By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN —
It’s a rainy Wednesday here in Morgantown, one of those days when it’s really tough to get inspired.
Mostly it’s a down time in college athletics, although the conference predicament that seems to grow daily is stirring up national interest and Jedd Gyorko’s selection as a second-round draft pick by the San Diego Padres has been one of those nice stories that you like to cover.
But really, it is more one of those days built for reflection, a time to think about the most exceptional moments in West Virginia University’s sports history, performances that have never been topped and, quite likely, never will be topped.
Sport grabs us for many reasons, drawing us all in with an unreasonable passion because of the drama, the thrill of victory and, yes, the agony of defeat. We watch not as voyeurs, but almost as participants, living with each pitch, feeling the pain of each block, soaring as high as Joe Alexander on a dunk.
It is something more, though, than just the drama of the moment. It is marveling at the skill and strength and speed of the athlete as he accomplishes something that was seemingly impossible, going where no one before him had gone.
On a wet, dreary afternoon, one could just kick back in the easy chair or one could stick his nose into the West Virginia University sports record book and pull out some of the most unbelievable records in the school’s history.
The requirement for qualifying is quite simple: If while stumbling upon the record one uttered any version of “Holy cow!” or “Wow!, it qualified and we will begin with a record that came grew out of a disaster.
• In 1993 West Virginia had gone undefeated before being blown away by Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Because of that success, it was matched up in the Kickoff Classic against a Nebraska team that would prove itself to be the nation’s best in 1994.
The result was predictable, WVU having graduated many of its best players. Final score: Nebraska 31, West Virginia 0.
But in that game Todd Sauerbrun proved himself to be probably the greatest punter in college football history as he set a pair of school records, the first averaging 60.1 yards a punt for the game but even more amazing was a 90-yard punt he boomed against the Cornhuskers that carried him all the way into the College Football Hall of Fame.
• Perhaps the next most amazing record in school history belongs to the most amazing athlete in the history of the school, Jerry West.
During the 1960 season, West was a double-double machine.
A double-double means a player has 10 or more points, rebounds and/or assists in a game.
Some players may do it for a few games a year. The great ones may do it for a lot of games a year.
Jerry West played 31 games that season and in 30 of them he had a double-double.
• In the end, football winners are decided by who scores the most points and that is why Patrick White was such a winner.
White was responsible for no fewer than 103 touchdowns during his career, that meaning running, passing, receiving or returning.
The best way to judge this is to understand that in second place is Rasheed Marshall, another quarterback, who was responsible for 69, a full 34 fewer TDs.
• As long as we are on the value of points being scored, we must move into basketball. There are those who will recall Da’Sean Butler’s 43-point outburst against Villanova in 2009, a rather startling performance to be sure.
But it was not a record, or even close to one, for Hot Rod Hundley, the Hall of Fame forward, went up against Furman in 1957 and threw in 54 points.
While this should have impressed the people at Furman, it really didn’t, for just three years earlier Frank Selvy of Furman had scored 100 points in a game against Newberry College.
• From a more modern era we come to the greatest rushing performance in WVU football history and it was brought to you courtesy of Kay-Jay Harris, who ran over, around and through East Carolina for 337 yards on 25 carries in the opening game of the 2004 season.
No one had ever come close to matching that and certain Harris would not ever approach it again. In fact, he managed somehow to miss gaining 1,000 yards in that season, despite the record start.
• Sometimes you have to go back really far to find strange happenings. In this case, a running back named George Allen performed for Hall of Fame Coach Greasy Neale in 1933 and was something of a workhorse.
On Nov. 18, he set the school record with 42 rushes in a 26-13 victory over West Virginia Wesleyan. Given a week to heal the bruises he picked up, Allen came back the following week in a 14-12 victory over Georgetown in D.C., and broke his own record with 45 rushes.
Allen gained 150 yards against Georgetown but against Wesleyan it was something of a ground onslaught as Allen gained 184 and Tom Covey gained 135 on 23 more carries.
Certainly, there are others that belong … Steve Dunlap’s 28 tackles against Boston College in 1974, Danny Buggs’ 96-yard TD reception from Ben Williams against Penn State in 1973, the aptly named Victor Rabbits 99-yard punt return against VMI in 1955 and Steve Berger’s 16 assists against Pitt in 1989, but we’ll save them for another rainy day.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
