Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409120076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"He was a good friend," said Bill Davis, a Rocky Mount lawyer. "He was a gentleman. He always left the woodpile a little higher than he found it."
Worrell, 54, was one of 132 people killed Thursday night when a USAir jetliner nosedived into a ravine just outside Pittsburgh. He had been in Chicago on business.
Friday, his friends and family gathered at his home in Lexington and remembered a man they described as being "in love with life."
Worrell is survived by his wife, Carolyn, and a daughter, Melinda, who lives in Atlanta. He also had two sons: Stewart, who is in the Navy in San Diego, and Robert, a sophomore at Virginia Military Institute.
De Worrell's imprint on people's lives stretched beyond this small college town, where he settled after starring in football at VMI.
That's where Bill Davis met him. He remembered Worrell as a tough-as-nails, small fullback who never believed in a backward step or turning away from someone in need.
"You always felt better being around him," said Davis, who was a backup to Worrell on the 1962 VMI football team. "He loved VMI. He loved people."
VMI Athletic Director Davis Babb said Worrell would never say no to someone in need.
"The thing about him to me was that he was a real giver," Babb said. "He was always smiling. He always had time for you."
Worrell, the customer relations manager at Lee's Carpet in Glasgow, devoted hours of work to an annual Christmas Basket drive for needy families in the Lexington area.
He also represented the VMI Board of Visitors on the school's Athletic Council. In the past, he served on search committees for new coaches for VMI's football and basketball teams.
"He was a true VMI fan," said Wade Branner, the school's sports information director. "He was a friend of the athletic department."
Nearly 30 years after he played college ball, the competitive fires still burned deep within.
Andrew Hudick, a Roanoke financial planner, remembers Worrell for his tenacity on the handball court.
"If you didn't beat him early, you didn't beat him," Hudick said. "He put a lot of energy and effort into doing things well."
Worrell called Hudick on Wednesday to arrange a handball date for next Tuesday. Worrell often took his gym bag on out-of-town trips so he could play handball when he had a break in his business schedule.
That effort paid off in three state handball championships. Worrell's name adorns many of the handball championship plaques at Roanoke's YMCA.
His most indelible impression remains in the minds and hearts of his friends.
Bill Davis remembers when the VMI football team came home battered and bruised from a game with Penn State, a national power.
Worrell had two black eyes from the beating he took, but refused to sulk because of the team's underdog role.
"Those Penn State players weren't all that tough," Davis remembered Worrell saying.
Worrell was smiling all the time.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB