Yes, Alan Knight has been the head coach of the Lady Panthers Softball program since the early 1980s and has racked up in the area of 700 wins and 3 State titles but Coach will be quick to tell you that he was anything but a one man band.
It would be impossible to list every single person who contributed to both the rise and the longevity of the program, but we will do our very best to include as many as possible. The accomplishments in the building of Alan Knight Field, from scratch to its current state was very much like the fun Johnny Cash song, One piece at a time. I actually played the tune the night of the field dedication.
Ralph Viafora, Roy Cardin, Arthur Campbell, Doug Knight, Clyde Freeze, Dennis Zimmerman, Meagan Gordon, Rebecca Carter and Brian ” Big Daddy ” Hendrick are just a few of the names that come to mind when you start to think about the core group. Each one just chasing the opportunity to add their personal touch to a place I like to call Magic Mountain.
The high school sits on US-340, just north of the town of Shenandoah, and when you list the highlights of the park, you have to include the views from the top of the Hill. Page County High School has been the home for some legendary coaches over the years, and this book is my attempt to try and tell as much of the story as I know.
The partnership formed between myself, Coach Knight, and the numerous others that tagged in and out will always remain atop any lists of personal accomplishments when the dust settles on life.
Knight and Viafora were already 20 years into the process when we first moved to Page County. Ralph took the time to try and put into words just how much his time with the program meant to him, his wife, and his three daughters who all wore the school colors !
Eric Benson, Bill Meade, and Lori Mongold each played their part in the process, and Lori has never been more than an arm’s length away.
We were involved in getting the outfield fence installed through our Panther Palooza efforts. This allowed us to place the name Alan Knight on the front of the park and my parents’ name on the back. That doesn’t happen without Eric Benson and a slew of others that pitched in once we rolled out the idea back in 2011.
Countless years of announcing the home games and having a front row seat to all three State Championships were a stimulating ride, and then we circled back a few years ago to add the Pavillion under the umbrella that is OneofUs.Care.
Travis Knight played a tremendous role in that one, but we all took a back seat to Arthur Campbell ! Mrs Gordon continued to play a role as well, even though both her and Arthur had seen their daughters play their final games years earlier. Viafora also stayed after his third Kiddo had left the program.
When you visit Roy Cardin Field, you will notice the name Archie Dodson in more than one place, and his Boy, Chris Dodson, is multitasking at a ridiculous pace with one effort being to document the story about his Father.
Dow McGrady pitched in back in 2011 in a number of ways, including getting us a new scoreboard at the time. It’s not bad for a fellow guy from Luray.
There should be an asterisk on the three rings 💍because Covid prevented a fourth, and the team has earned a multitude of trips to the State Tournament over the years. The amount of consistency in between the chalk and outside the lines is beyond impressive, and we will touch on as much as possible in the pages to follow !
The average person has no idea what it is like to be driven, to the point of possessed. This book was designed to be finished 12 months ago, and a normal person would have just moved on from it a long time ago, but when you are coo-coo for Cocca Puffs, like me, life is not that simple.
The goal here is to close out the latest effort by walking the readers what will look like a bizarre process, but in actuality is the very definition of Driven.
We start the seven days at 8:46 am on Thursday (October 1st ) and will conclude it at 8:46 am on Thursday, October 8th. This is how I will close the book on the book.
Thursday, October 1st
We will circle 🔵 back to the significance of the message from Keith here in a bit..
I enter the gymnasium on The Hill at 3:30 pm because it is the ninth of our 10 volleyball nights. It is a triple header because our middle school is playing in the leadoff spot. What I do during VB season doesn’t fit under the umbrella of announcing because it is much more like being the emcee for a party that lasts just over four hours.
The second that the third set ends, Lin and I have to head home and pack up. I am packing for 1 week, but Lin is packing for an indefinite amount of time. She has three different next level medical appointments, and the third one will most likely keep her in Missouri for months.
I have two things that have to happen on Friday before we leave town. One involves Vickey Ritchie and the other one, Tammy Quesenberry. The goal is to jump into the car with Lin the second that she pulls up to Pizza Perfect on Main Street.
Lin has the first appointment and then has to load her bags in the car for her three months away. For this to work out correctly, I need a ride on Friday morning from Olde Mill to The Hill, but first, I have to load my stuff quite like because it will be 6am.
Friday, October 2nd :
Up at 4am – boooooooooo
Start writing ✍️
Car loaded by 6:20 and at 6:30, I jump into the car driven by Kris Richardson, and we play catchup for 25 minutes until we reach Hardee’s. I jump out, order a biscuit, and then a few minutes later, I ask Vickey Ritchie if she can swing by to pick me up on her way to Hillsville Elementary School? We need to be there by 8:00 am for her annual Little Feet Meet.
For the next 3 hours and 15 minutes, we crushed what we were doing and had fun while doing it. Karen and Evee were awesome ➕️ anytime with Vickey is an absolute blessing. I would owe her a story, but that was what I call a next day problem.
My meeting with Tammy isn’t scheduled until 1 p.m., but now I need a ride back to Main Street. I have no control over the lunch break window, and when Patrick Smith and his daughter were heading out for the break, I was able to climb up into his truck.
