As you get older, you notice that life goes by quickly in the world of sports. For example ...
n One day you're attending a WVU football game at old Mountaineer Field watching a young athlete from St. Albans named Dick Whitman play in the Mountaineers secondary. Before you can blink, you're watching Whitman as a veteran high school coach winning back-to-back state football championships coaching the greatest athlete our state has ever produced in Randy Moss. Now, sadly Whitman is gone and Moss should be on the verge of going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
n One day you're a kid watching Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Tony Perez hit the game-winning home run in the 1967 All-Star game off fellow future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter and before you know it, you're watching Perez's son Eduardo as an ESPN commentator explaining baseball and human rights issues in Cuba.
n One day you're a kid standing by a fence watching childhood heroes like Benny Hopkins, Neil Hopkins, Danny Hill, Jim Fout and Fred Myers play. Then, before you know it, all of these men are retired after long and successful coaching careers.
n One day you're a kid, eyes wide with amazement at attending your first major league baseball game at old Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The next thing you know, Crosley Field has been torn down, the round palace that replaced it, Riverfront Stadium, has also been torn down and the Reds are playing in their third stadium of your lifetime. The same is true of the Pirates who have played in Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium and now PNC Park.
n One day you're a young broadcaster working the Marshall basketball games at the Southern Conference tournament, playing basketball with former Milton basketball player Don Perry and his 4-year-old son Jon. Now that child is a former college player at East Tennessee State and a longtime assistant coach at Navy.
n One minute you're a kid watching the old City Conference basketball tournament played at Horace Mann Junior High and thinking that Thomas Jefferson Junior High stars Curtis Price and Skip Mason were the best players you had ever seen. Then, in the blink of an eye, they finished playing at Charleston High, and Curt went on to WVU. Now Skip lives in Cincinnati and, sadly, Curt is gone.
n One day you're a kid in junior high playing Senior League baseball for Gregory's Key Market on Campbells Creek against Billy Joe Hicks and Painters Drive Inn. Now Hicks is a retired baseball coach who won a Class AAA state championship at Hurricane in 2002. One of my teammates, Dan Williams, became a football star, won back-to-back Kennedy Awards, lettered at quarterback at WVU, became a Rhodes Scholar and is a longtime doctor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
n One minute you're at the state high school basketball tournament watching Matt Gaudio play for Brooke, Herbie Brooks play for Mullens, Steve Berger play for Valley and Greg Bartram play for Logan. Then as a broadcaster and athletic administrator at Penn State, you see Gaudio and Bartram play for the Nittany Lions and Basey, Berger and Brooks play at WVU. They were all great representatives of high school basketball in our state..
n One day, as a young television reporter, you're watching a young Mike Barber play as an option quarterback for Leon McCoy at Winfield High School, and in the blink of an eye, Barber becomes an All-American wide receiver, a College Football Hall of Famer and an NFL player.
Fame is fleeting in the world of sports and life passes quickly.
Contact Frank Giardina at flg16@hotmail.com.