Jump to content

Bluefield Beavers and WV football


buzzsaw
 Share

Recommended Posts

A foolish post that was derogatory towards Bluefield and WV football  warrants a truthful response, so I’m just going to going post an accurate story about Beaver history from online.

 

Merille Gainer

Football Coach. Thru the 1960s he headed a number of nationally ranked high school teams. A 1940 graduate from Shepherd College, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II prior to starting a long coaching career. He first gained renown at Big Creek High School in War, West Virginia but earned a national reputation at Bluefield High School in Bluefield, West Virginia. Taking over a chronically losing program in 1959, he won a state championship; over nine seasons, his teams had a record of 87-6-1 and won four Class AAA state titles, with three of the losses and the tie coming in 1963. During his Bluefield years he coached several nationally ranked teams and turned down offers from a number of major colleges. Following the Beavers' fourth championship in 1967, Coach Gainer retired, though his retirement was to be short-lived as he accepted an offer from Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia in 1969. The school had won one game in the previous three seasons but Coach Gainer immediately had them winning and the Patriots captured the Virginia state championship in 1973. The coach retired for good in 1978 but over the years was a highly sought after instructor for coaching seminars throughout the country. He was inducted into the National High School Athletics Hall of Fame in 1979 and the West Virginia Sports Writers Hall of Fame in 1986. Coach Gainer was the high school coach of "Rocket Boy" Homer Hickam at Big Creek and was portrayed in the movie "October Sky" by David Copeland. Today the stadium at Patrick Henry High School carries his name.

 

 

 

FB4C5F90-0440-47D8-86C7-55156F6F3694.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 

To add to that, legendary Bluefield and Graham coaches John Chamara and Glen Carlock were assistants under Gainer at Bluefield. Chamara became head coach after Gainer left, and coach Carlock eventually became head coach at Graham and modeled Graham’s program after Bluefields. 

Some other really successful coaches in southwest Virginia coached under Gainer, and with Chamara and Carlock as well, maybe Tazewell’s coach Litz?, and one of Gate City’s good coaches? More than a few of the historically good programs of southwest Virginia, and at least 1 in the Roanoke area, were built and influenced by products of or having ties with Bluefield’s program.

So instead of 2 vhsl hall of fame coaches coming to Bluefield and starting WV football, a coach from Bluefield WV actually had a big part in building the success and physical style of football in SWVA that many on this site are deservingly proud of.  That couldn’t be more ironic to those putting Wv football or more specifically Bluefield down.

I’m not certain the reason for the underlying animosity towards the Beavers and WV football by some,  but personally I’ve always known Bluefield fans to enjoy seeing Graham and Richlands and any other Va teams from the region do well. I’d enjoy seeing Tazewell do well too. 

To the haters though it’s fair to ask how many of their teams were ever nationally ranked? Maybe a few, idk. 

Although it was a different era,  the AAA Bluefield teams of the ‘60s and 70’s were no joke. They could play with the best teams from any surrounding state. That started tapering down some in the 80s, as numbers decreased. 

My sophomore year at Bluefield in ‘81 under Chamara, our team was 3-6 and had the first losing season in decades, and the last game was against a 9-0 AAA Tennessee team ranked 2nd or 3rd in tn and Bluefield won convincingly 21-7. 

A couple of years before that Bluefield tied a really big and good Maryland team, Dematha, if I recall. 3-3. Bluefield’s played some of the better teams at the time from 5 different states outside of WV, Va, Maryland, Tn, Ky and Nc. They have a lot to be proud of.  

I saw Bluefield for the first time Friday, and saw 2 of their games last year, to be honest I’m not certain they’re better than last year, maybe, idk, but they’re really good and certainly good enough to repeat in AA. But I’ve read about them possibly being 1 of the best teams in Bluefield’s history and 1 thing is certain, at least in my mind, this isn’t the best Bluefield team ever, and not sure they’re as good as a few of the teams from the 90s or 2000s. Maybe I haven’t seen them enough though. But they are really good, and have the opportunity to make history, and have 60 some years of Bluefield players and generations of faithful cheering them on, and coach Simon, also a Bluefield product who played under coach Chamara and the Gainer influence has done well at Bluefield. 

Say what you will about Bluefield or WV football, personally I respect every program, but as a Bluefield fan I don’t envy any other. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Anybody who thinks that Bluefield football is sub-par is an idiot.  I would put Bluefield up against any team their size or bigger(2A and most of 3A) in VA, pretty much on a yearly basis and put good money on Bluefield.  For somebody to say the things they did after the results of one game is foolish.  It only makes them look like somebody who doesn't know what in the heck they are talking about.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
4 hours ago, buzzsaw said:

A foolish post that was derogatory towards Bluefield and WV football  warrants a truthful response, so I’m just going to going post an accurate story about Beaver history from online.

