Here are some various observations from sitting along media row at the Mountain East Conference basketball tournament:
n It was good to see Mercer County native and resident Mike Eades, the supervisor of officials in the MEC. Nationally, Eades is a big deal. He is one of the busiest and best college basketball officials in the country, working games in the ACC and Big Ten. He will be working the ACC tournament this week. I had not seen Eades since I got sick two years ago and it was good to catch up with him.
Eades' son, Anthony, is following in his dad's footsteps. He was a standout player at Bluefield High School and led the Beavers to back-to-back Class AA state championships in 2013 and 2014. He went to Tusculum College in Tennessee to play basketball but injuries curtailed his career. He has now transferred back to Bluefield State and has caught the officiating bug.
The Eades men won four state high school basketball championships between them. Mike played with former University of Virginia star Jimmy Miller at Princeton High School when the Tigers won the AAA state title over Logan in 1979 in Morgantown and over Williamson in 1981 in the first state tournament played in the then-new Charleston Civic Center.
n One of the most popular figures at the tournament was former state coaching legend Tex Williams.
If you want to say hello to Tex, you have to take a number and stand in line, a long line. It is a little like trying to see the pope.
One of Williams' former players, Keith Tyler, is equally as popular. Tyler was a great player at Charleston High School and the University of Charleston, and in the mid-1980s Tyler was as good as any college player in the state, at any level, when he led the Golden Eagles to the NAIA national tournament. Tyler is now the state director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
n It was also good to see former Morris Harvey star John Jividen at the tournament. I love his story. He came to Charleston from Virginia in the early 1970s and never left. He enjoyed it here and made his home and his life here.
Jividen was recruited by former Golden Eagles head coach Rich Meckfessel. It was good to see him with South Charleston native San Femia, whose daughter, Maria, played at Charleston Catholic and West Virginia State.
n Marshall fans at the MEC tournament may see a familiar face officiating some of the games. Thundering Herd associate athletic director Jeff O'Malley officiated the Charleston-Fairmont State game on Friday night.
n I graduated from high school in 1972, so I enjoy seeing old friends from that era at the tournament. Among them were former Dunbar star Doug Spry, a long-time official in the state.
Spry was a great athlete at Dunbar and led the Bulldogs to the 1972 AAA basketball state title game, where he played against WVU Hall of Famer Warren Baker and Greenbrier East. Among his teammates were Ron Bernard, Henry Harmon, Harvey Chester and Ezra Chambers.
Spry played football for the Bulldogs and started the season as a tight end. After five games, Delmer Good switched him to quarterback, where he wore a very non-quarterback-like number of 84. Spry said that "switching to quarterback was no big deal because all I did was hand the ball off to Heywood [Smith]," who went on to play for Bobby Bowden at WVU.
n Also from 1972, I saw former DuPont classmates and athletes Rick Howard and Joe Whitlock. Whitlock was the dominant high school baseball pitcher in the region that spring, allowing only one earned run all season.
From the Stonewall Jackson class of 1972, it was good to see longtime WVU athletic administrator Mike Parsons. During his professional career at WVU, he helped oversee tremendous growth in the Mountaineer athletic program. He deserves a spot in our state's sports Hall of Fame for his 34-year contribution of work in Morgantown.
n Finally, from the Nitro class of 1972, I received word that Steve "Thunder" Thornton is back in town. Thornton was a football and basketball standout for the Wildcats in the early 1970s.
He and teammates Jack Eastwood, Jim Valleau, Kevin Mathes, Jerry Bailey, Rick and Randy Workman and others led the Wildcats of coach Jon Loftus to a 9-1 season in the fall of 1971. Eastwood went on to play at WVU, while Thornton went to Marshall. Thornton is back serving as a chaplain for Thomas Health Systems.
Contact Frank Giardina at flg16@hotmail.com.