redtiger Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 Just looking back at some info from fourseasonsfootball.com and a couple of things came to mind(both have been discussed on here before): 1) How far some teams traveled back in the day. For example: Appalachia playing Marion, Elizabethton, Tennessee High, Dobyns Bennett, Johnson County TN, Corbin KY, and William Byrd. William Fleming traveled to Appalachia. Haysi played Rich Valley, Damascus, St Charles and Jonesville in Lee County. JI Burton played Saltville, Virginia High, William Byrd, Richlands, a school from Knoxville. Grundy played Fleming-Neon, Marion, Cumberland KY. Marion played Clifton Forge, William Fleming. These trips were undertaken before I-81 and when 23/460 weren't what they are now and several of the trips were early enough that they probably took a train. Just incredible to look back on. 2) Coaches just changing the school colors. Correct me if I'm wrong but Coach Carlock basically just decided the G-Men football team would be Cardinal and Gold instead of Maroon and Gray in 1973 and the school(more or less) followed suit. In 1978 Butch Kiser just decided to shift Haysi from Blue and White(Red may have been used as trim before, not 100% sure) to Red with a little Blue, which Coach Colley took over in 82 the Blue quickly went away in favor or all Red. I'm sure there are MANY other examples if you guys would like to add on JDHoss and Liam McPoyle 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthGreeneHuskies88 Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 I think starting in the late 70s or sometime in the 80s, Gate City went to a Carolina Blue. Then I think they went back to Royal Blue in 1993 or 94. The old Big Stone Gap High School played Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Clifton Forge, Fredericksburg, Pulaski, Radford, South Boston, Washington & Lee, and William Byrd in the 1920s and the 1930s. That’s just unbelievable, as that was prior to any interstate highways being built and some of that during the Great Depression. Big Stone to those places had to take several hours, maybe even a day or two. Big Stone was the Buccaneers and were blue and yellow. To my knowledge, ETSU got the idea to be called Buccaneers from the old Big Stone HS. I looked at East Stone Gap High School, whose colors were green and yellow (I think yellow) and their mascot the Tigers. I didn’t notice any opponents vs. East Stone that stood out to me. The only one I really saw was Rich Valley. The two consolidated to form the former Powell Valley. The farthest PV ever had to travel was in 1995 to Northampton for the state championship. The game was played at Nandua High School in Northampton County, vs, Northampton. I don’t see why the VHSL allowed that championship game to be played at such a horrid facility. The farthest Union had to travel was to Clarke County in 2015. JDHoss 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam McPoyle Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 It's low hanging fruit, but just this season Thomas Walker traveled to both Hurley and Twin Valley for games. Each game is a roundtrip of over 6 hours and nearly 300 miles of non-interstate travel on a school bus. redtiger 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam McPoyle Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 Richlands traveled to South Boston (Halifax Co) in the late 60s. Even today, that's a roundtrip of 8.5 to 9 hour in a car (450-500 miles) cityofRaven 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDHoss Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 23 minutes ago, BearsFan88 said: I think starting in the late 70s or sometime in the 80s, Gate City went to a Carolina Blue. Then I think they went back to Royal Blue in 1993 or 94. The old Big Stone Gap High School played Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Clifton Forge, Fredericksburg, Pulaski, Radford, South Boston, Washington & Lee, and William Byrd in the 1920s and the 1930s. That’s just unbelievable, as that was prior to any interstate highways being built and some of that during the Great Depression. Big Stone to those places had to take several hours, maybe even a day or two. Big Stone was the Buccaneers and were blue and yellow. To my knowledge, ETSU got the idea to be called Buccaneers from the old Big Stone HS. I looked at East Stone Gap High School, whose colors were green and yellow (I think yellow) and their mascot the Tigers. I didn’t notice any opponents vs. East Stone that stood out to me. The only one I really saw was Rich Valley. The two consolidated to form the former Powell Valley. The farthest PV ever had to travel was in 1995 to Northampton for the state championship. The game was played at Nandua High School in Northampton County, vs, Northampton. I don’t see why the VHSL allowed that championship game to be played at such a horrid facility. The farthest Union had to travel was to Clarke County in 2015. I was there at Nandua that day. I made a weekend getaway, going up Thursday afternoon. When I got there, there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. Then it warmed up and rained...a lot. Then the temps dropped like a rock on Saturday and they delayed the start until 3:00. I went out to a (IIRC) K-Mart and bought some rubber boots to save getting my hiking boots submerged in mud. That field was atrocious, and it was a travesty to play a state championship on it. That said, PV still rolled Northampton, and on a good field it would have been far worse. The game was basically over after two series. The only question was going to be the final margin. IMO Northampton would have finished 4th in the LPD that year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam McPoyle Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 I remember in the 70s and 80s, the primary uniform color for -Richlands was light blue -PH was light blue -John Battle was yellow gold I also remember... -Grundy's colors being more yellow gold and medium/royal blue rather than old gold/navy. -Marion wearing blue trim (an official school color that's nearly disappeared) -Tazewell wearing yellow trim -Holston (I think) with blue trim rather than black -Gate City's switch from royal to light blue and back to royal (as Bearfan88 mentioned) -Independence/Grayson Co going from royal blue to navy -Haysi basketball with blue trim in their uniform Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V-Cats Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 The first game in Dobyns-Bennett history was a 40-0 loss to Virginia High in 1920 The Bearcats used to play ETSU, Milligan, King, Emory & Henry, and Virginia Tech (presumably the JV/Freshman teams) We also traveled by train to play South Norfolk (now Oscar Smith in Chesapeake) for the 1926 Class B State Championship (which we won thanks to future UT and Chicago Bears star Beattie Feathers) Other notable road trips through the years include Knoxville Central, EC Glass, Spotswood (thanks Covid), Greeneville, Elkhorn WV, Andrew Lewis (Salem), Tennessee Military Institute (in Sweetwater) redtiger 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unchained Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 21 minutes ago, Liam McPoyle said: I remember in the 70s and 80s, the primary uniform color for -Richlands was light blue -PH was light blue -John Battle was yellow gold I also remember... -Grundy's colors being more yellow gold and medium/royal blue rather than old gold/navy. -Marion wearing blue trim (an official school color that's nearly disappeared) -Tazewell wearing yellow trim -Holston (I think) with blue trim rather than black -Gate City's switch from royal to light blue and back to royal (as Bearfan88 mentioned) -Independence/Grayson Co going from royal blue to navy -Haysi basketball with blue trim in their uniform For a few years in the late 80's-early 90's J.J.Kelly had some grey/silver mixed in on the football unis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goose111874 Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 4 hours ago, BearsFan88 said: I think starting in the late 70s or sometime in the 80s, Gate City went to a Carolina Blue. Then I think they went back to Royal Blue in 1993 or 94. The old Big Stone Gap High School played Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Clifton Forge, Fredericksburg, Pulaski, Radford, South Boston, Washington & Lee, and William Byrd in the 1920s and the 1930s. That’s just unbelievable, as that was prior to any interstate highways being built and some of that during the Great Depression. Big Stone to those places had to take several hours, maybe even a day or two. Big Stone was the Buccaneers and were blue and yellow. To my knowledge, ETSU got the idea to be called Buccaneers from the old Big Stone HS. I looked at East Stone Gap High School, whose colors were green and yellow (I think yellow) and their mascot the Tigers. I didn’t notice any opponents vs. East Stone that stood out to me. The only one I really saw was Rich Valley. The two consolidated to form the former Powell Valley. The farthest PV ever had to travel was in 1995 to Northampton for the state championship. The game was played at Nandua High School in Northampton County, vs, Northampton. I don’t see why the VHSL allowed that championship game to be played at such a horrid facility. The farthest Union had to travel was to Clarke County in 2015. Appalachia had to play on some terrible fields too but wasn’t allowed to play on there’s after Region and I’ve seen some that were way worse than Riggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GilesBandanaMan Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 That was Nick Colobro's doing I believe? Could be wrong. I thought Colobro pulled at Gate City what Carlock did at Graham with GC going to Carolina Blue. Seems like they wore it for about 10 years before switching back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Union_Fan Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 58 minutes ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said: That was Nick Colobro's doing I believe? Could be wrong. I thought Colobro pulled at Gate City what Carlock did at Graham with GC going to Carolina Blue. Seems like they wore it for about 10 years before switching back. He did. When they went back to Royal Blue, they actually gave/sold their 8th grade unis to PV, and they wore them a few years. GilesBandanaMan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LacesOutDan23 Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 9 hours ago, Liam McPoyle said: I remember in the 70s and 80s, the primary uniform color for -Richlands was light blue -PH was light blue -John Battle was yellow gold I also remember... -Grundy's colors being more yellow gold and medium/royal blue rather than old gold/navy. -Marion wearing blue trim (an official school color that's nearly disappeared) -Tazewell wearing yellow trim -Holston (I think) with blue trim rather than black -Gate City's switch from royal to light blue and back to royal (as Bearfan88 mentioned) -Independence/Grayson Co going from royal blue to navy -Haysi basketball with blue trim in their uniform Richlands should add light blue to all sports uniforms, even as far as saying light blue be the main color for girls' sports. I would like to see Tazewell return to the yellow trim rather than the black in all sports, a similar look to the Oregon Ducks. Grundy's switch to old gold and navy was a better fit. Gate City was better