I’ve Always Thought “One Day, Someone Should Write A Book About That Team”

Back in the summer of 1980, I got interested in a high school football team coached by someone not much older than me, who ran a funny offense,  and always seemed to have time to talk to me when I’d come driving through Pearisburg, VA.

This was the 1980 Virginia Group AA state champion Giles Spartans.

The young coach was a guy named Steve Ragsdale, the son of a legendary coach in the area. They ran the single wing, with its weaves and laterals that made it just about impossible for opposing teams to prepare for this ancient offense. And it had a flair for the dramatic, winning game after game when at times it didn’t look like they would.

The final game of the season in which they won the state title by beating Park View-Sterling 33-32 still ranks as the best high school game I ever saw. I even used to say that one day, someone should write a book about that season.

Turns out someone just did.

Jeremy Haymore, a pretty fair coach and English teacher in his own right, captured all of that season in a new book just out called “The Bandana Express.” It’s like a “Friday Night Lights” kind of book that took place in Southwest Virginia, and includes a foreword by a man who was a young fan in the stands that season, ESPN’s Marty Smith. From what I’ve heard, his father was working the chain gang in that championship game.

Back then, I wrote several stories on the team as the high school sports guy at the Roanoke Times, and they’re all mentioned in the book. But while I was an hour’s drive away in Roanoke and was only aware of the wins and scores of games, this book takes you behind the scenes of all the details I’d always been curious about but never knew.

It’s also a who’s who of high school football in Southwest Virginia back in the 1970s to early 1980s, as I must have thought “I haven’t heard that name in a long time” in reference to all the different coaches whose path came in contact with that 1980 team.

The championship game was a classic. Park View was led by Allen Pinkett, who would go on to fame at Notre Dame and the NFL, and he scored three quick touchdowns to put his team up 18-0. But led by Giles’ two top runners – Leon King and Greg King – the home team came storming back and held on, despite Pinkett scoring all 32 points for Park View.

In some places, like Tidewater or Richmond, a state championship is a solid accomplishment. But in small towns like Blackburg or Pearisburg, a state title back then totally consumed an area, particularly throughout the playoffs. Haymore captures that in addition to telling a football story.

In my case, however, the story didn’t end when the state title was won.

That day, for example, I was mildly annoyed because it was bitterly cold and I had hoped to sit in the press box so I could keep stats without having my hands freeze. Giles had always been nice to me, but that day they said there was no room in the press box because some guy from a radio station in Leesburg, I was told, had come down to broadcast the game and take the last remaining space.

Decades would pass, and I’d end up for a year being the general manager of that radio station, WAGE in Leesburg. I would meet a guy who would become one of my closest friends – Paul Draisey – and we would eventually call games together on TV for Comcast. It was while doing a game and interviewing former UVA and NFL standout Jeff Lageman – who played at Park View – that Jeff mentioned he was at the game at Giles. When I mentioned how cold I remembered that day was, Draisey quipped “it was nice and warm in the press box.”

So it was YOU, I thought.

Also that day, Ed Scott was the Park View coach, but on his staff was an assistant named Mickey Thompson, who would one day come to coach football at the high school (Stone Bridge) down the street from where I lived in Ashburn. At Stone Bridge, Mickey would duplicate many of the feats of that Giles team in 1980, creating a lot of excitement, winning a lot of games and claiming state championships.

All while also running the single wing.

The Bandana Express is available on Amazon, and I have to admit, was like a great walk down memory lane. If you’re a football fan from back in the day, I think you’ll enjoy it too…