Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend and the Fellas like them too : 50 years of criss crossing the world of sports ! Introduction

Introduction

Three folks with serious ties to Page County High School in Shenandoah, Virginia. Chris Dodson, Alan Knight, have combined to put PCHS on the map. But they are just three of many as a van load of folks with the last name of Comer, and both of the Gordon sisters are a few more. It’s okay that some people will look at the picture above and question who that third guy is?

From 14 to 63, it has been a phenomenal journey and has included an equal amount of top-shelf people as it does various destinations.

There is absolutely no way to shine a light on every place or even every media outlet that has been part of the journey. But with the help of both John Galle and Nancy Sorrells, we will do our very best to pick the most entertaining ones available. There is one absolute requirement in that all stories MUST be of positive nature because if you can not tell a story without putting another person in a negative light, the story doesn’t make the cut.

This journey started when a 14 year old boy, fresh off a 42-point performance in a high scoring rec league game, was run over by a drunk driver on his way home.

A life full of promise ended before it really began, and this created a gigantic void. To fill the hole, I started tinkering with writing while at Norview High School, and the very first thing I had published was a poem about the basketball team, the Pilots.

My dream of playing for Hamp Anderson and then Bill Foster at Duke University was gone, but I lettered as manager and became the team poet.

While I never played a single minute at the Tidewater school, my tennis shoes did drop 22 points one night at Kempsville High.

Teddy Smallwood was an amazing talent, and the night we played at Kempsville, he was trying to break in a new pair of tennis shoes. It wasn’t going well, so during timeout, he asked me to give up my sneakers. My shoes had a very good night !

Dad retired from the Navy after nearly 30 years, and we went from Norfolk, Virginia to St. Peters, Missouri, during my junior year. The story begins in Weldon Springs at Francis Howell High School and will conclude almost fifty years later in the hamlet of Laurel Fork, Virginia.

The four categories that we will break the stories into are : West Virginia Tech University Baseball, Shenandoah Valley / Page County, Carroll County, and the wild card category.

The list of publications is north of 20 and is spread across the United States. In some instances, it was just a single story that was run while others were very long-term. Some subjects are famous while others are just feel good memories.

John Galle is a highly qualified editor who lives in Salem, Virginia, and made his mark as a sportswriter back in the day. Galle is now a father of three children, and I’m grateful that he is going to be tackling this project for our non-profit organization, OneofUs.Care.

Nancy Sorrells has been involved with our third and fourth books in addition to the fifth, which is in the final stages as this is being typed out.

The journey begins with a tragic accident that removed playing sports from the equation and ends with the task of trying hard to narrow down the Top  100 or so.

Mac Davis put together a book back in the late 1960’s with the title being ” Great Sports Humor ” and I read it while trying to learn how to walk again. It stuck with me and will be the inspiration for how this will read out.

Sit back and hopefully enjoy the ride !

💎♦️🔹️💎 are a Girls Best Friend : Let’s call 📞 this one : The one about God used a fantasy football trophy 🏆 to lead me to the answer I was desperately looking for… Welcome 🙏 back to the Show, Mr John Galle!

My problem as of late is that I simply can not keep up with the pace that life is presenting but in the same breath, it’s too difficult to hand something off to someone who I don’t have a history with.

A few weeks back, Lin and I  were finishing up a non-stop loop up in Shenandoah Valley when we stopped ✋️by to see 👀 our long-time friends, Barb and Pappy Meade, as the final detour.

Pappy asked for a small favor as he was looking to get the trophy 🏆from his Fantasy football league he runs down to John Galle in Salem.

I smiled 😃 at the thought of having a reason to cross paths with young John Galle once again. I had a front row seat 💺to the growth of John, so yes, I scooped up the trophy and headed south.

The seventh of the seven books 📚 is going to be a non-functional, faith-based book about God using his powers to help a challenged individual reach remarkable levels in life. There are no spoilers here, but everything has to fall into place perfectly, including the need to finish the fifth and six books before turning 100% of the focus towards the ultimate prize.

Nancy Sorrell has a completed book five, it just needs to be produced. John Galle, pictured above with the youngest of his three kiddos, has agreed to take the handoff on book six !!!!

Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend and the Fellas like them too : Fifty years of feel-good stories that have been collected by me during life’s journey.

The idea 💡 of this book was hatched in the brain 🧠 of a 12 year old underachieving student was instructed to read 📚 a book by one of his teachers.

Mac Davis ( not the country singer, different one ) wrote a book titled ” Great Sports Humor ” and when you aren’t the brightest cookie in the box, it seemed like an easy read.

Mac just collected a series of stories, which had no natural ties to them and created a fun read. My stories are all feel good stories about people and events that I’ve been blessed to encounter over the decades.

