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Hciating.”an Initial check for payment of the new four-sidedBOB DOUGLASDouglasBy GAYLEN DUSKEY Register Sports EditorWhich active high school coach has the most lifetime victories in West Virginia?Would you believe Bob Douglas? That’s right, the ’Sophia mentor currently has 403 coaching victories.Who is second?Would you beiievesJim Lilly? Correct, The Oak Hill mentor currently has 367 victories (before last night’s game with Welch) to his credit.What two coaches were high school teammates and roommates in prep school?Would you believe Lilly and Douglas?“Bob and I were teammates in high school then we shared a room at a prep school in Rich Corners, N. C.,M Lilly said. “That was back in 1939. Rich Corners was a high school but we played against some college teams,”T remember we once played the Wake Forest freshman team,” Douglas said. “We were pretty good. One time we played in a tournament and they wouldn’t give us our trophies. I guess they figured we’d brought in a bunch of ringers.”Both were pretty fair high school athletes but Douglas was considered outstanding during his active career as a football player and trackman.* . nd Lilly Are Top Winnersi • • I i til at* • i I If f M l\f I If A 4 M 4 4 M A Iti rt m m mi I 1 f jn a n I M“I did the high jump and ran the shuttle - hurdle and medley relay;” Douglas said. “I won the state title as a junior and Jim wasn’t even on the. team then but he came out and started working out on the high jump and he won it (the state title) our senior year. Jim was a good natural athlete.”“Bob was the athlete,” Lilly said. “I don’t remember any better halfbacks around this area than him. He was also a darned good trackman.”Following his one-year career at Rich Cornerswent to the University of Miami, Fla., where? pin yehe played halfback on the Hurricanes’ Orange Bowl team that met West Virginia University.“Vic Peelish played on that WVU team,” Douglas said, “and I’ve got some pictures of him tac kling me and me blocking him. I kind of like to get them out and look at them once in a while.“We had a good team at Woodrow Wilson when I was there,” Lilly said. “We had Vie, Booker Smith, Jim Kuhn, and Jim Cook. It was a pretty good team.” .From that team Douglas went to Miami* Peelish to WVU. Smith to Virginia Tech, Kuhn to Georgia Tech, and Cook to Tennessee.“I hadn’t planned on coming back to West Virginia,”Douglas said. “I was going to stav down in Florida and live. But, I got a letter from coach (Jerome) Van Meterinforming me that there was a couple of coaching ;obsearopen up here. There was one at Sophia and one at C Fork. I took the one here and have been here ever since.”Lilly, on the other hand, took the long way to Oak Hill.After a year at Rich Corners, Lilly attended Concord for a couple of years. Then there was a two year stint in the Army and a couple more years at Glenville. His coaching career started at Logan High School and he' was quite successful there before coming to Oak Hill 15 years ago.Ironically Douglas and Lilly have only faced each other twice and they split. “We just never got together,” Douglas said. “It was just one of those) things.”For Douglas his future is somewhat up in the air while Lilly will more than likely be back at Collins High School next year. Douglas’ school — Sophia — will not exist next year. It will be combined with Stoco High School to form Independence High School next fall. ;“I haven't applied for that job,” Douglas said. \Following Douglas and’ Lilly in the win column ls\ Charleston's Lou Romano (292-57), Woodrow Wilson’s! Lawrence ‘Preach’ Wiseman (287-109), Logan’s Willie iAkers (263-83) and Williamson’s George Ritchie (262- \88).JIM LlLtY«i
Newspaper Details
Beckley Post Herald Raleigh Register
Beckley, West Virginia, US
Sun, Mar 14, 1976
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Clayton T.
NA, NA 14 Jan 2022
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