Diamonds πŸ’Ž are a Girls Best Friend : Before and After with Brian ” Big Daddy ” Hendrick two decade+ run with Page County Softball

Brian and his Kiddo, Rachel Breeden at the beginning of the story about their connection with the Tradition that is Page County High School Softball 🏫.

Brian is more known up in Shenandoah my his beloved moniker, Big Daddy, then by his actual given name. I can attest to that fact because it was probably five years into our relationship before I heard someone address him as Brian.

Β  Big Daddy began his stay within Lady Panthers Softball program back in 2004 when his only daughter played on the Junior Varsity team. The following four years were spent as Proud Parent and from there it became a little bit of whatever the program needed. The past two seasons have been spent as the lead Assistant Coach.

Whether the need was coaching the younger players, scouting opponents or even building a Pavillion, Big Daddy was often the first to arrive and the last to go home.

Roy Cardin is the Man that we are dedicating this portion of our Book to and Big Daddy will take lead on sharing a truly remarkable story about how Roy gave so much of his life to the youth in and around Shenandoah.

Roy & Big Daddy back in the Day !

Big Daddy and Rachel were also out in Oklahoma City for Kate Gordon’s big Day versus Oklahoma. There will be stories coming on many. many fronts and the experience will be better because of Big Daddys participation !

We opened the Nugget with a before pic of Dad πŸ‘¨ and Daughter and we will close with an after one, almost, as the story is still ongoing !

The mask in the Photo πŸ“· dates this one taking place during Covid but its picture perfect on the eve of catching up with Boys Basketball πŸ€ Coach, Anthony Barnes on Thursday afternoon.

Tark the Shark 🦈, legendary Coach of the Running Rebels from the University of Nevada – Las Vegas Basketball team was famous for two things.

One was Coaching one of the greatest teams of All-Time in 1991 ( before Christian, Bobby and Grant took them out in the National Semi-final game. The second reason Tark was known to many is that he was constantly biting into his folded white towel. So much so that he has the towel in his mouth πŸ‘„ in the statue above.

Barnes will have his own coping mechanism on Friday nights πŸŒ™ for the next three months after learning that his projected leading scorer, Isaiah Easter will be the starting Quarterback on the Carroll County High School football team.

It’s not uncommon for High School Student Athletes to double or triple up in regards to sports in a given year. But in the age of specialized year around Sports now, it happens a little less often.

Last season it was Bryce Smoot taking snaps for Head Coach Seth Greer and we know that Smoot left The Hill as the All-Time scoring leader in Boys Basketball.

While we know that Smoot has the All-Time scoring mark, it might be time to dust off the record book in regards to the single season mark. All signs point to Easter having that type of Senior season, especially when the group of Junior Varsity players coming up share a style of Win first, worry about who scores later.

Passing the Torch πŸ”¦ in 2025

Β  The difference between last year and this time is Smoot was one of six in regards to players locked πŸ”’ into a roster spot. Easter is the centerpiece of the 2025-2026 season.

Things that Barnes can do over the next three months – Pray πŸ™, get himself a Tark towel, a bottle of Tums and possibly bribe the Cafeteria staff to slide some extra meat πŸ– onto the plates 🍽 of the starting offensive lineman.

Allen Worrell is set to provide blanket coverage for the Gridiron 🏈 Cavaliers and tomorrow afternoon I get to catch up with Coach Barnes ! Maybe, we can recreate that Towel shot…

Today’s life lesson comes courtesy of our Friend, Vickey Ritchie. The topic is Invitation and Inclusion…

Plucky Sidekick below, three precious Ladies above.

Β  Today at The Carroll News, we solidified the role that David Broyles will play in our September 13th gathering at Cavalier Park ! The obvious question is why should you care about this and the answer my Friends, comes straight from the desk of Vickey Ritchie.

Vickey Ritchie is the Gate Keeper for our Special Olympics Basketball πŸ€ in Carroll County, Virginia. More often than not, Vickey sets up a Sunday afternoon practice at the Hillsville Elementary School and proceeds to do two things.

First, she does everything she can to get the word out about what we call the 5 topics – Who, What, When, Why and How. The goal is to make everyone feel that they are invited to attend and there is no cost.

Second and more importantly, Vickey finds a role for EVERYONE who comes through the Gym door πŸšͺ. We call this part, Inclusion and it is quite possibly the Greatest Gift in the Toolbox 🧰 that Vickey carries around.

Vickey even finds a role for this guy!

Β  Now that we have done our best to spread the word in regards to inviting people to Cavalier Park on September 13th at Noon, its time to move on to Phase 2. Finding a role for anyone who wants to be a part of the festivities is easy enough, especially when folks let you know they are interested in participating.

David Broyles is a big part of our Community and has made himself available a number of times over the years when we were putting something together. This time will be no different as we are thrilled to find him a staring role!

The operation budget for the Gala is $26.00 and we are thrilled to add Plucky to the cast. Bonus is we landed him for just .12cents, as he knows that both Tom Brady and Peyton Manning deferred Big Bucks in hopes of their teams landing more talent around them.

Welcome πŸ™ to the Show, David and Thanks for leaving some money πŸ’° for us to land some Bigger Fish 🐟 down the road. Who are we kidding, David is us what Jaws was to Shark 🦈 movies πŸŽ₯.

We all have folks in our lives that lift our Spirits and one of mine runs the Post Office 🏀 in Fancy Gap, Virginia

Velvet Creed Leonard
Add another line about Velvet ??

Β  Everyone needs to have people in their lives that bring a smile πŸ˜ƒ to their face and one of those people who fits in that category for me is Velvet Creed Leonard!

Velvet stays as busy as the day is long and with the Wedding πŸ’’ plans ongoing its has her going full throttle. But she still found a few minutes to brighten a Day.

Diamonds πŸ’Ž are a Girls Best Friend : 50 Shades of Baseball ⚾️ includes a fun year with Mr Daryl Irvine of the Boston Red Sox by way of Spotswood High School

1990 Photo πŸ“·

In a perfect World 🌎 I would have ended up working in the Golf β›³ Pro Shop at Massanutten Resort a little later in life. Because if I had been further down life’s path, I would possibly still be there. Minimal amount of money involved but unlimited golf and the biggest perk of all was running the shop alongside Daryl Irvine.

Irvine climbed his way up the Baseball ⚾️ ladder from Grottoes, Virginia to Spotswood High School and finally to being a part of arguably the greatest bullpen in Major League Baseball history.

Lee Smith and Jeff Reardon combined for what seemed like a Million saves back then and Irvine was a set-up arm for the late innings. As impressive as the Baseball side of Irvine was, the Husband and Father side of him was over the top.

Another fun write ✍ will be about things like the feeling one gets when hitting Albert Belle in the rib cage with a heater and the fear connected to it.

There’s simply no way to tell my 50 favorite Baseball stories without including Daryl Irvine !