I jump out at Ron’s ( Omega ) shop at 11:30 and engage in a typical fashion with Mr Cochran and his work daughter!
At 1 p.m., Tammy concluded her walk over from her office, and we sat down to discuss a subject matter near and dear to me, Carroll County High School Soccer ⚽️.
We don’t get to sit down together very often because we both stay incredibly busy. But when we do, it’s a top shelf conversation. It only ended at 3pm because we both had to get to the next point or station.
Lin pulled up a few minutes early because the first of three appointments had to be canceled. Incredibly inconvenient, but you have to roll with the punches. It was a bonus that two very important ladies were also enjoying lunch at the same time.
3:15 – jump in car with Lin, and we head north. I text Vickey because I need a couple of things – Karen’s last name and the photo 📸 she took of me and the principal.
The destination is Bryce Resort, only because JMU has a home football game and its parents’ weekend. Finding a hotel for less than $200.00 a night wasn’t going to happen.
Vickey calls 📞 and we bask in the glory of the morning, and she shares the necessary information that I needed. The story was brewing in my head at this point.
The next thing to happen was stopping by the home of Bill & Barb Meade from 6:09 until 7:10. They live in Stuarts Draft, and I wanted to give Bill / Pappy a couple of suggestions on topics for his section of the story. We headed out when the Pitt – VA Tech came on as one of their Son’s went there and they are big fans.
We still had roughly 90 minutes left, and the next thing that I received was the first update from Vickey as she was at the Cavalier – Highlanders game. The final stop ✋️was at Buc-ees because it’s Buc-ees.
The Carroll County game ended as we turned the key 🔑 to the unit. The last thing we did was unload the entire car and then went to bed around 10-11 pm.
We happened to catch the big news about young Peyton Spencer as we were finally turning out the lights.
Saturday, October 3rd :
Up before 6am, did the Morning 🌄 Brew and then headed over towards the town of Shenandoah. The drive flirts with being one hour long and includes crossing Massanutten Mountain ⛰️.
We had hoped to meet up with four or five people on a day we blocked 🚫 off but that wasn’t going to happen. When that’s the case, you make sure that you don’t short change the people that give you their time!
We pull into the parking lot of Roy Cardin Field shortly after 10 am. You can’t help but notice the name of Archie Dodson in a few places as well. Big Daddy pulls in shortly after, and we hit the ground running, exchanging story after story. Just before 11 am, he places a call to Amy Gaskins of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Until that moment, I only knew that we were calling one of Roy’s daughters. Once I saw her last name, I immediately connected some of the dots !
The conversation that followed was the equivalent of winning the lottery jackpot ! Shortly after the video call ended, we made the short drive over to the Italian restaurant in town. We gave Dennis Zimmerman a heads up in case he wanted to stop by and join us for lunch. The picture above shows that he did, even though he couldn’t stay long enough to break bread because he needed to finish preparing for his sermon tomorrow.
One of the employees above and Dennis Z below.
We called Alan Knight as we left Shenandoah and headed over to Harrisonburg. We still needed to accomplish four things – Lin to the Gym for her knee, catch up with Alan, see part of a movie at Regal – because of our membership, and write a story for Vickey.
When I ran a depot for the New York Times out in Seattle, I had a 90-minute window to discuss business with 45 carriers. It was during that time I learned how to think fast and improvise.
Alan was going to a local restaurant to watch the JMU – Marshall University game at 3:45 pm. At 2:45, Lin dropped me off and drove the one mile to the Planet Fitness to begin her workout. Our plan was to meet up at Regal at 4pm to watch the new Tom Cruise movie, Digger.
During the movie, I created the volleyball coverage for the JV tournament and thanked both Travis Osborne for providing it and then Nikki Heflin for taking our group up there on Saturday.
Then, the moment of truth happened – I wanted to go back to Bryce, but Lin wanted to finish her workout. Back to the gym we went…
Lin heads back into the gym, and at 6:30 pm, I send this message to Vickey Ritchie.
One hour and 42 minutes later, I finished up the story on the Little Feet Meet.
I kinda liked the finished product, and Vickey paid me the ultimate compliment by saying it read like I was standing next to her. That is the part that I learned from Jimmy Buffett. A good storyteller should be able to let you close your eyes 👀 and see what the song 🎵 is about.
The McDonald’s drive thru for dinner and back at Bryce Resort by a little after nine o’clock. Asleep 😴 at 10 pm and praying for a decent night’s rest 🙏.
Sunday, October 4th
The clock ⏰️ read 2:01 am. when my eyes opened. I could have really done without that being the case !!!!
2:00 to 4:24 is what it took to write the 8th and final chapter. Everything between chapter eight and this afterword will just be a string of stories tied together. It felt like a great read.
I fell asleep while holding the phone and stayed that way for 60 minutes. When I woke myself back up , I spent the next sixty minutes piecing the Craig Worrell piece together, and I know that one wS a great read because I heard from both Rick and Donna Nester shortly afterwards.
