Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend : Liberty University graduates and our two logos !

OneofUs.Care’s Laurel Fork Coconut 🥥 Telegraph

S. Carter’s Perspective

June 07, 2008

I’m back in Lynchburg now having started my summer job. I’m bummed that I can’t be back in the valley doing the tour with Dad and Rebecca but I have to work on my thesis and continue my photography business. I really enjoyed my three day stint on the circuit and met wonderful people. From the beginning I’ve felt this was a great idea and appreciated my dad inviting me to work on this with him. When Jerry Carter promotes something he does it right! I appreciated his confidence in my ability, though I think I’ve surpassed his expectations, to design some great pieces for the campaign. I would like the record to show that I was the one who started the blog! I’m glad he’s found an outlet for all of his excitement and a way to show the world just what it is that is so great about the Valley League.

My experience as part of the traveling core of the promotion was memorable. I honestly can’t say that I expected to feel like such a welcomed part of each community. We fit right in among the Valley faithful. I was proud to be a part of what I consider to be an all-American summer pastime which promotes good sportsmanship, athleticism and community ties. I like that families host players who come from all around the country and have the opportunity to share a part of their lives for this short time. Our families player from last season is getting married in July and I was invited to take their wedding photographs!

I am glad to have been able to meet some of you and to join my family in what I’m sure we’ll all remember for a long time to come!

Around the Valley in 60 Days

Click this link for a stroll down memory lane !

Thank you, Sabrena !

Priceless Moment at Cavalier Park 💘

The example of a stand alone photo !

Central High School – Coach Jerry Walters & The Falcons Family Tree- Pics 1ST

After spending a couple of hours with Mr. John Galle of the Shenandoah Valley Herald in Woodstock I made the two mile drive over to Central High School. The Lady Falcons were playing Broadway and one thing you can always count on at Central is the chance to visit with some folks that will make you feel right at home.

Tonight was no different, except the opportunity to trade stories with none other than Valley Coaching Legend Jerry Walters. On our site, Jerry is also known as Jeff’s Dad, but for tonight, we will call him Coach. Coach spent 34 years working the sidelines at Central until his retirement following the 2004-2005 campaign. While I have known Coach for a few years, it wasn’t until Thursday night that I was able to spend what I would call one on one plus time.

Sabrena Carter Deal is our oldest daughter and the creator of our Around the Valley Logo. She has three degrees now, two of which came from Liberty University.

Rob Sisk also graduated from Liberty University and is as close to a fourth son as one can get. Rob designed our original OneofUs.Care logo six years ago !

Lin and Rob at Buffalo Wild Wings outside of a very cold Detroit.

The site that is shown here is still active and goes by OneofUs.Care’s Laurel Fork Coconut 🥥 Telegraph. The pieces above are from that site, the original one that we created back almost 20 years ago. It still holds a treasure chest of memories, and that is why we still pay the storage bill for it.

We keep it active by adding photos that stand alone without needing a story attached. But if scroll far enough back you will find tons of early stories about the Valley Baseball League and Alan Knight and his Lady Panthers of both volleyball and softball !

Preserving as much of our history as possible is one of the reasons why we are working on book #6 !

Logo #3 is the handy work of Mr Ron Cochran !

Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend : The legend of Roy Cardin, being told by those who loved him every step of the way !

Photo Credit : Dennis Zimmerman

My initial correspondence with Roy Cardin came 15 years ago, when he and his dear friend Big Daddy teamed up to help bail me out of a jam. The line from the original Top Gun, ” Son, your ego is writing checks you can’t cash,” describes my situation leading up to our Panther Palooza. I was still struggling to feed my kids when I committed to paying for the new outfield fence, and Roy Cardin went out and sold some half chickens that day.

While we were recently visiting with Big Daddy at Roy Cardin Field, he walked me through the day long process that he and his dear friend had performed more times than they could count. Later that same day, Amy Gaskins, Roy’s middle daughter agreed to find us some more stories about her late father.

Let the Love Flow :

The below Sabrina Foltz sent to me about dad. I am still working on my stuff, and my sister is gonna maybe write something and my daughter too. Thank you for including my dad 🥹

When I think about what Roy meant to me, I see so much more than just a softball coach. Roy served as my pitching coach. However, he had a much greater effect on my life than simply teaching me how to pitch. I remember all of those Sunday afternoons in the batting cage, practicing pitching and spending countless hours together. At the time, I probably did not realize how much those afternoons meant to me or how fondly I would recall them. Today, however, they are among the memories I hold most dear; the sound of the ball hitting the glove, the seemingly endless repetition, the correction, the encouragement, and Roy always pushing me to be the best I could be. Roy believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. He pushed me during difficult times and showed me that becoming a better player requires patience, perseverance, and being present even when you do not want to be. Roy taught me far more than just pitching lessons. He devoted his time and energy to helping me to grow both as a player and as a person.

While those Sunday afternoon practices in the batting cage were centered around softball, they became lasting memories that remain with me still today. Roy will always remain an important influence in my life and one of many individuals who have contributed to shaping who I am.

Thank you, Sabrina !

Now, how about from the efforts of the next person who Amy found for us !

Brittany Alger wrote the next one. Her maiden name is Wolfe.

Brittany played for my dad from the time she was 6 until she went into high school

Take it away, Mrs Alger :

The Coach Who Made Me a Ballplayer

When I think back on my years playing softball, there are games, wins, losses, teammates, and countless hours spent on a ball field. But some of my clearest memories aren’t of a big game or a championship. They’re of Sunday afternoons from 3:00 to 5:00 at the Shenandoah ball parks with my favorite coach, Roy.

It didn’t matter if it was hot, cold, or even Mother’s Day. If it was Sunday afternoon, there was a good chance we were at the field. At the time, I probably didn’t realize how special those hours would become. Now, they’re some of the memories I treasure most.

Roy was the kind of coach who pushed you because he knew you were capable of more. He didn’t let you quit when something was hard, and he certainly didn’t let you feel sorry for yourself. He taught me to fight harder, dig deeper, and never give up.

One of my favorite memories with him started with a bet at practice.

One day, Roy looked at me and told me he could outrun me. I remember thinking there was absolutely no way. The deal was simple: if I beat him, he had to buy the entire team ice cream from Karen’s. If he beat me, we had to practice for another hour.

I was so confident.

I remember standing there thinking, This is going to be so easy.

What I didn’t know was that Roy was surprisingly fast for his age.

We took off, and suddenly this easy race wasn’t so easy anymore. I ran as hard as I could and managed to beat him by about half a step. Half a step!

But a win was a win.

Roy kept his word. He took all of us to Karen’s for ice cream. I’m sure he knew exactly what he was doing when he made that bet. It wasn’t really about who was faster. It was about making practice fun, giving us something we’d laugh about, and creating a memory that would stick with us long after we stopped playing.

And it did.

But my memories with Roy started long before that race.

I was always younger than my group of friends, and all I wanted was to play softball with the “big girls.” I didn’t care that I was smaller or younger. In my mind, I belonged on that field with them.

My parents weren’t so sure.

I remember them telling Roy that I was still too little to play with the older girls. Roy had a solution.

“Put her on the field,” he said. “If she stops a ball, she can play for me.”

I was only six or seven years old.

They put me at shortstop, and Roy hit a ball at me. And when I say he hit it at me, he hit it at me.

That ball came screaming.

It hit me.

Everything in me probably wanted to cry, but I wanted to play with those girls more than I wanted to cry. So I scooped the ball up, threw it to first base, and stood there, determined not to let a single tear fall.

Roy walked up to me.

“See you at the next practice, baby wolfe”

That was it.

I had earned my spot.

Looking back, that moment says so much about the coach Roy was and the player he helped me become. He gave me a chance when I was little. He challenged me instead of babying me. Most importantly, he saw something in me.

Maybe it was determination. Maybe it was stubbornness. Knowing me, it was probably a little bit of both.

Whatever he saw, he gave me an opportunity to prove myself.

Those Sunday afternoons at the Shenandoah ball parks became such a huge part of my childhood. At the time, they were simply softball practices. I couldn’t have known that years later, I would look back and realize I was learning lessons that had very little to do with catching, throwing, or hitting a ball.

Roy taught me that getting knocked down didn’t mean you were finished.

You picked the ball up and made the throw.

He taught me that being the smallest or the youngest didn’t mean you didn’t belong.

You proved that you belonged.

He taught me that when something seemed difficult, you didn’t back away from it.

You fought even harder.

And every once in a while, he taught me that if your coach challenges you to a footrace with an extra hour of practice on the line, you better run like your life depends on it.

I have so many memories of Roy that I could never fit them all onto one page. Some make me laugh, some make me emotional, and some I probably didn’t fully appreciate until I got older.

But I understand them differently now.

Especially now that I’ve become a coach myself.

