For readers that haven’t seen the first four takes, we hosted an unofficial OneofUs.Care event a couple of weeks back at Cavalier Park.
Instead of trying to get by with a thank you to everyone who helped me, I made a commitment to myself that each person or group would get a personalized Thank You Card.
This one is dedicated to Mr Greg Bolen, the same one that has his name on the top of my site, for another three days, anyway.
There are two jobs that are at the top of my RESPECT list. The first is anyone who wears a uniform that requires them to carry a weapon, and the second one is anyone who wakes ⏰️ up every day and teaches in a classroom.
The size of the classroom or the level of education doesn’t make a difference. Pre-K, kindergarten, all the way through a professor at a college or university.
I have met a boat 🚢 load full of soldiers and officers of the law in my lifetime. The same can be said for teachers. Heck, I even raised two of those !
Greg Bolen is the sole individual who I have ever met that somehow manages to do both at the same time !!! Not only does he pull off the daily double, but he falls into a third category by being super – sized.
The number of people on The Hill that have a story about the day that they played basketball 🏀 against Greg Bolen is a pretty high number, and most of them still feel the pain.
Why did I want to have Greg Bolen be a part of the event again this year ?
First, Greg doing the worm 🪱 at the previous years’ event actually made the front page of the Carroll News.
Second, I have the utmost love and respect for his demeanor. If anyone has the ability to be ” Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown” (thank you, Jim Croche), it’s Officer Bolen. Yet, he makes a conscious decision not to choose that path.
Third, I wanted to ” rub elbows ” with one of the handful of people who get what I’m trying hard to accomplish here on The Hill. I am just trying to make High School a little more enjoyable for as many folks as I can.
Fourth, I needed Greg to be an 🧊breaker for Joi Ogle and Blake Reed’s Mom 👩 as those two were going to be stepping way out of their comfort zone. Side Note 📝, she crushed that part !
Fifth, we wanted a celebrity to toss out our Ceremonial First Pitch.
My favorite thing about Greg Bolen is the fact that he doesn’t see himself as a ” Celebrity “. But when you are an officer, a teacher, a comedian, a loving husband, a great father, and grandfather ➕️ a nice guy 👦 with a kind soul, all at once……
The list of people who get the banner for the month of October has been narrowed down to just three now, but I sure have enjoyed paying homage to the MAN that is Mr Greg Bolen !!!
Thank you, Greg Bolen ! Thank you for both protecting us with your badge and educating our youth !
Martinsville : If someone asked me what I did for a living, my answer would be that I’m very good at reading a room and then devising a plan to correct the issue I see.
Last week, we ( Carroll County High School volleyball 🏐) played a Monday night match at Pulaski County, and we lost to the Cougars, dropping two straight after opening at 7-1.
Not wanting to see the losing streak reach three in a row, I coordinated a Cav Man drive by on US-58 in Laurel Fork. The fact that two of the owners jumped in bumped it up a notch or two.
Both reams defeated Bassett that night to my job was done ✔️.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago when the team was headed over to Martinsville to face the Lady Bulldogs. My first thought process was to recreate the Cav Man scene, but there was no way that would make a big difference the second time around. The ladies might be young, but they are bright 🌞.
First things first, there was minimal chance that we were going to lose to the ‘ Dawgs so the focus was on making the players smile and laugh in between Coach fussing at them..
My wife watched me create little cheat sheets for both rosters because while I think that I know all 30 players without help, that is not a chance you take.
During the JV match, I took the time to count every single person in the gym who wasn’t wearing a VB jersey. Sadly, the answer was 29. The JV match felt like it was being played in a library, and at any minute, some lady with glasses was going to come by and shush us if we cheered at all. It was kinda sad, to say the least. The JV swept, and then I crossed the court to chat with the Boss !
The level of trust and appreciation that Cindy Edwards has for my efforts is the key 🔑 to our partnership. The conversation was a short one, and I headed back across the gymnasium.
