Brian Hoffman
The baseball diamond at Glenvar High School was named for “a nice guy” last Friday as friends, family, former teammates and current players gath ered to honor Larry Wood. The field high on the hill will forever be named “Larry Wood Field” from this time on.
Wood was the baseball coach at Glenvar for over 20 years, leading the Highlanders to the Group A state championship in 1994 after finishing as state runner-up in 1993. He was named state Coach of the Year in ’94. From 1990 to 1999 Wood’s Highlanders won 150 games and lost just 51.
A graduate of E.C. Glass High School, where he was a multi-sport athlete, Wood has been involved in coaching for over 50 years and has also served as head baseball coach at Roanoke College. He’s currently an assistant coach with the Glenvar High girls’ softball team, and the girls delayed their game with Floyd County for 15 minutes so they could join in the ceremony.
While Wood has coached many sports at Glenvar, baseball is the one he’s most known for. He was a proponent of “small ball,” constantly putting pres sure on the opposition. In 2003 he was inducted into the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame.
Wood gave a heart-felt speech to the large crowd who assembled for the occasion. He mentioned that there were far too many people to thank to try and name everyone, but he was sure to mention long time assistant Larry Long, who shared the dugout with Wood for many seasons after being a student of Wood’s at Glenvar High.
Signs on the scoreboard and on the first base fence were unveiled officially naming the field for Wood. He was given a framed Glenvar jersey and a framed photo of the field as past players assembled on the field.
I’ve known Larry Wood for over 50 years work ing for the Salem Times-Register and he’s always been a joy to work with, more a friend than someone I covered for the sports page. He’s a Glenvar guy through and through. This past basketball season I was amazed to see him show up time and time again at the girls’ games as their losing streak continued. Other than parents, he probably attended more games than anyone else.
This has been a somewhat trying year for the soft ball team as well, but even as he was honored Larry took time to give the girls a pep talk as they prepared to play one of the best team’s in the Three Rivers District. That’s Larry. He’s all for the kids. Always has been.
After the ceremony a couple TV stations inter viewed Wood and one of them asked Larry what he’d like to be remembered for. Did he say a state cham pionship team? Did he mention all those wins on the ballfield? No, Larry said he’d like to be remembered as “a nice guy.”
Well, that’s a given. The field at Glenvar is named after a “nice guy” and everyone who has had the plea sure to know him would agree.
HESTER WAS WELL-KNOWN IN SALEM
Salem lost another good one on April 16 when Staley Hester passed at the age of 84. Staley grew up in Salem, lived here and was well-known for his community service as well as being president of his family business, Hester Coal & Oil Corporation.
This is a sports column, so I won’t go into Staley’s many contributions to the city, community activities and civic awards. You can find all that on his Oakey & Son obituary. I got to know him because he ran in the Salem Distance Run almost every single year since the run started in the mid-70s. He would always remind me that he never missed a race.
“Staley was a big supporter of the Salem Distance Run and ran in every Salem Distance Run 5K for over thirty years, from our first run in 1975 until the mid 2000’s,” said his lifelong friend Richard Browder.
A 1960 graduate of Andrew Lewis High School, Staley ran on the well-documented track teams coached by Ray Bussard. His participation on those Wolverine teams gave him a life-long passion for running.
“Like everyone who was on a Ray Bussard coached team at Andrew Lewis High School, Staley was very proud of this endeavor,” said Browder. “He was a good middle-distance runner on Coach Buzzard’s numerous championship track and cross country teams.”
The highlight of Staley’s career was running for the Wolverines in the 1958 Virginia State AAU Championship Cross Country Meet, won by Andrew Lewis. Browder noted that Staley also placed in the pole vault at an indoor meet at Woodberry Forest School.
“This was when vaulting poles were non-flexing steel, not fiberglass, and the landing pit was a sawdust pile,” said Browder. “Staley volunteered to vault for Coach Bussard in spite of no familiarity or practice.”
Staley was a friendly person with a quick smile. He would call me on occasion if something happened in Salem that would make a good story and I might not be aware of, and I always welcomed his calls. He was a good guy who the city of Salem is really going to miss.