I jump in the shower, and we head out in search of Lin some Starbucks on our way to Shenandoah for back to back Church services
Dennis Zimmerman is the backup pastor at both his Church and its Sister Church. The sermon would be similar at both 930 and 1100, but is there such a thing as too much Church ?
Big Daddy and Chris Dodson
The next conversation took place immediately after the second service, and it was Top Shelf stuff. Dodson is tied to this story in a large number of ways and a quick comparison of notes was incredibly helpful. The small window 🪟 of time also allowed me to meet his Bride and Puppy 🐶 for the first time.
The next McDonald’s drive thru happened during the 50-minute drive down to Waynesboro, where I was set to meet with Chris and Crystal Graham. Lin needed to get back to a gym for her next workout, so she dropped me off. How tired am I at this point ??? One mistep, and I’m in the middle of a face plant that broke skin on both my elbow ( knew immediately and Crystal patched up) and my left knee which I didn’t notice until the end of the night.
From 1:40 until 4 : 50, I received the exact message I needed to hear from the only person who could have delivered it to me. Picture Tom Hanks asking one of his players, ” Are you crying? There’s no crying in baseball.”
The harsh truth had set in about the sixth book. It simply wasn’t going to mean the same to anyone else, and any normal person would have surrendered long ago. The message was simple, if it that important, figure out a way to bring it home.
The next couple of hours were nothing short of brutal and required switching drivers once to make it back up to Bryce. Once back, there it was a crash and burn sleep that began at 8 pm.
We checked a great deal of boxes 📦 was we were far from finished.
Monday, October 5th
Six hours later, it was 2am, and my hesitation to look at my phone was overwhelming. I knew immediately that I was full-blown awake ⏰️ whether I wanted to be or not…
Writing, falling asleep, writing, and hearing from Bill Gallimore made me stop ✋️ and smile. His note, in the middle of his issues, was a shot of adrenaline. By the time we fully packed the car and returned the keys 🔑 it was 9:13 am. The quick stop at the Bryce Community Store for a diet soda and it was 9:26 am
The problem is we had no mapped out plan to get to the end of the week and the drive down to Salem to come up with one.
It was shortly after 10am (10:25 ) on Friday when I sent a quick message to my older brother in Sellersburg, Indiana.
We have a few hard-core time commitments still awaiting us in the next few days.
1:30 pm – Tuesday at Duke Medical Center neurosurgeon.
5:00am – Drop Linda at ROA Airport for her flight ✈️ to Missouri.
11:30 am – pick up a package 📦 in Fancy Gap
1 : 00 pm – Wednesday in Elkin, North Carolina
3 : 30 pm – Thursday, exit the week long circus 🎪
A number of other things need to make the list, but those MUST take place.
Just before 11 a.m., I finished a 20-minute call with our son, Chris, and we managed to create a plan that made sense as we tried to solve a number of issues.
At 12 : 32, we pulled into the Hampton Inn in Salem, Virginia, and 25 minutes later, we finished unloading the car. Yes, we had that much stuff…
3:23 was when Wayne arrived to fill the slot vacated by Alan.
At 2 :09, the Brad & Sydney Nester portion of the book was up ! Brad = The Bomb 💣 and it led to the next to the last invite to write to Mr Chuck McGill.
Off to Buffalo 🐃 Wild Wings for the one actual meal of the day. Created the Darrin Mathews portion while chewing food. Darrin thought it was both funny and sincere !
12 : 04 / 3:49 were the times that I reached out to the Cat 🐈 Lady, and when she responded with her portion.
44 minutes, 11 seconds
At 5 : 30, I started this part of the book, and I will build on it right up until I sign off Thursday afternoon at 3:30
Now it’s 9:32 and sleep 😴 is possible. We have to pull out at 6:30 am because we have one place to go before Duke.
Thank you, Chris Graham, and thank you, Wayne Carter. If this proves to be my final undoing, let Wayne Preach the funeral service, and Chris write the eulogy.
Oneofus.Care is more than a tagline. It’s a way of life.
More 2 follow….
I was this close to falling asleep, but I made the mistake of thinking about Tiff and the Wiff…..now
Tuesday, October 6th
Three hours after laying the phone down and closing my eyes 👀, I went to the one story that I had to stick a pin 📌 in because of a promise I made to a young lady from Dugspur.
The cover of this book will be the logo that my oldest daughter, Sabrena Michelle Deal, created 20 years ago, but the photo above will be inside the jacket.
Now it’s 12:30 am on Tuesday and we have to leave here in six hours…..
All I had to do was not go there……
1:52 – story at a stopping point !
2:18 – Tiff responded to the story !!!
3 solid hours of sleep before Lin’s alarm ⏰️ went off at 5:30. Wayne had the option of jumping in the car for 10 hours or not, and at 6:17, the elevator door opened, and Wayne popped out.
6:31 was the time of departure from the Hampton Inn with a destination of Durham, North Carolina…
7:46 – Martinsville Starbucks, Lin needs her morning 🌄 Brew !!! Good Morning to the Cat 🐈 Lady who lives on The Hill.
