Former Charleston High football player Steve Morton played in an inner-city environment with the Mountain Lions from 1969-71.
It's interesting that he is now a fan and a volunteer at one of the most rural schools in the state at Pocahontas County.
Morton helped Charleston win Class AAA state titles in 1969 and 1970, then had a great playing career at Marshall as a defensive end. At a time when wins were few at Marshall, Morton stood out and was named the team MVP in the fall of 1975. If he were playing today, he would certainly have been in an NFL camp.
He later had a long career in law enforcement with the park service and served on horseback in Arizona. Morton now works in Pocahontas County and volunteers for coach Doug Burns with the football team.
"We're 6-2 right now after beating Tygarts Valley on Friday night and the coaching staff here does an incredible job," said Morton. "I don't contribute much on the field, but I do try to get the kids to see a few things and to dream a little. I took our team down to the Marshall-Old Dominion game and we had such a great time that we sat there the whole game even in a driving rain storm. Hopefully some of these kids are now thinking about what it takes to play college football."
For Morton, the football dream, started in Kanawha City and now he hopes to help others dream in Pocahontas County.
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In Putnam County, a sports fan could spend hours in the home of collector Rob Ryan.
He has autographed baseballs from a wide variety of names, including Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berrra, Craig Biggio, Ralph Branca, Lou Brock, Rod Carew, Joe DiMaggio, Elroy Face, Bob Feller, Rollie Fingers, Whitey Ford, Nomar Garciaparra, Tom Glavine, Doc Gooden, Tony Gwynn, Reggie Jackson, Fergie Jenkins, Derek Jeter, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Sandy Koufax, Stan Musial, Eddie Matthews, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Don Larsen, Willie McCovey, Tony Oliva, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan, John Smoltz, Warren Spahn and others.
Ryan also has an extensive Mohammad Ali collection and wall-sized posters of the 1949 and 1972 DuPont High School football teams. Ryan was a lineman on the 1972 Panther team that went to the AAA state title game.
In a house that resembles an organized sports museum, Ryan also has an extensive collection of fishing lures. He is a member of the National Fishing lures Collectors Club, and all of his lures go back to before 1900.
Reach Frank Giardina at flg16 @hotmail.com.