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Historical atrocities related/attributed to Richlands


RichlandsAlum
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I realize that this includes examples other than football, but given recent discussions on this board centering on an apparent fascination with this particular school I offer this as a therapeutic exercise for all board participants.

In no particular order...

1.      The cleat thing, because…..well…..just because.

2.      At one time Blue Tornado basketball players used Stick-Um to assist in dunking the ball during pregame layup drills.

3.      Placing the WGTH broadcast table for basketball games next to the “Krazy Korner” fan section.  (And subjecting the fine God fearin’ clientele of that station to the occasional off color cheer and/or naughty comment caught and broadcast over the air waves.)

4.      Certain members of the golf team “requisitioned” range balls at Fincastle during the SWD tournament event held there once.

5.      In the mid 1980’s half the student body of Richlands perpetuated a rumor of rampant Satan worship among Tazewell students.  (The other half of the Richlands folks pestered their Tazewell counterparts for several months thereafter in an effort to get them to use their “special relationship” to provide an advantage in securing Ozzy Osbourne concert tickets.)

6.      It has long been suspected that the trombone slides used by the multiple year award-winning Virginia honor marching band are at least 1/8” too long.

7.      On one occasion the visiting Richlands fans apparently provoked members of the normally docile and hospitable Big Creek crowd into firing shots at the school bus transporting the Blue Tornado marching band.

8.      Holding up dollar bills as opposing basketball cheerleaders performed on the court during timeout breaks.

9.      During the 1972 football playoff against Radford, Richlands players apparently spit tobacco on Bobcat players.  Thus providing complete justification for Saint Norman Lineburg to run up the score on that occasion.

10.  In a section of 9th grade Physical Education, members of the class organized and began a softball game prior to the arrival (and without the expressed permission) of teacher/coach Bruce Sizemore.

11.  During the 1970’s the school experimented with a color scheme that included a garish shade of light blue accented by red.  (When everyone knows that Powell Valley is the only school that ever came close to making that a decent look.)

12.  The visitor side bleachers of Ernie Hicks Stadium.

13.  During a stint which saw the program win one game over two years in the early 1970’s, the head basketball coach at the time burned all of the written records associated with the entire athletic department.

14.  A Dennis Vaught-led football team once wore uniforms that bore more than a passing resemblance to the Dallas Cowboys.  (A bigger travesty than the cleat thing in certain circles.)

15.  One senior class was so lackadaisical in its approach to the tradition of painting the water tank above the school campus complex that they left it painted blank white over the course of a week.  This invited someone to spray paint “F--- You!” on the face of the tank in large black letters.  Despite efforts to allow it to remain as an unofficial class motto, administration called certain Seniors out of class to immediately correct the issue.

16.  A large green banner depicting the demonic Bulldog mascot mysteriously disappeared from Tazewell High School the week before the 1987 football game against Richlands.  It reappeared during the fourth quarter of the game in the student section, where it was subsequently torn to shreds.

17.  A Model UN delegation from RHS once pushed a unanimous resolution through the Security Council which condemned the United States.

18.  The “crown” in the middle of the old natural turf field of Ernie Hicks Stadium (which varied in height from apparently 3 to 12 feet at any given time).

19.  Male middle school students used to leave visible notes on their lockers for visiting teams which used them for football and basketball.  Many of these contained speculative comments about certain physical abilities of the female relatives of visiting players (although they could also be construed as oddly complimentary).

20.  A member of the RHS golf team once carried 15 clubs in his bag in a match played against Giles at Castle Rock golf course.  Oddly enough, this example of cheating apparently escaped the attention of the usually vigilant Spartan fan base.

Feel free to add to this list and/or edit as you may see fit.  Personally, I know I feel a whole lot better after posting this.

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13 minutes ago, RichlandsAlum said:

I realize that this includes examples other than football, but given recent discussions on this board centering on an apparent fascination with this particular school I offer this as a therapeutic exercise for all board participants.

In no particular order...

1.      The cleat thing, because…..well…..just because.

2.      At one time Blue Tornado basketball players used Stick-Um to assist in dunking the ball during pregame layup drills.

