Those with sports ties among recent losses

GUN LAP: By Steve Keenan

As you grow older, often your priorities begin to shift and you start paying more attention to things that didn’t concern you much when you were growing up. You see, when you’re young, you think of yourself as invincible, and so, too, is everyone else. But, as you age, you figure it out pretty quickly. Life can sometimes be pretty short, so you should appreciate every day you’re given.

At times, I’m an emotional guy, and deaths hit me hard. Recently, the area lost a good man, and I lost a man with whom I had a long history. Coach Tom Phillips passed away on May 29.

After playing for Woodrow Wilson, where he is a member of the football hall of fame, and WVU, Coach Phillips enjoyed a varied coaching and teaching career that included football stints at West Virginia Tech and Gauley Bridge High. He also coached me and my track and field teammates at GBHS back in the day. Coach was more of a field events specialist and didn’t necessarily know a lot about distance running, which was my specialty, but I appreciated his guidance and his friendship.

Tom was a solid man, one I always admired. In fact, he and his family were favorites of all the Keenans. Even in more recent years as an assistant principal at Oak Hill High School before his health began to deteriorate, I enjoyed grabbing a few minutes with him in the hallway or on the sidelines to talk sports or life in general. He’ll be sorely missed.

On the same day I visited with Coach Phillips’ wife, Sue, prior to his funeral, our family encountered another different, yet very real, death. We had to have our dog of 15 years, Wimpy, euthanized due to health problems. Talk about something tough to do.

And, in recent months, my little town of Gauley Bridge — just like any number of neighboring towns and cities — lost numerous folks who added to the fabric of life while I was growing up. Neighbor Cindy Cole Begley, 52, “one of them Cole girls” from out the street who played basketball on some of the early GBHS girls teams, died June 27.

Also along the athletics vein, we lost Ulerssee “Hop” Shepherd in early 2007. Hop, who was 47 at the time of his death, was a mainstay on Traveller sports teams which made a big splash in the 1976-77 school year, including Class A runner-up finishes in football and basketball. In the 1976 football postseason, Pineville had future NFL standout Curt Warner, but Gauley had Hop, and the Travellers won out and advanced all the way to the title game, where they eventually lost to Mannington 28-6 on a cold November day in Fairmont. Hop’s 89-yard kickoff return was Gauley’s only score that day. I never knew Hop, but I do remember you could usually count on him for a smile. And he was fun to watch on the football field, basketball court or sprinting down the track.

Another recent loss, Paul Hamilton, was one of the characters in town, and I always enjoyed a brief conversation with him or even going head-to-head in some playground hoops at times. Paul was a huge Boston Celtics fan and, seeing that I was a big Lakers fan during the time I could stomach the NBA, we had some interesting chats. I thought of him when the Celtics topped the Lakers in the recent NBA Finals, and I figured he would have gotten a big kick out of that.

Although not in Gauley Bridge, some other losses in the past few years have hit home. Two of my favorite coaches, John Flournoy and Joe Bennett, both left us too early, and an old buddy, Mike Simmons, passed away in early January of this year. During the baseball card/comic book boom of the early 1990s, I always anticipated visits to The Card Dudes, which Mike ran with his brother, Terry, and Mike’s wife, Martha. It always meant some good conversation and a lot of laughs. And Mike sure knew a lot about music and sports.

The list goes on, as I’m sure it does for most of you. Folks, embrace your friends, family and neighbors — and yes, your pets — when you can. Life’s short.

-- In my opinion at least, it was good to see the state Board of Education vote down a couple of athletic propositions last week. The board elected unanimously to deny a fourth classification for football and boys and girls basketball as proposed by the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission’s Board of Control. Also, the group opted against adding significantly to the three-week summer practice window in which coaches can work with student-athletes.

I’m particularly glad the latter proposal didn’t get approved. Making students attend practice for practically the entire summer just isn’t right. For one, they — and their parents and coaches — need some down time. Secondly, you can’t tell me that the kids who don’t choose to participate in these “voluntary” summer workouts wouldn’t be punished when a coach looks down the bench to put someone in a game during the school year. It would be only natural for a coach to choose the player who took part in the summer versus one who didn’t, but it wouldn’t be right.

Then, of course, if the coaches are allowed to be with their athletes all summer on top of the nine months, they would rightfully seek financial compensation for it. I don’t know that there are too many counties that have that extra cash available.

— E-mail: skeenan@register-herald.com