I understand that a great coach doesn’t just teach a player how to play a sport. A great coach sees potential in a kid and finds a way to pull it out of them. They know when to encourage you, when to challenge you, and when to hit a ball straight at a stubborn six- or seven-year-old shortstop just to see what she’s made of.

Roy helped shape the softball player I became, but his influence went far beyond softball.

He taught me to be tough.

He taught me to compete.

He taught me not to give up.

And he taught me to believe that I belonged on the field.

Roy Cardin will always be at the center of the story !

Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend : Carroll County, Virginia, and the story about Cavalier Park!

Lady Cav, Greg Bolen, and I on Alumni Game #3

The entry point to this story took place on New Years Day of 2021 when Linda and I moved from Orcas Island, Washington, to Laurel Fork, Virginia.

Prior to moving here, there were three things that I knew about Carroll County. First, there was a Pizza Inn located in a gas station lot by the Interstate. Second, I had played one round of golf at Olde Mill Golf Resort, and finally, Frank Comer umpired a State Championship softball game for someone named Rick Nester back in 2015.

The ballpark that the Lady Cavaliers call home was already on its way to being a very special place, and yes, we added a few more touches to it through our non-profit. But I knew how the announcing, the new scoreboard, and the stadium seats all came about, so I went in search of how the rest of the park came about. It appeared that the majority of the heavy lifting was done after the State Championship game in Lynchburg in 2015.

Jeff Tobler, Cindy Edwards, and Dave Quesenberry were just getting started under the regime of Nester (3rd season ) when everything clicked into place and the school won its very first Class Four State Championship. All of a sudden, the team went from a facility where oversized critters lived under the Porta potty to the home park that you see today.

The game itself was covered incredibly well, so there was simply no reason for one to replay the ” Pickle ” play or ” The Catch.” Instead, the search was for the personal touches from as many people as possible.

We have fresh takes from Rick Nester, Darrin Mathews, Brad Nester, Craig Worrell, Emily Cook, and Cheyenne Strickland, to name just a few. The private plane that carried Rick from the ballpark to his son’s wedding and the fact that local shop owner Ron Cochran actually made the T-shirts before the first pitch was thrown.

We attempted to give credit where credit was due at every point of the face lift the park that lays just south of the Boulevard received. The caretakers of the park rolled out the process one day in a sit down that brought joy to my life.

Obviously, my history with the program began in the fall of 2021 when Paul Nester introduced me to his little brother, and the six years has been a pleasure. In 2023, we flirted with giving the 2015 crown and bookend. We fell in heartbreaking fashion to the eventual champion, Northside, at Cavalier Park.

The bits and pieces have been collected over the years and will hopefully get people to smile and reflect !

Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend : Chapter 5 – Turning the Page while our West !

We took this photo last week from an article that was written by Larry Henry of the Everett Herald. Henry retired in 2006 after four decades of covering sports in the Pacific Northwest.

Our friend, Greg Talley, is trying hard to help me find this story in a manner in which I could share it here but for now, the story behind the story will show you just how many different things were effected by a hair brained idea that was designed to test my marketing skills.

Our fourth of five children, Chris Carter was in middle school at the time and I was managing for the New York Times out in Seattle. We lived opposite Everett in a beautiful place called Lake Stevens. Chris Pratt put our little town on the map and we owned a pizza restaurant in the village for a stretch.

The Everett baseball team was the Single A farm club of the Seattle Mariners, and they played in the Northwest League. The league consisted of eight teams spread across two countries as Vancouver, Canada 🇨🇦 added the international flavor. Washington, Oregon, and Idaho housed the other seven teams.

The idea was to do the math on how quickly one could visit each of the eight parks and then find a way to reward the participants at the end of the journey.

One decade later, Sabrena Carter Deal would create our logo as her little sister, Rebecca, and I would introduce the adventure to the Valley Baseball League !

But let’s get back to the story about the mid-1990s. The goal was to get to return to your home park and throw out a first pitch before a game, which we did in the VBL. But the season ended shortly after so we had to look for a backup plan.

Larry Henry answered a phone call and was intrigued by our story and agreed to stop by our house and create a story about our bizarre trip.

17,500 is still the daily circulation, and Larry Henry passed away just two years ago ( October 4th), but the lesson he taught me that day changed my life in a manner that became quite possibly the RED LETTER DAY to the back half of my life.

My son was new in school as we had finally moved into a house that we owned for the very first time. Henry made him feel like the King of the World for the hour or so that he visited, and then he took the time to tell a story in a manner that sticks with us three decades later.