9:43 – Car in Park at 1st appointment. Godspeed…..
This is the much lighter of the two Durham appointments by a wide margin!
11:29 – I posted the Greg Talley story and received word that Ryan McCafferty will be at Glenvar High tonight !!!!!
12:30 – Now sitting in the 1L waiting room ahead of our 1:00 pm appointment with the neurologist…. yet, I’m smiling about the fact that our Lady Cavalier Volleyball team will receive live coverage tonight ?????? It’s okay to question that one….
2:36 pm – pulled into the Subway restaurant on NC 86 for lunch… Travis Osborne is headed to Glenvar and Bill Meade is in route to Roanoke from Stuarts Draft as the Christian School that he teaches at has a volleyball 🏐 match in Roanoke tonight as well !
4:40 – Back at the Salem Hotel 🏨, 10 hours and 9 minutes all told. Wayne escapes from the circus 🎪 for a bit.
4:50 – On the Road Again….next stop ✋️ is Glenvar High School 🏫 and volleyball night !!!!!!
5:10 – Then this happened…
WE WIN 🏆🙌😎💪
Hotel 🏨 at 9:35 pm ……
15 hours after departure time….
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7th
I’m making time marks so I can correctly fill in the blanks later.
Up at 4:30 am
Leave Hotel 🏨 5:25 – 20 minute drive over to ROA.
Roanoke Airport 5 : 45- 5: 47 is the drop-off window as we didn’t want a long goodbye.
Marion’s House 🏠 7:12 – This was a quick swing to in hopes of making the 11:30 meet-up easier.
7:40 am – 🏡🏠🏡
Write the Morning 🌄 Brew
9:19 – Chris and Wayne at Exit 118 Park and Ride, Lin lands in Philly, logo sent to Kristy Jones!
10:38 – They arrive, and we shove everything into the back of Chris’s truck and head over to Fancy Gap Elementary School to pick up our fourth golfer, Marion Harris at 11:30.
The story swapping begins immediately and continues non-stop until we say our goodbyes to Marion around 8:00 pm in the parking lot of the Pizza Hut on The Hill.
We drag ourselves back out to Laurel Fork, eating cookies on the way to stay awake and eventually call it a day, shortly after 10 pm.
Thursday, October 8th ( End of the Week )
7:38 am – Post the Morning 🌄 Brew
Wayne and Chris will depart here shortly, riding together from Laurel Fork to Christiansburg. From there, it will be Wayne back to Indiana and Chris back up to Page County.
Linda finally arrived in Missouri late last night after a comedy of issues.. The issue at the St. Louis Airport involved a car bomb, forcing the police to actually shut down parts of the Lambert Field property. Just what she needed at the end of a 16-hour travel day, but she eventually made it out to O’Fallon.
Today was designed to be a bounce back type, and now that there is no volleyball….
10:08 am – Wayne and Chris pull out of the driveway. Wayne has 7:24 home and Chris 3:48
10: 55 am – just finished up the Ryan McCafferty portion of the book !
We have now reached the end of one week in the life of someone who is driven beyond what people would consider being sane. Most people only see what happens in front of their own eyes, so the goal in using this format to conclude the book was a no-brainer.
Why make the trip down to Elkin, North Carolina, once again will be answered and the reason the second photo is so valuable will see the light of day too.
For now, though, a nap is in order…
11:27 am – Chris and Wayne have now said their goodbyes and are heading in the direction of their holmes
4:00 pm – After one rest area, nap on I-81, Chris pulls into his driveway with 10 hours of life awaiting him. He has volleyball to watch, church band practice, and then the night shift to work.
6: 49 pm – Wayne arrives back in Sellersburg, Indiana. His last-minute, 4 days, and 3-night excursion is now in the books! He is back home with a few more miles on both his car and 71-year-old body, but he has a story to tell. He also understands how much easier it is to tell a story verbally versus typing it out.
The cast of the show is all back where they belong with the exception of Linda. She has an early medical appointment in Missouri tomorrow morning that will dictate our immediate future. Fingers crossed 🤞 and prayers said on that one!
Carroll County High School Volleyball played twice, and Vickey Ritchie hosted her Little Feet Meet and is currently hard at work on Boo Ridge. Keith hosted an awesome event down in North Carolina for the 20th time ( our third ).
Duke University Medical Center was included in the mix for a day, and we received the only good news that was available in that Lin’s condition has not gotten worse over the past six months. There is no cure coming, but we love hearing that there is nothing more wrong right now.
When Lin has to fly out, we actually have five different airports to choose from, and we picked Roanoke so we could have the option of supporting Cundy Edwards and Company in one of her biggest nights of the season.
We met with the Meades, Alan Knight, Chris Dodson, Chris, and Crystal Graham. Don’t forget about Brian Hendrick and Amy Gaskins as we push to the finish line on Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend which also goes by the name Book Six.
Greg Talley tracked down a story for me and Ryan McCafferty crushed the piece he wrote for the book.
