John Galle work on display above as it appeared in the Shenandoah Valley Herald.
The twelve years spent in the Shenandoah Valley marks the longest stretch of residency in my life and by a wide margin. In a lifetime of not being from somewhere, this corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains is as close as possible to ” Home.” The fact that it is home for one of our children, his spouse, and 44% of our grandchildren is special.
If it is the longest stretch in one place, then it would make sense that a great deal of writing and marketing would have taken place.
First, let’s take a look at the coaches that I personally crossed paths with up there. Jerry Walters of Central – Woodstock, Jeff Burner of Stonewall Jackson, Suzanne Mathias at Strasburg, Chris Dodson at Spotswood and Alan Knight at Page County are just a few of the local legends. Both Strasburg and Stonewall had long-time 🏈🏈🏈 coaches, but those relationships were more of drive byes.
Donn Foltz and Roger Wilkins at Central and the Boys Hoops coach at John Hanley, and don’t forget the dynasty that was Riverheads football !
Next up, the long list of media types, which included Cody Clifton, Bill Meade, Greg Brill, Chip Krable, Chris and Crystal Graham, Rob Sisk, Mike Petre, Chuck McGill, Jim Sacco and John Galle at the top of the long list.
The media outlets included ESPN Radio, Augusta Free Press, News Virginian, Free Press of Shenandoah Valley, and all four weekly newspapers associated with the Page News and Courier. The number of stories that I contributed to the Northern Virginia Daily had to flirt with 500 !
The book in this window was the Strasburg High School volleyball team, and a 12-year relationship with the Valley Baseball League included a spin-off, as we enter year 19 of working with Lawrence ” Big Picture ” Nesselrodt. Calling games with Craig Orndorff of Valley Sports Radio included a Buffalo Gap State Championship game.
With all of that typed out, the list was absolutely topped by my partnership with the youngest of my five children, who I called Shorty McShorterson !
I’m not sure if I could limit the number of projects that we tackled together to a Top Ten list, and the run continued to Orcas Island, where we created the Cottages at Orcas Landing together.
The difference between this stretch and the OneofUs.Care phase of the past six years is that it all took place without an umbrella company if you will. We were just being as busy as we could be, trying hard to show our faith through generosity.
Jay Neal and John Culp both played a huge role during this stretch and are the two key figures in the Pick Six of people who God placed in our path that allowed us to form our Non-profit organization back a few years ago.
The crazy thing about all of the people listed above is the number of cross-over combos that were created.
During this stretch, we owned part of a VBL team, and all of a VBL team created a VBL team in Strasburg in addition to being a volunteer for the New Market Rebels for a number of seasons. We introduced the Grahams and Jay Neal to the league, created the greatest promotional event in its history, covered it both for a daily paper and as an editor for a weekly paper and this very site was founded to promote the league. Played the roll of host family a number of times along the way to boot.
I’m actually not sure how I’m not currently sitting in the VBL Hall of Fame ? The year we ran the Waynesboro Generals, we made every home game a social event by honoring a local educator from the visiting team. We even had a Turn Back the clock night, which included a 1950s dance contest along with RC Colas and Moon Pies.
After typing all of that out just now, it really does make me wonder about the lack of acknowledgment from the VBL ??
Bruce Alger, Mike Bocock, and Bill Turner were a few more of the characters in the story, as was John Leonard. Teresa Wease will always be a pleasant memory, and Roger Wilkins belting out the National Anthem on the night we honored him when Woodstock came to town. We had Jeff Burner Night for New Market and Alan Knight Night for Luray as other examples.
Rebecca ( Shorty), Chris, and Crystal Graham, Sabrena, when she could, plus we even snuck my In-Laws in the Concession stand for a night or two. Lin was still traveling for work back then, but she helped out when she could.
Rob Sisk and Jim Sacco at the News Virginian were awesome media partners in Waynesboro for the season. Mr Leonard joined us for the year on somewhat of a fact-finding mission.
We worked 365 nights a year for 12 years, but know that we created some fun during the daylight hours. It will be tough to narrow down the stories from this stretch because of the friendships that existed between the different groups.
The final chapter is about the softball programs at Page County and Carroll County High Schools, but know that Chapter 7 is full of personalities and hard work !
