It's not often that Sam Huff, a West Virginia sports icon, is available to sign autographs before a football game at Laidley Field. But in the case of Saturday night's North-South All-Star Football Classic, there's more going on than just blocking and tackling.
It's not often that Sam Huff, a West Virginia sports icon, is available to sign autographs before a football game at Laidley Field.
But in the case of Saturday night's North-South All-Star Football Classic, there's more going on than just blocking and tackling.
The game's 55th renewal, which kicks off at 7 p.m. Saturday at Laidley, coincides with the birth of the West Virginia North-South Football Classic Hall of Fame, which will induct an inaugural class of seven members, including Huff.
Huff, a Marion County native who played in the 1952 North-South Game and starred at West Virginia and in the NFL, will join the seven other inductees for an autograph session tentatively set to run from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. Saturday at Laidley.
"Anybody who wants something autographed needs to be there early,'' said Mike Dunlap, one of the game's directors.
From noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, the hall of fame inductees will be recognized at a banquet at the Charleston Marriott and will don special blazers shortly before kickoff. They also will be given hall of fame commemorative silver coins.
"Sam has been doing a great job of promoting the game,'' said Dunlap, a former Poca lineman who played in the 1984 game. "He's been doing interviews with people all over the state.''
Dunlap hopes Saturday's attendance will match or exceed the crowd of 9,000 that watched the 1979 game, which featured Pineville star and future NFL player Curt Warner. Attendance has not reached that number since then. Last year, the game drew about 5,500.
The hall of fame, which is designed to honor former North-South players, coaches and officials, also will induct:
Robert Alexander of South Charleston, a two-time Kennedy Award winner who played at West Virginia and for the Los Angeles Rams;
Mike Barber of Winfield, who was voted Marshall's athlete of the 1980s and played with the 49ers, Bengals and Buccaneers;
It's not often that Sam Huff, a West Virginia sports icon, is available to sign autographs before a football game at Laidley Field.
But in the case of Saturday night's North-South All-Star Football Classic, there's more going on than just blocking and tackling.
The game's 55th renewal, which kicks off at 7 p.m. Saturday at Laidley, coincides with the birth of the West Virginia North-South Football Classic Hall of Fame, which will induct an inaugural class of seven members, including Huff.
Huff, a Marion County native who played in the 1952 North-South Game and starred at West Virginia and in the NFL, will join the seven other inductees for an autograph session tentatively set to run from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. Saturday at Laidley.
"Anybody who wants something autographed needs to be there early,'' said Mike Dunlap, one of the game's directors.
From noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, the hall of fame inductees will be recognized at a banquet at the Charleston Marriott and will don special blazers shortly before kickoff. They also will be given hall of fame commemorative silver coins.
"Sam has been doing a great job of promoting the game,'' said Dunlap, a former Poca lineman who played in the 1984 game. "He's been doing interviews with people all over the state.''
Dunlap hopes Saturday's attendance will match or exceed the crowd of 9,000 that watched the 1979 game, which featured Pineville star and future NFL player Curt Warner. Attendance has not reached that number since then. Last year, the game drew about 5,500.
The hall of fame, which is designed to honor former North-South players, coaches and officials, also will induct:
Robert Alexander of South Charleston, a two-time Kennedy Award winner who played at West Virginia and for the Los Angeles Rams;
Mike Barber of Winfield, who was voted Marshall's athlete of the 1980s and played with the 49ers, Bengals and Buccaneers;
Walter Easley of Charleston, a Parade All-American at Stonewall Jackson who played at West Virginia and two seasons with the 49ers, including the 1982 Super Bowl;
Charles McKown of Wayne, a first-team all-state football choice who played baseball at West Virginia, earned MVP honors in the 1952 North-South Game and is dean of Marshall's medical school;
Kenny Wright, a former coach at Pennsboro and Ritchie County who worked as North-South director for 20 years;
Fred Wyant of Weston, a former WVU quarterback, three-time academic All-American and NFL official.
As a former NFL official, Wyant will handle the coin toss. The other six will serve as honorary captains - three on each side.
"We want to make this an event without making it a circus,'' said Dunlap.
BRIEFLY: All former North-South players and coaches will be admitted free and will be honored at halftime, but they must contact Dunlap in advance at (304) 532-8592. ... A total of $11,000 in college scholarship aid will be given away to yet-to-be-determined players and two female athletes. ... A fan will have a chance to win a truck from a Joe Holland dealership. In the third quarter, a ticket stub will be drawn, and the fan holding the ticket will punt from the 35-yard line, seeking to land the ball in the truck bed. If the ball stays in the bed, the fan will have a choice of the truck or $25,000. The reigning Miss West Virginia, Skylene Montgomery of Parkersburg, will draw the ticket stub. ... In other ticket drawings, fans will have a chance to win a night's stay in the Sam Huff Suite at the Marriott, a $100 gift certificate at the Marriott's Whitewater Grille and two commemorative silver hall of fame coins. ... South coach Steve Stoffel Sr. of Herbert Hoover, North coach Jim Rogers of Cameron, game director Ralph Hensley of Riverside and Alexander took turns throwing out the first pitch at Sunday's Power game at Appalachian Power Park. ... The game will be broadcast on WVTS-AM (950).
Reach Mike Whiteford
at mikewhitef...@wvgazette.com
or at 348-7948
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