This morning, I was trying to remember this running back's name from Franklin County who was a beast when I played (2003-04). I hadn't thought about the guy in probably 15 years and it took me a minute, then it came to me... Ronnie Edwards.
Well that got me thinking about other greats from my day and I thought it would be cool to remember together some of them. Here's some from my district:
Blacksburg HS: Sam Wheeler, David Houff, Josh Sales
Christiansburg: Terrell Burks
Pulaski: Brandon Anderson, Ernie Hodges, Kevin Crouse (rip)
Graham: Ahmad Bradshaw
Salem: Andre Hairston
William Fleming: Dwayne Priest, Maurice Kitchens, Darryl Gresham
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Qb1: two words... "A." and "I.".
'nuff said.
Hoops: Michael Porter.
Eye checked him and 'bimbo' alike.
Nobody could do nuttin' with m.Port'. Truly.
Easily won the McDonald's Slam Dunk... do recall.
💯
b.street
p.s. when @East? v.Coles was a better Fs than Pt.G1, which really is sayin' sompthin'...
Steven Peoples. He was a dawg in highschool
Patrick Estes, guy was a man among boys from 97-01. Kicked my ass every practice.
Luray - Neil Porter 92-94
Edit:
Want to include a couple other names I remember watching.
Clarke county had Lee Liggins
Warren County H. B. Banjoman
Strasburgs Frankie Shoemaker
Nelson County Hayes Page (who had multiple 400+ rushing yard games)
Two of the greatest running backs I ever saw in person unfortunately never made it to the next level because of off the field issues, but I would have loved to see them at tech. Kevin Crouse at Pulaski and OJ Thomason from William Byrd. OJs career rushing record lasted from 1999 to 2017.
My parents went to high school with Dell Curry and to this day talk about how insane he was then. Other than that I played against the Trey Edmunds Dan River team and he was a man amongst boys.
Cam and Orion Martin: GW Danville
David Wilson- GW Danville
The Edmundi- Dan River
Herman Moore: GW Danville
Buddy Curry: GW Danviile
Johnny Newman (granted he was hoops)
Curtis Brooks
If we are talking GW Danville...I remember Tyrone Robertson was a beast on the '95 team that was a missed PAT from winning a state title. IIRC he was a VT recruit/commit, had some issues, ended up at Georgia and ultimately had a cup of coffee in the NFL. He was a man among boys in H.S.
I forgot about him..
Tyrone Robertson was comfortably a top-32 national recruit in 1997. (#16 overall by average ranking).
He Prepped at FUMA, then signed with Georgia in 1998. Got drafted by the Bills in the 7th round, playing in 12 games his rookie season. Ultimately substance abuse problems derailed his career.
He was in fact a member of Virginia Tech's 1997 signing class- Virginia Tech's first 5* signee!
I was a 215 left tackle playing against Robertson in the 1996 season. He was damn good, but wasn't the best I went against that season.
That was David Pugh from Amherst...
Played soccer against Trey Edmunds when he was at Dan River and then coached when Tremaine played. It was hilarious watching them play soccer. David Wilson when he was at GW was unmatched.
Are you from the Danville area?
Martinsville.
I would say that's in the area...
Man, I was a consultant working at the Hanes Distribution center in Martinsville a few years ago. Flew into greensboro every monday morning, flew out every thursday evening. That was a brutal project. The only good thing was the Third Bay Cafe. They were only open a few days a week but their food was good.
edit.
Some names from the Lonesome Pine District single A.....Ed Clark of Appalachia (the Stonega Stallion) in the early 1970s....Jonny McFall, Clintwood in the mid 70s.....Thomas Jones, Powell Valley, mid 80s. All were excellent running backs.
Thomas Jones is by far the best player I saw in HS in the Commonwealth.
He single handedly beat a Gate City team with 3 Hokies his Senior year. Stud
Thomas Jones graduated in '96. He was one of the greatest athletes I've ever seen. 44 touchdowns senior year. His brother Julius was right there with him - '99.
My mistake....seems like it was longer ago than that. Just another side effect of advanced age, I guess.
Tell me about it. I just wanted to make the correction largely so I could assure myself I wasn't that old. Scary how time goes by.
I was only about 10 years old, but i saw Julius take a toss sweep 99 yards to the house to beat Radford one time. They knew it was coming still couldn't do anything about it. That guy had some unreal speed.
