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My father and my driver’s education instructor advised me when I was learning to drive that I needed to place my hands on the steering wheel at “10 and two” positions, like on a clock face. I have been driving with my hands at the 10 and two location for a long time now. NOW that hand position has changed.  There are articles that state that since the driver side airbags are located in the automobile steering wheel, it would behoove the driver to adjust their hand location to “nine and three” on that imaginary clock face to escape hand/finger/arm injuries. The 10 and two position was taught for so long because the higher grip enables a driver to keep the car running smoothly without needing to jerk the wheel suddenly if he or she is cut off or if there is a hazard in the road, according to SmartMotorist.com. But doing it the old way could risk serious injuries to a driver's hands or fingers if the airbag activates, as MSNBC recently reported: “That means the higher up the wheel your hands are, the more likely they are to be directly over the plastic cover when it opens — that is, when superhot nitrogen gas flashes and inflates the bag at 150 to 250 mph. Among the injuries the NHTSA reports from improper placement of the hands when an airbag deploys are amputations of fingers or entire hands, traumatic fractures and a particularly stomach-churning injury called "degloving," which — trust us — you definitely don't want to look up.” AAA also recommends the nine and three position, explaining in the guidelines for senior drivers that it enables "180-degree steering input without removing your hands from the steering wheel, a high level of arm leverage and vehicle control and an awareness of where the wheels are pointing and how to straighten them." Now, I must tell you that I have attempted, and am still attempting to give it that “old college try,” to drive with my hands positioned at nine and three. However, I keep returning to the OLD 10 and two position.  So don’t be discouraged, just keep trying to correct your hand position on your steering wheel to nine and three to keep your hands safe. GOOD LUCK AND DRIVE SAFE!

By now, some of you may be wondering, “Who is the new girl in the Moundsville office?” Let me introduce myself and give everyone a little background information. I’m Tricia Pennell (known previously as Tricia Wilson) and I am divorced. I will start by introducing and telling you a little about the two most precious and important people in my life – my sons:  Ryan and Gage. My oldest son, Ryan Wilson, is 23 years old and a Senior Airman for the United States Air Force.  I am one very PROUD mom! I could not be prouder of him for stepping up and joining our military to protect the lives of our fellow Americans.  He is stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.  Ryan is a certified EMT and works in the hospital’s physicians’ clinic treating patients daily.  He is in his third year of a six-year contract and is engaged to a wonderful young lady, Emily, whom he met during one of his phases of training.  She works in the critical care unit of the hospital on base.  Ryan is my “rock.”  He keeps me intact, reminds me of the goodness in others and never fails to be there for me.  He is my “duderbug.”  It’s funny how as parents some of us give our children nicknames.  And, I’m really not sure how or why I picked the nicknames I did for either of my sons, but when Ryan was graduating from the Air Force basic training, his dad, brother and I flew to San Antonio, Texas to attend the ceremony.  Before we got there, I was able to talk with him on the phone.  He explained the process of what would occur during the ceremony and that the first time we would see him would be during the “Airmen’s Run.”  This is where all those graduating line up in their “flights” and jog along the highway singing their “Jody calls.”   There were approximately 750 airmen graduating, so, you can just imagine how many of those airmen were named “Ryan” or “Wilson!”  If I yelled that, several boys would be looking to see if their mama was in the crowds!  So, I asked if I could yell “Duderbug” when I saw him and he said “YOU BETTER!!!”  See, as they grow older, they don’t mind those goofy nicknames as much. My youngest son, Gage Wilson, will be 16 next week.  He attends Bishop Donahue High School and will be a junior in the fall. Gage’s sport at heart has always been hockey, which he started when he was four.  He’s been a member of the Southpointe Rink Rats (Canonsburg, Penn.) travel team since he was eight or nine, and plays for John Marshall’s high school team, so, I do a lot of traveling!  He also plays baseball for Bishop.  He is my little “boo boo” and constantly makes me laugh.  He’s very athletic, has a wonderful singing voice, has crazy dance moves and can do just about anything he sets his mind to. I was born and raised in New Martinsville and graduated from Magnolia High School (the year is not important! LOL!)  My parents ran a small farm with milk cattle, chickens, goats and a horse here and there.  I have three older brothers, so you could say I lived in a “testosterone nightmare” growing up.  Unfortunately, that nightmare continued when I had two sons!  (Just kidding – but partially true.) I guess that’s why I know so much about tools and sports. I really didn’t have a choice.  Hahaha. I love the outdoors, riding four wheelers, camping and picking berries.  I own a 12-year-old registered Quarter Horse mare.  Her registered name is Keo San Sky, but we call her “Sky” for short.  She is an absolute blast!  I took her on a road trip two years ago to Myrtle Beach for the American Heart Association Beach Ride.  It was a lot of hard work, but well worth it.  A friend and I hauled our horses in a stock trailer (and for those of you who aren’t aware of what that is:  it’s basically a steel box trailer with window openings on the sides and NO amenities.  