Top Players in SWVA History

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

1 hour ago, SamJackson said:

Jesse Davis

Absolute stud. The guys on his team, well....both of them...Viney and Holloway were near misses for the NFL. Stephan Holloway was very good at Tech, and Big Bad Viney was an All American at Hampton U. 

[rvtne216 278]

On 11/27/2022 at 11:47 AM, SwvaOG said:

The fact more people don’t mention Mike Compton is amazing.  He won the Rimington trophy at WVU, blocked for Barry Sanders during his 2000 yard season and then won a couple of Super Bowls blocking for Tom Brady.  If Meadows has half of that success Graham fans will talk about him for generations. 😂

Compton did not win the Rimington Award but he was a Consensus All American at WVU. He was on the ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame. Member of the WVU Sports HOF. Blocking for Sanders and blocking for two Super Bowl champion teams is a stellar resume and one that may not get the most notoriety just because of it being a lineman. Great career.

[SwvaOG 600]

2 hours ago, rvtne216 said:

Compton did not win the Rimington Award but he was a Consensus All American at WVU. He was on the ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame. Member of the WVU Sports HOF. Blocking for Sanders and blocking for two Super Bowl champion teams is a stellar resume and one that may not get the most notoriety just because of it being a lineman. Great career.

Yep, the Rimington was introduced later.  He was a finalist for the Lombardi, IIRC.  I would still argue he has the greatest resume of any SWVA football player.  

[Gfan 155]

24 minutes ago, SwvaOG said:

Yep, the Rimington was introduced later.  He was a finalist for the Lombardi, IIRC.  I would still argue he has the greatest resume of any SWVA football player.  

Depending on how far you want to go back, I would say Bill Dudley. He was a Maxwell Award Winner and NFL MVP. He is also a member of both the college and pro football hall of fames.

[Optimal62 178]

One of the best I ever seen on the line was Freddy Mallory from Grayson County. He graduated in 93. He was defensive player of the year in Va n 1A   as defensive lineman as a Junior and Offensive Player of the year in Va 1A as a Senior as a lineman . You know they are good when a linemen is the offensive player of the year . 

More recent was Caleb Spurlin from Galax 

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

Don Danko.  First Team High School All American at Graham.  Member of the 62 state title team, and from what I've been told, he did NOT play against Andrew Lewis (Salem today) in the loss in regular season.  He went to University of Kentucky, started as a freshmen and sophomore, and was an All American Linebacker at Kentucky his sophomore year.  Suffered a leg fracture and ligament damage so bad between his sophomore and junior year that he not only Never played football again, he had to use assistive devices to walk by age 30.  He would have been a first round draft pick in the NFL.  A man amongst boys and the greatest High School Football player at Graham High (keywords-High School).  Dudley was awesome, but he came on when he was at UVA. Danko was already a first team All American in High School and then did the same thing at Kentucky.  

I've talked to old timers at both Bluefield and Graham and most have told me the greatest they had seen in High School was Danko.  I know Rusty Fife fairly well, not great, but know him enough (I'm still friends with his daughter) and have talked to him over the years in the past at Tech games, and he told me Danko was a freak of nature (and Fife played at Tech himself).  He said Danko was on a completely different level than him.

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

3 hours ago, Gfan said:

Depending on how far you want to go back, I would say Bill Dudley. He was a Maxwell Award Winner and NFL MVP. He is also a member of both the college and pro football hall of fames.

Gfan, you guys would know better, but from what I'm told, Dudley really came on at UVA.  He was more like an All State type player his senior year at Graham, but not an all world type player, and many doubted he could even play college football because of his size.  His resume is unparalled by any player in SWVA, but regarding his High School resume, others have done more.  Again, they've done more IN High School.  Whole other ballgame after High School.  Again, this is what I've been told about Dudley from others, but absolutely have no direct knowledge like many Graham fans would, and I don't claim to know.

