Timing is everything and last night in St.Louis the Cardinals were hosting the San Diego Padres and the Cards were celebrating the career of legendary Ozzie Smith.

My Sister Sharon, a long time resident of the area and equally long time fan of the ball club. Sharon was at the game and managed to snag me one of the bobble heads. The natural pose for Ozzie was capturing him in the middle of one of his famous back flips.

Smith came to the Cardinals via a straight up trade for Gary Templeton. Tempy was one of a small number of baseball players that fall in the category of favorites for me. Sadly, Tempy ran into a drug problem before it became okay to have one and the greatest switch hitter since Mickey Mantle, leading to a trade out to San Diego.

  Ozzie Smith was as popular of a ball player as Baseball ⚾️ has seen in half a century. Each year, Smith would head out to play short stop and along the way to his position Ozzie would slow down long enough to land a back flip.

Fast Forward now to the home opener for Carroll County High School Softball team in 2024-2025. It’s time to run our Lady Cavaliers 👩 out to their positions and our centerfielder pops out of the dugout and proceeds to land a perfect back flip. Holly Miller is a special young lady that plays the game with a level of zeal that few possess.

Sadly, there wasn’t a camera on the moment that day but it was a moment that will never be forgotten on my part.

Holly Miller is a second generation Cavalier Center Fielder as her Father, Hix Miller roamed the diamond 💎 on the other side of the Boulevard, Bill Worrell Field.

https://aroundthevalleyin60days.blog/2024/04/20/holly-miller-is-taking-her-turn-at-running-%F0%9F%8F%83%E2%99%82%EF%B8%8F-the-family-%F0%9F%91%AA-business/

The link above is a story about Hix and Holly Miller.

I doubt that Holly Miller knows the history of Ozzie Smith and the back flip but last night in the STL , the Cardinals captured the Back Flipper in all of his glory.

Page County High School added a Hall of Fame in 2022 and in 2023 they added both Head Coach Alan Knight and star player Kate Gordon to the list of folks to be introduced.

Kate Gordon played four seasons under Alan Knight, a number that was limited by only the Virginia High School League not allowing Student Athletes to just four years.

Gordon played the game at a different level and provided great leadership both on and off the Diamond.

Knight has spent 40+ years trying to teach his players the game and part of the lesson is what it means to be a part of something bigger than just yourself.

The duo teamed up for an incredibly entertaining four years but there were so many for folks that were part of the journey. We will capture the night 🌙 the pair went into the Hall and so much more.

  Head Coach Alan Knight is quick to point out that the Lady Panthers Softball program development over the past four decades that would not have taken place without a list of people that gave their time, energy and finances to the cause.

Ralph Viafora gave two decades of his life to the Softball program in Shenandoah. The efforts didn’t stop with being the Assistant Coach as all three of his daughters played for PCHS and did so with a great deal of leadership. You know the old saying about being a Coaches child.

The youngest of the Viafora daughters graduated 🎓 in 2013 and worked her way onto the roster at nearby James Madison University. The 5’4 Catcher played the game with a level of determination that was bordering on unreasonable.

The question that remained after his youngest daughter graduated was how much longer would Dad stay with the program ? Thankfully, Coach Viafora spent a few more years as the Co-Pilot of the Plane as the following two years ended with Page County High School defeating King William for the State Championship.

The development of the facility, the knowledge of the game and his leadership skills all contributed in the Lady Panthers Softball program becoming the juggernaut it has been for an incredibly long time.

There’s a long list of folks that took a program without an actual home field back in the early 1980’s, it just happens to be that Ralph Viafora tops the list.

The goal is to include everyone who was part of the story that would like to participate in the Book 📖, the opportunity to do so. Both programs had a great day on June 13, 2015 and both play Home 🏡 games at impressive Ball Parks. Neither happened overnight or because of just one or two people.

Across the  forty year relationship with Diamond 💎 sports, there have been many a journalist who I have crossed paths with and Allen ” Homer ” Worrell has a very unique skill set.

Allen started out as a Sportswriter before having to transition over to the more serious Real World side of the newspaper 📰 business. Going from being the Sports Editor to the being the Editor was not necessarily a career goal but for those of us who are newspaper ” Lifers ” understand that our industry is shrinking by the hour and one has to make adjustments in order to stay involved.

  Those who are new to the story should know that Allen and Craig Worrell are not related in a kinfolf kind of way but they both spent decades providing coverage for Carroll County High School. The biggest difference between the two was Craig was splitting his time between three High Schools in CCHS, Galax and Grayson County, while Allen gets to be the truest form of a Homer.

As I close in on 50 years in the Newspaper business, I bleed ink and will until the day it all ends. With that said, I can never recall a time where a community was so blessed to have not one but two dedicated people providing a High level of coverage at the same time.

Allen was at Liberty University as was his ready to deliver a baby 👶 any day now wife, Crystal. It’s was a hot 🔥 and muggy kind of a June day, so I’m sure that Crystal was trying to survive the day in addition to celebrating the moment.

As is the case with Craig, there will be space for everything that Allen has to offer in regards to the book 📖. The Softball signed by the team sits proudly on display in the office down on Main Street so there is little doubt that the State Championship means a great deal to Homer.

While a number of people that covered High School sports were using it at a stepping stone to College or Profesional sports, others took the time to enjoy being the voice of a Community.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Homer fits into that second category and means so much to him that he’s willing to swim 🏊‍♂️ in the other end of the pool. Coverage of politics and crime isn’t a fun thing to do but in this day and age, if you want to stay in the business, it involves multi tasking.

The photo above is from the ESPN 30 for 30 episode titled ” The Class that saved Coach K”.

The Class of 1986 at Duke University got back together in 2019, 33 years after they graduated. Last night I was searching for something to watch and landed on a feature that I have watched at least a dozen times. The fun part is that I still find it highly entertaining.

  That is one of the goals in trying hard to capture the Glory of June 13, 2015 for both of the Schools that I have worked with over the past four decades. What did the Championship victories mean to the players and coaches, the fans and families ?

Now that 10 years have past, how many people still look back at what took place that day at Liberty University and Radford University, with a great deal of fondness ?

Teams win State Championships all the time, Virginia alone has six classifications of schools, so what makes these two stand out ? For Page County it was the finishing touch on a Back 2 Back that was three decades in the making. For Carroll County the victory that was 40+ years in the making.

Let’s get back to the Round Table conversations. What would it sound like if Coach Alan Knight was in a room with Coach Rick Nester and a handful of players from both teams ?

Now, make no mistake, I am not trying to compare Nester and Knight with Coach K. Just wondering what the Ladies that put forth the effort back then would have to say about the experience of playing with their teammates and for their coaches???

Three of the Lady Cavaliers finished up playing Softball at Ferrum College so they would have extended period of time. How many of the players have stayed in contact with each other over the years ?

How have the relationships created back then advanced ? What are the fondest memories of the lifetime playing the game they loved ? How many players found a way to give back to the game they love ?

No question about the two Head Coaches as they are both set to lead their programs in the 2025 – 2026 season. But we can ask if either one of them will last until the 50th season ?