Vickey Ritchie gets the next three days with Boo Ridge prep on Friday, Boo Ridge on Saturday, and basketball practice on Sunday afternoon. There will still be time for the new Aaron Sorkin Movie 🎬 and Duke at Georgia Tech (3:30 – Saturday)
When the previous books were created, it was so fifty years after the events took place that the characters could crack them open and show their grandchildren about their glory days.
Book Six is in hopes that my great grandchildren might understand a little bit of who I was and the people that God put into my path. The week chronicled here was just one week in a life of trying to stand for what I believe to be true.
God, family, friends, military, education, kindness, and equality. This book just happened to be about events that took place on or around the ball fields along the way.
When the dusts settles on the adventure of life, let the tombstone read : He Cared!
Here is the perfect example of what I call a companion piece. Written by my surviving older brother, I offered him the opportunity to explain why he would have just jumped in the car and commit to the back half of a bizarre stretch of time….
Dear Jerry, I’ve been thinking about my trip to see you and Linda this past week, and I wanted to put into words something that has been on my heart. The 15-hour roundtrip was a small price to pay for the opportunity to spend time with you both. I wanted to be there while Linda was undergoing her cognitive testing at Duke University, to let you both know that you were not alone, and, of course, to enjoy some time on the golf course with you. But as I reflect on why I made the trip, I realize it goes much deeper than a visit. It comes down to love, gratitude, and a feeling in my heart that the Holy Spirit was leading me to be there. Jerry, I want you to know how deeply grateful I am for you. When I look back over my life, I see so many ways you have stood beside me, protected me, and helped me through circumstances that might otherwise have been more than I could bear. You have stepped in when others may not have had my best interests at heart. You have taken flights, both within this country and overseas, to be there for me when I needed you. You have made financial sacrifices, given me emotional support, and offered encouragement when I was struggling to keep my balance and maintain my sanity. Those things are not small to me. They never have been. Each one represents a choice you made to care about me, to stand up for me, and to help carry burdens that were sometimes difficult for me to carry alone. I know that those sacrifices cost you time, energy, money, and probably more emotional strength than I will ever fully understand. I don’t want you to think for one moment that I have forgotten them or that I take them for granted. More than anything, I am thankful that God gave me a brother like you. I believe the Holy Spirit sometimes moves us in ways that we may not fully understand at the time. We simply feel that we need to be somewhere, that we need to reach out, or that we need to show up for someone we love. That is how I felt about coming to see you and Linda. I didn’t need a grand reason or a carefully calculated plan. My heart told me that being there was the right thing to do, and I believe the Holy Spirit was part of that prompting. I wanted to be present for you, just as you have been present for me so many times throughout my life. I wanted you to know that the love and support you have given me have not gone unnoticed. And I wanted to share some ordinary, precious time together — to talk, to laugh, and to play a round of golf. Sometimes those simple moments with someone we love mean more than we can express. Jerry, I love you, and I love Linda. I know that waiting for answers about her health can bring uncertainty and concern, and I wanted you both to feel my love and support during this time. We cannot always control what life brings our way, but we can choose to stand beside one another through it. You have done that for me again and again, and I want you to know that I am here for you, too. If my visit gave you even a small measure of the comfort, reassurance, or companionship that you have given me over the years, then every mile was worth it. Thank you, brother, for protecting me, for sacrificing for me, for encouraging me, and for loving me through difficult seasons of my life. Thank you for being someone I can count on. And thank you for being the kind of brother whose actions have shown me what love looks like when it is put into practice. I pray that God continues to bless you and Linda, give you both strength and peace, and guide us through whatever lies ahead. I am grateful for the bond we share, and I thank Him for the privilege of calling you my brother. I made this trip because I love you. I made it because I am grateful for you. And I made it because, in my heart, I believe the Holy Spirit was telling me it was time to be there. I hope you never doubt how much you mean to me. With all my love and gratitude, Your brother, Wayne
Book #6 in our set of seven is no different than the first five. It is not being created to generate any amount of income. This book will be made available to the folks that helped create it at no cost. What makes this one different from the other five is we are building it right in front of you!
Anytime you see a story that begins with the words ” Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend,”you are reading 📚 part of the book.
The goal of the book is to capture some of the best stories that I have witnessed across a lifetime of attending, watching, or announcing softball or baseball games. The relationships and the personal stories often trump the event itself, and it’s been a treat to work with so many people on this.
The harsh reality is that I should have finished this one 12 months ago, but we ran into a number of people that have chosen to not offer their take, and then you reboot your thoughts and adjust them one more time.
There is no one story that will appear in this effort that is powerful enough to warrant a stand-alone book, but when they are strung together, I believe that it will be a fun read.
Carroll County High School Softball won the very first State Championship in 2015 and it moved Cavalier Park from a ball field to a park that resembles one you would find on a college campus.
Page County High School Softball went from not having a field back in the early 1980s to the one they have today. All of this happened under the guidance of Alan Knight, but he knows that he was just the captain of the ship.
Ralph Viafora, Roy Cardin, Arthur Campbell, Megan Gordon, Dennis Zimmerman, Big Daddy Hendrick are just some of the key players.
Spending 12 years inside the Valley Baseball League, 19 years with Lawrence Nesselrodt at West Virginia Tech, a decade with Chris and Crystal Graham, are three more categories that sneak in right behind the first two.
