The line up card is a big part of Softball at any level and back on June 13, 2015 both Alan Knight and Rick Nester filled one out and turned it into the home plate umpire at the pre-game meeting.
The difference between the two is that Coach Nester handed his over to Frank Comer of Page County. Comer is a life-long resident of Shenandoah, Virginia and has taught at Page County High School 🏫 for decades. Comer took up officiating along the way as a means of supplementing his income and like everything else he applied himself to, he excelled at it.
Comer and Knight have shared a workspace at PCHS since they started in the business of educating our youth back in the 1980’s and are still close friends today. Both still live in the same homes and work at the same school but back on our red letter date 📅 10 years ago, they were on different Softball diamonds 💎.
The fact that Comer is one of the few people that play crossover roles in this story ( Coach Knight and myself as well), isn’t above the fold News but what happened after the Lady Cavaliers captured their first State Championship in school history remains a part of the story 10 years later.
Whether you are an umpire or a head coach or a sportswriter, once a ball game is over, you have various levels of notes 📝 to dispose of. Comer returned from Liberty University to Shenandoah with the Carroll County lineup card in his pocket.
Comer took the time to research how to get the momento back to CCHS and added a page long note with it. Just the fact that we have a hand written letter makes it an antique! The fact that Comer mentioned Coach Knight in the letter adds a layer to it as well.
On a personal note, I am a big fan of Frank Comer and when its time to work on his part in the story, I will go backwards to the early days on my sites and dig up stories about him as a Coach for Page County High as well.
There’s nothing earth shattering in it, no nuclear launch codes. Just one lifetime Coach and Official taking the time to acknowledge the efforts of another lifetime Coach.
The fact that it was available to me today, ten years later, should explain what it means to the receiver of said message. Just a random act of kindness can go a long way to someone else !!
There will be a bus load of people that will be part of this story, Frank Comer is just one of them. The story will contain 40 years of a relationship with the game of Softball, two High School coaches that are in their five decade of leadership with all of it taking place at just one school. Two facilities that we have played a role in upgrading over the years and plenty of remarkable young Ladies that have worn the uniforms for the Lady Cavaliers and the Lady Panthers.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 