with Royal Blue, always reminded me of the Varsity Blues movie. John Battle doesn't need the yellow gold and will end up looking like the Packers and A's in baseball. And speaking of that, I hate that almost every team that consolidates and picks new colors is always black and __________. I know there are exceptions, like Union, but most teams, including the new Southern Gap school in Buchanan County, almost always pick black. redtiger 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redtiger Posted October 22 Author Report Share Posted October 22 Battle in Yellow and looking like the Packers, As, Eskimos/Elks is a damn sight better than the Hunter Green/Gray combo they're wearing now imo. Black is trendy for whatever reason. Central went with Black and Red which were colors used by both schools that were consolidated. Eastside went with Dark Green, Silver, Black and have decided on Dark Green and Black which is atrocious, Hunter Green and Silver would be a much better look as it offers some contrast. Ridgeview is obviously Black and Electric Blue, I'll give them a pass as they were the first consolidated school to pick their colors but out of the 5 most recent consolidated schools (C, E, RV, SG, U) 4 are using black as a primary. SwvaOG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigWinners Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 11 hours ago, JDHoss said: I was there at Nandua that day. I made a weekend getaway, going up Thursday afternoon. When I got there, there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. Then it warmed up and rained...a lot. Then the temps dropped like a rock on Saturday and they delayed the start until 3:00. I went out to a (IIRC) K-Mart and bought some rubber boots to save getting my hiking boots submerged in mud. That field was atrocious, and it was a travesty to play a state championship on it. That said, PV still rolled Northampton, and on a good field it would have been far worse. The game was basically over after two series. The only question was going to be the final margin. IMO Northampton would have finished 4th in the LPD that year. I was there too. Still the worst conditions I’ve ever experienced at a HS game. JDHoss 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornado99 Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 I would like to see a color photo of some of these, particularly Richlands football in light blue. My earliest memory of the Blues uniforms resembled Penn State. During the Vaught era, I remember the addition of silver to the uniforms including the infamous Silver Bullet uniforms against Lee in the playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1inStripes Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 Rye Cove went from Navy and Old Gold to Navy and Yolk Yellow in the 80s through 92 or so. Then transitioned to Navy and Vegas Gold that has been maintained for the most part around 92/93. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwvaOG Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 3 hours ago, redtiger said: Battle in Yellow and looking like the Packers, As, Eskimos/Elks is a damn sight better than the Hunter Green/Gray combo they're wearing now imo. Black is trendy for whatever reason. Central went with Black and Red which were colors used by both schools that were consolidated. Eastside went with Dark Green, Silver, Black and have decided on Dark Green and Black which is atrocious, Hunter Green and Silver would be a much better look as it offers some contrast. Ridgeview is obviously Black and Electric Blue, I'll give them a pass as they were the first consolidated school to pick their colors but out of the 5 most recent consolidated schools (C, E, RV, SG, U) 4 are using black as a primary. Ridgeview, IMHO, has the most underrated color scheme and uni's in the area. The high school gym is the perfect display of how those colors and mascot work together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redtiger Posted October 22 Author Report Share Posted October 22 RV looks great for sure, many of the others are a swing and a miss imo. RVs Gray unis are also pretty bad. Unions current look (mostly Navy with glitter in the helmets) is really sharp, Centrals Silver helmets with Black unis were really good too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Union_Fan Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 RV's are definitely sharp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1inStripes Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 1 hour ago, redtiger said: RV looks great for sure, many of the others are a swing and a miss imo. RVs Gray unis are also pretty bad. Unions current look (mostly Navy with glitter in the helmets) is really sharp, Centrals Silver helmets with Black unis were really good too. I still think with the U color scheme Union uses the white helmets have been the best. Orange the worst. I wish they would make the navy arm of the U white on their blue helmets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 3 hours ago, tornado99 said: I would like to see a color photo of some of these, particularly Richlands football in light blue. My earliest memory of the Blues uniforms resembled Penn State. During the Vaught era, I remember the addition of silver to the uniforms including the infamous Silver Bullet uniforms against Lee in the playoffs. For much of the decade of the '70s the primary colors for football were navy blue and red. The light blues made their way into the rotation on a seemingly random basis so there probably aren't too many color photos of them in existence anywhere. I was just a kid but I'm old enough to remember what they looked like before that color scheme went away forever. In the interest of being