walked out to the mound and you can imagine my confusion because I hadn’t thrown the first pitch yet. Joe Tompkins was notorious for being able to calm your nerves by getting your mind off of what was going on and in that moment he said to me “you know they’re going to want to know how hard you actually throw. They’ll have a radar gun on you at first so I don’t care where your first pitch goes or if you even hit the backstop, reach back and get it”. And I did exactly that and that’s how I found out that I could throw 92mph. I then went on to play at the collegiate level for UVA-Wise along with my high school teammates Matt Hall and Brandon Horton, ironically enough were the Cavaliers as well so as it was stated by Mr Craig Worrell in the article on our signing day, “Once a Cavalier, Always a Cavalier.”

Now to ask me what it means to be on the baseball record board at CCHS, it’s truly an honor. I’m on there with the most at bats. That just goes to show how good of a program we had to be able to play enough games in a season and how determined I was as a hitter because although I did walk some, I didn’t go to the batters box looking for a walk so most of my at bats were recorded.

I know this has been lengthy and I apologize. I could go on and on but I will close with saying Thank you to everyone that has been a part of my life and molded me into the player I once was and the person I am today! If it weren’t for each and everyone I truly don’t know where I would have ended up.

Thank you,

Hix Miller

Mr. McGraw included some vintage photos 📷 from his day. The two hats in the next photo 📷 are 40 years and 39 years old.

The time frame is the Mid 1980’s

What an honor to bat 6^th, to be in the hitting order and follow the top five is a privilege that I can’t accurately describe!  When I was asked, “what does Cavalier Baseball mean to me?”; I have to reiterate what Rod, Matthew, Casey, Kevin and Steve have already explained, the impact Coach Worrell, Coach Whittington, Coach Bolen and Coach Tompkins has had on all of us; then and even now!  I named my son after Coach Worrell.

Coach Worrell asked me to be part of his Cavalier JV Football Team as a 12-year-old kid, “water boy”.  I looked forward to riding in his 1952 Ford Pickup, painted Cavalier blue, to and from the Cavalier football field.  It was then and from the “water boy” position that I first meet a few of the great Cavalier athletes; like Kim Gillespie, Lynn Conner, Jerry Reece, H.J. Hicks, Dennis Marshall, Terry Edwards, Steve Dowdy, Eddie Beck, Dr. Mark Burnette and Coach Ricky Nester, to name a few as there’s many more! 

It was then; I knew I wanted to be a Cavalier!  As football season ended, basketball began and what followed was a trip to the University of Virginia and the State Basketball Tournament for many of the above football players.  For those who weren’t on the basketball court, you very well could find them on the wrestling mat.  The Cavalier basketball and wrestling season ended, now Cavalier baseball!  I noticed many of the athletes I looked up to; was also on Coach Worrell’s baseball team.  WINNERS!

The Cavalier baseball team has been filled with winners for decades and with Casey and Combs leading the way, the future is very bright; their teams will have an abundance of WINNERS!  Historically, Cavalier baseball has WON, on an off the field; and I’m certain the tradition will continue forward.  

When I think of Cavalier baseball, my memory serves the tradition like the dirt horseshoe, caps worn backwards after wins and the Lord’s Prayer before every game.  Or maybe it was the superstitions, like Coach Whittington wearing black polyester slacks and a bright red dress shirt before every game and I mean every game!  It takes me to great players on the field; like the Beamer Boys; Joe and John, Jacky Lemons, Terry Dalton, Kenny Meredith, Rod Bryant, Steve Ayers, Craig Worrell, Ralph Berrier, Jr., and the many teammates from 1984-1985.  The 1985 team is deep in my heart, District Champions and Region 4 Runner-up.  I believe the 1985 team went further than any team before, the Region 4 Finals, we lost that game and 39 years later; it still hurts!

  The 85 team was deep and I find it worthy to list each member by name: Doug Reavis, Brian Stuart, Kenny Thomas, Steve Combs, Dwayne Huff, Mike Montgomery, Kenny Helton, Ricky Berrier, Greg Lineberry, J.D. Caudill, Keith Meredith, George Sharp, Keith Hawks, Gary Adams, Tony Sifford, Randy Lyons, Randy Webb, Jeff McCraw, Teddy Lintecum, Phillip Hill, Revonda McGrady, Bobbi Jo Nester, Coach Whittington and Coach Worrell.  Being a member of that team was and still is a highlight in my life!  I’m learning the Cavalier greats from 1985 onward!

Before them and in the beginning, in 1970 there was; Jim Shockley, Warren Manning and Gary Hull, ending their season 9-4-1.  In the 70’s, Jim Burcham, Greg Gravely, Eddie Hanks, Danny Webb, Ricky Frost, Gary Collins, Tim Newman, Keith Bowman, Donnie Crowder, Whitey Williams, Coach Ricky Nester, David Tickle, Jay McCraw, Billy Slate and many more that I haven’t mentioned began the tradition.

I would be unjust and disrepecful, not to mention longtime supporters like Mr. Leroy McGrady and Mr. Phil Coulson.  During my time at Carroll County High School, I distinctly remember the love of Cavalier baseball from Mr. McGrady and Mr. Coulson!  The fan support Cavalier baseball has and continues to receive, is second to none and speaks volumes of the historical foundation and expectations.

Cavalier baseball, in summary is a commitment to discipline, expectations, perseverance, traditions, pride, class, character, work ethic, dedication; it’s a COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE!  Go Cavaliers!

A sincere Thank You 🙏 to Mr. Douglas McCraw and next up is Mr. Hix Miller !

Both the Junior Varsity and Varsity Volleyball 🏐 teams will head up I-81 to square off with Christiansburg High School beginning at 3:30 pm.

Each team is given the opportunity to play a scrimmage game / match twice ahead of their regular season and this will be the teams first one.