I have been Blessed 🙌 to have quite a few next level individuals placed in my path over the decades. Dr. T. Ramon Stuart sits incredibly high on that list.

The distinguished Gentleman is the President of West Virginia Tech University and does a tremendous job for the Student Body in Beckley, West Virginia. His background and mine has some similarities in regards to our humble upbringings but this young Man took his game and love for Education and took it to a different level if not universe.

Everything is life is a bit more of a challenge due to health issues, especially when it comes to traveling. So on Tuesday morning, when it was time to head towards Charleston, I had to pad the window by a couple of hours to allow for a Rest Area nap along the way.

Fast Forward to arriving in Beckley, where the campus is located. Our games that day were being played one hour further North so I parked the car and decided a long walk across the campus might be the best way to wake up and get the blood flowing.

We don’t play baseball on campus so its very rare for me to take in the sights and sounds of the small grounds so I was taking it all in. It was just about time to get back in the Car 🚗 and head up the turnpike for the games.

Then, I was startled by a voice that came out of nowhere. To clarify my relationship with West Virginia Tech University, I announce for the Baseball team, write ✍ for them and do my very best to help my long time friend, Lawrence Nesselrodt keep the Train 🚆 on the tracks.

For 18 years now, we team up with the Legendary Joe Goddard and try to guide young Men through a key 🔑 part of their life. It’s not just about Baseball, at least not at Tech.

Not an Alumni, Not a Big Booster, but hey, I do have a nice title for my volunteer position. I’m the Director of Baseball Operations which sounds Awesome but I’m a small pebble in the pond that is WVU-T.

The voice calling out to me was that of Dr. Stuart. It might have been the cane or the odd gate that allowed him to spot me from 50 feet away while he was greeting a Student at the front door to his office.

We have had previous conversations since the took the title of President but this one was different because seeing the humility that this Man has while doing a very difficult job impressed me even more.

The task that day was to hand sign a certificate for each and every Student who made the Presidents List. The next step was his Staff would take a Photo 📷 of the Student and Dr. Stuart, much like the one above where I had the privilege of standing next to him.

We went on to Charleston and played baseball ⚾️ for five hours and split a double header with West Virginia Wesleyan. Afterwards, I would set a new record for the closest Hotel 🏨 I have needed to stop at in regards to miles from our home. Forty Five miles for those of you scoring along.

I ended up with a few keepsakes out of the 15 minutes we spent together but the lasting impact came in the acknowledgment from someone who I have a Coal Truck full of respect for.

If you have an opportunity to take a moment or two, one never knows what it might do to lift the spirits of the person who you are sharing the time with.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was finishing up a conversation with Track Coach Shawn Montgomery, I was headed back to my car and head back to Laurel Fork at the end of two very long days. Just short of reaching the car, I crossed paths with two sharp looking young people.

Isaiah Easter was walking across campus with Ali Wright. Two young Student Athletes that enjoy spending time together and this led to an opportunity to have a conversation with them.

I believe that I have written pretty much everything I going to write ✍ about the youngest of the Easter children and the next time Ali will play for the School is Volleyball next fall. Not to say that the brief exchange with the two left the impression with them that my time with the President did but I would like to think it mattered.

Life happens FAST and people stay busy but try hard to never be too busy to show kindness to others and not just when its to your benefit.

I think this one brings me to within one of being caught up !!!

The highlight of the drive was an exchange with Travis Osborne and now there is getting together tomorrow to look forward to!

Year 18 here at West Virginia Tech University Baseball is well underway and the team has won three of four heading into today.

By normal standards, the changes for today are minor in nature as the park remains the same and the opposition is the same. The lone difference being instead of playing one nine inning game we will play a pair of 7 inning affairs starting at 3pm.

What triggers a relationship  / partnership that is closing in on two full decades ? An opportunity to work with someone who takes what they do every bit as serious as myself. Those things are truly hard to find.

Golden Bears 🐻 Baseball ⚾️ is about Family 👪 and the drive for the absolute best you can be in everything you do !

Today I will have the opportunity 🙏 to work with a young Man who has an interest in learning more about how to frame a ballgame with a 🎤🎙🎤 and Skipper will try and Win one or two on his side of the White Lines.

West Virginia Wesleyan is there to poke the Bear 🐻 and we are up to the challenge !!!

There are some ties 👔 between the Golden Bears 🐻 and the WV Hall of Fame !

First Pitch 3:01, Game Time temp 77°

Play ▶️ Ball !!!!

After 1st, Bobcats lead 3-1

Bottom 4th, we are down 4-2

Top 3rd – Golden Bears 🐻 lead 6-1

81° First Pitch, 6 : 01 pm

Middle of the 4th, Golden Bears 🐻 6-1….

Night has fallen as the clock ⏰ ticks toward 8pm…..

Golden Bears 🐻 12, Bobcats 1, Bottom 5th

8:11 pm – Final out recorded in our 12-1 victory. Just over seven hours after we arrived we are finished playing !!!

Huntington, West Virginia – 55 years have come and gone since a young Baseball coach at Marshall University ventured to a little town in West Virginia in search of a catcher for his Thundering Herd.

Even today, Sophia has a population of just over 1,100 , so the first question is how did Jack Cook even know about a high school Kid named Joe Goddard?

Coach Cook didn’t have a home field ( that didn’t change until 2024) back then but he clearly had an eye for talent. He bagged his backstop that day and took him back to Huntington.

In just two seasons of playing for the Thundering Herd, Goddard established himself in a manner that led the relatively new at the time, San Diego Padres to draft him in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball ⚾️ Draft.

Goddard remained the highest draft pick in the history of the program until 2013. Just as fast as Joe was noticed, he made it all the way to the Show in less than two years. For 67 magical days in 1972, Goddard shared the batters box with true legendary players such as 🔨 Hammering Hank Aaron.

Goddard made a name for himself back then because of the depth of his understanding of the game of Baseball. Most folks believe that the Catcher is required to think at a level beyond any other position and Joe was living proof.

The Padres were just getting started and their vision was to have Joe stay in their system and eventually Manage for them,  possibly at the MLB level one day.

The club made a managerial change just 11 games into the season and turned the team over to some other young fella named Don Zimmer. Zim didn’t have much success back then but would go on to have a tremendous career and later was tagged with the nickname, Popeye. The Padres, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers and finally the Chicago Cubs were all led by Zimmer.

Zimmer thought Joe had a future at the highest level but when it was time to hang up the spikes just a few years later, Goddard passed on the professional game and returned to Huntington and finished his college degree.

The next stop ✋ on the trail is where the story really goes to another level. Degree in hand, Joe returned home and started a Baseball program at a new School 🏫 that was built just 2 miles from his hometown.

36 years of teaching and coaching, instead of staying in Pro Ball…..

Marshall University inducted Joe into their Hall of Fame back in 2015 and today one of their favorite Sons returns to Huntington as a Golden Bears 🐻 Baseball Bench Coach. 75 years old and still married to Angela and still teaching both life lessons and Baseball…

Here is a link to more of the Joe Goddard story that I penned a few years back and was picked up by a few publications across West Virginia and Virginia

Joe Goddard is a living legend and I was blessed to try to pen 🖊 his story

Chris Graham at the Augusta Free Press:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://augustafreepress.com/news/joe-goddard-literally-built-this-field-of-dreams/&ved=2ahUKEwiW96Pst-qSAxVs5MkDHcxPJM8QFnoECB8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw14I4z3xN37mXq7xWLOn9wa

I will sum things up by saying that I am a better person today because of having Joe Goddard be a part of my life !

In a few hours it will be my privilege to honor him again, at a ballpark named for the Coach who ” discovered ” Joe a lifetime ago !