It’s just to transport horses.)  So, everything was packed into the trailer, the back seat of a truck and truck bed and off we went.  And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING from saddles, to enough hay and water for the week, clothing, fans, heaters, feed, buckets, cots, rope, electric fence, and the list goes on and on.  Twelve hours later, we were putting up an electric fence, cloroxing the stock trailer and making it our home sweet home for the next five days.  Yep – we slept in the stock trailer on cots and strung Dollar Store plastic shower curtains over the windows.  It was actually a pretty good set up and very comfortable.  This was a trip of a lifetime for me and I’d love to be able to do it again.  Not only did it benefit a great cause, but the sheer fun of galloping my own horse on an open beach for five days was the most exhilarating feeling! I am pretty much a jack of all trades. There’s not much I can’t do or won’t attempt.  I knit in the winter months, weave baskets, sew and do pretty much any craft imaginable if it’s put in front of me.  Although I love having my nails done, doing my hair and make-up and dressing nice (all those girlie things), I am not opposed to dirt or hard work.  You might find me working on a faucet or repairing a weed wacker.  It’s a challenge to me when something is broken or not working right to figure out why.  I was always taught not to be afraid to tackle anything.  If you can’t fix it or figure it out, ask a friend.  If they can’t, then as a last resort, call a professional.   So, I’m a girl who can go from high heels to cowboy boots in a heartbeat! A lot of people tease me that I’m a little OCD when it comes to organization.  Some have called me the “organizational queen.”  This is pretty much truth.  I like having things in order, planning ahead and keeping chaos at a minimum no matter the situation.  My oldest son just said to me recently that I ruined his Saturdays for the rest of his life!  I didn’t quite understand and was a little hurt, until he explained that because of my “organizational” ethics while he was growing up, he now wakes up on Saturdays and begins cleaning and organizing his apartment because that’s what he learned from me.  I thought that was pretty hilarious since I basically had to threaten him with an inch of his life to clean his room every weekend!  And my youngest son is absolutely amazed when he asks me, “Do you know where my baseball glove is mom?” or “Do you remember that wallet I used to carry a few years ago? Do you know where it is?”, and I reply, “Your glove is….” Or “That wallet is….”  He says he doesn’t understand how I can remember such trivial things.  I really don’t understand it either considering I can’t remember sometimes when I walk in to a room what exactly I went in there for in the first place! I was born in October, so I’m a Libra.  I love to laugh and joke around and make those around me feel comfortable.  I have a pretty huge heart and will help anyone in need. There I am---in a pretty small nutshell!

At Bordas & Bordas, we take giving back to the communities in which we both work and live very seriously. We are happy to call this region our home and continually strive for its improvement. Listed below are just a few of the many recent philanthropic sponsorships we are honored to be a part of. Easter Seals has been helping individuals with special needs and disabilities and their families for nearly 100 years. The organization offers a variety of services that aid people young and old as they navigate life’s challenges. The annual Easter Seals Telethon recently took place on April 19 and raised a tremendous amount of money for the organization and its extremely honorable mission. Bordas & Bordas contributed to the cause with both a donation and participation during the event. Bordas & Bordas is a proud sponsor of the Don L. Seamon Memorial Golf Tournament, an annual event founded in its late namesake’s memory.  This year’s installment was held on April 24 at the Moundsville Country Club and saw participants enjoying a day on the links on behalf of a very good and noble cause. Funds raised benefit local students pursuing a career in nursing. A local event that people look forward to each and every year is West Liberty University’s Great Gala. A whole host of guests flooded into Oglebay’s Glessner Auditorium on April 25 to celebrate the university, “Night At The Oscars” style. Proceeds from the event will support West Liberty’s David T. Javersak Liberal Arts Scholarship. We were honored to be a sponsor of this event. Bordas & Bordas has again teamed up with Ogden Newspapers as a major sponsor of the 39th Annual Half Marathon Classic held on May 22-23 in Downtown Wheeling. As a community partner, we feel it is important for the firm to support one of the premier annual events in the Ohio Valley. The proceeds from this year's Half Marathon benefit Ohio Valley Breast Cancer Awareness, Inc., an organization founded by Partner Scott Blass and his wife, Kathy, to better the lives of local breast cancer patients and survivors. “Three teams, eight coaches, 37 players, one family.” This is how the Wheeling American Legion Post 1 Baseball Program describes itself and its longstanding history here in the Ohio Valley. The organization recently held its second annual comedy show, aptly named “A Night of Laughs,” at Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack on May 28. Fundraisers such as this aid Post 1 in its efforts toward being the premier program of its kind in West Virginia. With its many deep-seated ties to the organization, Bordas & Bordas was a proud sponsor of the show. Bordas & Bordas is honored to be involved with such exceptional groups and events. We will continue to reach out to community partners who are passionate about making a difference. As always, we encourage everyone to support these very worthy causes.

It’s an exciting time of the year where people seem much more carefree and there’s a lot of talk about where people are going on vacation. For many, a beach getaway or a jaunt off to the Caribbean isn’t in the budget this year, next year, maybe for many years or ever. To be blessed to be able to do these things is absolutely wonderful, but for those who can’t, it’s not about where you go, it’s about taking the time. Summertime brings much more opportunity for family and friends to go out and about and get together.  There are so many simple things that end up as cherished memories and sometimes it’s the silliest experiences of all. Bonfires and S’mores in the late night summer air.  Running through a sprinkler.  Water gun battles.  Sleeping out on the porch or pitching a tent.  A lot of cornhole and cooking out.  One of my favorite things to do is to sit on a glider having long talks or maybe listening to a summer thunderstorm. I’ve done all these things and to this day, the now grown adults I know still talk about the memories from our childhood when we see each other. So do not be discouraged if it doesn’t fit the budget.  So many spend the money when they shouldn’t just to find themselves miserable and worried about how they are going to pay for it after the fact.  When the time is right, it will be your turn. In the meantime, take in every long walk, play games, have cookouts, go on bike rides and just spend the time together.  That’s where memories are made.  Whether it’s in your own backyard or on the sands of a beach, it’s the people you share it with and how you share it that’s going to matter. Have a fun summer!

Barley and Guinness are very excited to hear that the Wheeling Dog Park, located down by Tunnel Green, will be opening in the near future. The boys have been waiting a long time to get together with their furry friends in Wheeling. The excitement is building and we, as dog parents, are also very excited for the Wheeling Dog Park to open.  Barley and Guinness want to thank all of you who have worked so hard to bring this to the Friendly City. So, if you are out and about this summer, keep your eyes open for all the dog activity in the Wheeling area. We can’t wait to see all of our furry friends when the dog park opens. Also, please remember to make sure your animals have shelter from the heat this summer and have plenty of cold drinking water at their disposal if they are outside for any length of time. I can’t stress enough to never leave your dog in the car during the summer months. It can kill them within a matter of minutes. Bark on, Bordas Dog Nation, Bark on.

We all look forward to our summer vacations every year, whether it is taking a trip to visit out-of-town relatives, going to the beach or just hanging out and relaxing at home. If you are taking a long trip, you may dread the ride there and the ride back, especially if you have kids in the car with you. A few summers ago, my family and I took a trip to Myrtle Beach and spent 11 hours in the car.  It wasn’t so bad going down mostly because my son and I slept most of the way.  When we finally pulled up to the resort we were staying at and saw the waves of the ocean, I knew that the hours my husband had just driven were the furthest thing from his mind. Time sure does fly when you are away from home, your job and your responsibilities. Before we knew it seven days had flown right by and it was time to get back in that car for 11 hours.  This time we were driving in the daytime, so my son and I would most likely be awake for the majority of the ride home.  Needless to say, the car ride was not idyllic.  We were cramped and starting to get on each other’s nerves after only two hours.  But once I started to see the hills of West Virginia I knew I was getting close to my home.  It was wonderful to get away from reality for a week and sit on the beach, but there really is no place like home.

