Graham-VT Fan

I played against "Bean" while at Graham. My freshman year (spring of 1980) we played VHS in a doubleheader and Johnny Quintier pitched both games of the doubleheader. We won the first game something like 2-1 and lost the second game about 3-2. Have no idea how Johnny pitched as well as he did that day, but VHS was pretty much the premiere team in AA at that time (that's when there was just a A, AA, and AAA and the SWD had about 12-13 teams). Great times.

I overheard some in church today talking about Roman Workman. Apparently some type of pelvis injury that is pretty bad.

I was referring to the first TD. I understand going for two after the last TD, but not in the first quarter.

A complete head-scratcher for sure. Sam Stowers is an excellent kicker.

Anybody know why Graham went for the 2-pt conversion following the first TD? Graham has an excellent kicker and with a one point loss, that PAT turned out to be pretty important.

Can argue that both Richlands-Union and Bluefield-Princeton were tied for games of the week. Both came down to the absolute final second.

This route, regardless if I-81 is open or closed, should be the preferred travel route from Lexington, VA to the Bluefield area. Virtually no traffic on I-64 from Lexington to Beckley.

Except Bluefield will only get to enjoy theirs for about 5 minutes since the game was played in Bluefield.:):)

As a Graham fan, I would have to say Eddie "Hit Man" Hall, followed closely by Eddie Neel and Mark "Caveman" Cundiff. Eddie Neel and Mark graduated with me in 1983. Eddie Hall graduated a year in front of me in 1982. I used to ride the bus with Eddie Hall in Junior High School (that was 7th and 8th grade back then for all of you Middle School people), and he would go to school without a beard, and ride the bus home with a full beard. Dude was a man in every sense of the word. Tazewell had some studs back then too. Rick Noel of course, and their QB (King) was very good. I think Rick also did the kicking and he was very good at that too. Best player I would bring back from Bluefield High School (Beaver) would be Donnie Jackson. That guy ran rings around Robert Alexander "The Great" in the WV State Championship game. One of the best RB's to ever play in this area who got little recognition.

That's my biggest complaint too. I listened to the Graham network and I had no idea where the ball was, the time left on the clock, or how many yards were gained/lost on each play. At the end of the game when Bluefield had their last possession and had the long pass play, the only thing we heard was (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Oh no, a big play for Bluefield". That was it. It wasn't until the next play was run that we found out that the ball was deep in Graham territory. I had no idea the big play went that deep.

Final: Graham 23 Bluefield 21

The transfer of high school kids to other schools is an epidemic not only locally, but nationally. It's happening everywhere. There is hardly a day goes by when you don't hear about some "superstar" kid in the Tidewater transferring to "School X" to play football. Never heard of such happening back in my day. Back when I was at Graham, Coaches Carlock, Sizemore, Kinser, Rohrer, etc were tough, and I do mean tough. They were fair in their toughness though, and if you weren't good enough to start then you didn't start. Very few quit though because we all respected the way they conducted themselves on and off the field. Heck, I even remember seeing one of the coaches take down one of the players in the GHS gym because the kid back-talked him. No suits were filed, no attorneys contacted, and that was the last time the kid ever back-talked. Kids now days have a sense of entitlement that most of the time isn't earned. I could never imagine me or anyone else I knew at the time transferring to Bluefield, Tazewell, or Richlands. We had too much pride in our school and community, and respected the heck out of our coaches....who, like I said, were very tough but also very fair. I actually saw one of my old coaches a few months ago for the first time in many, many years. He came up to me and started talking and before we parted ways I made a point of thanking him not for his coaching prowess, but helping prepare me to become the person I am today. Reflecting back, I think they were more of a father-figure to me than coach, and that's something that I didn't take away from that entire experience until later in life.

There were some pretty good baseball teams in the late 70s/early 80s. They beat Tazewell more often than not, beat Richlands, always advanced far into the Coppinger tourney (when it actually had some great competition...in fact made the finals one year before losing by one run to WV power Mount View), beat the best team in SWVA (Virginia High) on several occasions, and so on. Some of those teams had some talent.....only many of those guys had other things on their mind and didn't concentrate fully on the task at hand.

Saw someone post on another forum that Tony Palmer will be the new GHS coach. Have no idea if this is true or not so take it FWIW.

Doug came to Graham during my junior year at GHS (which would have been the 1981-1982 school year). He came from Richlands...which as had been stated earlier was about 30 years ago.

The 1989 championship game was played at Mitchell Stadium in an absolute mud-bath if I recall correctly. Seems like Southampton was complaining a lot about the field conditions that day. Both teams had to play in it though. Also, I was thinking the Graham offensive line in 1989 averaged close to 290-300 pounds. Can't remember their names, but I do remember listening to an opponents game broadcast and having their radio man continually say the GHS OL looks like a college line.

Several rumors floating around on other boards now too. Supposedly all at Graham. May involve the principal and AD/Coach.

Any discussion of the best high school football team ever in SWVA should begin and end with the 1974 Gate City team. Mickey Rogers and crew won every game by at least 3 touchdowns, scored 70 points or more three times, and averaged more than 50 points per game. I remember as a young kid watching them play a pretty good Graham team that year and just thinking that they were unstoppable....and they were.

This may be nothing but a rumor, but I did read somewhere on another board that a petition had been circulated and enough signatures gathered to have it brought up at the next Board of Education meeting. The petition was said to have already been submitted to the BoE. Supposedly, it had asked for the removal of both Marrs and Jones. Stay tuned I guess.

Wouldn't that job have to be advertised first and then go through the interview process?

I wasn't sure I would live long enough to see Boucher get fired. I bet Ricky is cursing the day that he voted (no, helped craft) for that cap and tax bill. Well done Fightin' Ninth!!!!

I'll take Richlands +25. I'd probably put it at GHS +35 or +40.

Grundy 35 Graham 14 early 4th quarter

Grundy 28 Graham 14 end of 3rd quarter.

Grundy 28 Graham 14. Early 3rd quarter.