Tales From the Hotel Roanoke

For the past ten years, part of our annual pilgrimage to attend a game has been to stay at The Hotel Roanoke. Since the team stays there the night before its home games, it adds to the sense of excitement to see the buses roll in, and to see the coaches and players filing in as we cheer them on.

Some years, there have been only a handful of us waiting at the bottom of the lower stairs as the players grab their Chick-fil-a snack before heading to their rooms. The past few years more have caught on, and it is especially fun to watch the kids with jerseys and footballs waiting for autographs. The players can be seen milling around in the lobby and hallways afterwards. They are always so polite and patient and seem even a little unsure of all the adoration that they are receiving. Now, I can't look around the hotel without seeing Willie Byrn sitting in the lobby talking to his parents, or the smile on Darren Evan's face when he talked about his son, or Jarrett Boykin telling us that his dream was to play for Carolina with Cam Newton. Here's where I first met Dadi Nicolas in the lobby, where I shared an elevator with Cordarrow "Taco" Thompson, where my sister stands grinning between Sam Rogers and his roommate Braxton Pfaff.

Overlay with this buzz of activity that the Hotel Roanoke always has other events/visitors underway. One year, we arrived just as Wayne Newton and his Dancing With the Stars partner were coming out to step into a limo. Another year, a fundraiser had women in pajamas meandering the halls before country singer Joe Nicols topped off the evening. We caught him in the lobby just after we conversed with Mark Warner following his debate downtown with Jim Gilmore for his first senate race. We made sure to thank Gov. Warner for advocating for the Hokies to enter the ACC, and I must say that unlike many politicians, he looked you straight in the eye the whole time we talked to him rather than glance around to catch up with someone more politically expedient. Invariably, there is a bridal party or two traipsing through the lobby.

This year, we came for the NC State game. The night before was a Thursday, and The Hotel Roanoke had a whole different vibe. Three very low key business meetings were being held in the hotel. The team came early, so there was no grand entrance. Not knowing that, I stood in the lobby as the players dribbled by after their position meetings. The first person I saw was Isaiah Ford, smiling and looking relaxed for a guy who was about to score three td's the next day. In fact, all of the players looked relaxed and ready to play. Bud, on the other hand, looked like he wanted to take someone's head off...as it should be. My sister even presented Coach Beamer with some honey that an elderly client who knew Beamer's mother had sent along to him.

Our entourage has grown to the point that I now splurge and reserve the two-bedroom Governor's Suite at the top of the hotel. For the NC State game, we stayed in a smaller room on Thursday, saving the larger suite for Friday and Saturday nights. We tried to switch over before leaving for the game on Friday, but were told that the Thursday occupant was slow to leave. We heard that Wynton Marsalis had had a concert in Roanoke on Thursday, so naturally we assumed that it was he who was staying there. Only when we returned from the game did we find out that Beamer had evidently been in the suite. How did we know? My brother prefers to watch the game from the hotel and so was tasked with the switchover. Coach Beamer accidentally left his playbook in the suite. Before my brother could stash it away, housekeeping came running in to retrieve it.

On Friday, my sister and I will be back at The Hotel Roanoke at the bottom of the stairs holding a "Thank You" banner and cheering for Coach Beamer and our team. We will see our friend Art there. The only reason that we know Art and his wife Dot is that we are kindred Hokies who happen to keep staying at The Hotel Roanoke for the same games. They live in Louisiana, and we now coordinate our game schedules every year.

I am pretty sure that the hotel will see fit to upgrade Beamer again on Friday. Hopefully, this time he will remember his playbook. So much to remember! So many memories!