How about the various newspapers that we partnered up with over the years ? Not all 20+ make the story, but Allen Worrell, Pappy Meade, Chuck McGill, Craig Worrell, and John Galle certainly do.
The past four days have been nothing less than exhausting, but there is such a thing as a good form of exhaustion. Here in a bit, we will pack up and head in the direction of Duke University Medical Center for the next sit-down with the brain 🧠 doctors. That is a different type of exhausting, but it still provides hope.
Yesterday afternoon, the Grahams were kind enough to offer up a conversation that lasted just short of three hours. The purpose of the chat was to try and reaffirm what the goal is here in regards to the final two books ?????
The goal is not to land on Oprah’s sofa or the New York Times best sellers list. It’s not to unload a bunch of hot takes or create water cooler gossip. The goal when you write a book should be to enjoy the art of telling a story !
The difference here, with this one, is that it’s being done right in Plain Sight ! By the time that the book is complete, the majority of the people that will throughly enjoy it will have already read it.
The example I will use is Amy Gaskins, one of three daughters of Roy. I sent her one of the completed sections, and she noticed a very important missing detail. I need everyone who is involved with this to do the same. I make the adjustments before the editor scoops up all of the stories and creates the actual book.
God has blessed me with a multitude of opportunities to absorb life, and I have interacted with some Top Shelf people along the way. Some of these stories are designed to make you laugh, and some will make you feel the bond that makes the story relevant.
Over the years, I have been asked why I tend to treat everything that I write about, like it’s the seventh game of the World Series ? My answer is because it is to someone…..
I have to focus on what I have been blessed with, the ability to tell a story in a manner that will bring joy to one’s heart!
While this photo has nothing to do with softball, it captures the heart ❤️ of both Velvet Creed Leonard and Craig Worrell. Craig captured the pic after Velvet set everything up that day.
Craig Worrell and I share a space in the Carroll County High School Hall of Fame in the category of contributions. Craig earned his over decades of providing coverage and photos for CCHS. He is also the son of legendary coach Bill Worrell, who has his name on the ball diamond where our Casey Burcham currently works his magic.
The thing that separated Craig and Allen Worrell and their newspapers is Allen only had one school to provide unconditional love and support for while Craig had three. Galax High and Grayson County High each looked for Craig to be their shining light, non-stop. You want to talk about a tough beat to have….
Craig is still the creator of the oversized team photos that hang at both Cavalier Park and Bill Worrell Field. We crossed paths just last week in the gym during our volleyball match, and seeing him always brings a giant smile to my face.
That week was a very hectic one for Craig and you will see more of his coverage later on but I asked him if he could pen 🖊 one more story that had not been read before and he knocked off the dirt in his cleats, stepped in to the batters box and knocked it out of the park with this one.
was honored when Jerry Carter asked me to recount some memories I have of Carroll County’s 2015 Group 4A state softball championship. I would like to begin by commending Jerry for the immense investment of time, effort, energy and resources he has put into Carroll County athletics. Having a son in the athletic program during his time here at CCHS makes me grateful for his tangible contributions to Cavalier sports. But with the unique perspective of having spent three decades as a sports editor in the Twin Counties, I can say without a doubt that it’s impossible to put a price tag on the investment Jerry has made with his time, be it traveling, writing stories, planning, engaging coaches or players, manning a microphone or the countless other ways he has poured himself into Cavalier sports. It is woefully inadequate, but…Thank you Jerry.
You’re out (finally)
It was definitely one of the best battles I ever witnessed in any sport at any level as a sportswriter. Although the passage of time and the unfolding of subsequent events have most likely combined to dim its importance (and it definitely has been overshadowed by the hullaballoo of what would happen one game later), it was without a doubt one of the three or four most important moments in CCHS sports history. After all, had it turned out differently, who knows how subsequent events would have unfolded?
This moment didn’t come during the state championship game, but its magnitude lies in the fact that Carroll’s first ever title game appearance may not have even happened had this outcome been different.
In the Group 4A state semifinals at Liberty University, Carroll County led Deep Creek 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs and nobody on base. Playing as the home team, the Cavaliers were in the field in the bottom of the seventh and playing for the first state title game appearance in any sport in school history. But with two outs, Deep Creek got back to the top of its order and the Hornets’ leadoff batter beat out a bunt for a base hit (her third bunt single of the day) and stole two bases (her fourth and fifth steals of the day) to put the tying run on third. Deep Creek’s No. 2 batter, Nikki Smith, quickly fell behind 0-2 to Cavalier pitcher Sydney Nester, but Smith fouled off pitch after pitch after pitch, each one ratcheting the tension to another level.
Smith eventually worked her way to a 3-2 full count when finally, on the 14th pitch of the at-bat, Nester coaxed Smith into a comeback grounder to the circle. The Carroll ninth-grader tossed to first baseman and fellow freshman Emily Cook for the final out, and the Cavaliers had at one last earned a spot in the state championship game.
