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The sports writers have given you reams of copy on the Mar-shall-James Madison playoff game last Saturday, but no one’s mentioned the great JMUCharlieConnormarching band. I will.I first took note of this 350-member band when USA Today carried a page one feature on it a few weeks back, not knowing then that Marshall fans would have the privilege of seeing and hearing it in Huntington during a playoff game.The article was so impressive that I mailed it to President J. Wade Gilley of Marshall. Ithought that JMU’s band would give Gilley added incentive in his goal of upgrading the Marshall band.The MU band already is well on the way in its improvement program. It added 50 new members this year (185 now) with Gilley promising it will have 250 next year. Numbers alone don’t guarantee success, of course, but the new MU band director, Baruch Whitehead, has already shown he knows what fielding a top-notch band is all about.The JMU band arrived in eight buses, quickly disembarked, fell into formation, and proceeded in sheer numbers and smartly-attired lines and lines of musicians to catch the crowd’s attention.During the game its members provided the main cheering section for the JMU Dukes football team as well, and its halftime show simply was spectacular. Standing ovations for bands at a football game are rare, but 16,000 fans on both sides of the new Marshall University stadium stood for this one. It was that good.So that makes two. I’ve had the privilege of seeing and hearing the best high school band in this state (Greenbrier East) and now one of the best college bands around. I’m happy. The game turned out well, too, with the Herd fortunate in squeezing out its overtime victory.Marshall will play in the semi-finals Saturday against Boise State in the Idaho capital city. A friend of mine called out there yesterday to see what the weather conditions were.“It’s 20 degrees and snowing,” he was informed.That hardly seems fit forsuch an important game. Little wonder the Idaho team boasts an offensive line averaging 293 pounds. They need that bulk to keep warm.* * *Speaking of bulk, how about those big Black Eagles of South Charleston who flattened the Flying Eagles of Woodrow Wilson en route to their state championship last Saturday. It marked the seventh time in the last 10 years that a Kanawha County team won the Class AAA football title.The sheer dominance of the Kanawha county teams present a challenge to Woodrow, one of the state’s largest high schools.As I asked last year, why aren’t more of these teams on Woodrow’s schedule in place of the nondescript Washington,D.C., teams which have come into Beckley the past two seasons? When I asked this question earlier, no explanation was forthcoming from Woodrow authorities. Anything new on this now?♦ * *Back to Tamarack.Old friend Arnout Hyde Jr., former editor and photographer of the Wonderful West Virginia magazine, answers critics of the Tamarack idea in this fashion:“Critics once asked, who would possibly be interested in riding open cars pulled by an old Shay logging steam engines up one of West Virginia’s highest mountains? Today it is best to get tickets early for the very popular rides at Cass Scenic Railroad.“Critics once questioned who would be crazy enough to ride down the rapids of the New and Gauley rivers in rubber rafts. Now a multi-million dollar travel industry is thriving on the state’s mountain streams and rivers...“Who would gamble putting a state resort park with golf courses in a remote section of the southern part of the state? That was the pessimistic attitude at the time. People had better reserve rooms or camping spots early at this very successful resort — Pipestem State Park.“A ski resort is a ridiculous concept south of the Mason and Dixon line, lamented the critics when Canaan Valley Ski Resort opened. Now West Virginia boasts five premier ski resorts.“Now the same fine folks are bemoaning a showplace to exhibit the wonderful artistry of West Virginia craftsmen. I venture that a few years down the road this facility, Tamarack, will take its place with the best of West Virginia’s other tourist accomplishments.”Well said, Arnout, in your letter to the Daily Mail. My sentiment exactly.This isn’t to say that Tamarack will be an economic success. It won’t. What it will do is place West Virginia indelibly in the minds of thousands of tourists as a spot where craftsmanship still is honored. People will stop, buy and be exposed to the many other arresting attractions that are offered in our area. I’m looking for the spill over effect in an area that is still building its tourism infrastructure.As our own small example of what attracts tourists, consider the Beckley Exhibition Mine, well off the beaten track and actually hard to find. Yet its parking lot always is filled with visitors from a wide array of states. It’s a lot like the line from the book and movie “Field of Dreams.”“Build it and they will come.”If we have enough such attractions in our area, Beckley could well become a destination point. We must keep working on it. Standing still is not in style right now. For the first time in years, this area is in high gear and not entirely dependent upon a coal economy. Let’s move it!
Newspaper Details
Beckley Register Herald
Beckley, West Virginia, US
Thu, Dec 08, 1994
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Phillip P.
USA 20 Oct 2018
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