More on Jim Whorley and Some Other Thoughts

You couldn't watch local news yesterday without seeing how much people adored Jim Whorley. It shows how much someone means when you see people that you think of as men of steel and immortal break down and show emotion with their tears. It especially makes me proud to see a person I coached in Heart of Virginia volleyball, Shelley Parker, to show so much character to sit there and speak about Mr. Whorley. I am not saying it's easier for adults, but to have a high school student stand up there and speak about her principal. It just made me proud to say I was her coach for a few months. If you want to read my earlier blog on Jim Whorley, you can read my previous post.

However, I have been thinking of something that I think would honor Jim Whorley. I don't have to get credit for the idea. It's not about me at all. It's about honoring a great man. So, Seminole District Principals, Athletic Directors, Coaches, if you are reading this, please take note.

We need to get something started called the Jim Whorley Award. I think even though Mr.Whorley had a contribution to the Region and as Leon Brandt said "It's a tremendous loss for the state."

Anyways, the Jim Whorley award would be given to a Seminole District athlete (I wouldn't care if you gave one in each sport, I definitely at least think you should give one to a male and female athlete at the end of the school year) that exemplifies excellence in three areas. Leadership (it can be within the school or within the community), athletic achievement (this could be considered a bit of a gray area, because I don't think you necessarily have to give it to a superstar athlete because then you narrow your field greatly) and finally academic achievement (excellence in the classroom I think was just as important to Jim Whorley as anything) because all principals, I don't care how much they love athletics, want to see their students succeed in the classroom.

Anyway I can help spearhead this effort, I'd be more then willing to help. But, I think this award will always keep the legend of Jim Whorley alive, even after those who knew him best are not around to let everyone know what a great man and public servant he was.


Holiday Hoops
Tonight, Altavista's Christmas Tournament will begin. In the 6:00 tilt, William Campbell will battle Tunstall, followed by Cumberland against Altavista. Tomorrow night, William Campbell will play Cumberland in the opener, followed by Altavista and Tunstall.

In Salem, the Holiday Hoopla tournament continues. The finals pit Garfield against William Fleming, other consolation matchups feature Cave Spring against Patrick Henry, Osbourn plays Hidden Valley and Salem plays Brooke Point.

At Northside, the Northside Invitational continues with today's games featuring winners brackets games that will pair Franklin County and Liberty, and the other semi features Lord Botetourt and Northside. The consolation bracket features Blacksburg against William Byrd, and Martinsville and Staunton River.

At the William Byrd Lady Terrier Classic, Salem will play Lord Botetourt and Staunton River will tangle with Cave Spring. Brookville did not travel to Vinton to play Saturday, due to Jim Whorley's death, no word right now if Brookville will play William Byrd on Monday. The other matchup will see Northside play Heritage.

Tonight in Appomattox, boys basketball will be on display as Appomattox plays Timberlake and Rustburg will play Suessx Central. Tomorrow night, the Red Devils will play Timberlake and Sussex Central will square off with Appomattox.

Finally, at the Register and Bee Tournament in Danville, action concludes with the championship between G.W. Danville and Dan River. In other consolation action, Eastern Alamance will play Liberty Christian Academy, Chatham will play Reidsville (NC) and Morehead (NC) takes on Gretna.

Any other hoops matchups you want to alert people to or any comments, feel free to leave them.

By the way, hopefully "The Sports Buffet" will be starting up again soon. I am very excited about it to start contacting and interviewing coaches again on a regular basis.

Jim Whorley RIP

I have been involved in high school sports since 1994 when I was a sophomore at Jefferson Forest High School. There, I served as a manager for the football and volleyball team. Later on, I went onto coaching volleyball as an assistant at Jefferson Forest and Heritage High School. I have broadcast high school boys basketball for Altavista since about 2001. I also hosted the show "Talking High School Sports" which I started in December 2003. That transitioned into "The Sports Buffet" podcast. In those 14 years, I saw Jim Whorley at countless Brookville sporting events, but I never had the pleasure to meet him face to face. The most words I may have ever spoke to him are "Where can we fill up our water cooler?" or "Hey, how's it going?"
Therefore, I am going to have to go on observations and the words of others.

I never went to a Brookville sporting event and saw Jim Whorley without a smile on his face. It seemed like there weren't many people who bled maroon and gold like Mr. Whorley did. Being a Jefferson Forest grad, I am suppose to have a rivalry with Brookville people, but I haven't met many people from Brookville that I haven't liked. To me, that reflects a strong leader and a class act, which is what Jim Whorley was. My podcast is shutdown temporarily until my new web site is launched. I always plan on paper and in my head on what I want to do on my podcast and such, after the season I had planned on doing a segment on 60 years of Brookville football (the Bees honored 60 years of Bees football this past season in a game before Rustburg.). Unfortunately, I will never be able to do that interview with Jim Whorley, which I looked forward to, however now I will be doing a piece honoring a legend, Jim Whorley. Something tells me, I won't have a shortage of people willing to discuss what a great principal, great coach, great teacher and great man that Jim Whorley was.

I think some things should be learned from this. Everyday we should be thankful for those that we have around us. We should always treasure those around us and enjoy those times. Never go to bed angry and never end a conversation that way, because you never know when those we love and cherish, won't be around anymore.

