Yes, Alan Knight has been the head coach of the Lady Panthers Softball program since the early 1980s and has racked up in the area of 700 wins and 3 State titles but Coach will be quick to tell you that he was anything but a one man band.
It would be impossible to list every single person who contributed to both the rise and the longevity of the program, but we will do our very best to include as many as possible. The accomplishments in the building of Alan Knight Field, from scratch to its current state was very much like the fun Johnny Cash song, One piece at a time. I actually played the tune the night of the field dedication.
Ralph Viafora, Roy Cardin, Arthur Campbell, Doug Knight, Clyde Freeze, Dennis Zimmerman, Meagan Gordon, Rebecca Carter and Brian ” Big Daddy ” Hendrick are just a few of the names that come to mind when you start to think about the core group. Each one just chasing the opportunity to add their personal touch to a place I like to call Magic Mountain.
The high school sits on US-340, just north of the town of Shenandoah, and when you list the highlights of the park, you have to include the views from the top of the Hill. Page County High School has been the home for some legendary coaches over the years, and this book is my attempt to try and tell as much of the story as I know.
The partnership formed between myself, Coach Knight, and the numerous others that tagged in and out will always remain atop any lists of personal accomplishments when the dust settles on life.
Knight and Viafora were already 20 years into the process when we first moved to Page County. Ralph took the time to try and put into words just how much his time with the program meant to him, his wife, and his three daughters who all wore the school colors !
Eric Benson, Bill Meade, and Lori Mongold each played their part in the process, and Lori has never been more than an arm’s length away.
We were involved in getting the outfield fence installed through our Panther Palooza efforts. This allowed us to place the name Alan Knight on the front of the park and my parents’ name on the back. That doesn’t happen without Eric Benson and a slew of others that pitched in once we rolled out the idea back in 2011.
Countless years of announcing the home games and having a front row seat to all three State Championships were a stimulating ride, and then we circled back a few years ago to add the Pavillion under the umbrella that is OneofUs.Care.
Travis Knight played a tremendous role in that one, but we all took a back seat to Arthur Campbell ! Mrs Gordon continued to play a role as well, even though both her and Arthur had seen their daughters play their final games years earlier. Viafora also stayed after his third Kiddo had left the program.
When you visit Roy Cardin Field, you will notice the name Archie Dodson in more than one place, and his Boy, Chris Dodson, is multitasking at a ridiculous pace with one effort being to document the story about his Father.
Dow McGrady pitched in back in 2011 in a number of ways, including getting us a new scoreboard at the time. It’s not bad for a fellow guy from Luray.
There should be an asterisk on the three rings 💍because Covid prevented a fourth, and the team has earned a multitude of trips to the State Tournament over the years. The amount of consistency in between the chalk and outside the lines is beyond impressive, and we will touch on as much as possible in the pages to follow !