[Gfan 155]

23 hours ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:

Gfan, you guys would know better, but from what I'm told, Dudley really came on at UVA.  He was more like an All State type player his senior year at Graham, but not an all world type player, and many doubted he could even play college football because of his size.  His resume is unparalled by any player in SWVA, but regarding his High School resume, others have done more.  Again, they've done more IN High School.  Whole other ballgame after High School.  Again, this is what I've been told about Dudley from others, but absolutely have no direct knowledge like many Graham fans would, and I don't claim to know.

That was so long ago I don’t know if any one could  speak on it. I think something to consider though is that he enrolled at UVA at 16. He started by the end of his sophomore year at age 17. I was responding more to comment that Compton had the best resume. 

[Lobster 20]

McFall, Mooney, and Mullins from Clintwood ???

[marcus_twain 14]

Gate City: Neal McMeans, Jeff Baker & Tommy Godsey

We tend to forget the players from the 60's. Neal was All-American at Tennessee if I remember correctly. Jeff is a legend. He and the Stallion had some epic battles. Jeff attended Georgia Tech. Tommy was an incredible inside linebacker. Bear Bryant came to GC to try to talk him into coming to Bama. No idea where he ended up.

[adsi97 35]

On 11/28/2022 at 7:47 PM, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:

Don Danko.  First Team High School All American at Graham.  Member of the 62 state title team, and from what I've been told, he did NOT play against Andrew Lewis (Salem today) in the loss in regular season.  He went to University of Kentucky, started as a freshmen and sophomore, and was an All American Linebacker at Kentucky his sophomore year.  Suffered a leg fracture and ligament damage so bad between his sophomore and junior year that he not only Never played football again, he had to use assistive devices to walk by age 30.  He would have been a first round draft pick in the NFL.  A man amongst boys and the greatest High School Football player at Graham High (keywords-High School).  Dudley was awesome, but he came on when he was at UVA. Danko was already a first team All American in High School and then did the same thing at Kentucky.  

I've talked to old timers at both Bluefield and Graham and most have told me the greatest they had seen in High School was Danko.  I know Rusty Fife fairly well, not great, but know him enough (I'm still friends with his daughter) and have talked to him over the years in the past at Tech games, and he told me Danko was a freak of nature (and Fife played at Tech himself).  He said Danko was on a completely different level than him.

In 1962 I saw the Graham/Tazewell game, it was the best high school football game I've ever seen. Tazewell also had a great fullback that year by the name of Don ( Stoney ) Barnes. He was a Parade All American too. He went to Tennessee that fall and was a starter on the Freshman team ( Freshman could not play on the varsity team at that time ). I don't know why but, that's the only year he played at Tennessee. Graham won the game 7-6 and both teams lost to Andrew Lewis but, Andrew Lewis had an ineligible player and had to forfeit all their games. Graham was awarded the Championship and Tazewell finished 2nd that year.

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

50 minutes ago, adsi97 said:

In 1962 I saw the Graham/Tazewell game, it was the best high school football game I've ever seen. Tazewell also had a great fullback that year by the name of Don ( Stoney ) Barnes. He was a Parade All American too. He went to Tennessee that fall and was a starter on the Freshman team ( Freshman could not play on the varsity team at that time ). I don't know why but, that's the only year he played at Tennessee. Graham won the game 7-6 and both teams lost to Andrew Lewis but, Andrew Lewis had an ineligible player and had to forfeit all their games. Graham was awarded the Championship and Tazewell finished 2nd that year.

That's good stuff adsi97. Do you have any knowledge of the Graham of 62 and Danko playing versus Andrew Lewis. I've been told Danko did not play in that game due to injury. Crazy to think it's been 60 years.

[adsi97 35]

32 minutes ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:

That's good stuff adsi97. Do you have any knowledge of the Graham of 62 and Danko playing versus Andrew Lewis. I've been told Danko did not play in that game due to injury. Crazy to think it's been 60 years.

I don't know if he played in the Andrew Lewis game or not. I think they beat Graham and Tazewell by the same score 7-0. I could be wrong about that. Graham had a very good halfback that year too. His name was Joe Grimm and he finished 2nd to Stoney in scoring in the whole state in 1962.