swva_fan 94 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Can anyone confirm this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluefield_Rules 46 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Both were approved for the 2011-2012 academic year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Yep...R&R Committee will make final recommendations in April and VHSL Executive Committee will vote to approve final alignment in May. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futbolking 766 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 (edited) I personally believe it's a great move for Graham...I applaude John O neal for taking the stance that he did...All sports will benefit from this move and kids will be allowed to play on an even playing field..... Â I think Tazewell should follow suit soon.... Â Imagine, if Graham had done this years ago...there'd be a lot more regional and possibly state banners hanging on the walls at that High School.... Â It'll be great for those kids to experience success at the regional and state level....I'll say, most likely some of the programs will actually get better and draw more athletes wanting to come out. Â latest link: http://www.bdtonline.com/local/local_story_026163832.html Edited January 26, 2010 by futbolking adding a link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluefield_Rules 46 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Graham has assured itself of a playoff appearance every year in football for the foreseeable future. And everyone knows, anything can happen once you're in the playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futbolking 766 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 (edited) Graham has assured itself of a playoff appearance every year in football for the foreseeable future. And everyone knows, anything can happen once you're in the playoffs.  True....although, if we're talking football....district play just got a WHOLE lot easier...however I think REGIONAL play just got tougher....there are more quality teams in Region C...Division 2 at the regional level than there are Region IV Division 3....(In football)....not ov  If we're talking other sports....Graham is now on a more even playing field...and will not get totally dominated in all other sports.  Just an opinion from somebody who grew up in bluefield...moved to new river valley...watching those teams...and returning to bluefield...  division 2 region c (excluding the MED)...is tougher than Region IV Division 3... Edited January 27, 2010 by futbolking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futbolking 766 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Graham has assured itself of a playoff appearance every year in football for the foreseeable future. And everyone knows, anything can happen once you're in the playoffs. Â True....although, if we're talking football....district play just got a WHOLE lot easier...however I think REGIONAL play just got tougher....Do I think Division 3 is tougher than Division 2 statewide???...yes...however, I firmly believe there are more quality teams in Region C...Division 2 at the regional level than there are Region IV Division 3.... Â Â Â Â If we're talking other sports....now Graham is on a "more even" playing field... Â Â Just an opinion from somebody who grew up in bluefield...moved to new river valley...watching those teams...and returning to bluefield... Â division 2 region c (excluding the MED)...is tougher than Region IV Division 3... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EH31 2,533 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 how many schools in the med have golf teams? Â graham should be able to win the MED in most sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrb 26 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 I think alot of people are going to get a big surprise. To me, they are headed for better competition. If I was wanting to win a State Championship, D2 would not be my pick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futbolking 766 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 how many schools in the med have golf teams? Â graham should be able to win the MED in most sports. Â Graham "might" win will be football...tennis and golf.possibly.... you overestimate Graham's sports programs and underestimate the other schools....... Â Baseball...Grayson by a long shot.. Soccer....Galax...although Graham will be a close 2nd... Basketball ....(not sure, but Graham will have a tough go of it...) softball....you gotta be kidding....Graham at the very bottom.... Wrestling....Graham near top...but very competitive... Â Graham will be middle of pack in most sports....and will excel at a couple year in and year out in the MED is what I expect to happen...at least they have a shot when it comes to regionals...which is something that hasn't happened in a long long time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futbolking 766 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 I think alot of people are going to get a big surprise. To me, they are headed for better competition. If I was wanting to win a State Championship, D2 would not be my pick. Â I agree....more quality teams...