RichlandsAlum

That brings up a really good point.  Was Shoemaker simply renamed "Gate City?"  There seems to be at least a traditional basis for incorporating the records of Shoemaker into those of GCHS.  Or is Gate City High School the result of some consolidation that created an entirely new entity?  If they were essentially the same entity, then my notes show the all-time Richlands-GC series record to be pretty closely knotted (23-22-1 in favor of the Blue Devils heading into tonight).  If not, then Richlands had a 4-1-1 record against Shoemaker and is 18-22 all-time against GC.
 
Abingdon's historical record is very similar.  Until 1959 the high school serving that community was William King.  It was succeeded by the entity presently known as Abingdon High School.  William King had its own identity, including its physical campus and its own nickname for athletic teams (the Midgets).  However William King was generally referenced as "Abingdon" by local media and on game programs throughout its existence.   Lacking any information about possible consolidation to create AHS, I've kept them separate in my records.  (Incidentally, Richlands was 7-2-5 against King and currently stands 20-10-1 all-time against the Falcons.)
 
Some references are fairly easy to unscramble.  "Bristol" and "Virginia High" are obviously historical references to the same program, and Dobyns-Bennett is still broadly referenced as "Kingsport."  But others are complicated -- like the Triangular Mountain Institute, which was apparently the forerunner to now defunct Garden High School.  And then there are still more perplexing situations that are the result of economic expediency, like the case of the Henry County schools.  The current institution known as Bassett High School is essentially a consolidation of Bassett and Fieldale-Collinsville (and the same situation exists with Magna Vista and Laurel Park).  Should the historical record be reported as an ongoing account of Bassett since its original opening, or should it begin at the point in which the two schools were merged together under the name of one?
 
Sorry to ramble.  I'm probably the only person who actually finds this stuff interesting.  (But it's one of very few practical outlets for my B.A. in history.)

That brings up a really good point.  Was Shoemaker simply renamed "Gate City?"  There seems to be at least a traditional basis for incorporating the records of Shoemaker into those of GCHS.  Or is Gate City High School the result of some consolidation that created an entirely new entity?  If they were essentially the same entity, then my notes show the all-time Richlands-GC series record to be pretty closely knotted (23-22-1 in favor of the Blue Devils heading into tonight).  If not, then Richlands had a 4-1-1 record against Shoemaker and is 18-22 all-time against GC.
 
Abingdon's historical record is very similar.  Until 1959 the high school serving that community was William King.  It was succeeded by the entity presently known as Abingdon High School.  William King had its own identity, including its physical campus and its own nickname for athletic teams (the Midgets).  However William King was generally referenced as "Abingdon" by local media and on game programs throughout its existence.   Lacking any information about possible consolidation to create AHS, I've kept them separate in my records.  (Incidentally, Richlands was 7-2-5 against King and currently stands 20-10-1 all-time against the Falcons.)
 
Some references are fairly easy to unscramble.  "Bristol" and "Virginia High" are obviously historical references to the same program, and Dobyns-Bennett is still broadly referenced as "Kingsport."  But others are complicated -- like the Triangular Mountain Institute, which was apparently the forerunner to now defunct Garden High School.  And then there are still more perplexing situations that are the result of economic expediency, like the case of the Henry County schools.  The current institution known as Bassett High School is essentially a consolidation of Bassett and Fieldale-Collinsville (and the same situation exists with Magna Vista and Laurel Park).  Should the historical record be reported as an ongoing account of Bassett since its original opening, or should it begin at the point in which the two schools were merged together under the name of one?
 
Sorry to ramble.  I'm probably the only person who actually finds this stuff interesting.  (But it's one of very few practical outlets for my B.A. in history.)

That brings up a really good point.  Was Shoemaker simply renamed "Gate City?"  There seems to be at least a traditional basis for incorporating the records of Shoemaker into those of GCHS.  Or is Gate City High School the result of some consolidation that created an entirely new entity?  If they were essentially the same entity, then my notes show the all-time Richlands-GC series record to be pretty closely knotted (23-22-1 in favor of the Blue Devils heading into tonight).  If not, then Richlands had a 4-1-1 record against Shoemaker and is 18-22 all-time against GC.
 