In 2000, we took our first cruise vacation…. a little four-day trip to the Bahamas aboard Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas—we were hooked. Since then, we have completed six other cruises, and have just booked cruise number eight for October 2016.  We have cruised on Royal Caribbean and Carnival, and our preferred cruise line is Royal Caribbean.  My husband and I have cruised alone, and have gone in a group as large as 59 people.  We have sailed in February, June, September, October and November, with most of our cruises being in the month of October.  We have had smooth sailing on all of our cruises except the return trip home from a cruise to Bermuda, when we hit some pretty rough seas.  Despite that rough sailing, we booked another one, and have pretty much covered most of the Caribbean Islands.  Cruises are a wonderful, inexpensive way to see other parts of the world.   Because we have done several cruises, I have learned a few things along the way to both save money and make things easier.  These are things I have learned based on my experience cruising with Royal Caribbean: 1.    Book your cruise directly from the cruise line and not a travel agent.  You will save hundreds of dollars, and booking directly from the cruise line will also entitle you to and/or increase any onboard credit you may receive due to any special promotions. 2.    Sign up to receive notices of any promotions your cruise line is offering.  Any time there is a sale, give them a call and ask them if you can get a better rate according to what is being offered as a promotion.  They will honor the sale price and adjust your rate accordingly. 3.    If you are going in a group and book at least eight staterooms, you will be entitled to a group discount which is the equivalent of one free fare per group.  We received this for the most recent cruise we booked and split the refund for the free room among all cruisers for a nice little onboard credit.  Traveling in a group also entitled us to an additional onboard credit of $50.00 per stateroom. 4.    If your cruise line has a rewards program, join it.  Royal Caribbean offers their Crown & Anchor program with different levels of membership.  Being a member of Crown & Anchor will get you discounts on several things aboard ship in addition to offering such things as early boarding, and a discount on your state room. 5.    If you love those fruity, frosty drinks, consider buying a beverage package.  We were able to take advantage of a buy one get one special on the beverage package for the cruise we recently booked which is going to be a huge money saver.  In addition, most cruise lines will allow you to bring two bottles of wine onboard with you. 6.    Take plenty of sunscreen with you.  I know it seems like a no-brainer but a can of sunscreen with cost you $15.00 in the ship’s general store. 7.    Pack light.  You will spend most of your time in casual clothes and swimwear.  You won’t need a ton of shoes either. 8.    Don’t feel as if you have to book shore excursions from the cruise line.  Be a little adventurous and go out on your own when in port, and get a taxi or bus from the locals.  You will save a lot of money by letting the locals get you to where you want to go, and will be boosting their economy at the same time.  I have felt safe in every single port we have ever been to with the exception of Jamaica. 9.    Take advantage of duty free shopping both onboard and in port, and if you want great deals on jewelry visit St. Thomas. These are just a few things I can think of to make a cruise vacation more enjoyable and economical.

Being a parent can be one of the most rewarding jobs of a lifetime. We get the joys of teaching them right from wrong, instill respect for themselves and others, good morals and manners and self worth.  This of course is all in addition to the “normal” responsibilities of a parent such as keeping them safe, providing for them, loving and nurturing them.  Getting to see all of life’s milestones for your children such as their first step, their first word, their first day of school, and graduation to name a few, is almost bittersweet.  It’s such a joy to see what smart, loving and independent little individuals they are becoming but at the same time so hard to see them grow so fast. When our children are little it’s so easy for us to get wrapped up in the day to day and we take for granted they are still little and we have years of time to teach them, play with them, and watch them grow.  However, I know I have been told a time or two that I needed to enjoy all the time I have with my daughter because before I know it she will be all grown up and on her own.  Which is true, it seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital after she was born and now she is this beautiful smart little girl who plays with her baby dolls and takes care of them much like I did when she was an infant.  Sometimes I scratch my head and say where did the time go and when did she learn how to do that? However, being a parent also has its less rewarding times.  Some of life’s lessons come from some of the hardest situations.  We’ve all heard the saying, “sometimes you have to let them fall so they can learn to get back up.”  As a parent, we never want to see our children hurt, physically or emotionally.  We want to protect them from all evils in life and try to keep them as safe and innocent as long as possible.  But that simply just can’t be done.   As hard as it is we must let our children learn and grow by any means necessary so that when they reach adulthood they are fully capable of living on their own and supporting themselves.  However, this is not always evident, in any given situation this might be an opportunity where mom and dad have to step back their role in being the protectors and help them learn all the necessary lessons in the particular situation.  For example: bullying.  Your child comes home from school and informs you that another child is making fun of them.  As a parent it is your immediate instinct to march into the school and take it up with the principal or call the bullying child’s parent, which is all acceptable to do, but I firmly believe not before you try and teach your child to handle the situation and resolve it on their own.  After all, mom and dad are not going to be around forever and there are bullies in all walks of life; childhood and adulthood and if they do not learn how to handle these situations on their own then they could possibly spend a lifetime of allowing others to treat them poorly.  Teaching them how to handle such a situation isn’t just showing them how to handle the immediate issue, but in the long term it’s also teaching them how to stand up and protect themselves, problem solve, and instill a sense of independence and confidence.  Like I said, these opportunities are not always so clear, so as a parent you need to learn to step back in a situation and evaluate before reacting, after all isn’t that what we want to teach our kids as well? At the end of the day, looking back there is always something good that comes out of any situation/lesson even if at the time it isn’t evident.  The important thing is that we can look back and see the valuable lesson we gained from it and be able to use what we learned in our everyday lives.  I think we can all agree that we want what’s best for our children and while there are obviously different ways to raise and teach a child, generally speaking we want them to all be loving, caring, strong and independent people of the world.

