Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510160061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
George had been a businessman in Roanoke for more than 50 years and likely will be remembered by his first generation of customers as the owner of George's Drive-In in the mid-1940s, which later became George's Rendezvous in the early 1960s. In 1968, it became Roma's Italian Restaurant; by 1985, it had evolved into today's Deli Shoppe.
In a June 1995 article in The Roanoker magazine, George's achievements as a businessman were chronicled along with his devotion to basketball that played out in his ability to recruit and coach a consistently top-performing city league basketball team.
The Gold Medal Tournament was played each year in March in every gym in the Roanoke Valley. George's Drive-In won four tournaments in a row from 1950-53.
Many of the players on George's teams went on to be college or high school basketball coaches. Some played college basketball or football, and still others went all the way to the pros.
The boys of that time considered George's Drive-In their hangout and George and his wife, Effie, who died about two years ago, ``Papa George and Mama George.''
According to the article, since the opening of the drive-in, George sponsored athletic teams, coached, parented and financially helped two generations of high school and college athletes.
George summed up his efforts in the article with this quote: ``I taught them how to win and how to lose. When you lose, you don't cry. Just try next time to win. You've got to win sooner or later.''
A funeral Mass will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at St. Elias Catholic Church. Oakey's Roanoke Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
by CNB