Vic Hall was really good as well. I remember the year UVA ran him out at QB for the only time for the VT game. That was wild
Blacksburg High's Sydney Snell, 1977. RB, DB, kick return, basketball star, track sprinter. Football scholarship to Hokies as flanker. Good career with at least 10 receptions vs UVA in Lane North in '81 iirc. He died recently in a fluke fall.
GREATEST; bar manager, of Talent... ever.
FREE Arnold's summer deck and barmaids!!!
👊🏿
b.street
p.s. dang, really though? Eye did not know that... Prayers @Syd's soul----->bstreet
A couple years before my time, but Chris Warren played for Robinson, where I went to HS, before going to Ferrum and eventually getting drafted by the Seahawks in 1990. I still remember when he stopped by practice one year, dude was a beast!
I went to Robinson as well and played football there but way after Chris Warren. Best player during my time was Mike Imoh who was absolutely incredible (he had 292 yards and 4 TD's on only 8 carries during a game in his senior year). I was a LB and spent 3 years trying to tackle him in practice.....it didn't go well for me.
One of my buddies is a VHSL ref and has a lot of good stories from the past 10-15 years. Sideline refs with a major head-start giving it 110% effort trying to keep up with Demitri Knowles as he blows past them and everyone else on the field my one of my personal favorites lol.
Josh Calfee, RB from Pulaski circa '99 was one of the best I played against. Was stunned he didn't play in college. Jeff King was on that same team, but Josh was the stand out IMO.
I played in WV, but we had several cross state games, most notably Graham (who we owned)
Best RB I played against was Quincy Wilson (Weirton, WV)
"I played in WV, but we had several cross-state games, most notably Graham (who we owned)..."
Made my day...
...and they done come up... to what?
A mere 45 games south of .5oo vs. us??
LOL sum mo', thrilled to say we did NOT let dem bitches beat us.
"thx" @Coach God, too!
b.street
Bstreet I've enjoyed reading your work for years - you're a Bluefield boy too??
GO BEAVERS!
Thanks!!!
I'ma from Pittsburgh and Coach Jim's Natty Title run.
Tho' "aye", I also got a AAA Beaver #24 in Sporting News bling way way way back when.
WAR the 247o1!!!
And thanks again.
b.street
Phenomenal. Thank you for sharing. Coach Chumra came out of retirement to OC my senior year (99) was an incredible man - love the pic.
Could talk Beaver football all day - 10,000 seat stadium in a city of 10,000.... Enough said.
Cheers buddy!
Small world. I'm a '97 Graham graduate, and my wife is a '98 graduate of Bluefield. Nice to see there are a few of us on here.
Awesome!
Graham '05. I've been away from the area a while, but I always make sure to look up Graham scores as well as Bluefield scores every Saturday in the fall. Love seeing my town, whichever side of the border, kick ass.
Agreed! Best HS rivalry in the country. Bluefield is home.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/752456393/mitchell-stadium-football-stadium
Gettcha one!
Having mine put on the old-school O.G. Red Coat State Title letterman jacket.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Yah; me 3... talk away...
http://fourseasonsfootball.com/Bluefield%20Website/1999/1999Home.htm
http://fourseasonsfootball.com/Bluefield%20Website/Home%20Page.htm
^^^EPIC^^^ time eater right there...
you were #14 perchance?
W.E.H.S. had the 'tank' kid at Rb1?
Yah; I do somewhat recall him-- tough as I recollect.
b.street
p.s. did Coach Chmara still have 'passive' plays in practice?
p.s.s. Beckley happens-- Joel Hicks (when there b4 being @P.Co.H.S.) was the only guy with a winning record vs. John Chmara-- they got us in the Reg.Season we got them in the Quarters.
Best oLine I ever saw in Mitchell was theirs; with "bull" Parker killing it behind 2 D-1 P5 Robinson cousins even-side or right-G1 and right-Ot1. Brutal trap blockers, truly). Coach Culicerto got Beaver a few times too... krazy how far the Eagles have fallen with a still pretty big population to draw upon).
Ha! 14 is a good friend of mine to this day, but sadly a mt'neer... I'm on the front row, and 1 of 4 captains that year - the only Hokie. Blast from the past!!
I'm only a QB in the tailgate sense... lineman by trade 🤣
Tank Tunstill lit us up in Wheeling. Dude was a beast
...never thought Eye'd live to see 247o1 gone 24o6o, this...
