Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9410270013
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY JO SHANNON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
His team of 11- to 13-year-olds and their coach had been asked to remain on the field after the first game of the 30th annual Cave Spring Invitational Benefit Games - a marathon of six games on two consecutive Saturdays. The Cave Spring Recreation Foundation depends on the $2 admission to help buy equipment for its extensive recreational sports program.
This year, though, foundation members voted to dedicate the 1994 program to Bogle, founder of the benefit games and one of the foundation's longest active members. The tribute came during Bogle's 34th year with youth sports.
Recalling the occasion, on the eve of the second set of games, Bogle seemed embarrassed by all the attention. "That's not why I do what I do," he says.
"I love football, and I think it helps youngsters learn discipline. I used to say it helped keep me young, but the way I'm falling apart now, I can't use that excuse any more," says Bogle, referring to heart problems he is encountering. Doctors wanted him to have heart catheterization immediately, but he talked them into waiting until after the game.
He was hoping the procedure would not be necessary because it would interfere with his working the public address system for Cave Spring High School football games, something he's done for 28 years with only one game missed.
During his long career as coach, Bogle, a C&P Telephone Company retiree, has observed social changes that affect the way he operates. For example, more boys are products of broken homes and spend the summer with the other parent, often returning home at the very end of summer, he says. As a result, he holds sign-up for the season in May, before schools close.
"Many kids play soccer these days because their mothers think football is too dangerous,'' he said. "Soccer is a fine game, but the worry over injury in football is exaggerated. The same parents who worry about injury will let [their children] skateboard down a flight of steps or ride a bike on [Virginia] 419."
He says he finds more boys missing practice because of injuries received during physical education classes at school than because of injuries playing football.
"I'm not saying the schools are negligent, but we have six coaches with 24 kids wearing the latest protective equipment, while one teacher may have 40 to 50 kids loose on the playground after being shut up in school. They just can't supervise them as closely as we can."
Bogle, who was named Father of the Year in 1980 for his work with youth, says the best part of coaching is "being with the kids - knowing they respect you even when you have to chew them out."
Then, on reflection, he adds, "I think, though, the best part is keeping up with them - watching what they do in junior high school, high school, college ..."
Once, when rain delayed a high school playoff game until a Saturday evening, Bogle faced a dilemma. He had organized a bus trip to Washington for 42 people to see the Washington Redskins play and saw no way to attend the playoff to root for Cave Spring.
"They said, 'Coach, you gotta come! You're our good luck charm!' Of course, that wasn't true, but I couldn't let them down. So I told my wife she'd have to take my place on the bus. The father of one of the players went with me to rent a car, and we drove to Washington after the game ended; met my son who lives in Manassas and had him turn in the car there; watched the Redskins game; and rode the bus home. Was I ever tired!"
Is there a down side to coaching? He ponders this question for a moment. "I really don't have much to grumble about. My philosophy is, if I promise a kid something, I'm going to do it. That works both ways - whether it's correction or a reward. Sometimes, it probably looks like football is more important than my family - that's not true, but when you make a commitment, you fulfill it, regardless of the cost."
The "cost" includes hours of practice before and during the season, and hidden hours spent providing physicals and signing out equipment in addition to the games.
Bogle's love for football and his dedication to youngsters came together in 1961 when his son, Keith, was 8 years old. "Keith said the kids in other neighborhoods - Belle Meade, Oak Grove, Windsor Hills - had teams, and if he got a team together, would I coach them? Of course, I agreed, and we practiced right here in our back yard. They all had helmets, but they played in whatever they happened to have - usually dungarees.
"We played our games at Colonial Presbyterian Church one Saturday, and at Dr. Whitman's place on Mudlick Road the next Saturday. We didn't have lines on the field, so I got up at dawn and mowed the lines with my lawn mower."
In 1964, after a couple of years of such informal coaching, Bogle organized an 85-pound team for 9- and 10-year-olds. When he announced sign-ups for the next year, 76 youngsters showed up to be "Bogle's Boys."
Since he had only enough equipment for 28, he turned to the Lions Club for help. The Lions agreed to underwrite the additional equipment. But before the order could be placed, money had to be raised. Thus, the benefit games were born.
The sandlot football program had grown so much by 1966 that the Lions Club asked the Cave Spring Recreation Foundation, which was organized in 1958 to build the athletic plant outside the then-new Cave Spring High School, to consider taking over the sponsorship.
From 1966 until 1973, when the Knights' Booster Club was organized, the foundation coordinated both the high school and the sandlot programs.
Now, with the sandlot program as its primary focus, the foundation sponsors six cheerleader teams, six football teams and 72 basketball teams. More facilities are needed for all these activities. The foundation buys all the uniforms and equipment, and the Roanoke County Department of Parks and Recreation pays officials and maintains the playing fields.
The entire Bogle family has been involved with the foundation, either directly or indirectly. Bogle is now vice president of the foundation's board of directors, and his only daughter, Barbara B. Sharrer, and Terri Langford, a member, are the first two women to serve on the board.
Both of Bogle's sons played on teams. His wife, Elizabeth, a nurse, has been extremely patient over the years, Bogle says. She has had to put up with a lot, he says, even spending her 43rd wedding anniversary at the benefit games, sitting in the heat "while we played."
by CNB