Abingdon's historical record is very similar.  Until 1959 the high school serving that community was William King.  It was succeeded by the entity presently known as Abingdon High School.  William King had its own identity, including its physical campus and its own nickname for athletic teams (the Midgets).  However William King was generally referenced as "Abingdon" by local media and on game programs throughout its existence.   Lacking any information about possible consolidation to create AHS, I've kept them separate in my records.  (Incidentally, Richlands was 7-2-5 against King and currently stands 20-10-1 all-time against the Falcons.)
 
Some references are fairly easy to unscramble.  "Bristol" and "Virginia High" are obviously historical references to the same program, and Dobyns-Bennett is still broadly referenced as "Kingsport."  But others are complicated -- like the Triangular Mountain Institute, which was apparently the forerunner to now defunct Garden High School.  And then there are still more perplexing situations that are the result of economic expediency, like the case of the Henry County schools.  The current institution known as Bassett High School is essentially a consolidation of Bassett and Fieldale-Collinsville (and the same situation exists with Magna Vista and Laurel Park).  Should the historical record be reported as an ongoing account of Bassett since its original opening, or should it begin at the point in which the two schools were merged together under the name of one?
 
Sorry to ramble.  I'm probably the only person who actually finds this stuff interesting.  (But it's one of very few practical outlets for my B.A. in history.)

Following is a pretty interesting link to this kind of information:
 
http://www.vhsl-reference.com/archives/
 
Although the Excel files on that site may or may not be complete (they're obviously not for Richlands), they provide a pretty good frame of reference.
 
 
Without checking for veracity, following are figures for random schools as listed by that site:
 
Chilhowie  403-335-20
Gate City  578-252-15
Grundy  349-409-28
Graham  501-343-41
Lebanon  375-303-16
Marion  372-404-32
Virginia High  438-450-33
 
The site lists Radford at 512-265-33.  So either the online database is missing a lot of results or somebody in Radford is a bit overzealous.  Either way, that's a pretty impressive overall winning percentage by the Bobcats.

Richlands is in the neighborhood of 500.  A few of us history nerds have been trying to piece together a complete record -- which isn't easy given the lack of consistent newspaper coverage in the 1920's and 1930's. 
 
My database shows the Blues with an all-time record of 496-349-34.  But I'm thin on complete records from 1926 through 1936.
 
FWIW, Greg Mance appears to be on pace to become the head coach with the most wins all-time at Richlands.  He's currently 162-58 whereas Ernie Hicks is credited in various places with an overall record of 167-124-24.  (My own data is close -- it says that Coach Hicks is at 167-126-26 -- but I strongly suspect that I'm missing scores for about 20 games.)

That was a tremendous game.  I thought that both teams were pretty evenly matched -- and Liberty was ready to play, although their inability to get things going early wound up costing them.  IMO Rob Stanton's TD catch and run in the 2nd quarter was the play of the game.  Liberty kids were dumbfounded that a kid that big could move that well, but they did get their heads together and started to make things interesting after that.  And the point about improvement as the game went on is well made.  If that last minute FG attempt had been good, Liberty would have had major momentum heading into overtime.  In hindsight, it seems to me that Liberty did some of the same things in that game that wound up costing the Blues the next week in Lynchburg. 
 
That game was also unexpectedly difficult for me personally.  I have always been (and shall remain) a proud Richlands alumnus who bleeds blue, but Bedford is my adopted place of residence and LHS is/will be my kids' school.  At that point back in 2005 we had already started to establish roots here.  Coach Watts is a good friend of ours and we knew a lot of the kids on that team personally.  So while I was relieved when the aforementioned field goal attempt was no good, at the same time my heart really went out to the kid who missed it (whose parents are also good friends and we all attend the same church) and to the team in general.  As long as current classification/enrollment trends hold, it seems unlikely that Richlands and Liberty will face each other again.  Which is fine with me because I'd prefer not to have that kind of emotional experience again, and the situation would likely be even more intense as my own sons work their way through the LHS athletic system. 