What Cindy Edwards and our Lady Cavaliers needed was a full-blown cheerleader, and that was within my wheelhouse. But, late in the first set, Ali Wright went up for a kill and sadly rolled her ankle.
The older of the Wright Sisters was done for the evening, and my attention turned to their Mother. She was sitting just behind me, snapping pictures 📸 with her trusty camera. Ali went to the bench and iced 🧊 her ankle for the remainder of the match.
Carleigh is a freshman, three years younger than her Big Sis. She has been part of the program for a bit now, but this is her first at the top level.
Now, you shift gears ⚙️ a bit by cheering harder and keeping an eye on the younger Sister.
While this story is about Mama Bear 🐻 and her two Cubs, it would be wrong to not acknowledge that the injury slid Raylee Goins into a different role and Patti’s Kiddo excelled in the attack mode slot. How high was she jumping, asked the audience ???? High enough that Howard Mayo would enjoy watching 👀 the game film 🎥!
Hi – D Pain- ter, 👏👏, HI- D Pain-ter was one of many chants that I came up with, Alyssa Law-Son was another. Cheering every good play and serve, remaining quiet when we scored points off mistakes made by the home team. Toss in some encouragement when we made an error.
Little Sis had a rough serve along the way, so when luck had her on the service line trying to complete the sweep, my brain 🧠 raced for the home run cheer.
It went like this – take us home, Carleigh.
Home turned into home run, then a glance at Mom staring at her older Cub, who was still icing her ankle across the way. I immediately thought about the scene in The Pride of the Yankees ( 1942, Gary Cooper as Lou Gerhig ) in which a little boy dying in the hospital is promised two home runs.
I look at Lil Sis and shout out, ” Win this for your Sister “. She then served our 24th and 25th points, and we all went home happy 😊
Now, the odds that a group of teen age girls 👧 would know a famous baseball scene from an 85 year old movie is minimal at best, but I promise you this thing for sure. Half of the group might have appreciated it, and the other half might have found it embarrassing, but none of them left there talking about the saddest, quietest volleyball 🏐 match in the history of the world.
The things that you do for other people’s kiddos……
We return to action on Tuesday night on The Hill, where all I have to do is hold a 🎤🎙🎤.
Two more closing thoughts – first, while I didn’t grow up in Carroll County, the part of US-58 that runs between Martinsville and Buggs Island Lake is where I spent my youth. That is where my father grew up and we couldn’t afford vacations so the only place we ever went was to my grandparents’ little country store.
When the match ended, I went over and thanked their fans for being gracious about one person who wouldn’t stop making noise. Not one time did I cheer against them, just for us. I ended the exchange by inviting them to visit us on The Hill, and if they did, I would make sure that they felt welcome 🙏.
There was one final Wright Sister smile or two cracked. I had asked little Sis if she loved her Big Sis she half smiled 😃 and half blank stared me, like what is his deal ?
As we were about to leave, I asked Ali if she knew her Sister loved her ? I added, she told me so….Ali responded back, ” She lied to you……”
Circle Back 🔵
I am an exceptional cheerleader
Carroll County swept both matches
Ali Wright is recovering nicely
Raylee Goins has made Hops !
Our unofficial record is now 14-5
Mama Bear 🐻 raised two neat young ladies.
Half Pint Harris made an appearance from Ferrum
Travis Osborne has a neat set of In-Laws
Cindy Edwards enjoyed me chanting Cin-D Ed-wards over and over.
Scratch that #9, but Coach knows that I have her back 100%, so she has learned to tolerate me !
Some of Cindy Edwards players went on to play College VB. Others took a different approach….
I’m already prepared for Al-lsya Er-Vin to start playing Hoops !
Carroll County High School volleyball, coming to The Hill on Tuesday night !!!
Duke versus William and Mary, with a graduate 🎓 of W & M…
Kickoff at 3:30 !!!
