SW_VA_boy

Fries

@Union_Fan I hope this helps.
It appears Lil' Powell Valley Fan peed in the James River watershed


 

If you're talking their original field down in town, I just assumed to was piped straight to the creek/ditch on the other side of the railraod tracks. Straight piped to the river. 🤣

If you're talking their original field down in town, I just assumed to was piped straight to the creek/ditch on the other side of the railraod tracks. Straight piped to the river. 🤣

Not to hijack a thread, but more history behind that tidbit....
The Southwest District was probably founded for the primary reason of allowing its member schools to compete for what was then the Division 1 state championship.  Although designation as champion was still a highly arbitrary process, there were some standards established in the mid 1950s that included a requirement to play a minimum number of games against other Division 1 schools.  For travel and scheduling purposes it made sense for the original members to band together and form the SWD to help meet that requirement.  Graham, Grundy, Richlands, Tazewell, and Virginia High were among the founding members.
The Western District was formed for similar reasons and mostly included schools from Roanoke and Lynchburg.  Since the two areas were still pretty far removed from one another and neither district had enough to fill out a full schedule on their own, there was frequent "cross scheduling" between the SWD and Western District schools throughout the 1960s who were serious about challenging for state honors.  Grundy played Glass pretty consistently.  Tazewell and Graham both played Jefferson pretty regularly.  Richlands played William Fleming and Patrick Henry. 
Virginia High started scheduling Glass and/or Fleming around 1965 as the standards apparently became a bit more restrictive.  Around that time it appears that it became common for the champions of the SWD and the Western District to play each other at the conclusion of the regular season.  Although if one of those teams were undefeated (as was the case with Andrew Lewis in 1966) then a game would be arranged with one of the schools further east to decide the state championship instead.

A personal note on the Stone Castle. One of my friends and I went to the season opener sometime in the mid-late 90's when THS was hosting Cherokee. THS was comfortably ahead after the 3rd, so we decided to cut out because the Bristol race hauler parade was getting ready to start. We were in an old S-10 truck that my buddy drove to work, and we left the parking lot. We got to the red light, and it looked like the parade had already started, so he hooked a left and we got in behind an SUV that was towing a bass boat. My buddy said that a couple of hundred yards ahead, we could turn down a side road and get out of that mess. It turned out that the SUV towing the bass boat had pro fisherman Bill Dance sitting in the back of it, and directly behind us was the giant motorized Food City shopping cart. We were stuck in the hauler parade. Matters took a turn for the worse when we got to the street he wanted to turn down and it was blocked....as were all of the other side streets. Then, we got to the sections where the big crowds were. There was a cop standing close to where we were, and my buddy yelled and asked him how we could get out of there. The cop responded with "how the Hell did you get in it?" My buddy told him we had left the Castle after a football game, and the cop busted out laughing and told us to just keep going.
 We decided to relax and ride it out,  so we started waving to the ever growing crowd. Some guy in the crowd asked me who I was, and I told him I was Greg Biffle's 3rd cousin. We rode that parade all the way into BIR before security was able to help create a spot where we could pull out. They thought it was hilarious and one even said we should've stayed in it and got out on the track. I was surprised how cool law enforcement and security were with us. If that happened today, we'd probable be dragged out of the truck and beaten or tasered. That was definitely a night to remember. Too bad we had cell phones with crappy cameras back then.  

With regards to the question of what next, it did get me thinking.  One thing that crossed my mind was the all the old footage of games of local teams from through the years on YouTube now.  I guess this is more aimed at Mr. Baker @Bluefield researcher but the thought of having a link on his site straight to the YouTube video of the game.  Between the channels strictly dedicated to Bluefield, Princeton, James Monroe, and the old New River District and it's schools, there's 100's of games going wayyyy back.  
 
Also, for us junkies that love this sport, this area and it's history, we're lucky.  I raise a glass of bourbon in thanks.  

With regards to the question of what next, it did get me thinking.  One thing that crossed my mind was the all the old footage of games of local teams from through the years on YouTube now.  I guess this is more aimed at Mr. Baker @Bluefield researcher but the thought of having a link on his site straight to the YouTube video of the game.  Between the channels strictly dedicated to Bluefield, Princeton, James Monroe, and the old New River District and it's schools, there's 100's of games going wayyyy back.  
 
Also, for us junkies that love this sport, this area and it's history, we're lucky.  I raise a glass of bourbon in thanks.  

With regards to the question of what next, it did get me thinking.  One thing that crossed my mind was the all the old footage of games of local teams from through the years on YouTube now.  I guess this is more aimed at Mr. Baker @Bluefield researcher but the thought of having a link on his site straight to the YouTube video of the game.  Between the channels strictly dedicated to Bluefield, Princeton, James Monroe, and the old New River District and it's schools, there's 100's of games going wayyyy back.  
 
Also, for us junkies that love this sport, this area and it's history, we're lucky.  I raise a glass of bourbon in thanks.  

With regards to the question of what next, it did get me thinking.  One thing that crossed my mind was the all the old footage of games of local teams from through the years on YouTube now.  I guess this is more aimed at Mr. Baker @Bluefield researcher but the thought of having a link on his site straight to the YouTube video of the game.  Between the channels strictly dedicated to Bluefield, Princeton, James Monroe, and the old New River District and it's schools, there's 100's of games going wayyyy back.  
 
Also, for us junkies that love this sport, this area and it's history, we're lucky.  I raise a glass of bourbon in thanks.  

LOL...No idea what's next....Just trying to get out this rabbit hole

Jack Turner's latest restoration project...   PikeView

The reservation at Rural Retreat

Only picture I can find is historical book of the county.  Took in 1942.  From that picture, home plate would have roughly been in the general area where the goal line and home sideline meet.  Inserted video from Coach Mabry's youtube channel to give an idea.
 
1961 vs Radford

Shorthorns is a unique mascot.  Much like Sugar Leafs or something that was near Marion. I wish these consolidating schools would become original in their mascot names.

Also, another former Appy League ballpark.  Home of the 2 time league champion New River Rebels.  

Also, another former Appy League ballpark.  Home of the 2 time league champion New River Rebels.  

Still open today, this historic field bears the name of one of SWVA's most legendary coach.
Signs of championship seasons hang on the wall of the old HS, along with netting to catch XPs and FGs
 

 

Radford

Saltville

Dobyns-Bennett, North Campus.

and one of the absolute worst for visitors

Withers field  in Wytheville is the actual name.

Thank you so much for sharing this. I lost all of my yearbooks a long way back, and being able to see the field brings back so many good memories. There was nothing better than Friday nights @ RVHS. 

Photo by Rick Baker

Photo by Jeff Williams, Giles at Haysi (1993 State Semi-Final)