Galle provided the cover photo 📸 for Book #2 (Strasburg High School )) and later penned one of the better reads about my life that has been written.

Carroll County High School, Page County High School, West Virginia Tech University are the three lead categories, with the fourth one being Editors choice.

Now, it should make sense why I couldn’t just pass this off to an unknown quantity.

John Galle is OneofUs.Care person, through and through, and I’m so proud to know him.

There is no rush to get this done as a young, hard-working father of three doesn’t need added pressure.

The fresh out of college writer is all grown up now and is an editor !

https://aroundthevalleyin60days.blogspot.com/2008/06/s-carters-perspective.html

This link will take you back almost 20 years and is written by the #3 Child who has gone on to accomplish soooooo many things. I’m not sure if it makes the cut or not, but it’s an important one to me !

Monday morning 🌄 is here, whether you want it to be or not….The coffee ☕️ might need to be an espresso, but it’s still has to be done… Today, we hear from Mr. Bill Turner, among other people !

Howard Mayo and his Motovational Nugget for the Day :
Amen, Coach !
Travis Osborne and his Bible Verse of the Day :

Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

Later today, I will be meeting up with Mr John Galle up in Salem, Virginia, and this sit-down is something that I’m truly looking forward ( I have to use truly because I struggle to use genuinely, due to my lack of understanding how to spell words….

Bill Turner and I run into each other from time to time when I’m up in the Shenandoah Valley. We go back twenty years or so, to when we worked together on the Luray Wranglers. Bill owned the team and was the local version of the legendary, Al Davis. Allen Worrell will get that reference as well.

Yes, I have visited somewhere near 1,000 stadiums 🏟, parks, and various venues over the past 50 years, I invite others to share their adventures as long as they fit into a G rated family show.

Turner is the opposite of me in that he appears to be getting stronger as he gets older, while I’m not sure if I can function without a nap or two.

Mr Bill checks ✔️ in after his latest NFL game adventure !

Fun NFL fact, I have lived in the home market of 19 of the current NFL teams, so I’m pretty much a long a lock 🔐 to have a horse 🐎 in the Super Bowl 🏈 each year ! Bill, he’s just out trying hard to enjoy life and make people smile….

Bill, if you find yourself heading to a Colts game, keep me in mind because you won’t find a bigger Daniel Jones fan !!!

Get up, get out and have yourself a Blessed Day 🙌😇🙏

We are heading into a HUGE week ! How HUGE asks the audience????? So much that it will be a challenge to know where all to be and what to do when I’m there…

  Let’s start with Cindy Edwards and Company. There are now four weeks left in the Carroll County High School Volleyball season.

Seven matches remain with three taking place on The Hill and four more on the road ➕️ one ” off night.” One of the three home matches is different because it will include the Middle School while another will be Senior Night.

Tomorrow night is the first of two with James River High School. The Knights are the lone Three Rivers District team that our Lady Cavaliers have yet to face.

My unofficial math has us at 4-1 in the league with seven to play, meaning tomorrow night is halfway through the TRD schedule 📅.

So, Tuesday and Thursday this week belong to Cindy Edwards !

Linda has a medical appointment on four of the five work days that I will need to get her to, and there is no reason to elaborate any further about that.

Next on the list is Vickey Ritchie !

Yesterday afternoon, I heard Coach utter two words that I figured I’d never hear !!! Vickey Ritchie admitted, out loud, that she was tired. She gives everything she has on a daily basis and somehow plows through it without flinching.

Yesterday afternoon from 2pm until 4pm, we combined forces to create a ” show ” that couldn’t have happened without some AWESOME folks from within our / her community !

Vickey gets the top spot on both Friday ( Little Feet ) and Sunday with our next edition of Who’s coming to Dinner / Practice ?

Saturday is normally blocked 🚫 off for the Duke University Football team, but this week is one of our two bye weeks. I will need to adopt another team for the weekend because it is a mental break time slot.

There is a vital meeting that will take place on two occasions this week. One will happen later today up in Salem and the second one on Friday afternoon on The Hill. Both will change the path of what’s next in the Big Picture 📸 we call life.

Thursday involves the flipping of the calendar 📅 from September to October. This means that Greg Bolen will step down from the King of the Banner and he has to be replaced with the next contestant on Who is the face of our Efforts to save the World 🌎 from the likes of Doctor Evil 😈?????

Then there are lingering questions about things like Chick-fil-A ??? Does the food taste better because it is God’s food, or is that just what you tell yourself when you wait in line like we did on Saturday morning down in Durham ????