(I'm not saying better...hope nobody gets me wrong...I'm saying "more" quality teams to contend with at D-2...region C...then where they were before...I'll take the three rivers district over the piedmont and swd in any sport...any day...and I would like my chances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EH31 2,533 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Graham "might" win will be football...tennis and golf.possibly.... you overestimate Graham's sports programs and underestimate the other schools....... Baseball...Grayson by a long shot.. Soccer....Galax...although Graham will be a close 2nd... Basketball ....(not sure, but Graham will have a tough go of it...) softball....you gotta be kidding....Graham at the very bottom.... Wrestling....Graham near top...but very competitive...  Graham will be middle of pack in most sports....and will excel at a couple year in and year out in the MED is what I expect to happen...at least they have a shot when it comes to regionals...which is something that hasn't happened in a long long time... actually I played in the MED for 3 years, and played in the SWD last year. I know how the competition is first hand.  I'm not saying they'll win everyone, but they should be able to compete for the top spot in most sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest quispbird Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Graham has assured itself of a playoff appearance every year in football for the foreseeable future. And everyone knows, anything can happen once you're in the playoffs. Â They already do make the playoffs every year......with a spiffy 4-6 record. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrb 26 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 And Grundy will be there to disapoint them in wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_______________ 10 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Baseball - Grayson Softball - No idea but definitely not Graham Boys Soccer - Probably Galax but Graham second without a doubt Girls Soccer - Graham Boys Basketball - Graham Girls Basketball - Narrows Golf - Graham or Galax would have to battle it out Football - Probably Graham or maybe Fort Chiswell Track - No idea but definitely not Graham Volleyball - Not sure but not Graham  Just my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaveFan09 50 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 will Grundy be automatic BDD champs in wrestling or will they be placed in another district for wrestling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 how many schools in the med have golf teams? Â I'm pretty sure they all have golf. Galax is the kingpin in golf in the MED and has won a couple of State Championships in golf over the last six years. Region C, as a whole, has won 8 of the 10 State Championships in golf since 2000...Floyd Co. ('00, '01, '06, '07), Giles ('02, '09), Galax ('04, '08). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewHampshireRed 94 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 will Grundy be automatic BDD champs in wrestling or will they be placed in another district for wrestling? Â I would assume since Grundy Wrestling Club and Grundy High is technically not directly associated, I would think the GWC can wrestle pretty much anywhere they want? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance 228 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 I would assume since Grundy Wrestling Club and Grundy High is technically not directly associated, I would think the GWC can wrestle pretty much anywhere they want? Â correct, but GWC can't win state....one in the same, but not the same lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewHampshireRed 94 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 correct, but GWC can't win state....one in the same, but not the same lol. Â Why did they make that so complicated anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahams hero 10 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Graham "might" win will be football...tennis and golf.possibly.... you overestimate Graham's sports programs and underestimate the other schools....... Baseball...Grayson by a long shot.. Soccer....Galax...although Graham will be a close 2nd... Basketball ....(not sure, but Graham will have a tough go of it...) softball....you gotta be kidding....Graham at the very bottom.... Wrestling....Graham near top...but very competitive...  Graham will be middle of pack in most sports....and will excel at a couple year in and year out in the MED is what I expect to happen...at least they have a shot when it comes to regionals...which is something that hasn't happened in a long long time...  come on graham has been playing with schools of over 1000 for years and years and you say we would be middle of the pack the only team we would have to go through is radford i mean radford is a school but there nothing like the teams we play in the region! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance 228 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Why did they make that so complicated anyway? Â GWC is it's own org...they do whatever they want year round...it was started years ago to help the kids that wanted to wrestle and travel beyond places the high school would ever take them...one of the few positive things to come along for the Grundy kids in any sport...Grundy had some of the top ranked kids in the nation over the years and without the GWC they would not have the opportunity to go and wrestle some of the other top kids in the nation...they also have good facilities that allow the kids to have a place to work out year round if they want and stay out of trouble...when you live in a place like Grundy and there is not much to do, trouble seems to find you sometimes...it's a very positive thing for the Grundy kids...anyone else could do the same thing at any other school if you wanted to and have the money to back it up. Â The high school is like any other high school team as far as that goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance 228 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 here is a pretty good write up on the GWC...how it all got started and what it's all about...good article.  