ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 9, 1996 TAG: 9611110102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
THE HIGHLAND CAVALIERS are the only undefeated team in the state and have built a faithful following in their short existence.
Elizabeth Hamilton and Leila Maude Richmond are devoted football fans in Wise County. They have never missed a home game of their favorite team, the Highland Cavaliers of Clinch Valley College. When they can find someone to take them to road games, they hop in the car and go.
Theirs is not an old love, however. The Highland Cavaliers are the new kids in town when it comes to college football in Virginia. Both women are in their nineties, roughly 15 times more aged than their favorite football team.
``We're there rain or shine,'' Hamilton said.
The sun has shown brightly in the coal fields this season. Clinch Valley, in only its sixth season of football, is the state's only undefeated team at 8-0. It is the state's highest-ranked team, No.4 in the latest NAIA Division II rankings.
The Highland Cavaliers also have one of the state's premier running backs carrying them to such heights in the Appalachian Mountains. Greg Thomas, a 5-8, 198-pound senior from Fort Myers, Fla., reached the 1,000-yard mark for the third time in his career two weeks ago against Maryville (Tenn.). He has scored in 31 consecutive regular season games and has 11 touchdowns in the past two games.
But Thomas doesn't deserve all the credit. Much goes to the coach, Bill Ramseyer, who came to Wise after 19 years as the coach at Wilmington (Ohio) College. Ramseyer, who is seeking his 150th career victory today against Sue Bennett (Ky.), has a son, Randy, who is an assistant U.S. attorney in Abingdon. Randy saw a newspaper article in 1990 indicating Clinch Valley would begin playing football the next year and told his father about it.
``It seemed to me it was a challenge,'' Ramseyer said. ``I was hired on Jan.15, 1991 and we were going to play a season seven months later. At the time I was the only coach; we had no schedule, no players, no equipment.''
Now, the Highland Cavaliers have a program comparable to any other at their level, aside from the fact they only have enough money to cover six scholarships, half the maximum allowed. While the program draws approximately one quarter of its players from far southwest Virginia, Clinch Valley has four players from Timesland: sophomore guard Zach Hayden from Patrick Henry High School, sophomore linebacker Paul Altarez from Carroll County, freshman guard Drew Lowery from Laurel Park and Monty Matthews, a kicker and punter who played for Bland County.
One of Hamilton's former students at J. J. Kelly High School has been responsible for gathering the rest of the team's resources. Carroll Dale, a Hall of Famer for Virginia Tech and the Green Bay Packers, became Clinch Valley's first athletic director around the time Ramseyer was hired. Dale, who was raised in Wise County, gave up a small coal mining business to get back into athletics.
He had been spending his Saturdays either with his grandchildren or grouse hunting. Now, he spends them at a stadium named for him a mile away from the Clinch Valley campus.
``If anybody ever told me I'd be involved in a college athletic program eight years ago,'' Dale said, ``I would have questioned that.''
No one can question, however, the success this school's football team has had in just six seasons of play. Clinch Valley has an all-time winning percentage of .657.
``Everybody takes football so seriously here,'' said sports information director Rod Mullins, a 1988 graduate. ``People just really live for football.''
Hamilton and Richmond are two examples. They support the team with their cheers as much as they do with their checkbooks.
In exchange for their loyalty, Clinch Valley fans expect success. When asked how she felt about having the only undefeated team in the state right in her backyard, Hamilton said, ``I think they're great. It's about time we won.''
In five years, that's all the Highland Cavaliers have done.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Ramseyerby CNB