We are deep into the high school football playoffs, with the semifinal rounds to be played next weekend. Here are some names from past playoff and championship games that come to mind at this time of year.
n 1964 East Bank: The Pioneers had a history of Class AAA and AA state titles, but one of the more overlooked East Bank championships was the 1964 AAA title. Longtime Pioneer fans have said it was the coldest game they remember as quarterback Mike Kitchen and East Bank beat Huntington 6-0 at a frigid, rock-hard Laidley Field.
n Steve Edwards Sr.: His son coaches at George Washington now, but the dad won a AAA state title as the Patriots head coach in 1982 over North Marion. t was a mild upset as the Huskies were going for a three-peat after winning back-to-back titles in 1980 and '81.
n Fred Earley: His is an amazing story that many do not know. Earley was a great athlete at Parkersburg High School and a sophomore star on the 1940 state championship team. He later went to Notre Dame and played for Frank Leahy. He served in World War II and played on national championship teams with the Fighting Irish in 1943, 1946 and 1947. Not many athletes in the country have won state championships in high school and won three national titles in college.
n Randy Moss: Quite simply the greatest football player in state history. Moss led DuPont to back-to-back AAA state titles in 1992 and '93, then led Marshall to an undefeated season and a NCAA Division I-AA national title in 1996. Someday soon he will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
n Stonewall Jackson: The 1974 Generals under coach Bill Jarrett are considered, along with the Moss DuPont teams, to be the best in Kanawha Valley history. Led by Walter Easley, Stonewall was dominant on both sides of the ball and beat Parkersburg 16-0 in the AAA state title game on a cold, wintry day at Fairfield Stadium in Huntington. Easley turned down Woody Hayes and Ohio State to play at WVU, scored the first touchdown in "new" Mountaineer Field and won a Super Bowl in 1982 with the San Francisco 49ers.
n Buddy James: James was a coaching giant at Parkersburg High from 1968-1990, winning AAA state titles in 1976 and '78. Many in the state know that James was a great coach, but they may not know that he was a state wrestling champion in 1956. He later played football and wrestled at Marshall.
n Carl Ward: The longtime Ceredo-Kenova coach won 10 Class AA state titles in three different decades - the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
n Danny Williams: Before Moss. Bobbie Howard and Sam Singleton at DuPont, it was quarterback Danny Williams who put the Panthers on the statewide football stage. Williams was the first two-time winner of the Kennedy Award and went on to play quarterback at WVU, where he became a Rhodes Scholar. He is now a doctor in North Carolina. Williams led DuPont to the AAA state title game in 1972 after leading DuPont to a 34-32 double overtime win over Bluefield in the semifinals at old Laidley Field. It was first overtime game in state history.
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You don't have to have won a state championship to be considered a great player. Standouts such as Robert Alexander, Carl Lee, Curt Warner, Dennis Harrah, Mike Barber and Fulton Walker were all NFL players whose teams did not win state titles. Warner, who played at Pineville, and Barber, who played at Winfield, are College Football Hall of Famers.
I first remember seeing Barber play in a playoff game at Winfield as a junior in the fall of 1983. He was a quarterback and his team lost to Ceredo-Kenova at Laidley Field.
Even though he was slightly built, I could tell Barber was being overlooked in recruiting and was a Division I athlete. I did not dream, however, that he would be a College Football Hall of Famer as a receiver.
Contact Frank Giardina at flg16@hotmail.com.