3.      Placing the WGTH broadcast table for basketball games next to the “Krazy Korner” fan section.  (And subjecting the fine God fearin’ clientele of that station to the occasional off color cheer and/or naughty comment caught and broadcast over the air waves.)

4.      Certain members of the golf team “requisitioned” range balls at Fincastle during the SWD tournament event held there once.

5.      In the mid 1980’s half the student body of Richlands perpetuated a rumor of rampant Satan worship among Tazewell students.  (The other half of the Richlands folks pestered their Tazewell counterparts for several months thereafter in an effort to get them to use their “special relationship” to provide an advantage in securing Ozzy Osbourne concert tickets.)

6.      It has long been suspected that the trombone slides used by the multiple year award-winning Virginia honor marching band are at least 1/8” too long.

7.      On one occasion the visiting Richlands fans apparently provoked members of the normally docile and hospitable Big Creek crowd into firing shots at the school bus transporting the Blue Tornado marching band.

8.      Holding up dollar bills as opposing basketball cheerleaders performed on the court during timeout breaks.

9.      During the 1972 football playoff against Radford, Richlands players apparently spit tobacco on Bobcat players.  Thus providing complete justification for Saint Norman Lineburg to run up the score on that occasion.

10.  In a section of 9th grade Physical Education, members of the class organized and began a softball game prior to the arrival (and without the expressed permission) of teacher/coach Bruce Sizemore.

11.  During the 1970’s the school experimented with a color scheme that included a garish shade of light blue accented by red.  (When everyone knows that Powell Valley is the only school that ever came close to making that a decent look.)

12.  The visitor side bleachers of Ernie Hicks Stadium.

13.  During a stint which saw the program win one game over two years in the early 1970’s, the head basketball coach at the time burned all of the written records associated with the entire athletic department.

14.  A Dennis Vaught-led football team once wore uniforms that bore more than a passing resemblance to the Dallas Cowboys.  (A bigger travesty than the cleat thing in certain circles.)

15.  One senior class was so lackadaisical in its approach to the tradition of painting the water tank above the school campus complex that they left it painted blank white over the course of a week.  This invited someone to spray paint “F--- You!” on the face of the tank in large black letters.  Despite efforts to allow it to remain as an unofficial class motto, administration called certain Seniors out of class to immediately correct the issue.

16.  A large green banner depicting the demonic Bulldog mascot mysteriously disappeared from Tazewell High School the week before the 1987 football game against Richlands.  It reappeared during the fourth quarter of the game in the student section, where it was subsequently torn to shreds.

17.  A Model UN delegation from RHS once pushed a unanimous resolution through the Security Council which condemned the United States.

18.  The “crown” in the middle of the old natural turf field of Ernie Hicks Stadium (which varied in height from apparently 3 to 12 feet at any given time).

19.  Male middle school students used to leave visible notes on their lockers for visiting teams which used them for football and basketball.  Many of these contained speculative comments about certain physical abilities of the female relatives of visiting players (although they could also be construed as oddly complimentary).

20.  A member of the RHS golf team once carried 15 clubs in his bag in a match played against Giles at Castle Rock golf course.  Oddly enough, this example of cheating apparently escaped the attention of the usually vigilant Spartan fan base.

Feel free to add to this list and/or edit as you may see fit.  Personally, I know I feel a whole lot better after posting this.

If this makes you feel better than good for you...you are a typical Richlands fan

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2 minutes ago, Widespread_Panic said:

A lot of discussion for a program that will never reach the heights of Appalachia or Powell Valley and they've been closed for over 10 years. 

Actually a very good point.

Growing up it seemed like a lot of area schools/fans held a particular level of disdain for Richlands.  Which didn't make a lot of sense because, candidly, we weren't much of a threat to anybody in any program at the time.

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Just now, Hokiebird7 said:

If this makes you feel better than good for you...you are a typical Richlands fan

Just being stupid and having a little fun.  To the other point, I don't know that I'm a "typical" anything.  Some of these ridiculous comments would actually get me an a-- whipping from members of my own hometown.