(b4 and this was not even vaguely possible).
👊🏿
b.street
Q was a beast, but for that era of WV football Brian Zickefoose was an absolute terror (would be '97). That offense had 2 plays, Foose up the middle and Cann up the middle (Cann was the qb). He then played every down on defense and was a Butkus watch list at Army.
Probably not as good a Q, but Foose carried a team on both sides like no other.
I went to HS games as a kid until I went to college. Ahmad Brooks for Hylton is the first dominant guy I can remember. Had a friend who played and camped with Ryan Williams, and he made folks look stupid while at Stonewall. Brandon Hogan and the Osbourn High team torched folks in the playoffs my senior year of high school minus a good Salem team.
Edit: Clint Sintim as well. Almost forgot about him for Gar-Field.
Where my VHSL XC heads at?
edited list
Is #4 Paige Johnston different than #8 Paige Johnston?
Played alongside Andrew Miller and Martin Scales in high school. Andrew was so much stronger and meaner (gameplay-wise) than anybody else. Yall remember him as an OL...I remember him on more DL. I'd line up on a guy I'd have a chance of blowing by, he'd line up wherever I wasn't and throw the guy 8yds out of the way and still pummel the guy. Martin, not the fleetest of feet, but undoubtedly gave me the hardest hit of my life in practice one day. My feet left the ground..he was the ball carrier. He was out to make a point and he did.
I remember watching Nicky Bowers play summer ball while he was at Tech (attended Patrick County HS). Dude was pretty good.
All three are 15-20yrs ago...time is rolling on.
Andrew Miller was one of the last of the nasty VT Olineman. Dude had that mean streak.
Kool old-man too... Eye sat with him at several practices as his host/emcee of impoverished sorts.
Good stock-- knew 'ball; don't always see a bio-father there, either.
: (
b.street
Known Johnny my whole life, still rabbit hunt with him occasionally. Give ya the shirt off his back kinda guy.
My brother caught Nicky their whole lives (until college). Those Patrick County teams from 98-01 were special. Courtney Nowlin was another good one that came out of PC during that time. 07-09 John Harris was a monster at Running Back. Great athlete and even better person!
John singlehandedly beat us in 2008, like 20-19...I don't remember many scores or games, but I remember that one. Dude could fly.
Andy Stanley was one heck of a RB from PC
Lang Campbell- QB, Handley, sometime in the early 2000s. Motherfucker could sling it. Ended up at William and Mary for school, then QBd in NFL Europe when that was a thing. Also just a really nice dude.
Kelly Washington, WR, Sherando, early 2000s. For the longest time, was the best player Sherando had produced. Led to a pretty big ego, but he still came back to the area and tried to be an example of how kids could use their talent to get out of little old Stephens City. Probably most well known for his squirrel dance TD celebration.
The most dominant high school football player I ever saw in person was Chris Hart from Harrisonburg High School (class of 1988). 5,737 career yards with a single season high of 2,376. While at Auburn on a baseball scholarship he was approached on numerous occasions (according to "sources") by Pat Dye to play RB for the football team.
A few others of note (that I saw in person):
Michael Holmes (I hate what happened to him. He was a great kid and still a fantastic human being).
Landon Turner (who blocked for Michael)
John Wade (went to Marshal and played with Randy Moss, then went on to win a Super Bowl as the center for the Bucs)
Akeem Jordan (2003 three graduate. Played at JMU and spent a number of years as the starting LB for the Eagles).
Sorry Fam... All of mine are Valley District players. But no less dominate that some of the others mentioned.
Sam Wheelers older brother Anthony was SO SO good. Had shoulder trouble his senior year but was being recruited at linebacker by Texas in 93/94. Marcus Parker was another one. Played at Pulaski. Stud
I moved to Blacksburg a bit after his time, but I've heard a lot about his game. I played with Sam and I know both of them pretty well. Tony's just got that dog in him so I'm sure he was a problem on the field.
Antonio Prosise, 1993 Sussex Central High School. Dude was larger than their lineman. They ran the bone and I swear his pad level when he ran was about 2 ft off the ground. Hoo signee. Pretty sure he was Gatorade player of the year in 1993. He ran for about 200 against us and we had two future Hokies (OL) on our DL. Both played in the NFL.
Also saw Iverson play at Bethel. Impressive.
