Rev. Nedeff still admired at WVU

By Paul LaPann, Managing Editor

Following the Rev. George Nedeff around Milan Puskar Stadium when the West Virginia University Mountaineers are playing football in Morgantown is like following a celebrity, I found out last Saturday. Women hug him. Men shout his name and offer a handshake. The sight of Nedeff at the Puskar Center brought one stadium employee to tears he was so happy. Nedeff, a Parkersburg native, made many friends in Morgantown during his 30 years at WVU as a wrestling coach and director of athletic facilities. Nedeff also earned a letter in football at WVU in 1963, wrestled there and served on Morgantown City Council. Now serving as a Catholic priest in Corpus Christi, Texas, Nedeff enjoys visiting his old stomping grounds in Morgantown, where he last worked in 1996. Stadium personnel embraced Nedeff when we entered Mountaineer Field near Puskar Center. Several said they wish Nedeff had never left the university. On our tour of the stadium, including the luxury suites, pressbox and locker room, Nedeff talked with Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong, head football coach Bill Stewart, head basketball coach Bob Huggins and his wife, June, Stewart’s executive assistant Donnie Young, equipment manager Bubba Schmidt, Vienna native D. Lyn Dotson (vice president for development with the WVU Foundation) and others he worked with at WVU. We saw former head football coach Don Nehlen and Parkersburg’s Smoot Fahlgren watching the game from the United Bank box seats in the west suite. Vienna residents Judy Sheppard and Steve and Darby Higgs watched the game from the new club boxes in the south suite. Tim Matheny of Parkersburg was enjoying the game from Ike Morris’s box seats in the terrace suite. Paul and Nancy Brooks of Parkersburg were in the Puskar Center lobby. Down on the field during the game, we saw Zach Jones of Parkersburg and Mountaineer Marching Band member Wendy Penco, a graduate of Parkersburg South High School. Tailgating together in the blue lot were local residents Steve McCord, Rich and David Sheridan, John and Laurie Hushion, Scot and Betty Swartz, Cathy, Matt and Allison Murphy and Sean and Kristi Francisco. Nearby were Vienna residents Gary and Marlee Lombard and Gary’s former football teammate at WVU, Jeff Merrow of Georgia. It’s worth a trip to the Puskar Center to see the Brohard Hall of Traditions, filled with photographs, records, memorabilia and videos of Mountaineer football history. ?

Lubabalo N. Kondlo from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, is receiving Mid-Ohio Valley hospitality while he awaits a shot at a world title. Kondlo is staying at the Alan Millhone residence in Belpre before heading off to Medina, Ohio, to play Ron King of Barbados for the world title in “free style,” or go-as-you-please, Checkers. Millhone, president of the American Checker Federation, helped to bring Kondlo to last year’s ACF National Tournament at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas and the World Qualifier in Checkers, which he won. Millhone will referee the 24-game match between Kondlo and King, who has held the World Checker Champion title for 19 years, next week. On Thursday, members of First Baptist Church in Parkersburg, where Millhone attends, had Kondlo as their guest for lunch at Panera Bread in Vienna. In Africa, Millhone noted, Kondlo walks about 10 miles to e-mail him from the back of a Somalian grocery store, which has an Internet cafe. Millhone is flying the U.S. and South African flags at his Belpre home. ?