Chris went from being the new kid to becoming somewhat of a celebrity after the story, and we were still able to reflect back on it last week. Over my decades of writing, I am often asked why I treat everything like it is the 7th game of the World Series ? The answer is because you never know what impact your story will have on another person, in the present time or thirty years later.

When it was time to get out to Boise, Idaho, we had to take a $49 Southwest flight but that led to eating French Fries out of an airport vending machine.

The first of many ” Loops ” had been completed, and it would lead to numerous different marketing campaigns down the road. Mr Henry showed me something that I thought to be true and have carried forward across the past 30 years !

The story about Mike and Dave’s Pizza becoming part of our life while in Lake Stevens is a Book 7 story, but it did send us back in the direction of the East Coast when we sold it to some friends in town. That Pratt fella went on to have a nice career in acting.

Before we say goodbye to the PNW for the first time, there is time to sneak in the most enjoyable moments from Bob Bender and his University of Washington Huskies. Bender will always be the answer to the trivia question about which guard played in two different National Championship games for different schools.

Bender was part of the legendary Bob Knight Indiana University team that went 32-0 in 1976 before transferring to Duke University, where he fell to Kentucky in the 1978 title game. Bender joined UW at its low point and took us to consecutive tournaments, including one trip to the Sweet 16. Bender was believable and accessible at the time so there were plenty of great memories.

Slick Watts played six years in the NBA for Seattle, and his son, Donald, played for Bender. Watts passed away in 2025 but we shared some great times watching his boy play. The most memorable time was the Wally World game down in New Orleans.

Southwest Airlines was running a ridiculous offer of fly anywhere and then fly again for $49. I took Chris out of school early one day so we could fly to Spokane and back just to get tickets to fly down to New Orleans for the opening round of the NCAA.

Wally Szczerbiak was lighting up the country for Miami of Ohio in 1899. Bender chose to play him one on one and make his teammates beat us.

The bizarre plan nearly worked as Wally dropped 43 points that day against Thalo Green, but UW held the rest of the team to just 16 points. We lost 59-58 at the buzzer, but we had an experience, plus our rental car was a Chrysler Sebring convertible. That becomes part of the story later.

The number of both life experiences and sporting activities across the 90s had me looking forward to seeing what lies ahead.

The final footnote to the decade took place when Bob Muffett and I drove from Florence, South Carolina, to Tampa Bay, Florida, for the second of my Duke University Bowl games.

Crystal Clear Delivery was founded, and the original office was located on Fidalgo Island in the town of Anacortes.

We survived Y2K and we will pick things back up on Hilton Head Island.

Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend : On the journey to creating our 7 books , there was the effort where we assisted Bill ” Pappy Meade “……HomeRecreation: ‘Close to the Dirt’ portrays journey of Shenandoah Valley’s ‘Mr. Baseball’, the legendary Mike Bocock‘Close to the Dirt’ portrays journey of Shenandoah Valley’s ‘Mr. Baseball’, the legendary Mike BocockJune 27, 2022 By Randy ArringtonLURAY — If a baseball fan in the Shenandoah Valley wanted to play “Seven Degrees of Separation” — the name association game that originated by connecting actors to Kevin Bacon — then there is one name that would clearly work to link together stories of the greatest to ever hit the diamond in this portion of Virginia.Over nearly a half century the Valley’s own “Mr. Baseball” has played among, coached and managed hundreds of ballplayers, many with stories that carried to the professional ranks. He managed six different Valley League Baseball franchises, amassing nearly 700 wins and claiming championships with four different teams in four decades. He also served as a manager and president of the Rockingham County Baseball League for several years and was a member of the Turner Ashby baseball dynasty of the mid-1970s.“One would be hard-pressed to list the 10 biggest sports personalities with ties to the rich history of the Shenandoah Valley without naming Mike Bocock,” said former Luray Wranglers’ part-owner Jerry Carter in a new book released in May.Written by former Page News and Courier sports editor Bill Meade, “Close to the Dirt!: Mike Bocock’s Journey Through the Dugouts and Diamonds of the Shenandoah Valley” contains 110 pages of stories, photos, memories and lists regarding some of the best baseball players to come through the Valley over the past several decades.“My phone rings one day and it is Coach J.D. Arteaga from the University of Miami. He had heard that Mike was now manager of the [Luray] Wranglers and asked me what we might need for the 2004 season. Doing my best to cover my surprise (maybe even shock), Arteaga told me he hadn’t placed any Hurricanes yet for the summer, but he wanted the Wranglers to get first shot at his players. From that year on until I left the club in 2008, Coach Arteaga called me and would place his first four players with us,” former Wranglers’ general manager Greg Moyer says in the book. “Other big name college baseball schools such as LSU, Florida, Florida State, Florida International and others were also calling. That was all due to the respect Mike had for developing players.”Former-Wranglers’ owner Bill Turner got to know Bocock after playing against him in competitive softball, but the two had always talked about being on the same side at some point in the future.“He and I played against each other in our younger days,” Turner said during a May 21 book signing at the Hawksbill Brewery in Luray. “We were both extremely competitive and wanted to win. So, I said to him one time…instead of playing against one another, let’s find a way to be on the same team.”So in the winter of 2003, the two met again in Atlantic City where Bocock was attending a coaching clinic. At a craps table in Trump’s Taj Mahal casino, the two “agreed that one day we’d work together.”Bocock brought the Wranglers from the bottom of the Valley League to eventually capturing several League titles. He would do the same in several other towns across the Valley.“Mike has an ability of no other coach I have seen,” Turner said. “He can get more out of an average player, a good player and a great player, better than anyone I have ever seen. He has a way of getting what he needs out of them.”Close to the Dirt! shares secrets of Bocock’s coaching strategies, from how to respect the game, to trick plays that worked, and from the joys of coaching his own son, to the Big Leaguer that almost got away.Future MLB All-Star Daniel Murphy had a rough start when he arrived in Luray in the summer of 2004, from not having a car to get there, to starting off hitless in his first two games while also committing a couple of errors — one that lost the game. Bocock was ready to pull the plug and send the young slugger home. However, Murphy would pick up a game-winning hit in an extra inning affair, followed up by a 5-for-5 performance with two home runs and seven RBI.“Murphy is a keeper,” Bocock said, proclaiming his new faith in the future pro. “He can flat out hit.”Murphy went on to win the Valley League’s MVP award the next season, was drafted by the Mets, and was second in voting for the 2016 MVP balloting while playing with the Washington Nationals.“In two days, he went from being the goat, to being the GOAT,” Turner said of Murphy’s 2004 summer season in Luray.Meade spent three years putting together the collection of stories from Bocock and those who worked with him around the game of baseball throughout the Shenandoah Valley. While the interviews were filled with stories about regional sports legends, the longtime sports writer said that — much like many who meet Mike — he was most taken in by Bocock’s zest for everything around him.“His enthusiasm for life, not just baseball,” Meade said. “He was over the top for baseball, but his enthusiasm for life was refreshing.”And the best part of the discussions?“The humorous stories he would tell,” Meade said. “Some of which are in the book, and some of which are not.”The book’s journey begins with Bocock’s early days as a Little League All-Star, where he first learned that what he loved may indeed be his life’s calling.“In the state tournament, at 11, I thought this is what I want to do,” Bocock said.The same guys he played with in his youth would later become the baseball dynasty of Turner Ashby in the 1970s, where Bocock went to three state title games. The 1974 state championship Knights included five players that would later get offers to play professional baseball — Mike Ester, Alan Nicely, Harold Nicely, Ted Croy and Donnie Bowman.Bocock’s list of former players in both the Valley League and RCBL reads like a Who’s Who of basball in the Shenandoah Valley, full of names that went on to the professional ranks. His decades in the game have produced a plethora of stories, memories and moments that Bocock wants to pass on for posterity.“I wanted my grandchildren and others to remember it and be a part of my life,” Bocock said. “It was really for the grandkids…something they could hold on to…and Bill Meade needed work.”From his love of sport, love of family, love of life, love to tell stories, and love for the interesting characters he met along the way, the winningest manager in the Valley League’s long history said he chose America’s favorite pastime as a career simply because it helped him through the journey.“The answer, I think, to get through life,” Bocock said. “The road of baseball is what guided me in life, family and the many friendships that were in my life, and it still is…when you are coaching you are teaching…that was my outlet to advance my life. Baseball was the avenue I took to do something in life.”Now entering his fourth season with the Woodstock River Bandits in the Valley League, Bocock’s team is currently 14-5 (heading into Monday night) having won eight of the last nine.Close to the Dirt!, published by Lot’s Wife Publishing based in Augusta County, will be for sale at various Valley League games throughout the summer. A portion of the book’s proceeds will go toward helping the Woodstock-Edinburg Community Baseball organization to benefit local youth leagues, and other charities.