In June, the 4 th Annual Sonny Palmer “Sunshine Classic” golf tournament will be held in memory of my beloved brother-in-law, Sonny Palmer, who passed away suddenly January 1, 2012. Sonny was an Air Force vet and his family, in keeping his spirit alive, organizes a golf tournament each summer in which the proceeds are donated to The Wounded Warrior Project in his name. The golf tournament is held at the Fairway River Links Golf Course in Rayland, and afterwards, all golfers are invited to a get together where wonderful donations from the community, along with baskets (put together and donated by family members), are raffled off as prizes. Last year, Chris Miller Furniture was a big donator to this effort and we thank the Miller family for helping us make 2014 successful.  This year, one really exciting donation is from The Jamboree in the Hills owners who have donated a 4-day pass to this summer’s Jamboree in the Hills.  We have two four-day passes to the Jamboree and we are selling tickets that will provide two chances to win on each ticket based on the West Virginia Daily 3 number (drawing) held the evening of the golf tournament. As I have said in a previous blog, this event not only helps our wounded warriors that come back and have to struggle with daily life after combat and injury, this also helps our family deal with loss that is still painful to this day.  All who participate in this golf tournament knew and loved Sonny.  There are a lot of stories told with laughter that brings many to tears and then back to laughter on this day. I personally want to thank the businesses in our community that donate many, many great prizes, food, drinks and gift cards.  Bordas & Bordas helps with our effort and I thank the partners for their continued donation of a hole-sponsorship at the tournament.  Sonny’s family through the success of the golf tournaments over the past three years has made donations to The Wounded Warrior Project that total $9,700.00.  It is our hope that this helps our wounded warriors in some small way.   Just as Sonny would have wanted.

After my father retired from 22 years in the Air Force, our family moved to the small town of Mill Creek located in the hills of Randolph County, West Virginia. We were all really excited about moving back “home” after living elsewhere (Japan and Okinawa, as well as New York, Virginia, Tennessee and Michigan) for so many years.  Most of my mother’s family lived in the area, so we were surrounded with lots of aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins!  I can still vividly remember the summers, going barefoot (after a brief period of toughening up your soles), wearing cut-off jeans (you didn’t buy shorts, you just cut off your jeans when they got holes in the knees), flip-flops (which used to cost less than a dollar), patching holes in old tire tubes (before radials) to take to the creek for floating down river!  Of course, you wore sneakers so your bare feet wouldn’t touch the craw crabs. Okay, I do sound like a hillbilly, but it was fun!  Kids didn’t go indoors until dusk, after a few games of Kick the Can, Red Rover-Red Rover, Mother May I, Swing the Statue (personal favorite) or just catching fireflies, oh and swatting at bats.  There were no video games, cell phones, laptops, or Internet.  Just the great outdoors and it was always full of adventure in Mill Creek. Some events are burned into my memory of those days, including camping in my aunt’s backyard by the creek with all my cousins, and just before trying to go to sleep, we see a huge “cat” climbing down off the roof of the bus garage, facing our campsite.  But as the cat crawled closer, we realized it was no house cat, it was a BOBCAT.  Talk about screaming and hollering, it didn’t take us all of 60 seconds to run into the house.  So much for camping! And there was the time my cousin Terri and I were sitting on her front porch on a warm summer evening, watching the traffic.  Folks in the country are friendly so when we saw two strange young men go by, we tried to make conversation with them.  Just a quick hello and they kept going.  A few minutes later, the Sheriff and a few men carrying guns came by and asked if we had seen anyone.  