By LARRY HYPES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
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Seldom has sports dominated the Bluefield headlines more than within the past seven days. The game between the two local high schools always provides an embarrassment of riches for the entire area to discuss. As it sometimes happens the build-up is greater than the result. (Not too many Super Bowls have lived up to their advance billings, either.)
This game has featured many of the greatest players in either state and some of the finest coaches, too. Graham fans will point to both Lawrence “Burrhead” Bradley and Glynn Carlock as hall of famers and state championship coaches. Beaver rooters rightly hold Merrill Gainer as the standard, with John Chmara on a near parallel. Some have said that if current state championship coach Freddie Simon coaches just a little longer, his teams may well set records that none will ever break at Bluefield High School.
Mitchell Stadium will remain as it has since 1938 and the venerable old ball park will retain the name it has borne for almost 56 years (come Oct. 23.). There is much to be admired and respected from both sides of the recent debate about whether to rename the facility for the late, renowned Gainer. Although not a coach, Mitchell was also quite the leader of people and did much for Bluefield behind the scenes.
Apparently neither man sought much personal glory, a major reason both are so well respected. During the 1930s and ’40s, especially, Mitchell began to influence a variety of projects including the big ball field that greatly affected the Summit City. As Bill Archer noted in his thoroughly-researched story, Mitchell even used his personal bank account to help move the endangered project forward.
Gainer did indeed make Bluefield the “football capital” of West Virginia during his remarkable run. The 41-1 record at one stretch, a 32-game winning streak, and the amazing state championship in his very first season after leaving Big Creek are all remarkable parts of the legend.
For those not fortunate enough to have known him as either a wonderful teacher or a coach, he was every bit as good as the press clippings say. Several times I talked with Daily Telegraph sports icon V.L. “Stubby” Currence about both men.
Stubby, who began working at the paper around 1924, passed away in March 1981, some 30 years after Mitchell died and 19 years before Gainer’s death. Without giving away the inside details of our conversations, I can tell you that Stubby praised both for what they meant to the city during their times here. Few knew more about what went on in Bluefield than Stubby Currence.
Mitchell had outstanding citizens, including his family, who helped him succeed here in Nature’s Air-Conditioned City. Gainer had able boosters, as well, including some prominent business people who did not hesitate to show their support in very tangible ways. And never, never underestimate the contributions to Gainer’s success of both offensive wizard Chmara and defensive bulwark Carlock, who in their way are akin to the old New York football Giants staff of Jim Lee Howell that included both Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry.
Naming, and especially renaming, is always a risky business for city officials and those who make such requests.
I very much regret, for instance, that I have never petitioned the Bluefield City Council to name the stadium press box for V. L. Currence, who presided over it for half a century, covered all of the games Gainer coached and wrote more about Bluefield than anyone before or since. I am especially sorry, as no doubt others are about the current debate, that even if the naming could be done now, the individual would never know. Flowers to the living are marvelous indeed.
Merrill Gainer was without peer in his chosen field. Emory Mitchell was evidently equally good in his. Both can be celebrated.
With such a legacy to consider, either the City Council and/or an appointed committee will find a solution. It will suitably recognize the great figure who made sports fans across America applaud Bluefield High School in the stadium already aptly named for the public servant who made it possible.
Larry Hypes is a teacher at Tazewell High School and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph.
