Coaches Rodger Monk and Ron Cobb on Friday evening. Jim Triplett, unfortunately, was called away for an emergency. These gentlemen spent years helping kids -- Ron still coaches and runs South Hills Youth Basketball (Shyball) -- when they had no children on the horizon. Ron eventually had a son, Ronnie. Rodger, Ron, and Jim received plaques that night. They read:
Rodger Monk, Ron Cobb, and Jim Triplett
West Virginia AAU Coach
A Heartfelt Thanks For Selflessly Giving Your Time, Coaching Ability, and Leadership. You Enriched Many Young Lives.
Sincerely, Your AAU Players
The St. Albans contingency: myself, Mike Reed, and J.T. Morris. Mike has brought respect back to the Hayes Middle School football program -- Hayes never lost a football game the three years I attended -- and J.T. is doing anti-terrorism work for the U.S. government.
The meat and potatoes of a strong South Charleston program in 1981-82, Willie Jenkins and Gay Elmore, who played on the 79 and 77 teams, respectively. Gay of course went on to become the Southern Conference all-time leading scorer out of VMI and was an NBA draft pick. What team drafted him?
The Eddy cousins, Brian and Jeff, were as always, the life of the party. These Parkersburg natives were a big part of the 1978 AAU team that lost in the finals in Iowa by a point. That's right, we nearly won three national titles in a row. Brian is now the principal at Sissonville Middle School, and Jeff, after playing football for WVU, is a pharacist and big game hunter. His greatest feat though was marrying a St. Albans girl, Amy Greybill.
Mark Martin, a good friend of all area sports, interviews Mark Cline Friday night. A.J. is Mark's cameraman.
Mark's coverage of the event - which included interviews with Bruz Hicks, Gay Elmore, Herbie Brooks, and myself -- ran that evening, but he has promised an expanded story that I will link to the blog and include with the dvd of the '79 AAU championship game.
I promise the slidshow is coming.
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