You’re in (finally)
Something I remember from my early sportswriting days is that when visiting the gymnasium Blacksburg’s old high school, It was impossible to not notice the banners. They were smallish, maybe two feet by three feet in size, arranged neatly in rows and columns on a wall on one end of the gym. The most striking thing was that there weren’t any district or region championship banners. Nothing about runner-up efforts. Each banner signified a state championship, and there were dozens of them, as if they were no big deal.
I remember wondering if Carroll County would ever join that club.
After more than four decades, the Cavaliers finally did. It was like waiting 45 years for that Christmas morning in which you finally got the official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle.
It seems kind of odd but a lot of my thoughts about Carroll County’s first state championship in a team sport, one that was earned outdoors and on dirt and synthetic grass, spark memories about a couple of gymnasiums.
I grew up at CCHS, literally and metaphorically. My dad was on the original staff as a teacher and baseball coach when the shiny new county high school opened, and I remember as a 4-year-old kid in the summer of 1969 walking around the gym with only half of the hardwood playing surface having been laid in place. I remember that a faint ambient light was the only thing keeping the gym from being in total darkness. I was afraid to go near where the hardwood of the half-completed surface ended because I didn’t want to fall off of the edge and end up wherever 4-year-olds landed when they fell off of stuff in the dark.
It was dark. And I was only little but I remember the newness of it all. I remember clean, white walls and I had no inkling that it would be more than 45 years before those walls would display a state championship banner that so many other gyms already had.
As a little kid, as a bat boy for my dad’s teams, as an athlete and student there and then as a sportswriter for most of my adult life, I saw thousands of CCHS athletes come and go and I saw some incredibly talented teams come up short in the postseason. As the landscape of the VHSL alignment and postseason setup evolved I wondered if Carroll would ever break through and win a state title. Back in the day when there were just three classifications instead of six, and the region tournaments consisted of just four teams each, I watched those great boys’ basketball teams of the late 70s and early 80s that were plenty good enough to win a title. I played on two baseball teams that were talented enough to win state and there were others baseball teams that were capable of going all the way. I watched the phenomenal girls’ basketball program that had teams solid enough and talented enough to win it all.
Year by year, all of them had that one game that halted their run. It was a game against a team that just played better that night. It was one bad inning. It was one cold night shooting the ball. Whatever the reason, it just didn’t happen.
Until it did.
Girls’ basketball won back-to-back championships in 2022-23, but in 2015, a Carroll state championship was still something to dream of. Throughout that 2015 softball postseason there was this pervasive feeling that Carroll County was going to make it al the way, and in the process become the first team to even make a title game appearance.
Woodgrove High, located in Loudoun County, was in the middle of a nine-year string of state championship game appearances. Carroll County was in the middle of nowhere, according to a Northern Virginia newspaper account. Each team was spearheaded by a freshman phenom pitcher. Camryn Dolby of Woodgrove would eventually sign with Boston College, Sydney Nester of Carroll County inked with N.C. State. Of those two freshmen, only one carried herself as an upperclassman that day. Of those two teams, only one did its homework.
Plenty has been written about the game – a 1-0 Carrol County win in which the game’s only run was scored by a freshman pinch runner, on a pickle play. The pitching was fantastic. The Cavaliers’ defense (zero errors in five region and state tournament games) was flawless. The scouting and preparation by Carroll (and the lack thereof by Woodgrove) was the difference. It made the difference on the success of a trick play the Cavaliers had pulled off in a regional game the week before. It made the difference between a 1-0 win and a game that otherwise could have gone on and on and on.
It made the difference between a gym without a state championship banner and a gym with one.
Craig Worrell is a quiet GIANT of a man, and I treasure getting to know him. I didn’t have the honor of knowing his late father, but if he’s anything like Craig, I am thrilled his name is on our baseball diamond.
The story of 50 years spent around sporting events has zig zagged around the country up until the new millenia, but now it will take a much more narrow path as we shift the focus to Page County and Carroll County, Virginia.
At the beginning of the book, you read a dedication to Roy Cardin and Jeff Tobler, and now you will start to learn about two local legands that left a grand canyon sized impression on the communities that they called home.
There was a scene in the classic movie, Field of Dreams, in which James Earl Jones and Kevin Costner listened to a woman reading about Archibald Graham. The comment was made that every town has a larger than life person who runs behind the scenes, quietly making the world a better place.
That could very well be the case, and if it is, we should create a new National Holiday to celebrate them. We can call it National Good Person Day !
Up until this point, the journey has been about how the road twisted and turned for me. Every story along the way was picked by design in hopes of showing how my particular skill set came about and the conscious decision to use it for good.
You find out who your friends are when you go outside of the box to create a book. The goal was never hidden. It was to write a collection of books about subjects that were near and dear to my heart until it was time for the seventh one.
As we finish working on this one, number six, the goal was always the same. The inclusion of everyone who wanted to tell their part of the story as we worked our way up to number seven, which is a non-functional story about the Power of God if you are willing to humble yourself.
Alan Knight graduated from Page County High School back in the late 1970s and went on to college in Harrisonburg at Eastern Mennonite College. The school continues to grow decades later and is now called Eastern Mennonite University.