Duke scores twice on its opening drive 🚗, first Nate Sheppard with a 25 yard run but a holding penalty wiped it out. No worries, a passing TD followed shortly!
10:42 (1), 7-0
Nate for 19 yard TD, 14 – 0 [6:03]
William and Mary answers back at 2:58 (1), 14 – 7…..
4:15 pm – end of 1st quarter….
Duke University adds a field goal, now 17-7 with 13:20 left in the first half.
29 – yard TD pass by our #10….
24-7, [10:42 (2) ] – only problem is that Nate only has 5 touches so far……
31-7, 29 yard TD pass, [7:58 (2)]
2: 00 – warning ⚠️, W & M facing a 4th and short from the Duke four.
28 yard TD pass – 38/7 @ 0:26 (2)
Field Goal, 41 – 7
27 yard TD pass – 48/7 @ 3:40 (3)
End of 3rd, 6:06 pm….
Perfect weather day …..
55 – 7 at 11:58 (4)
Not bad work, Nate !!!!Post game breaking of the Bread 🍞
10 choices for food, all within the Market Exchange on Erwin…
Sometimes, my world 🌎 moves too fast for me, and my mind is built for too fast. So, every now and then, I slow 🐌 down and try to explain why a particular story appears.
This story is brought to us by Mrs Joi Ogle, and that group shot is full of some top-shelf people with ties to Carroll County, Virginia.
The link above will take you over to the swim 🏊♀️ meet results from the meet today. I encourage everyone who is interested in swimming to check it out.
The reason why I created the Saved by the Bell 🔔 portion of our efforts was I had and have plans to provide start to finish coverage of Alyssa Ervin and Furman University. If you have to practice what you Preach and my message is about equality, across the board.
If I have space and time for Miss Ervin, then I should have space for ALL former Cavaliers that are playing college sports. Elijah Cox and Callie Harris are two great examples of others this year.
But like everything else I do, coverage is a choice that each family should have in regard to both high school and college. The next level is at the high school, it’s a coach to coach decision, and I respect their wishes.
It is actually easier for me where college is concerned because it removes the choice that a high school 🏫 coach has to make, which is, do I see any benefit in letting this ( fill in the blank of what you wish to call me) anywhere near my program???? Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it is No, and then there is a third answer that I can not use because this is a family thing, rated G.
Today, one mother 👩, who I happen to admire a great deal, attended a swim meet that included her Kiddo. She had double duty as both his mother and his swim coach. Today, Joi has double duty as Wyatt’s Mother and biggest fan. She shared with me the thought process of not being his coach today.
Sure, I could spend hours searching college websites or, worse yet, looking through other people’s social media. I barely have time to create content for the people who want to share their terrific news about their pride and joy. It’s just that simple…
When I circle back on a storyline from time to time, it’s to help other readers. We have reached people in 50 different countries around the world now, and some folks want to understand.
Circle Back 🔵 – Mrs Joi Ogle lives in a place that I labeled ” The Hill.” She is as kind 😇 of a soul that you could ever meet. Her and her husband both coach at the school, and together, they raised two impressive Kiddos.
Today, Joi attended a swim meet with others from The Hill, and she had a choice, one that everyone has – do I want to take three minutes and send something to Around the Valley or just put it on Facebook ?
There are many people who love Joi Ogle and her family, but they don’t live on social media.
I will add that my non-social media effort, which is designed to protect the people that I care about from bullying, I miss out in interaction with folks like Danny Dean.
Sacrifices happen in life when you are fighting for a cause.
Now, here’s the final proof of what I stand for – I’m not going to click on the link above myself, I don’t need to know if he finished first, second, or last.
My story is about a Mother’s Love ❤️ and her little boy 👦, who has grown into an impressive young man. I should add that Mr Ogle displayed a level of parenting at the banquet last year that made me smile. He shared it with Kris Richardson that night. Why is that relevant to this story ? Because you can not produce a Kiddo the level of Wyatt Ogle by yourself…
Joi, Thank You for everything you do and for sharing part of it here ! See 👀 you on Tuesday night, I hope !