 

Merille Gainer

Football Coach. Thru the 1960s he headed a number of nationally ranked high school teams. A 1940 graduate from Shepherd College, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II prior to starting a long coaching career. He first gained renown at Big Creek High School in War, West Virginia but earned a national reputation at Bluefield High School in Bluefield, West Virginia. Taking over a chronically losing program in 1959, he won a state championship; over nine seasons, his teams had a record of 87-6-1 and won four Class AAA state titles, with three of the losses and the tie coming in 1963. During his Bluefield years he coached several nationally ranked teams and turned down offers from a number of major colleges. Following the Beavers' fourth championship in 1967, Coach Gainer retired, though his retirement was to be short-lived as he accepted an offer from Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia in 1969. The school had won one game in the previous three seasons but Coach Gainer immediately had them winning and the Patriots captured the Virginia state championship in 1973. The coach retired for good in 1978 but over the years was a highly sought after instructor for coaching seminars throughout the country. He was inducted into the National High School Athletics Hall of Fame in 1979 and the West Virginia Sports Writers Hall of Fame in 1986. Coach Gainer was the high school coach of "Rocket Boy" Homer Hickam at Big Creek and was portrayed in the movie "October Sky" by David Copeland. Today the stadium at Patrick Henry High School carries his name.

 

 

 

FB4C5F90-0440-47D8-86C7-55156F6F3694.jpeg

Awesome Post!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Bluefield would likely win the 2A title in VA this year by a couple scores, but the comparisons to a team like Greeneville were, optimstic, to say the least. 

 

A school with less than 700 kids is gonna have a hard time beating a school with 1500+ kids and takes their football seriously. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
15 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

Bluefield would likely win the 2A title in VA this year by a couple scores, but the comparisons to a team like Greeneville were, optimstic, to say the least. 

 

A school with less than 700 kids is gonna have a hard time beating a school with 1500+ kids and takes their football seriously. 

Which school are you referencing that has 1500+ kids?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Greenville is the best I have seen, I haven’t seen Bluefield but those who have said they are very good, so that’s good enough for me, their record speaks for itself. Now the comments about the fecal matter were off color but meant as a joke but did nothing to take away from how good Bluefield and Graham have been for 100 years. When you draw a Graham or Bluefield in the playoffs my first thought would be is f### I wish it it was a weaker team but with that said , that will be the last loss for Bluefield , it could payoff down the road, just like their coach stated

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
3 hours ago, Union_Fan said:

Which school are you referencing that has 1500+ kids?

I wasn't referring to any particular school, it was a general statement. I know LB has like 1,200 kids but I wasn't specifically referring to them or Greeneville, who is like 900-1,000 IIRC. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
4 hours ago, BigWinners said:

I wasn't referring to any particular school, it was a general statement. I know LB has like 1,200 kids but I wasn't specifically referring to them or Greeneville, who is like 900-1,000 IIRC. 

 

Gotcha. With LB at 1028 and Greeneville at 913, I thought you were either waaay off with their numbers or referring to some other school that Bluefield had played recently. Curious as to whom that may have been. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
6 hours ago, Ryan4VT said:

Greenville would beat Bluefield by 35+

I kinda wonder about that. I know they're big rivals, but after Greeneville played Betsy it made me question the Devil's competition up to that point. Elizabethton has an exquisite passing game, but their line play was no better than Union's. We ran at will on them and stuffed their run multiple times. Bluefield would still most likely lose, but I think it would be closer than 35. Just my humble opinion. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

People who say Bluefield plays a "weak" schedule obviously don't know how hard it is for the Beavers to schedule local competition. Teams in the area don't want to play Bluefield because they not only lose but get embarrassed. People always give Coach Simon hell for running up the score on teams but what is he supposed to do? Take a knee the entire second half? People don't like Bluefield for the same reason people don't like Richlands, they win all the time. If your team has dropped the Beavers off of their schedule, then you have no right at all to accuse them of playing weak competition. Especially when Bluefield has had to schedule teams like Charlotte Country Day School in the past because they couldn't get anyone around here to play them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Bluefield has open offers to Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Giles, and Tennessee High that I know of to schedule games. They have always been turned down. Do they play a weak schedule? I think so but it is because there is no one strong to play. Graham is pretty good most of the time. Same for Richlands. James Monroe is pretty decent. Who else are you gonna play? I'm sure if Union called Bluefield and the dates lined up Bluefield would play Union.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

That game would be a SELL OUT at either stadium. Can you imagine how high the half and half would get?