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10 minutes ago, RichlandsAlum said:

Actually a very good point.

Growing up it seemed like a lot of area schools/fans held a particular level of disdain for Richlands.  Which didn't make a lot of sense because, candidly, we weren't much of a threat to anybody in any program at the time.

I think the reason people don't like you now(not saying me) is because some of your fans have this "our program is the greatest" attitude...when in fact there are plenty of swva programs better

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14 minutes ago, RichlandsAlum said:

Actually a very good point.

Growing up it seemed like a lot of area schools/fans held a particular level of disdain for Richlands.  Which didn't make a lot of sense because, candidly, we weren't much of a threat to anybody in any program at the time.

Richlands didn't win its 1st playoff game until 1991, which is one of those stats that doesn't seem real or possible.

 

In terms of historical atrocities, I can't believe you neglected the 2001 "Flooding of the Clinch River with Tears" after Richlands fans whined and cried over Graham scoring a late TD to win a 22-0 shutout.  Never forget!

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6 minutes ago, Hokiebird7 said:

I think the reason people don't like you now(not saying me) is because some of your fans have this "our program is the greatest" attitude...when in fact there are plenty of swva programs better

Even before the Blues started winning consistently on the gridiron, there was an odd dynamic within the community that involved some pretty high expectations (which were also probably pretty unreasonable in my own opinion).  Not sure that "entitlement" is the correct word, but it's probably something akin to that.  And this was based on what I observed in the 1970's through the mid 1980's.  I'm sure the attitudes in the community evolved significantly in step with the Mance era and that probably does rub a lot of area people the wrong way.

FWIW, I'm not one to make any excuses about the issues which took place back in 1992.  Just a very stupid and needless thing to have occurred all around.

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10 minutes ago, UVAObserver said:

Richlands didn't win its 1st playoff game until 1991, which is one of those stats that doesn't seem real or possible.

 

In terms of historical atrocities, I can't believe you neglected the 2001 "Flooding of the Clinch River with Tears" after Richlands fans whined and cried over Graham scoring a late TD to win a 22-0 shutout.  Never forget!

Richlands didn't have a lot of success at the regional level in most sports for a long time.  Boys basketball just won a playoff game for the first time in the history of that program a couple of years ago.

As for the 2001 example, I think that qualifies as more of a Graham "atrocity" and I would welcome that as the start of that list. 😉

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25 minutes ago, Real Sasquatch said:

#23 Dennis Vaught 

I've often wondered about just how different things might have been if Billy Haun could (and presumably would) have stayed longer.  Ultimately I think he was brought down by the poor records in 1988 and 1989 (1-9 and 2-8 respectively) on the heels of that 1987 playoff season.  If the program hadn't tanked so badly in those two seasons there might not have been as much of a sense of urgency to clear the way for Vaught in 1991.

Just another weird thought.  Generally speaking, I suppose that Dr. Haun would say that things worked out in a very satisfactory manner if you asked him.

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A girls’ soccer player once cheated on an SOL test and was allowed to play that afternoon in a playoff game , totally unrelated to football though! 😂😂😂 Then there’s cafeteria gate, once again totally unrelated to football, LOL. 

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9 hours ago, RichlandsAlum said:

I realize that this includes examples other than football, but given recent discussions on this board centering on an apparent fascination with this particular school I offer this as a therapeutic exercise for all board participants.

In no particular order...

1.      The cleat thing, because…..well…..just because.

2.      At one time Blue Tornado basketball players used Stick-Um to assist in dunking the ball during pregame layup drills.

3.      Placing the WGTH broadcast table for basketball games next to the “Krazy Korner” fan section.  (And subjecting the fine God fearin’ clientele of that station to the occasional off color cheer and/or naughty comment caught and broadcast over the air waves.)

4.      Certain members of the golf team “requisitioned” range balls at Fincastle during the SWD tournament event held there once.