Saw Terry Kirby play a game for Tabb. Good grief.
The best I saw in person besides Thomas Jones:
From the stands: Eric Webb and Carl Lewis (Pulaski), Ronde/Tiki Barber (Cave Spring), Tim Settle and Greg Stroman (Stonewall Jackson), Ahmad Bradshaw (Graham), Heath Miller (Honaker), Ken Ekanem (Centreville), Milton Byard (Graham)
On the field: Jamie Harless, Stacy Bowers, Tyronne Brown (Abingdon), Jake Houseright, Benny Wolfe, Chad Beasley, and Darren Kilgore (Gate City), Mikey Hughes (Lee County), Danny Sparks and Kondwane Patterson (Tazewell), Nathan McGlothlin and Aaron Fuller (Lebanon), Kevin Schug (Blacksburg), and Chris Odle plus there was a wide receiver that caught five touchdown passes against us, all on post-corners from Coburn- I think his name was Jason Sartin, but I wouldn't swear on it.
It's actually kinda crazy when you think about the kind of talent that has snuck out of SW Va. over the years.
Played with Kevin Schug. Man amongst boys in High School
When I was a freshman, Abingdon beat him in the Regional semi-final. I believe Rocking Randy had him doubled most of the game. He was the second best HS receiver I have seen in SWVA (Aaron Fuller was the first.)
Even though we shut him down in the state title game, Percy Harvin was a special athlete.
Oakton eh?
Go Cougars babyyy!
Seminole district guy, class of '05. The top 5 guys I played with or against, OB Blake (Liberty-Bedford), Vic Hall (Gretna), Ahmad Bradshaw (Graham), Logan Thomas (Brookville) and Dewayne Priest (William Fleming). Top 5 guys that I've watched. Percy Harvin (Landstown), Treveyon Henderson(Hopewell), Justin London (Northside), David Wilson (GW Danville), D'Ago Hunter (Eastern View).
Allen Pinkett in the 1980 2A championship game against Giles was the best single game performance I have seen. He scored every point for Sterling Park View in a 32-31 loss.
Yups. Tru dat.
One of my cousins played vs. him in the Play-offs.
Said he was the best Rb of that decade-- by far.
b.street
Just a few of the RBs in Richmond high schools when I was growing up. Mind you all of these guys were playing AT THE EXACT SAME TIME
Macho Harris, Highland Springs (VT)
DJ Parker, Patrick Henry (WVU)
Brandon Minor, Varina (Michigan)
Jason Snelling, LC Bird (UVA)
Davon Morgan, Varina (VT)
Chris Fornatero (USCw)
And I'm sure I'm leaving quite a few off. Seemed like every Friday, one of these dudes was running for 300 yards in a game. Macho went off for 400 one night, I remember. And not to mention Russell Wilson was doing his thing in the private school games at the same time.
Some late 90's guys I remember my high school playing against:
Marcus Parker - Salem (Hokie)
Brandon Semones - Glenvar (Hokie)
Lee Suggs - William Fleming (Hokie)
James Higginbotham - Patrick Henry
OJ Thomason - William Byrd
Andre Kendrick - EC Glass (Hokie)
Josh Calfee - Pulaski
RBs used to get the glory, and this was an epic few year span in the area
The player with the biggest legend in that era was Ronald Curry (Hampton). VT got his overshadowed rival in the area, Michael Vick
Man, I watched Ronald Curry destroy us (Deep Creek) almost single handedly. Passer, runner, receiver, kicker. It was insane. We were undefeated until we ran into that buzzsaw.
If Curry had concentrated on football he would have been INSANE! Too many people in his ear about playing both basketball and football in college! He was a much better football player than basketball, Iverson but in reverse!
Keldon Johnson - Park View..... Averaged 27 ppg as a freshman and holds record for scoring in a season by a freshman. He transferred to Huntington Prep after sophomore year in HS because he was ready for the big leagues. Was 1 and done at Kentucky. Now starts for San Antonio Spurs. I played with his older brother Michael who was also a stud. Great kid. Here is a good article on how he loves the outdoors.
https://andscape.com/features/its-ok-to-be-different-spurs-forward-keldo...
Played pick up basketball with Chris Warren in Northern Virginia. He came down on a fast break and did a reverse dunk. Backboard was shaking for 2 minutes. Also played pick up with Hubert Davis before he went to unc and bulked up. I was 20 years older than each of them.