Football thoughts I think as our state eagerly awaits the college football season:
n When the Marshall-Purdue football series was first announced in January 2010, I remember a statewide radio talk show host making the comment, "Yeah, that will never happen. Purdue will never play in Huntington."
Well, barring something unforeseen, such as a national emergency, "never" will happen next Sunday when Marshall opens the 2105 season against the Boilermakers. Not only is Purdue coming to Huntington, but so are ACC schools Pitt and North Carolina State. Give a lot of credit to Marshall coach Doc Holliday, Athletic Director Mike Hamrick and Associated Athletic Director David Steele.
n Many college football fans in our state don't realize that you can make a good case for referring to Purdue as "QB U." The Boilermakers have a great tradition of signal-callers, including Bob Griese, Gary Danielson, Jim Everett, Len Dawson, Mike Phipps, Mark Hermann, Kyle Orton, Scott Campbell, Bob DeMoss and Drew Brees. Dawson, Brees and Griese all won Super Bowls.
n The last time a Purdue team played in our state was Sept. 2, 1995, when the Boilermakers defeated WVU 26-24 in Morgantown. Fullback Mike Alstott had a big day, rushing for 109 yards on 17 carries.
n At Thursday night's Capital-Riverside game, the subject came up about the history of the four schools (Charleston High, Stonewall Jackson, DuPont and East Bank) that made up Capital and Riverside.
Who was the best player in the history of all four of the now defunct schools? Here are some of the names that were discussed.
Stonewall Jackson: The consensus seemed to be either running back Walt Easley, who played at WVU and won a Super Bowl with San Francisco, or lineman Dennis Harrah, who went on to be an All-America selection at Miami (Fla.) and had a long NFL career with the Los Angeles Rams. Other names mentioned were Ron McCartney an Harry "Sugar Bear" Lyles.
Charleston: There were so many great players for the Mountain Lions that it is hard it is hard to pick one. Many were mentioned but my pick is the late Mike Tyson. It is also tough to argue with Chuck Green, Ricky Hurt and others. Green was a star on offense and defense and kicked the game-winning field goal in a 3-0 win over St. Albans in the 1968 Class AAA state title game. Hurt never lost a game as a high school quarterback and won state championships in 1968, 1969 and 1970.
East Bank: Claude Geiger's name was mentioned most often, along with Chris Massey, Don Payne, Mike Kitchen and others.
DuPont: The discussion starts and ends with Randy Moss.
In the more up-to-date history of who has been the best player in the history of Capital High football, former sportswriter Rich Stevens promptly added the name of Darrion Scott, who was a dominant football and basketball star at Capital, played on a national championship football team at Ohio State and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings. Tough to argue with that.