5.      In the mid 1980’s half the student body of Richlands perpetuated a rumor of rampant Satan worship among Tazewell students.  (The other half of the Richlands folks pestered their Tazewell counterparts for several months thereafter in an effort to get them to use their “special relationship” to provide an advantage in securing Ozzy Osbourne concert tickets.)

6.      It has long been suspected that the trombone slides used by the multiple year award-winning Virginia honor marching band are at least 1/8” too long.

7.      On one occasion the visiting Richlands fans apparently provoked members of the normally docile and hospitable Big Creek crowd into firing shots at the school bus transporting the Blue Tornado marching band.

8.      Holding up dollar bills as opposing basketball cheerleaders performed on the court during timeout breaks.

9.      During the 1972 football playoff against Radford, Richlands players apparently spit tobacco on Bobcat players.  Thus providing complete justification for Saint Norman Lineburg to run up the score on that occasion.

10.  In a section of 9th grade Physical Education, members of the class organized and began a softball game prior to the arrival (and without the expressed permission) of teacher/coach Bruce Sizemore.

11.  During the 1970’s the school experimented with a color scheme that included a garish shade of light blue accented by red.  (When everyone knows that Powell Valley is the only school that ever came close to making that a decent look.)

12.  The visitor side bleachers of Ernie Hicks Stadium.

13.  During a stint which saw the program win one game over two years in the early 1970’s, the head basketball coach at the time burned all of the written records associated with the entire athletic department.

14.  A Dennis Vaught-led football team once wore uniforms that bore more than a passing resemblance to the Dallas Cowboys.  (A bigger travesty than the cleat thing in certain circles.)

15.  One senior class was so lackadaisical in its approach to the tradition of painting the water tank above the school campus complex that they left it painted blank white over the course of a week.  This invited someone to spray paint “F--- You!” on the face of the tank in large black letters.  Despite efforts to allow it to remain as an unofficial class motto, administration called certain Seniors out of class to immediately correct the issue.

16.  A large green banner depicting the demonic Bulldog mascot mysteriously disappeared from Tazewell High School the week before the 1987 football game against Richlands.  It reappeared during the fourth quarter of the game in the student section, where it was subsequently torn to shreds.

17.  A Model UN delegation from RHS once pushed a unanimous resolution through the Security Council which condemned the United States.

18.  The “crown” in the middle of the old natural turf field of Ernie Hicks Stadium (which varied in height from apparently 3 to 12 feet at any given time).

19.  Male middle school students used to leave visible notes on their lockers for visiting teams which used them for football and basketball.  Many of these contained speculative comments about certain physical abilities of the female relatives of visiting players (although they could also be construed as oddly complimentary).

20.  A member of the RHS golf team once carried 15 clubs in his bag in a match played against Giles at Castle Rock golf course.  Oddly enough, this example of cheating apparently escaped the attention of the usually vigilant Spartan fan base.

Feel free to add to this list and/or edit as you may see fit.  Personally, I know I feel a whole lot better after posting this.

4b.  And a Cleveland Golf wedge.

4c.  A Ping Eye2 demo 5-iron.

4d.  Not to mention, looting members lockers, including taking adult beverages and personal belongings.

The school was notified, I'm sure they took care of it...not...

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I was the stupid Son Biat...........who survived 2 Covids and yes, I'm the man in the BDT and newspapers across the country that was 1 of the 110 people who tested positive after testing negative. Serious about the above...but want to know why?

Claypool Hill, VA. A restaurant, massage parlor, and tattoo shop not to be named. All of em were Richlands fans, even the luv me long times at the massage parlor told me, "luv Blues long time."

 

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#25 - My grandpa being ejected from a game in 1946 for fighting with a 'Nader at Richlands and then tearing the lockers out of the walls of the locker room when they told him he was not allowed to leave the field house until after the game was finished, despite the fact that the 'Nader "was asking for it," and after being ejected, didn't have to leave the sideline. 

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17 hours ago, Real Sasquatch said:

#21.  Richlands football players allegedly purposefully fielded punts with the intention of running into and disrespecting members of the Union band.  

In light of the new information that this thread brings, I guess we Union fans should be thankful to be a part of this storied history. 😂

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