That was a tremendous game.  I thought that both teams were pretty evenly matched -- and Liberty was ready to play, although their inability to get things going early wound up costing them.  IMO Rob Stanton's TD catch and run in the 2nd quarter was the play of the game.  Liberty kids were dumbfounded that a kid that big could move that well, but they did get their heads together and started to make things interesting after that.  And the point about improvement as the game went on is well made.  If that last minute FG attempt had been good, Liberty would have had major momentum heading into overtime.  In hindsight, it seems to me that Liberty did some of the same things in that game that wound up costing the Blues the next week in Lynchburg. 
 
That game was also unexpectedly difficult for me personally.  I have always been (and shall remain) a proud Richlands alumnus who bleeds blue, but Bedford is my adopted place of residence and LHS is/will be my kids' school.  At that point back in 2005 we had already started to establish roots here.  Coach Watts is a good friend of ours and we knew a lot of the kids on that team personally.  So while I was relieved when the aforementioned field goal attempt was no good, at the same time my heart really went out to the kid who missed it (whose parents are also good friends and we all attend the same church) and to the team in general.  As long as current classification/enrollment trends hold, it seems unlikely that Richlands and Liberty will face each other again.  Which is fine with me because I'd prefer not to have that kind of emotional experience again, and the situation would likely be even more intense as my own sons work their way through the LHS athletic system. 

Yep.  Vaught was brought in to Tazewell County that year with the notion that he would be the next head coach at whichever of the county schools had a vacancy.  Turned out to be RHS.
 
And I can tell you first hand that the drought from 1984 to 1991 was beyond rough for the Blue Tornado faithful.  During my high school years (1985-1989) we broke even against Beaver and actually had a 3-1 record against Graham.  Until very recent times that would have been a huge achievement for any RHS class -- but it was seriously tarnished by our "oh-fer" against the 'Doggies.

I have two opinions about this entire issue....
 
1.  This poll seems to be less valuable than the NCAA pre-season basketball poll.
2.  It could actually be spot-on. 

Billy Haun was head coach for the following seasons and produced the following record:
 
1987  8-3
1988  1-9
1989  2-8
1990  4-6
 
And as an odd footnote,  Billy apparently has the distinction of being the only football coach in RHS history who never beat Tazewell during his time at the helm.
 
I'm privy to some of the reliable historic data for RHS myself (and we probably have the same sources), and I'm 100% positive that Vaught's first year at the helm was the 1991 season (which ended with a loss in the regional championship to Lee).

Billy Haun was head coach for the following seasons and produced the following record:
 
1987  8-3
1988  1-9
1989  2-8
1990  4-6
 
And as an odd footnote,  Billy apparently has the distinction of being the only football coach in RHS history who never beat Tazewell during his time at the helm.
 
I'm privy to some of the reliable historic data for RHS myself (and we probably have the same sources), and I'm 100% positive that Vaught's first year at the helm was the 1991 season (which ended with a loss in the regional championship to Lee).

Yep.  Vaught was brought in to Tazewell County that year with the notion that he would be the next head coach at whichever of the county schools had a vacancy.  Turned out to be RHS.
 
And I can tell you first hand that the drought from 1984 to 1991 was beyond rough for the Blue Tornado faithful.  During my high school years (1985-1989) we broke even against Beaver and actually had a 3-1 record against Graham.  Until very recent times that would have been a huge achievement for any RHS class -- but it was seriously tarnished by our "oh-fer" against the 'Doggies.

The 1979 upset over Gate City was a huge deal at the time. 
 
Although it didn't receive much fanfare, the program's first victory in the Bluefield series (in 1986) was also pretty significant.
 
Already mentioned, but the 2006 state championship was significant in exorcising some of the negatives associated with the aftermath of 1992.

This is precisely correct.
 
And going off on a slight tangent, my personal opinion is that soccer is the one school sport that benefits positively from an association with travel ball.  And the expansion of travel ball into previously "non traditional" areas is demonstrating results.  Kids in my current place of residence have always had access to quality clubs in Roanoke and Lynchburg, but that distance has been just enough to discourage participation in large numbers.  A local club was started about five years ago which is just now showing some dividends after developing its roots.  My son's middle school team just concluded its first winning season within the span of anyone's local memory.  About half of those kids (including my own) are active with travel clubs, all of them have several years of experience playing in local recreation leagues, and most of them started playing as young as the age of 5.
 