Next up is the fact that for the twelve time this year, my phone storage is sending me cries for help. See, life happens faster than I can process it by a wide margin.

Blind faith on display here as this video 📹 came from Vickey Ritchie, and I haven’t watched it yet because I was also tired yesterday.

Shawn Montgomery will have a cross country meet once or twice this week, Half Pint Harris will also play ▶️ one or two matches.

I’m going to see Travis Osborne  at least once this week and Austin Keith twice, which are both things to look forward to !

Now, if someone out there wanted to help the cause, here is the graphic that I could really, really use !!!!

Take a picture 📸 of a witch 🧙‍♀️ and replace the face with one of Vickey Ritchie. Next, take a picture of a mangly cat 🐈, place the Cat ( probably should be a black one ) and then put my face on the it’s face.

It’s now 3:30 a.m., and I might have the opportunity for a nap before the creation of our Morning 🌄 Brew at 6 am.

Don’t forget, this pic means that there will be an actual reason to stay in contact with that Kristy Jones lady !

Of no, I just remembered that I have five more personalized. Thank you cards to write from the Alumni Game…..

Now, because this story isn’t really about any one person, there is no reason to send it out to a group of people.

So, now you know why the group of diehard readers are sooooooo important to my mental health.

This story is / was about what all is bouncing around in my brain 🧠, to the point where it woke me up at 2:00 am.

The biggest reason why I don’t go looking for things to care about, it’s because I struggle to keep up with the ones I already have.

Everything I have typed to this point is of equal importance to ” The Cause “

But seriously, if someone can create that graphic I need, I will compensate them with two slices of pizza 🍕🍕 at the next home volleyball 🏐 match ! That is a 2-fer because for that person to claim their reward, they would have to attend a volleyball 🏐 match !!!

Normally, I would circle 🔵 back at this point and recap this story, kbut the circle would be too big !

It’s almost time to start the wall to wall coverage of Pierre Curtis and Furman University Women’s Basketball 🏀 !!!

Here’s my take on the photo above. I knew that Alyssa Ervin has a rather cute little brother, but I had no idea that she had a sister too.

Life is full of surprises, and that is what makes it worth living !

Softball Alumni Game recap, Take 5 : All the reasons why Greg Bolen is my version of Superman 🦸‍♂️

For readers that haven’t seen the first four takes, we hosted an unofficial OneofUs.Care event a couple of weeks back at Cavalier Park.

Instead of trying to get by with a thank you to everyone who helped me, I made a commitment to myself that each person or group would get a personalized Thank You Card.

This one is dedicated to Mr Greg Bolen, the same one that has his name on the top of my site, for another three days, anyway.

There are two jobs that are at the top of my RESPECT list. The first is anyone who wears a uniform that requires them to carry a weapon, and the second one is anyone who wakes ⏰️ up every day and teaches in a classroom.

The size of the classroom or the level of education doesn’t make a difference. Pre-K, kindergarten, all the way through a professor at a college or university.

I have met a boat 🚢 load full of soldiers and officers of the law in my lifetime. The same can be said for teachers. Heck, I even raised two of those !

Greg Bolen is the sole individual who I have ever met that somehow manages to do both at the same time !!! Not only does he pull off the daily double, but he falls into a third category by being super – sized.

The number of people on The Hill that have a story about the day that they played basketball 🏀 against Greg Bolen is a pretty high number, and most of them still feel the pain.

Why did I want to have Greg Bolen be a part of the event again this year ?

First, Greg doing the worm 🪱 at the previous years’ event actually made the front page of the Carroll News.

Second, I have the utmost love and respect for his demeanor. If anyone has the ability to be ” Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown” (thank you, Jim Croche), it’s Officer Bolen. Yet, he makes a conscious decision not to choose that path.

Third, I wanted to ” rub elbows ” with one of the handful of people who get what I’m trying hard to accomplish here on The Hill. I am just trying to make High School a little more enjoyable for as many folks as I can.

Fourth, I needed Greg to be an 🧊breaker for Joi Ogle and Blake Reed’s Mom 👩 as those two were going to be stepping way out of their comfort zone. Side Note 📝, she crushed that part !

Fifth, we wanted a celebrity to toss out our Ceremonial First Pitch.

My favorite thing about Greg Bolen is the fact that he doesn’t see himself as a ” Celebrity “. But when you are an officer, a teacher, a comedian, a loving husband, a great father, and grandfather ➕️ a nice guy 👦 with a kind soul, all at once……

The list of people who get the banner for the month of October has been narrowed down to just three now, but I sure have enjoyed paying homage to the MAN that is Mr Greg Bolen !!!

Thank you, Greg Bolen ! Thank you for both protecting us with your badge and educating our youth !