1 hour ago, Bluefield researcher said:

Bluefield has open offers to Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Giles, and Tennessee High that I know of to schedule games. They have always been turned down. Do they play a weak schedule? I think so but it is because there is no one strong to play. Graham is pretty good most of the time. Same for Richlands. James Monroe is pretty decent. Who else are you gonna play? I'm sure if Union called Bluefield and the dates lined up Bluefield would play Union.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

To be honest with everybody. I glad bluefield is playing tazewell. I hope we play every year. One thing is bluefield is good year in year out. You have play better competition to get better. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
17 minutes ago, chipinbogey said:

That game would be a SELL OUT at either stadium. Can you imagine how high the half and half would get?

 

When Bluefield came to Gate City, they brought almost no fans...........and that was back when we were good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
2 hours ago, Bluefield researcher said:

Bluefield has open offers to Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Giles, and Tennessee High that I know of to schedule games. They have always been turned down. Do they play a weak schedule? I think so but it is because there is no one strong to play. Graham is pretty good most of the time. Same for Richlands. James Monroe is pretty decent. Who else are you gonna play? I'm sure if Union called Bluefield and the dates lined up Bluefield would play Union.

I don’t think Giles is afraid to play Bluefield but the only way we could play them is if we dropped Graham which would be crazy because they’re in our division and it’s always a good game.

We’ve played Bburg and Cburg every year for the past 50 years so I know we’re not going to drop them. And Narrows is our county rivals. After that it’s all district games. I am glad that we get to play them in the benefit game. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
 

After reading on couple of topics...About GOOD teams from VA, TN, WV I feel that NC has some really strong 4A schools from GREENSBORO and CHARLOTTE...Like Page High School, Dudley High school, Mallard Creek, Vince High School that's just some...I did see Vince High School NC play GW Danville High School VA for a home and home series about 3 years ago....IT WAS PRETTY BAD Vance beat them both years pretty bad...

Don't get me wrong... I love SWVA FOOTBALL... This is where am from...LoL

Biggest things I have saw different is (TEAM SPEED) and that they offer to play FOOTBALL in the Fall and Spring here from  5 to 16 year old  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
4 hours ago, Bluefield researcher said:

Bluefield has open offers to Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Giles, and Tennessee High that I know of to schedule games. They have always been turned down. Do they play a weak schedule? I think so but it is because there is no one strong to play. Graham is pretty good most of the time. Same for Richlands. James Monroe is pretty decent. Who else are you gonna play? I'm sure if Union called Bluefield and the dates lined up Bluefield would play Union.

I have no clue if any communication has taken place between Union and Bluefield, but I'm not sure if that would be good. I like the idea of playing Bluefield from a competitive standpoint. It would give the Bears a great glimpse into the speed that some of the teams, they may see in the playoffs, possess. The same with playing Graham over the next cycle.

However, I do not like playing out of district teams that your district OR other out of district opponents also play. This hurts the amount of bonus points you can accumulate.

Hypothetical #1.....This year for instance, we have Richlands, Letcher Co, and Mo West on our OOD schedule. We have beaten all 3, and we are heading into the final 3 weeks of the year. All 3 of our opponents win their last 2 games. That's a possibility of 18 bonus points.
Hypothetical #2....We have Richlands, Bluefield and Graham on our OOD schedule. We have beaten all 3, and are heading into the final 3 weeks of the year. This time, our OOD opponents play each other. Richlands/Graham, Richlands/Bluefield, Graham/Bluefield, Graham/Opponent, Bluefield/Opponent, Richlands/Opponent. That's only a possibility of 12 pts.

That 6 pts could be the difference in a 26.5 rating and a 27.1 and cost your team the #1 seed or the opportunity to host a semi-final game. Maybe the experience and preparation are more valuable than home field advantage. Maybe they're not. I would rather not take the chance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

We get enamored by our end of the state, but in Virginia, the true talent comes from the population centers. The best teams in the state are always gonna be huge schools with multiple D1 recruits every year, as Virginia ranks pretty highly in D1 recruits per percentages. I know in 2014, VAs ratio of 1 D1 signee for every 367 players was 13th nationally and just a sliver behind Texas. Virginia was 8th in terms of producing elite football recruits when SB Nation did a study and produced the numbers on 2017, ahead of huge football states like TN, NC, PA, etc.....

https://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2016/6/28/12040586/rankings-state-stars-florida-texas-california

VA is a good football state, and I can see the argument that SWVA is better than NE TN as a whole per capita, but the very best of course comes from the biggest cities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...