Apparently two inmates had escaped from the Huttonsville Correctional Center (just about two miles away) and we were more than excited to say, “Well, yes, we did see them!”  Huttonsville Correction Center (now a maximum security prison) used to allow inmates to work the farm and it seemed there were always escapees.  My Aunt Lois singlehandedly captured two different escapees with a shot gun near her home while her husband was at work.  The episode earned her a guest spot on “To Tell The Truth” with Kitty Carlisle.  They all guessed it was her….  And more than once my grandfather, who ran a taxi service, picked up a hitchhiker who turned out to be an escapee.  Thankfully, no one was ever hurt. Early one summer when school had just let out, my cousin Terri and I were sporting our new bare feet and accidently ran across some freshly poured blacktop.  Talk about a hot foot!  We had to pick the hot sticky stuff off our feet.  Then there was the time we were hiking in the woods (my older sister’s favorite pastime) and came across a man lying in the grass.  We ran away screaming thinking he was dead, but looking back, was probably just sleeping off a night of drinking…. And did I mention skateboarding?  After retiring, my father worked as a mechanic in my uncle’s filling station.  One of the oil suppliers gave my father a skateboard as part of a promotional advertisement.  In 1964, skateboarding was just gaining popularity on the west coast, but was still fairly new to the east coast.  This skateboard was actually a wooden board about 20 inches long and five inches wide, with metal roller skate wheels attached to the bottom.  Not much by today’s standards, but it was so much more exciting than roller skates!  There was one new kid in town who also owned a skateboard so he and I became “fast” friends.  Believe it not, I was pretty good!  No helmet, just you and the pavement.  I still have that beat up old board! Well, enough said.  Bet you have some good memories of your childhood summers too!  Much simpler times -- the good old days!

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, is what I am told. Beauty is something different to each and every person, but beauty to me can be won down in Charleston, West Virginia. It’s every athlete’s dream to hold the conference tournament trophy at the end of the season, and it is no different in the Mountain East Conference for Division II women’s basketball. I played for West Liberty University for three seasons under Coach Lynn Ullom. When I arrived to West Liberty, the women’s basketball team had not won a tournament championship since 2004. After being unsuccessful my sophomore and junior year, I laced up my shoes on my first day of pre-season my senior year with one goal in mind: to win the 2015 MEC tournament. We were ranked first in the pre-season poll for the conference and ninth in the country for NCAA Division II, so I knew the pressure was on to win it all. I can’t lie and say I do not get nervous and I usually can push nerves aside, but the opening night at West Liberty was a different story. I must say that the only thing that got me through my nerves on opening night were the loyal fans of West Liberty. Over those three years, the people of West liberty became family to me. Some fans knew just about everything about me. In fact, they even knew my parents. I have played basketball a lot of places in my career, but there are no fans like West Liberty fans. Maybe, that’s why the championship was so important to me. I realized the trophy wasn’t just for my teammates and coaches, but for everyone that calls West Liberty home. On March 8, 2015, I looked at the scoreboard as the final buzzer went off and it read 76-55 in favor of us, the Hilltoppers. The feeling I had in that moment was something that will never be duplicated. After escaping the dog pile of my teammates, I looked up at the hundreds of people cheering in the stand and thought to myself, “I should be clapping for the people that got me here.” The first person my eyes looked to were my parents. My parents are my biggest fans. I felt as if my dad had worked just as hard for that trophy as I had, which is why my championship trophy hangs in his office. In that moment, I was the happiest I have ever been and realized that West Liberty is a magical place.

