Jeff Burner and John Galle, back in the day.

Outside of Alan Knight, I am not sure if there is a high school coach that I spent more time with than Jeff Burner. There were a number of reasons why we were in the same gym and later at the same Dennys restaurant in Mount Jackson.

First, the Northern Virginia Daily was located in Strasburg, 30 miles one way from Quicksburg. Mike Petre and later Chuck McGill would always cover the Generals in every sport, but the actual staff could be put to use closer to the newspaper.

Secondly, if you looked up the word personable in the dictionary, you could see a picture of Coach. From Day one, Burner treated you like you mattered, and his athletes would run through a wall for him, Shoot, his beat writer would as well. The only drawback to the system would be that the stringer would cover the team during the entire regular season but a staffer would take the baton for the post-season games.

Burner coached like his life depended on it, and outside of a few exceptions, he did so with much height on his roster. His teams back then were scrappy and looked to create havic, just like the guy in the insurance commercials you see on television today. The style was an acquired taste but not always easy on the eyes or easy to follow.

The exception to the rule was his four years coaching one, Kallie Hovater ! Kallie was an absolute beast on the basketball court, from start to finish.

The Mayor of Quicksburg was something I tagged on Jeff early in our relationship. See. 178 is the total population still today in 2026, and Burner has coached for 36 years now. Some of the things he would do is support his players year around, not just during basketball season. This carries over to long after graduation from SJHS as he knows who they married, the names of their children, and if they have a pet or not.

When the school was looking for some fresh things to teach its students, it turned to Burner, and he proceeded to create some new curriculum. Years later, I was able to pitch in with one of those classes.

Jeff is married now to Amy, and their two kiddos are enjoying their time at the school. It has been from a distance, but watching the progression has been a treat.

While we all claim Kenny Brooks, the current Kentucky Women’s Basketball coach, Burner is the one who actually attended classes with the former James Madison University and Virginia Tech coach.

Mom and Dad were always a great conversation, and his brother was as well. Everything and everyone that came into contact with the mayor was better for it !

This photo was taken right after we completed the Carroll County High School book on Basketball. Lin had just delivered his copy to him as what Basketball junkie wouldn’t enjoy a great read?

The similarities between Hovatter and Alyssa Ervin are numerous. Driven individual who played the game the right way are the all-time scoring leader at their high school, Boys or Girls. Both even spent time at Elon University along the way. If not for Chad Coffee and Buffalo Gap…..

But this is supposed to be a book about softball and baseball, right ?

Burner filled in at the school in other sports, and one of them was softball. While he admitted to not getting the best of Alan Knight very often, he did have one fond memory from the diamond.

” Basically, as we came off the bus, a lady was there with a cake in the shape of a 200. She said it was to celebrate Coach Knight’s 200th win. In truth, I don’t know if he had already gotten it before or later, but our girls took it personally. We ended up winning somehow, and our girls cheer was “Put the cake in the Freezer!”

The story came full circle a few years ago when we selected Jeff Burner as our initial  Person of the Year for OneofUs.Care. It was one of the easiest decisions that I would make.

Just finished sending off this weeks thoughts about High School Sports in Shenandoah County to the Editor of the Free Press in Woodstock. Today marks 26 weeks that this project has been going on and as I did with the funds created by writing for the Northern Virginia Daily for 2+ years, the money is going into the latest “Family Project”, the Waynesboro Generals Baseball Club.

The money generated from the NVD went to the first two projects for us. The Volleyball Book for Strasburg and then the Around The Valley in 60 Days promotion last summer. That promotion launched this sight, which in turn created the opportunity to submit work to The Free Press. The continuing circle of giving back could not have taken place if it wasn’t for the Sports Editors that “carried me” over the past 3+ seasons. It created long-term relationships with coaches and parents and, in a select number of cases, student athletes.

A little credit goes to Mike Petre for his efforts in adding me to his list of stringers, but I have to give the Lions Share of the credit to Mr. Chuck McGill, current Top Dog at the NVD. Not only can this young man add large # of IQ points to my work, but when he comes from behind the desk, the Kid can flat out write. The bonus is the constant challenge to measure up to the right way to do something  that we hold ourselves to.

Then there is the Dynamic Duo that runs things down at the News Virginian in Waynesboro. Sports Editor Rob Sisk and Mr. Jim Sacco has been nothing short of wonderful to work with. From the web casts talking Class A Sports to the current efforts where the Generals are, it has been nothing short of fun.

Can’t talk about fun and Sports Editors without mentioning both John Galle (Shenandoah Valley Herald) and Mr. Bill Meade (Page News & Courier). Just this week, I was able to help Bill out with an article on the 1ST year Luray Lady Bulldogs Soccer program. You see, the games, the stats, the memories; they all belong to the Kids & the Coaches, and the rest of are here to help paint the picture.

Having the solid group of folks mentioned above has allowed us to continue our search for ALL THAT IS GOOD in the World. The final Thanks goes to the readers for coming along on the journey!

God bless!

This was my sole time of being listed as a sports editor, and the experience gave me a greater appreciation for the position !

Strasburg High School is located just off Exit 298 on I-81, and trust me when I say that the town bleeds purple !

Suzanne Mathias coached a group of young ladies, including seven Seniors who entered kindergarten together 13 years earlier. The team made their way to Richmond and captured the State Championship in the fall of 2007 !

Northern Virginia Daily sports editor, Chuck McGill, took the time to put me in a position to cover the matches, and for that, I’m grateful ! John Galle snapped off the cover photo for us, and Karma played out later when he won a State Media award for the shot!

Sabrena did all the heavy lifting in regards to the layout while Shorty and I chased down the information on each of the players.

We were able to use the funds from the stories I wrote for the NVD to cover the cost of the book, allowing us to gift the project to the school !

It was just one of many TEAM efforts during a busy decade plus !

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 !

We captured this odd looking selfie with Chris Graham, Linda Carter, Chris Carter, myself, and some grandchildren on the verge of becoming frozen.

To set the stage for this moment, Linda and I had flown from Orcas Island to Detroit, Michigan, for the Duke University Bowl game against Northern Illinois. Spoiler – Duke won the Motor City Bowl, but it was -1° outside that night. But that game was played indoors !!!!!!!

Instead of flying back out, we headed to Annapolis for the Military Bowl between Virginia and Navy. Our son, also Chris, made the drive up with two of our grandchildren so we could see them before going back West.

Chris Graham was there but up in the Press Box, where the windows were freezing over. Virginia returned the opening kickoff for like a 100-yard TD before Navy ran off 49 unanswered points.

We all spent the entire halftime break trying hard to meet up, even if for just a brief moment, and that only happened because both Graham and I were determined to get together after 10 minutes of trying.

This next photo is from the hotel room that we rented in hopes of thawing out after the game. The other Chris went back upstairs and shivered his way to a game story, a tough write that day for two reasons. First, the score and second, getting your fingers to work correctly in those conditions.

There will be plenty of sightings about the Grahams throughout this book as we teamed up a number of times over the years. I’m not sure how the Ice Bowl selfie captured the lead, maybe because of the amount of determination it took to create it !