Of course we're still playing "catch up" against other local schools such as Jefferson Forest and E.C. Glass who have had direct access to travel programs for a significant period of time, but we're definitely seeing progress.  Our varsity side are the defending conference champions (at the 3A level) and notched the school's first win ever against Glass this season.
 
I would imagine that the current success of the girls program can be attributed in some part to participation in the Clinch River Soccer Association.  If that club proves to be sustainable, it is reasonable to assume that Richlands will be extremely competitive locally on the boys side as well.

I guess that most of you know that I go to SWCC. The music program there has placed kids in high level, prestigious music programs allover the east coast since Dr. Trivette arrived. But this year, he managed to get 4 of us into major universities. He's never had 4 go on to large schools at the same time. So the college wanted to do an article on the "fab four" as we jokingly call ourselves in private lol.
 
Here's the link:
http://sw.edu/music/#excellence
 
Note: transferring to a school if music is much harder than many degree options. Not only do we have to have the grades to transfer into the institution, but we also have to go in front of a panel of judges (I had 5 at my App. State audition and 7 at my VT one plus a camera to record us) and play a solo piece by ourselves as well as be interviewed. It's extremely stressful and also rather difficult to secure a limited spot. (My trombone studio will have 18 of us at VT. I will be one of just 18 trombone slots that were given. I auditioned against at least 8 others, to give you an idea of how competitive it is).

Call it a midlife crisis, or as my wife says, a waste of money.
 
I had the urge and had it bad.  I wanted something I had never had nor had the skill to use it.
 
I conferred with Lance, he gave me advice on what to look for.  I scoured the interwebs for information since I had no experience in finding one.
 
Two weeks ago, I ordered one.  Last week, I got it.
 
I may not know how to play it yet, but give me time, I'll learn...
 
 

Without adding much new to the discussion, I will offer the observation that this is not a new issue by a long shot.  It’s complicated by economics, personal objectives, and family dynamics and further so by the varying policies among individual school divisions.
 
My dad had an interesting example from his own experience growing up in McDowell County, WV back in the 1950s.  Due to economic necessity, my grandfather relocated the family from Roderfield to Peel Chestnut Mountain circa 1955.  Having formed a great personal attachment to Welch High School, Dad opted to stay in Roderfield with his grandparents (although this wasn’t a matter of a residential “listing†– he actually lived in the house with them).  The property that my grandfather purchased straddled the Virginia/West Virginia state line, with the net effect that one of my uncles attended schools in the Northfork attendance zone on the WV side while the other went to Pocahontas on the VA side.  So essentially the three children in my father's family attended three different schools at the same time.
 
And as chance would have it, my dad and my Uncle Jim not only played against each other when Welch and Northfork met in 1957 – they literally played head to head.  Dad was the starting center for the Maroon Wave that season and Jim was a nose tackle for the Blue Demons.  (The makings of a fun trivia question that nobody has ever asked.)

Ultimately, I'm not convinced that transferring to "Generic Successful School" really improves any athlete's marketability as an individual prospect.  Precedent strongly indicates that there isn't any depth of Division 1 talent in Southwest Virginia to begin with.  And this still tends to hold true in the present age when recruiting services have access to data on all individual players at a ridiculously focused level.
 
On the other hand, local colleges like Emory & Henry seem to generate better results on the field when they can recruit kids from high schools that didn't fill their respective trophy cases.  I'm thinking in particular of the Wasp squads of the mid '80s that featured solid contributions from Richlands guys like Sandy Rogers, Jack Ginn, and Dale McGlothlin.  Their class at RHS had a four year W/L record of 14-26.
 
It also depends on the philosophy of those in charge of any given college program.  The folks I've interacted with directly in the field of recruiting have all stuck to the same story.  First, they are looking for basic athletic ability (which also corresponds closely to a certain body type and dimension in any given sport and any given position).  Beyond that, they are looking for kids who are "coachable" (which can mean any number of different things).  There are schools such as DeMatha who have carefully cultivated and promoted an image of producing talent.  But that's largely a myth. 
 
