Over the years, I have had a chance to talk with and spend time with many coaching personalities from our region. This is not an attempt to list them all, but here are some individuals who might trigger some memories today:

This week, I came across a newspaper clipping of a Charleston newspaper’s preseason All-Kanawha basketball team for 1972-73. The team members were Dennis Harris, Mike Jones and Charles “Dickie” Russell from Charleston High, Joey Holland and Billy Williams from George Washington, Joey Caruthe…

I realize that I am old, and that makes me “old school.” Having admitted that, I have the following observations:

My sports childhood was spent in the 1960s. During that time, it seemed that many fans in the Kanawha Valley cheered for both WVU and Marshall. Local fans followed players such as Rod Thorn, Fritz Williams, Dave Reaser, George Stone, Jim Davidson and Dan D’Antoni.

Our state lost a sports legend this week with passing of former Ceredo-Kenova football coach Carl Ward, who died at the age of 91.

When you think of basketball at the old East Bank High School, it’s natural to think first of Jerry West.

There are certain historical milestones in life where you remember exactly where you were when you heard the news.

Many area sports fans may not have noticed the recent passing of longtime Kanawha County football coach Larry Mullins, but his former students and players were greatly saddened.

In case you hadn’t noticed, these are challenging times for coaches. Today’s climate is different. As a result, coaches don’t always stay in one place for very long.

It felt like old times when Sissonville played Riverside in football last week. I remember when Sissonville was a Class AAA school and played a Class AAA Kanawha Valley Conference schedule.

Growing up in the 1960s, baseball was my first love. There were not many games on television, but I devoured the box scores every day.

I must admit that I am a little different than most. Most of you are normal. You fall in love with people and animals, things that can love you back.

It is a good day to remember a couple of high school athletic greats from the upper end of the Kanawha Valley.

To provide full disclosure, I admit that I am biased here.

In sports, it can be frustrating and pointless to play the “what if” game. But, what the heck, I’m going to do it anyway.

Quarterbacks are in the news this week. QB battles are the talk of the NFL and many collegiate teams have named starting signal-callers.

Give everyone credit, we are trying to play high school football in the Mountain State this fall.

Over the years, consolidation has taken away many of the schools in our area.

Sports fans are bored. We’ve missed our local and national sporting events.

The West Virginia University sports family recently lost two former athletes, both from the southern part of the state.

The news this week of the water issues in the coal camp community of Gary in McDowell County saddened me greatly.

I’ve been a sports fan for 60 years and worked in sports and athletics for over 50 years.