http://www.coalpeople.com/old_coalpeople/august08/red_robertson.htm  Red Robertson: coal operator gives youth opportunity through wrestling By Ron Coleman   The motorist driving into Grundy VA is informed by a roadside sign at the town limits that the Grundy High School wrestling team has won 15 state championships, eight of them in a row. What the motorist doesn�t see is the starting point for this string of titles: a private white brick wrestling facility that coal mine owner/operator Franklin Delano (Red) Robertson built beside his white brick residence on a strip mine bench high above the highway.  Red, as everyone calls him, is a combination mining engineer/attorney/ coal company owner/sports booster/philanthropist who has a gentle manner and a generous heart.  The wrestling facility he built is home of the Grundy Wrestling Club, a non-profit organization for youngsters of all ages. The club members train locally, attend camps and participate in tournaments around the nation in the off-season and compete for the Grundy High School team during the Virginia High School League's wrestling season.  Kevin Dresser, now the Virginia Tech wrestling coach, served as the Grundy club coach for ten years. He said that while giving mountain youth from the Grundy area an opportunity, the club has became a national powerhouse.  Red Robertson has been the primary financial support of the Grundy Wrestling Club while building a national and international reputation in the coal industry for himself. His financial support of wrestling also extends to Virginia Tech, his alma mater. A planned wrestling practice center on the school's campus will be named for him, Dresser said.  Red was born at Raysal in McDowell County WV and grew up at Feds Creek in Pike County KY. He hitch hiked back and forth to Grundy (VA) High School, where he played varsity basketball until his graduation in 1952. More than half a century later, Red makes his home near Grundy and goes to his private office each work day in spite of some recent health problems.  He built the wrestling facility in 1983 for the Grundy Wrestling Club and expanded it in 1995 because of the club's success and membership growth. With Ben Ward, an All-American from ODU as wrestling coach, the club began to travel more extensively. Grundy Wrestling Club paid the coach's salary as well as the travel, food and motel expenses for the club's teams, coaches and their wives on trips to wrestling camps and wrestling tournaments. They compete with the best clubs from all over the nation and from such countries as Russia, Iran, France and Germany. Ward took the club to a higher level and produced two Virginia state champions for Grundy High School.  In 1988, Red hired Kevin Dresser, who had won an individual title and was named an All-American wrestler while at the University of Iowa, as the wrestling coach for the Grundy Wrestling Club. In his 10 years at Grundy, Dresser's teams won eight consecutive Virginia high school state championships. He credits Red for giving me the resource and the support to turn the Grundy club into a national powerhouse.  Dresser moved to Christiansburg VA High School and after five years of rebuilding that program his wrestling teams won five consecutive Virginia state championships. He became the Virginia Tech wrestling coach in 2006. Travis Fiser, a two-time All-American while a student at Iowa, is the current Grundy club coach and has added five more state championships, said Lloyd Combs, a local sports reporter.  Combs described Red Robertson as a good, kind, generous person who has helped a lot of people over the years. Dresser said Red wanted to �take away all the excuses for failure for the boys in the Grundy wrestling club.  Grundy wrestling is Red Robertson, commented Jim Bunn, of Central Coal Company, who has partnered with Red in various coal companies over the past 30 years. He's had lots of support, but he was the mainstay of Grundy wrestling. He is more than generous. His love for his fellow man and the future development of youth is uppermost.  In 2007, Virginia Tech honored Red Robertson for his financial support in a special ceremony during a wrestling dual at Cassell Coliseum on the campus. Virginia Tech has plans to replace the coliseum with a larger basketball facility and convert part of the existing facility into a dedicated training center for university wrestlers. The facility will be named the Robertson Family Wrestling Center in recognition of Red's longtime financial support of wrestling and mining engineering at Virginia Tech. Dresser said that Red's support of Virginia Tech wrestling is substantial. Red has been a donor since 1956.  Red earned a degree in mining engineering from Virginia Tech in 1956. He began his coal industry career with Ames Mining Companies that year and he was a partner in the Thompson & Litton Engineering firm from 1960 until 1967. From 1964 through 1967 he studied law at the University of Virginia and then set up a law practice at Grundy in 1967.  