With the possible exception of Merrill Gainer's Beaver squads in the 1960s, no local program in the area seems to be able to make the claim that it can give players a "leg up" in terms of attracting collegiate attention.  Any recruiting which does take place would seem geared toward the immediate goal of improving an individual program's ability to win games and championships.  Just my two cents....

Without adding much new to the discussion, I will offer the observation that this is not a new issue by a long shot.  It’s complicated by economics, personal objectives, and family dynamics and further so by the varying policies among individual school divisions.
 
My dad had an interesting example from his own experience growing up in McDowell County, WV back in the 1950s.  Due to economic necessity, my grandfather relocated the family from Roderfield to Peel Chestnut Mountain circa 1955.  Having formed a great personal attachment to Welch High School, Dad opted to stay in Roderfield with his grandparents (although this wasn’t a matter of a residential “listing†– he actually lived in the house with them).  The property that my grandfather purchased straddled the Virginia/West Virginia state line, with the net effect that one of my uncles attended schools in the Northfork attendance zone on the WV side while the other went to Pocahontas on the VA side.  So essentially the three children in my father's family attended three different schools at the same time.
 
And as chance would have it, my dad and my Uncle Jim not only played against each other when Welch and Northfork met in 1957 – they literally played head to head.  Dad was the starting center for the Maroon Wave that season and Jim was a nose tackle for the Blue Demons.  (The makings of a fun trivia question that nobody has ever asked.)

Ultimately, I'm not convinced that transferring to "Generic Successful School" really improves any athlete's marketability as an individual prospect.  Precedent strongly indicates that there isn't any depth of Division 1 talent in Southwest Virginia to begin with.  And this still tends to hold true in the present age when recruiting services have access to data on all individual players at a ridiculously focused level.
 
On the other hand, local colleges like Emory & Henry seem to generate better results on the field when they can recruit kids from high schools that didn't fill their respective trophy cases.  I'm thinking in particular of the Wasp squads of the mid '80s that featured solid contributions from Richlands guys like Sandy Rogers, Jack Ginn, and Dale McGlothlin.  Their class at RHS had a four year W/L record of 14-26.
 
It also depends on the philosophy of those in charge of any given college program.  The folks I've interacted with directly in the field of recruiting have all stuck to the same story.  First, they are looking for basic athletic ability (which also corresponds closely to a certain body type and dimension in any given sport and any given position).  Beyond that, they are looking for kids who are "coachable" (which can mean any number of different things).  There are schools such as DeMatha who have carefully cultivated and promoted an image of producing talent.  But that's largely a myth. 
 
With the possible exception of Merrill Gainer's Beaver squads in the 1960s, no local program in the area seems to be able to make the claim that it can give players a "leg up" in terms of attracting collegiate attention.  Any recruiting which does take place would seem geared toward the immediate goal of improving an individual program's ability to win games and championships.  Just my two cents....

Point made.  (Although you could have included the parents as well.)
 
This phenomenon also isn't limited to athletics.
 
The county in which I currently reside has a very liberal attendance policy.  Essentially, if you are wiling to transport them, your child can attend any of the three public high schools of your choosing.  Like most localities, there appears to be a generally accepted consensus that one of the three is "the best" (and it is not the one to which my community is automatically assigned).  So there is a predictable pattern of college-bound kids being transferred out of their community schools and into "the best" high school.  (Mind you there is a pretty robust effort to begin with to enroll kids in the elementary and middle feeder schools for "the best" school.)  And guess what -- the kids who left their community schools for "the best" school are largely self-determinant in their academic futures.  The school from which they eventually graduate has very little effect upon their long-term academic outcomes.  The direct example I have is two separate families (who are friends of ours) who moved their kids from our community into "the best" school.  The result is that of the four children involved, two enrolled at Virginia Tech, one attends Richmond, and the other graduated from N.C. State.  This outcome would have likely been precisely duplicated had they remained within the community school zone, but the families would have effectively saved a lot of gas money.  As further proof of my point, two honors graduates from our community school are currently attending Duke and Penn, respectively.
 