helpful, following is something I posted elsewhere on this site many moons ago: In case anyone else is remotely interested, here is a shot of a Richlands player from 1974. The jersey is light blue with red numerals and white cuffs. The pants are light blue with a red/white/red stripe. The helmet is obviously white -- both the stripe and the 'R' logo are red. Pretty sure that the 'R' was only featured on the right side of the helmet. And for at least one year -- possibly 1975 -- the red stripe was complimented by two navy blue stripes on either side of it. RHS had something of an identity crisis in terms of branding until about 1980. Basketball uniforms were primarily light blue from about 1960 until about 1980 (the red trim appeared on those uniforms around 1976). When baseball reappeared as a varsity sport, I'm pretty sure that the team wore red caps at first with uniforms that were otherwise navy blue with red trim. But most letterman jackets from that era were a shade of light blue that was different from anything that any of the teams actually wore. Todd Heldreth standardized Navy Blue and White across the board when he arrived as Athletic Director/Head Football Coach in 1979. There have been some flirtations with silver and light blue as a secondary/accent color in various sports since then but I'm pretty sure that Navy and White is still the "official" standard. cityofRaven, redtiger and Liam McPoyle 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornado99 Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 32 minutes ago, RichlandsAlum said: For much of the decade of the '70s the primary colors for football were navy blue and red. The light blues made their way into the rotation on a seemingly random basis so there probably aren't too many color photos of them in existence anywhere. I was just a kid but I'm old enough to remember what they looked like before that color scheme went away forever. In the interest of being helpful, following is something I posted elsewhere on this site many moons ago: In case anyone else is remotely interested, here is a shot of a Richlands player from 1974. The jersey is light blue with red numerals and white cuffs. The pants are light blue with a red/white/red stripe. The helmet is obviously white -- both the stripe and the 'R' logo are red. Pretty sure that the 'R' was only featured on the right side of the helmet. And for at least one year -- possibly 1975 -- the red stripe was complimented by two navy blue stripes on either side of it. RHS had something of an identity crisis in terms of branding until about 1980. Basketball uniforms were primarily light blue from about 1960 until about 1980 (the red trim appeared on those uniforms around 1976). When baseball reappeared as a varsity sport, I'm pretty sure that the team wore red caps at first with uniforms that were otherwise navy blue with red trim. But most letterman jackets from that era were a shade of light blue that was different from anything that any of the teams actually wore. Todd Heldreth standardized Navy Blue and White across the board when he arrived as Athletic Director/Head Football Coach in 1979. There have been some flirtations with silver and light blue as a secondary/accent color in various sports since then but I'm pretty sure that Navy and White is still the "official" standard. Thanks for this summary and description. I vaguely remember this photo, possibly from your post. This may have been what reminded me that I hadn’t seen a color photo. I still have a hard time thinking of red as part of the color pattern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plywood_King Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 18 hours ago, redtiger said: Marion played Clifton Forge, William Fleming. For the record, Marion never scheduled Clifton Forge, that was the 1930 State Championship game. However, Marion did play Narrows up until the 50s before 81/77 existed, which would have been a heck of jaunt. redtiger 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam McPoyle Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 I vaguely recall Richlands using red trim in the light blue era. IIRC, the wrestling singlets were also light blue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDHoss Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 5 hours ago, BigWinners said: I was there too. Still the worst conditions I’ve ever experienced at a HS game. Things I remember most about that trip and game... * Northampton had maybe 200 or so fans show up in the tiny visitor side stands, while PV filled up the home side and lined the fence. * Stork Maddux "borrowing" a NHS flag/sign, and the Accomack Co sheriff's department is still looking for him to this day. * Keith Estep (IIRC) buried the big fullback for a 3 yard loss on the first play from scrimmage. After that first offensive series, those dudes knew this wasn't going to end well for them. * A PV assistant (maybe Jimmy Mitchell) losing his shoes in the mud. * I was taking a nap in my truck in the parking lot while waiting for the game to start, and some NHS fans shouted at me while shaking a 3 ft tall homemade Thomas Jones doll that was lynched. I waved and laughed at them. I'm pretty sure those dudes left at halftime. * On the way back to Kingsport the next day, I stopped to eat at a Bob Evans in Wytheville. The restroom had a sensor activated faucet, but I had never seen one before and couldn't figure out how to turn it on. Maybe three minutes went by and I was about to give up when someone else stepped up to another sink and washed their hands, giving me a valuable lesson. BigWinners, V-Cats, swva_havok_fan and 3 others 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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