It was a different time.
High schools in West Virginia were more hardscrabble. Many were crude and rough, certainly unsophisticated.
I know. I remember. And I was again reminded upon seeing former Mullens High basketball coach Don Nuckols had passed away at age 78. I was transported back to 1983. I was transported back to a very special time in the area.
For I was there.
Fresh out of college, I landed a job with Beckley Newspapers and spent the year traveling to places like Gauley Bridge and Meadow Bridge. If it had "Bridge" in the town name, I promise you I was there. I went to Glen Rogers and Hinton; I went to Mount Hope and Oak Hill.
Mostly, though, I remember Pineville and Mullens. Or, rather, Pineville-Mullens. They couldn't be separated. You've heard of the Hatfields and McCoys? Well, Pineville-Mullens was the athletic version.
Starring Nuckols. He was a knockoff of ex-Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins. He was a lightning rod for controversy. And he was one of the best coaches this state has ever seen.
"He taught you how to win," said former Rebels player Joel Sandy. "He taught you how to do everything, down to your shoes."
It served Sandy well - which, in turn, served all of the United States well.
"He made you believe you were a winner," Sandy said. "He taught you that you could do anything if you set your mind to it. That was a life lesson for me.
"He expected to win. When we lost, it hurt him deeply. Many times we'd get down on ourselves in games, but he wouldn't let us think like that. He was a fierce leader.
"I went on to the Army and flew helicopters and airplanes for 20-some years and when I was in combat, I thought of Coach Nuckols. He helped me there."
Yes, it's retired Lt. Col. Joel Sandy, who served the U.S. in Afghanistan, Egypt and Israel, among other places. He came from Mullens. He played on some of the Rebels' state championship teams. He learned from basketball.
"Everybody there wanted to win," Sandy said. "That's about all you had in the southern part of the state. It was a big deal. Throughout our family that's all we ever thought about. And we thought, hey, we're winners. It carried over in life."
Pineville produced ex-NFL star Curt Warner. (I still remember the town's parade for him: a police car, a fire truck and two convertibles, one of which held Warner. Period.) Mullens, meanwhile, boasted basketball players and future coaches like Mike and Dan D'Antoni and Greg White. There was Jerome Anderson. And, at the time I worked the area, there was Herbie Brooks.
Brooks and Dunn? This was Brooks and Nuckols. The era produced state titles in 1982, '83 and '84.
"My senior year [of 1983], in the state tournament, Coach got us all together," Sandy said. "He said, 'Listen, Herbie is getting close to the state scoring record; do you guys mind?' We said, 'We don't care.' So Herbie scored 50 points in the semifinal game [against Parkersburg Catholic].
"There were four guys on Herbie. There was one guy on me because I had the ball. Coach Nuckols said I couldn't throw it to anyone else, but Herbie. I think he made the last 10 points on foul shots."
There was a curtain call for the player, probably the first and last in state tournament history.
It was indeed a magical time in Wyoming County - especially for those Pineville-Mullens matchups. Just walking into the gyms, you'd feel the electricity crackling.
"It was really intense," Sandy said. "I was telling a story the other day of David Thomas. Herbie [Brooks] was a sophomore; I was a junior; David Thomas was a senior. He was our center. Well, Pineville broke his nose or hit him real hard and they were going to take him out of the game. He would have none of it. He stood there and shot fouls shots with blood coming out of his nose. Coach Nuckols just made you that tough."
Folks can debate the Mountain State's fiercest rivalries, but Pineville-Mullens was the most intense I've witnessed.
"When I was a junior, they either had double or single overtime in a junior varsity [Pineville-Mullens] game," Sandy said. "And at the end there were almost more police officers there than fans. It was an amazing time, it was really was."
The Hatfields and McCoys reference was mentioned.
"I hate to say hatred, but there was a downright dislike for each other," Sandy said. "It kind of reminded me of the WVU-Pitt rivalry. It was that type of deal. No one wanted to give. And there was absolutely, positively no mercy. If we could win by 100, we would. That's what Coach Nuckols did. He didn't let them up."
Shockingly, Pineville and Mullens consolidated in 1998 to become Wyoming East, proving times do indeed change, sometimes drastically so.
But those that knew Nuckols will never forget him. He loved basketball. He loved to win. His obit said he'd scout playgrounds for prospects. He'd send gifts of basketballs to parents with newborns in hopes the offspring might someday play the sport. As a kid, he swept school floors for the opportunity to shoot hoops in the gym.
He was a winner. He passed on winning. And because of folks like retired Lt. Col. Joel Sandy, we can all be thankful.
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.