Our state is a small, but we do some big things on the national sports scene.
For example, just last week, Mullens native Mike D'Antoni was relaxing in the Mountain State and, next thing you know, he is all over the national sports news as the new head coach of the NBA's Houston Rockets.
At the same time, former Marshall basketball coach Billy Donovan has his Oklahoma City Thunder battling for the NBA championship. Quite frankly, Donovan's career has been amazing. He won two NCAA championships at a football school (Florida) and now has made the transition to the NBA. Not many college coaches have done that with this kind of success.
I am not sure Donovan gets enough credit for the job he has done this year. To think, it was not that long ago he was working the coaching sidelines at Marshall in the Henderson Center against the teams in the Southern Conference.
Add to that the fact that former Huntington High star Patrick Patterson made a deep NBA playoff run with Toronto and continues to get better.
The NBA is a national stage, and this week some of its leading characters had in-state ties.
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Middle school athletics often fly under the radar, but it was a source of pride for folks in the eastern end of the Kanawha Valley when the DuPont Middle School boys track team won the county championship earlier this month. The coaching staff was led by Jeff Webb, Fred Albert and Ashley Halley.
Not long after the meet, Albert was honored as the Teacher of the Year in Kanawha County.
Life was not all good, however, for the coaching staff. Earlier this week, while jogging on the middle school track, Webb was attacked by a couple of crazed dogs. He suffered numerous bites, injuries and cuts and had to endure a series of nine painful rabies shots.
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Every town and community in our state has its sports heroes, but Parkersburg has more than most. Even though he played many years ago, no name is more respected in Parkersburg more than that of former football and track star Larry Rhodes.
Rhodes was a great running back and sprinter who competed for the Big Reds from 1962-65. He led the football team to a record of 25-4-1 during those years and led the track team to a state title in 1965, when his teammates nicknamed him "The Flash." He went on to star at West Virginia Wesleyan from 1965-69.
Current Parkersburg track coach Rod O'Donnell said last week, "They still say Larry's name in hushed tones around here. He is treated like a Heisman Trophy winner in this town. I had former coach Buddy James introduce him to the team last year and he said he was the best running back ever to play for the Big Reds."
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On Memorial Day weekend, we often take time to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Growing up in the coal camps of McDowell County, I think of my childhood hero for the Gary High Coaldiggers, Bobby Joe Ratliff.
To my young eye, he was a combination of John Wayne and Mickey Mantle when he played for Gary in the early-1960s. Like many young Americans, we lost Ratliff in the Vietnam War. A Marine corporal and rifleman, he died on June 19, 1967.
The news of his death was on the front page in the Welch Daily News. When I saw the story, I felt an incredible sense of sadness and loss. It is hard to lose your childhood sports hero.
As an adult, I have had the moving experience of visiting the Vietnam Memorial several times in Washington, and I always look for his name. Somehow it comforts me.