Knight earned his second piece of paper and then bolted straight back across Massanutten mountain to PCHS. He instantly inherited both a softball program and volleyball program. The softball program had been successful, but it lacked one rather big thing, a home field.
Another one of the main characters in the main story is the very definition of a hard-working, Southern gentleman named Rick Nester. The schools sit 198 miles apart, separated by some very scenic lands that are rich in our countries history. Both stories include a number of people, with each head coach having attended the funeral of a beloved member of their program.
Rick Nester on the left, Alan Knight on the right at Cavalier Park.
There are only a few people who have cross-over roles in this story. Kris Richardson and Marion Harris have both spent time in Page County, while Coach Knight has a long history with Carroll County Volleyball coach Cindy Edwards and naturally myself. We have been working on projects and fun for nearly a quarter of a century now.
Both programs had long-time journalists in the mix. PCHS had our long-time friend, Bill ” Pappy ” Meade, while CCHS was blessed to have the non-related Worrell’s, Allen at The Carroll News and Craig at the Galax Gazette. Community newspapers, which allows journalists to be HOMERS in the purest form.
Alan Knight in Charlottesville on the day he entered the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame.
The story from here has one very distinct Red-Letter Day. Just like Doc Brown and Marty McFly in back to the future, the date happened on a hot, muggy day in June of 2015, and amazingly, I was not in either ballpark. That is a story for Book Seven, as thankfully there were plenty of people who were in one town or another.
Just as the case with who really discovered America, I was not the resident from Page County who discovered Carroll County. Frank Comer is as respected of an umpire / official as there is in the business, and he shared a work space with Knight for decades.
I wasn’t the only person in Alan’s circle who couldn’t attend his latest big day as Comer packed up his gear and headed down to Lynchburg to call balls and strikes in a game involving Carroll County High School. The Cavaliers had opened their doors back in 1969 and were still searching for their ( now our ) first State Championship in any sport.
CCHS was playing in Class 4 at the time and they were playing the High School version of a dynasty. Woodbridge made the New England Patriots look like a pedestrian team. The team adding its latest trophy to the case was such a formality that their fans didn’t make the trip south.
But Carroll County fans made the 127-mile trek in groves. While there is no official count, the stories have said it was north of 600.
Frank returned to Page County with stories about the game and the sneaky way that some guy named Rick Nester pulled off a trick play that led his team to victory. Frank was so impressed with Nester that he took the lineup card out of his pocket at home, penned a letter to Nester, and mailed it out.
That letter is relevant for a few reasons, and here they are. It shows the character of Frank Comer, and it made me say outloud, where is Carroll County located? Fast forward to one of my initial conversations with Rick Nester, in which he pulled out the letter I just described.
For the past six years, Lin and I have called Eastern Carroll County home. Earlier, we spent 12 years in Page County and still have serious ties to the place. One of our five children, his bride, and four of our nine grandchildren are thrilled to call Page County home.
Everything in this book before this point was designed to accomplish two things. First, to make people smile and second, to show where both the understanding and skill set to paint a picture came from.
From here to the end of the timeline of the 2026 CCHS Alumni Day celebration, the entire story will be about two softball programs located in two different parts of The Old Dominion. The goal is not to compare the programs, the schools, the people, or the players. That is an Apple and Oranges thing. There won’t be any ranking of players or hot takes in this story because that is the opposite of what we believe.
There will be no comparison between the two facilities, just as many stories about how they came to be. We won’t look to rewrite history because that day, the Red-Letter Day, was covered incredibly well. But there will be side stories from all three of the ” Beat Writers ” mentioned above.
The stories are not designed to be placed in chronological order, just fun takes from the folks who chose to share their thoughts with me about relationships and bonds that were created through the softball.
One great example comes from a lady that for two years I only knew as Addie Greene’s grandmother. It turns out that Tammy is many, many things, including the wife of the pitching coach at the time, Dave Quesenberry. Tammy tells me that there was a groundhog or three that lived under the Porta Potty that was the only form of restroom available at Cavalier Park, pre-2015.
The danger in needing to use the rest room mid-game and having it shake wildly because you startled its main Tennant. Wow, if anyone has a photo of said critters. It is safe to say that the modern day Cavalier Park is one of the most well-rounded facilities in the state of Virginia.
Yes, Lin and I added some of the finishing touches with the scoreboard and stadium seats being the bigger two, but to tell a story correctly, it needs to include as many names and details as possible.
There will be a number of my own stories, some of which were written at the time they happened. But this part of the journey ran a flush 20 years, so some of them will need to be brushed off a bit.
Alan started with just a backstop and no home field, and Rick made the transition from being like John Cena or The Rock to coaching girls’ softball.
There is a cast of people who touched thousands of lives, and sadly, two of them passed away, but both were mourned in a manner that is normally reserved for British royalty.
I hope that you have been entertained by the long lead in that I covered the 30+ years that led to this part of the journey. Going forward from here, you will be reading equal parts, me and a cast of many that all played a role in both parks / programs!
The end of the Road moment ahead of the event last month at Cavalier Park.