This Friday, May 29, 2015, is the annual Friday Night Lights benefit at St. Jude Park to raise money for the Mike Linsky Memorial Scholarship fund, awarded to an outstanding John Marshall High School student athlete each year to help with college costs. This year, I was invited to perform at the event, which undoubtedly marks the high point in my adult-onset singing “career” for a couple of reasons. First, I get to perform with Glen Dale’s legendary Rip Rockers. For at least the last couple decades, joining the Rip Rockers on stage has been high on my bucket list. I have watched and listened to them many times and have witnessed the energy and outstanding musicianship they bring to every show. And I’ve known and spent time with most of the guys all my life, so I was definitely a fan. It’s been so great to have been invited to practice, perform and hang out with all the guys, but beyond simply getting to live out a rock ‘n roll fantasy, this event, and most importantly the man behind it, are very dear to my heart, which makes Friday night extra special for me. For me, Coach Mike Linsky is a giant in the annals of John Marshall sports history, not necessarily because of his winning percentage, although he delivered us a State Championship in 1996, but because of the profound influence he had on the lives of so many players and students, including me.  You see, although I never played football for him, Mike Linsky was every bit the coach and mentor to me that he was to his players. When I came to John Marshall for high school, it was as a transfer student from Linsly. It was pretty nerve-racking for me to be honest.  I had been out of the county school system for three years by then, long enough to have been forgotten by my grade school peer group during a time of extreme physical and emotional change for all of us.  Plus I was transitioning from a private school where I wore a coat and tie every day, and where you were picked on if you didn’t get good grades, to a school where lots of kids wore cowboy boots and the so-called “nerdy” kids were the ones often targeted.  It’s never easy being the new kid, but Coach Linsky went out of his way to make sure I never had to be.  In the Winter/Spring of my freshman year at Linsly, Coach Linsky agreed to let me come lift weights with the football players every day after school, which was a tremendously generous gesture in its own right for a kid who didn’t even go to school there and wasn’t going to play football. I figured I’d sort of sneak in there, keep my head down and work out in a corner by myself.  Boy was I wrong.  From the first time I ever stepped foot in that weight room, Coach Linsky treated me just as if I were a member of that team. He had a great program going in that weight room at the time, tracking milestones, setting goals and promoting safe, healthy competition to try and get the best out of all of his players. He threw me right into that mix, tracking my progress right along with all the other players, pairing me up with a lot of different guys for certain lifts, I think mostly so I would get to know them and encouraging me and cheering me on just as he did with everyone else. Looking back on it, those few months in the weight room were instrumental to my high school experience.  Not only did I improve athletically, but I gained more than a few new friends and may have even earned the respect of a few kids who were otherwise likely to have tormented me in school. Coach Linsky made me one of the guys. So when I arrived for school at John Marshall that fall, it wasn’t as that skinny dork from the rich kids’ school, but instead as that skinny dork from the weight room – but having an established presence with a decent sized group of kids coming in that fall made all the difference for me. Coach Linsky gave me the gift of self-confidence and reassurance that I could cut it at a big school.  I can’t ever thank him enough for that. If you knew Coach Linsky, then you know that he didn’t stop there with me.  Although I never had the opportunity to play for him, I was blessed to have Coach Linsky as my AP History teacher. He was so knowledgeable and passionate about the subject that you couldn’t help but absorb the material.  He made learning interesting and fun. He also taught us quite a bit about navigating adulthood, about finding balance in our academic and scholastic pursuits, about being a good father and friend. Outside the classroom, he continued to take an interest in me and many other non-players.  He’d come to our non-football games and get excited with us for big ones, or stop us in the hallway for a laugh or to offer some advice.  When time allowed, sometimes he’d even sit down for a quick game of euchre with us.  Coach Linsky always had a big heart. I witnessed many examples of Coach going out of his way to bond with students whose situations were less fortunate, to try and bring some levity and joy to their lives – which was something else that has always resonated with me. He was genuinely happy to listen and try and help his students if they had a problem. I’ve heard many wonderful remarks about Coach Linsky over the years from his former players, and was as thrilled as anyone when he led the Monarchs to the 1996 State Championship with a team of wonderful players and people who truly embraced Coach’s style and philosophy, but to me Coach Linsky was always much more than a football coach.  To me he was a life coach, and there’s still not a week that goes by that I don’t think about him and the stories and advice he provided that still impact me as much, if not more, today as a husband and father myself. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone 9 years now. I still get emotional thinking about him. I wish he could have met my kids, whom I know he would get a kick out of, and so they could experience his kind wit, big smile and caring wisdom. But I know Coach wouldn’t want us to dwell too long on things missed.  He would want us to persevere and keep working hard to be the best we can be and live the happiest lives we can. So I am truly overjoyed to see his former players, students, fellow coaches and the community at large come together each year to make certain that the profound impact Coach Linsky had on other’s lives is remembered and honored through support for others.  And being fortunate enough to have been asked to play at Friday’s event, we’re going to play our hardest and best to make sure everyone enjoys themselves as much as possible.  After all, I know that’s the way Coach would want it.  If you’re interested in the event, check out http://linskymemorialscholarship.mysimplestore.com/.