Yesterday afternoon was fun and fellowship with some awesome people, but if you don’t know those people, you might not truly care about that story.
That part is okay because I don’t write for clicks or money, I write to bring joy to others.
I sent that story to eight people. I sent it to the people involved in it ➕️ Marion Harris and Mr Chris Dodson. The last two because they know most of the people that were part of the story.
There’s an inside joke 😃 there about the relationship dynamics between Alan Knight and myself, and it stems from an old Kevin Bacon movie 🎬 about degrees of separation.
Alan laughs at the fact that with six steps or less, I can find a way to laughingly take credit for anything good that happened. It’s fun because if you break it down, all I am trying hard to do is bring light to positive people who are using their God given talents for the betterment of others.
Everyone who knows me in Carroll County knows how much respect I have for both Vickey Ritchie and Greg Bolen. Take those two and add them to Alan Knight, and it gives you the idea 💡 of the workload that this Dodson fella carries every day.
Right now, Dodson is adjusting to life after being a full-time teacher ( following the career path of that Knight fellow) but he didn’t search for a fishing hole somewhere, he just added the next challenge and this one he can tackle with his Bride.
There will be a day when his life slows 🐌 down, and when it does, I hope that he will stop by my nursing home 🏡 and we can reminisce about the life he has led.
Back to the inside joke, because I might not still be around when Dude slows down, I will connect the dots on how this works…
I am the Public Relations Manager who takes care of people like Alan Knight and Lawrence Nesselrodt while working with anyone who can tolerate me.
So, being that Alan is under the umbrella 🌂 and the highest level, the fact that Alan taught a young Chris Dodson as well as gave him someone who he could look up to as a high school student, means that I have already ” taken ” credit for everything Chris Dodson has accomplished…….
But seriously, you are my daily inspiration, and I look forward to the day when you catch your breath. It will mean that instead of grabbing a slice of pizza 🍕, you will have to ask my nurse what flavor of pudding 🍮 you should feed me during our visit.
Circle back part of the story :
The comparisons –
Like Alan Knight, Dodson has seven rings 💍
Like Greg Bolen, Dodson could just run around and beat people up that bother him but he knows that there is a better way.
Like Vickey Ritchie, Dodson had a built-in reason for it, he has spent his entire life dedicated to folks with special needs.
While this might be a solid read in one of my places that I was never from, it will have the opposite effect in the current place I’m not from. In Carroll County, Chris Dodson is Darth Vader because of the history between the girls’ basketball programs as each school might have one more State banner if not for the other.
Dodson is a Home Town hero, and I’m honored 🎖 to be “not from” where we works all of his magic
The funniest line from lunch yesterday afternoon came from Quentin as I was telling the story about the time that Frank Comer was heading into the season finale with an 0-9 record. I consider Frank Comer a big part of my story because he shared an office 🏬 at the High School with Alan for decades.
On game day, I went to school with Frank and stayed with him from 7am. until the final gun sounded. People were going to come after him, and I wanted to be standing next to him when they did. In my world 🌎, it’s not about how much you win, its about what you do with your success or lack there of.
Quentin, who I hadn’t seen since High School, adds I don’t know what season that was because we didn’t win a single game while I played. He added that even though he won 🏆 a State Championship in baseball ⚾️ and won ZERO games in his time at Page County High School, that his time in football was more fun.
Win or lose, Friday Night Lights is THE REAL DEAL in high school 🏫.
Everyone who reads my work knows that I bleed Duke Blue. I am sitting here outside Wallace Wade Stadium typing this story, but the one thing I don’t write about is Duke Men’s Basketball, and that’s because it would be the very definition of overkill.
This winter should be exciting because there are seven or eight storylines to follow. One of those will be can Chris Dodson break the tie 👔 of 7-7 with Alan Knight in regards to rings 💍. Know this, whichever one gets to eight first, I will take credit for it !