In 1970, he became affiliated with owners Jack Lester and Paul Chaney in Knox Creek Coal Company. In 1972 he set up Robertson Engineering Associates, and thereafter he became an owner, board member or corporate officer in 14 coal companies in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois and China. At one point, the mining companies he had financial interests in were producing at the rate of 10 million tons of coal annually, but he has divested himself of several holdings. The mining companies he currently holds financial interest in are producing at the rate of five million tons annually.  Red and his American partners recently sold their interest in the Asian American Coal Corporation in China to Banpu, a company in Thailand, said Bunn, one of Red's partners in the Chinese coal mine. Morgan Massey, a former CEO of Massey Energy, was the other American partner.  Red currently holds ownership interests or partnerships in Central Coal Company, The Eagle Companies, Eaglehawk Carbon, Knight Hawk Coal LLC, Sandy Ridge Energy Corporation, Energy Mountain Coal Company and The Pride Company LLC. He is also a director emeritus and stockholder of Grundy National Bank.  He was in process of divesting his interests in several coal companies when he had a stroke in 2006. He also had a cancerous kidney removed. Becky Bartley, his personal assistance, said in a joking manner that he had to reduce his 12 and 14 hour work days down to only 8 hours.  Red's professional, industry, fraternal and alumni associations are many, but around Grundy he is best known as the financial backbone of the Grundy Wrestling Club. Tass, one of his three sons, currently serves as the club president.  Red began going to his sons Little League wrestling matches sponsored by the Grundy Wrestling Club. He got involved with the club because he wanted to give all the boys (in the area) an opportunity and see where they could go. It turned out well, he said.  He said that the boys who have belonged to the club have had a one hundred percent graduation rate from Grundy High School and a 92 percent post high school education rate.  Three club members have wrestled for individual national championships, and two have won. Red's own sons Shane, Tass and Brant--won four individual Virginia state wrestling championships and three free style state titles. Overall, the club has produced a total of 88 state champions, said Jim Wayne Childress, a Grundy attorney who served as the wrestling club's president from 1983 until 2001. Jim Wayne's son was also a state wrestling champion, and one of Jim Bunn's sons won two state wrestling titles and was a runner-up one year.  Childress said that while Red is modest about his financial contributions� he has been the principal supporter of the club, although there are other financial supporters and volunteers. He said Red saw wrestling as a means for youngsters to build self confidence and to see, through competition with youngsters from around the nation and from such countries as Russia and Iran, that they were just as good as anybody.  We were able to take the kids all over the country and to camps to learn from the best, Childress said. We built a program that is tops in the country.  Dresser said the wrestling club had traveled by van, rental car, bus and airplane just like a college team.  Childress said the Grundy wrestling facility is better than those used by most college teams.  Becky Bartley, Red's longtime personal assistant, paid this tribute to her boss: I've never met a person so willing to give of himself as well as his time and talents as this man, especially when it comes to the betterment of children.  Mrs. Bartley stated that over the years Red has given financial support for such youth organizations as Mountain Mission School, which has provided a Christian home and education for thousands of children; and Good Counsel, a home for unwed mothers. Red has also paid the way for students to take the KAPLIN study course for SAT testing. Red has also helped numerous individuals too many to mention both financially and emotionally, she added.  Red has also served on countless state boards and local boards. He and his sons Brant and Tass are members of the Virginia Tech UT Prosim Society (That I Might Serve), a donor group.  For his many local contributions, Red was named to the Buchanan County (VA) Hall of Fame in 1999.  In addition to their three sons, Red and his wife, Bobbie, have one daughter, Spring Lee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluefield_Rules 46 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Graham football has been down in recent seasons, but even so they would done very well in the MED. There isn't a football powerhouse in that district right now and no one with 1/10 of Graham's tradition. Graham's football program will return to form and dominate that district. And even if Graham continues to be only as good as they have been recently that's still good enough to win that district each season. People are kidding themselves if they think otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EH31 2,533 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 come on graham has been playing with schools of over 1000 for years and years and you say we would be middle of the pack the only team we would have to go through is radford i mean radford is a school but there nothing like the teams we play in the region! Â george wythe, radford, giles, glenvar, floyd, chilhowie, all could beat graham on a yearly basis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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