I read something where Mr.Leon Brandt, member of the Campbell County school board, said that losing Jim Whorley is not only a loss for Campbell County and Brookville High School, but a loss for Virginia as well. I agree wholeheartedly, because if you look at people who have come out of Brookville High School, the people I have dealt with are not only well-spoken but also respectful, and once again to me that comes from your leader.

RIP Mr.Whorley, Brookville and the World will miss you.

If you would like to be interviewed and comment on Jim Whorley for the feature I will be doing on him down the road (I don't have a specific date yet in mind or anything) E-Mail me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net

Latest on "The Sports Buffet" Podcast

For all you devout fans of "The Sports Buffet" podcast, I just wanted to update you of the status. I have yet to meet with my webmaster yet, I will be hopefully over the winter break, or once the school year resumes after the New Year. I will be developing my own web site. The domain name has yet to be registered or decided. The reason the podcast is not active now, is the website I was using at My Podcast has really been giving me major headaches, and it has made it very difficult/near impossible to upload files. You can still check out the files that have already been uploaded at The Sports Buffet Podcast. The new site will still feature old broadcasts from "Talking High School Sports" and games that have been broadcasted on WKDE. The website will also try to have schedules/scores/results and provide somewhat of a high school sports almanac. I will also hopefully update the blogs and everything else on a more frequent basis as well.

Any ideas, thoughts, suggestions, and anything else, please e-mail me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net

Why does everyone not have the same chance?

The VHSL is in the midst of debating an increase in classifications. Right now, the VHSL plays under an umbrella that has AAA at the top. The VHSL does however have six classifications which gives football teams of equal enrollment sizes chances at winning a state championship. The rules were recently changed to encompass boys and girls basketball in this as well (except for AAA which still awards one state championship). However, all other sports still reward three state champions to each classification.

In my mind, this needs to be changed. I have two daughters, both of young age, why should they not be afforded the same opportunities as people who play basketball and football. There are some kids out there, who dedicate themselves to one sport, who just play baseball or just play volleyball. Some kids participate in more individual sports like cross country, track, golf and tennis (I know they are awarded team titles, but there are also individual champions in each sport).

Thoughts, comments, suggestions? Please leave a comment or e-mail them to me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net

Once "The Sports Buffet" podcast is back up and running, I will be examining this issue more closely (and I may try to examine it more on the blog as well)

The Future of "The Sports Buffet" podcast

To all my loyal listeners of "The Sports Buffet" podcast, I appreciate you first off. I would love more comments on the podcasts, what you like, dislike and so forth and so on. You can always reach me by e-mail at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net

With that being said, "The Sports Buffet" is going to be on a break or hiatus until probably the first of 2009. The site I have been using for "The Sports Buffet" is just not user friendly anymore and it has been very difficult to upload files. I encourage you to still go to the site and check out some of the older podcasts, to easier search for an episode (you can search by school, name, sport, whatever, by clicking here and typing in the keyword.

There are some other sites out there, but I just want to make sure the next site I go with is long term (even though My Podcast lasted me for longer then a year). I still intend to post "older" interviews and games from my days with WKDE and more. I firmly believe people want to hear new and fresh content, but I believe honoring those and featuring those that I have interviewed in the past should be featured across the world wide web as well. The "New" site is going to feature much more then just a podcast (hopefully) with hopeful links for all high school and college and pro sports fans, as well as stats and schedules and everything else a sports fan could want. I hope to make "The Sports Buffet" one stop shopping for all sports fans.

So, if you are a coach or athlete, and see that your interview has not been posted, please be patient. No one, but no one, is more fustrated by the lack of podcasts then yours truly. I have not forgotten about anything, as well as scheduling interviews and such. Hopefully, my blogs will take a more active role while the podcast is rebuilding, and will continue to be active after the podcast is reborn.

Finally, I also would like to take this opportunity to thank all the coaches, athletes, athletic directors, sports information people, other media members and anyone else that I pester for interviews, information and requests on a random basis. Please know that I appreciate you all more then you think. Also, once again big thanks to the listeners to "The Sports Buffet". I know everyone might not be interested in every single topic I cover, but if I have conducted one interview that you have enjoyed, then I hope you will check back frequently and will tell others about an interview that you may have enjoyed.

Thanks for indulging me and any questions, comments or concerns, please address them to TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net

The Sports Buffet Podcast will be moving

The Sports Buffet podcast will be moving soon to its own website hopefully. The site i have been using is just now not uploading podcasts. I had interviews recorded with Winfred Beale, Amherst Players, Cecil Phillips, Jeff Woody and other folks but the podcast site is not being fully functional, so I apologize to everyone (it frustrates me just as much as anyone)

James Monroe leads Brookville 38-30

2:58 left in 3rd Quarter. The big play has killed Brookville all day.

James Monroe leads Brookville 26-17

2:09 left to go in the 1st Quarter. Bees do get the ball first to start the 2nd half

James Monroe leads Brookville 20-17

Bees taking over at their own 26 with 4:59 left in the 1st half

Brookville 17 James Monroe 14 7:08 left

James Monroe is driving, they have the ball at the Bees 26.

James Monroe and Brookville

James Monroe and Brookville are in a doozy here in Lynchburg. It's all knoted at 14. Brookville came out like a house of fire. The Bees won the toss, and deferred their decision until the 2nd half. James Monroe elected to recieve, went 3 and out. Logan Thomas then returned a punt into James Monroe territory. That set up Stacey Houston's 30 yard touchdown run on the 1st play from scrimmage.

Any comments, questions I'll be here all day. You can either comment or E-Mail me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net