Giving back drives all star Wagner off the field

By BRIAN WOODSON

BLUEFIELD — Think you can’t go from Tazewell County and achieve greatness in the world? Billy Wagner would beg to differ.

The 38-year lefthanded pitcher from Tannersville has done pretty well. His 385 saves is currently ranked sixth all-time in baseball history, and he signed a one-year, $7 million contract on Wednesday to pitch in 2010 for the Atlanta Braves.

Still, all those saves, strikeouts and wins aren’t what really drives the six-time All-Star, whose ultimate goal on the diamond is to win a World Series.

Off the field, he simply wants to make a difference.

“I think the greatest thing Billy Wagner will ever do is give back to his community and these kids,” Wagner said. “These kids see Billy Wagner as someone who cares and has made it, but they see him as a regular person.

“They know that they can become something and they’ll have something to shoot for and know that it is possible.”

One day after signing with the Braves, Wagner was at the Bluefield Elks Club to serve as the keynote speaker for Bluefield College’s Second Annual Tierney Scholarship Awareness Dinner.

The funds raised from the estimated 120 attendees will assist with scholarship monies for Bluefield College, while also helping the Second Chance Learning Center give students an opportunity to achieve their educational goals.

“For me this is more important than going out there in the ninth inning,” Wagner said. “It truly is what this is all about, baseball has given me the opportunity to come out and help other people, to help the community, to help Bluefield College, help Second Chance, and help the kids to become something, and to give back to their community...

“I love kids, I love what positive influences can do for them and if you can help some kid to change their life or change other people then I think you’re a lucky man.”

Bluefield College President David Olive said the Tierney Scholarship funds are needed to give local students the financial means needed to earn a college degree.

“...This event is to raise the awareness in the community for the needs that our students have in raising the scholarship funds that are required to help many families achieve a college education.” Olive said. “Those who are here tonight and are part of this event are helping our students to have a very affordable and successful college education.”

Wagner and longtime friend Erik Robinson are co-founders of Second Chance Learning Center, which helps struggling students achieve success in the classroom, and perhaps strive for a college diploma, possibly at Bluefield College.

“I really appreciate the relationship we have with Bluefield College also just because that is our goal is for people that go to Second Chance to be able to go on to college and have a chance for a brighter future,” said Robinson, the director of the two Tazewell County centers, located in Bluefield and Tazewell. “To have Billy here, who has always been a part of Second Chance, he shows and exemplifies that someone can come from very small and meager beginnings and work hard and be able to be successful in life.

“A lot of the kids we work with, they come from these very meager beginnings and they know that if they work hard enough that they can go where they want too and do whatever they can.”

Ultimately, that’s what Wagner wanted his message to be about on Thursday. He took time to talk baseball, but he wanted to make sure that the youth of Tazewell County — and surrounding areas — know that a bright future can be had, no matter where you’re from.

“You know what Tazewell County is like, you know how desperate it is and to come from Tazewell and to go to Ferrum and to get to the big leagues and have a chance to pitch in the big stadiums and under the big lights...,” said Wagner, who pitched 15 seasons for four teams before finally achieving his goal of playing for the Braves.

“That’s a tall order to tell a kid when he’s five or six years old that I’ve dreamed of going to the big leagues and playing for the Atlanta Braves. Now this shows dreams can happen.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

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