So to get back to athletics, kids and parents need to understand that being of the same physical constitution of a Mike Compton or a Devon Johnson is the key element in attracting attention from a Division I program.  And beyond that step, actual playing time at that level is dependent on a combination of luck, ability, and personal work ethic.
 
I can understand how this messages is garbled in other sports which are dominated by AAU and "travel ball" because there is money to be made in deluding the customer base.  How it occurs in football is well beyond my comprehension.  Where the heck are the guidance counselors in this discussion?

Ultimately, I'm not convinced that transferring to "Generic Successful School" really improves any athlete's marketability as an individual prospect.  Precedent strongly indicates that there isn't any depth of Division 1 talent in Southwest Virginia to begin with.  And this still tends to hold true in the present age when recruiting services have access to data on all individual players at a ridiculously focused level.
 
On the other hand, local colleges like Emory & Henry seem to generate better results on the field when they can recruit kids from high schools that didn't fill their respective trophy cases.  I'm thinking in particular of the Wasp squads of the mid '80s that featured solid contributions from Richlands guys like Sandy Rogers, Jack Ginn, and Dale McGlothlin.  Their class at RHS had a four year W/L record of 14-26.
 
It also depends on the philosophy of those in charge of any given college program.  The folks I've interacted with directly in the field of recruiting have all stuck to the same story.  First, they are looking for basic athletic ability (which also corresponds closely to a certain body type and dimension in any given sport and any given position).  Beyond that, they are looking for kids who are "coachable" (which can mean any number of different things).  There are schools such as DeMatha who have carefully cultivated and promoted an image of producing talent.  But that's largely a myth. 
 
With the possible exception of Merrill Gainer's Beaver squads in the 1960s, no local program in the area seems to be able to make the claim that it can give players a "leg up" in terms of attracting collegiate attention.  Any recruiting which does take place would seem geared toward the immediate goal of improving an individual program's ability to win games and championships.  Just my two cents....

I cannot blame any family for chasing the limitless variety of diverse business opportunities that exist in the Cedar Bluff, Pounding Mill, Richlands, Raven, Bandy, and Jewell Ridge zip codes of Tazewell County.  I further cannot blame people who wish to contribute to the population explosion occurring in that fertile crescent.

Without adding much new to the discussion, I will offer the observation that this is not a new issue by a long shot.  It’s complicated by economics, personal objectives, and family dynamics and further so by the varying policies among individual school divisions.
 
My dad had an interesting example from his own experience growing up in McDowell County, WV back in the 1950s.  Due to economic necessity, my grandfather relocated the family from Roderfield to Peel Chestnut Mountain circa 1955.  Having formed a great personal attachment to Welch High School, Dad opted to stay in Roderfield with his grandparents (although this wasn’t a matter of a residential “listing†– he actually lived in the house with them).  The property that my grandfather purchased straddled the Virginia/West Virginia state line, with the net effect that one of my uncles attended schools in the Northfork attendance zone on the WV side while the other went to Pocahontas on the VA side.  So essentially the three children in my father's family attended three different schools at the same time.
 
And as chance would have it, my dad and my Uncle Jim not only played against each other when Welch and Northfork met in 1957 – they literally played head to head.  Dad was the starting center for the Maroon Wave that season and Jim was a nose tackle for the Blue Demons.  (The makings of a fun trivia question that nobody has ever asked.)

My further two cents....   I think Mike Scharnus is attempting to be very smart in a very insidious way. 
 
By filing the appeal, he's basically offering a potential distraction in terms of Haysi's preparation for the actual game.  And if the appeal actually receives favorable attention, Scharnus gets to shorten his trip and play on a facility that probably plays better to the physical strength of his team. 
 
As a native of God's Country, I'm personally offended by yet another example of the disregard that the rest of the Commonwealth has for Southwest Virginia.  But in trying to apply some objectivity to the situation, what Altavista is doing isn't a surprise -- if anything, it's blatantly transparent.