buzzsaw

I’m as glad as any Bluefield fan is the Graham won the title, congrats to them, sincerely. But If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard if Bluefield played Graham at the end of the schedule instead of the first game it would be different. I’ve been hearing that since the ‘80s, as if Bluefield teams don’t get better with experience either. The two teams played for completely different titles in different states against different teams, so it doesn’t matter who won what. At the end of the year this was still a Bluefield team that was head and shoulders bigger, stronger and faster and more talented than Graham was, just like game 1. That was Graham’s difficultly with Bluefield, they just didn’t match up with them physically in most areas, nor would they have in Dec. But as I said, congrats to Graham, sincerely.

To add to that, legendary Bluefield and Graham coaches John Chamara and Glen Carlock were assistants under Gainer at Bluefield. Chamara became head coach after Gainer left, and coach Carlock eventually became head coach at Graham and modeled Graham’s program after Bluefields. Some other really successful coaches in southwest Virginia coached under Gainer, and with Chamara and Carlock as well, maybe Tazewell’s coach Litz?, and one of Gate City’s good coaches? More than a few of the historically good programs of southwest Virginia, and at least 1 in the Roanoke area, were built and influenced by products of or having ties with Bluefield’s program. So instead of 2 vhsl hall of fame coaches coming to Bluefield and starting WV football, a coach from Bluefield WV actually had a big part in building the success and physical style of football in SWVA that many on this site are deservingly proud of. That couldn’t be more ironic to those putting Wv football or more specifically Bluefield down. I’m not certain the reason for the underlying animosity towards the Beavers and WV football by some, but personally I’ve always known Bluefield fans to enjoy seeing Graham and Richlands and any other Va teams from the region do well. I’d enjoy seeing Tazewell do well too. To the haters though it’s fair to ask how many of their teams were ever nationally ranked? Maybe a few, idk. Although it was a different era, the AAA Bluefield teams of the ‘60s and 70’s were no joke. They could play with the best teams from any surrounding state. That started tapering down some in the 80s, as numbers decreased. My sophomore year at Bluefield in ‘81 under Chamara, our team was 3-6 and had the first losing season in decades, and the last game was against a 9-0 AAA Tennessee team ranked 2nd or 3rd in tn and Bluefield won convincingly 21-7. A couple of years before that Bluefield tied a really big and good Maryland team, Dematha, if I recall. 3-3. Bluefield’s played some of the better teams at the time from 5 different states outside of WV, Va, Maryland, Tn, Ky and Nc. They have a lot to be proud of. I saw Bluefield for the first time Friday, and saw 2 of their games last year, to be honest I’m not certain they’re better than last year, maybe, idk, but they’re really good and certainly good enough to repeat in AA. But I’ve read about them possibly being 1 of the best teams in Bluefield’s history and 1 thing is certain, at least in my mind, this isn’t the best Bluefield team ever, and not sure they’re as good as a few of the teams from the 90s or 2000s. Maybe I haven’t seen them enough though. But they are really good, and have the opportunity to make history, and have 60 some years of Bluefield players and generations of faithful cheering them on, and coach Simon, also a Bluefield product who played under coach Chamara and the Gainer influence has done well at Bluefield. Say what you will about Bluefield or WV football, personally I respect every program, but as a Bluefield fan I don’t envy any other.

A foolish post that was derogatory towards Bluefield and WV football warrants a truthful response, so I’m just going to going post an accurate story about Beaver history from online. Merille Gainer “Football Coach. Thru the 1960s he headed a number of nationally ranked high school teams. A 1940 graduate from Shepherd College, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II prior to starting a long coaching career. He first gained renown at Big Creek High School in War, West Virginia but earned a national reputation at Bluefield High School in Bluefield, West Virginia. Taking over a chronically losing program in 1959, he won a state championship; over nine seasons, his teams had a record of 87-6-1 and won four Class AAA state titles, with three of the losses and the tie coming in 1963. During his Bluefield years he coached several nationally ranked teams and turned down offers from a number of major colleges. Following the Beavers' fourth championship in 1967, Coach Gainer retired, though his retirement was to be short-lived as he accepted an offer from Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia in 1969. The school had won one game in the previous three seasons but Coach Gainer immediately had them winning and the Patriots captured the Virginia state championship in 1973. The coach retired for good in 1978 but over the years was a highly sought after instructor for coaching seminars throughout the country. He was inducted into the National High School Athletics Hall of Fame in 1979 and the West Virginia Sports Writers Hall of Fame in 1986. Coach Gainer was the high school coach of "Rocket Boy" Homer Hickam at Big Creek and was portrayed in the movie "October Sky" by David Copeland. Today the stadium at Patrick Henry High School carries his name.