DUNBAR, W.Va. — Rising senior Zach Cable held up a shiny new pair of Nike cleats at Richwood High School. The garnet-and-gold color scheme and the Florida State Seminoles logo on the tongue left no doubt where the shoes originated.
“I”m really impressed at all of the people who decided to help us,” said Cable as he looked over a semi-truck filled with football gear. “It’s really nice equipment. I can’t be more thankful for everything they’ve done.”
The tractor-trailer arrived from Florida loaded with shoes, helmets, shoulder pads, pants, jerseys—all of the gear flood-ravaged teams will need next week to start the 2016 high school football season in West Virginia. Inside the National Guard warehouse in Dunbar, staffers with the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission began to inventory truckloads of gear that arrived this week from high schools in Alabama and West Virginia and a shipment of jerseys and cleats from West Virginia University.
“The response has been incredible,” said Bill Gillespie, communications and technology director for the WVSSAC, “We think we’ll have enough to give the high schools 60 full sets of equipment and 40 for each of the middle schools.”
Six schools, including Richwood High, lost all their football equipment in the June flood. Since then, a drive has been underway to replace it. The effort gained momentum when Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher, assistant Rick Trickett, and Alabama’s Nick Saban—all West Virginia natives—joined the cause. Each coach reached out to high schools in their states to encourage donations. Many responded.
“It’s amazing what universities that are not close to home, but have that West Virginia tie, have done to chip in for the effort,” said Richwood coach Chad Hall. “The outreach has been incredible, not just locally, but from far away.”
The drive also raised about $65,000, which ill be distributed to schools to condition the gear to school colors and assist other sports that were affected.
Football practice starts Monday in West Virginia. The SSAC plans to distribute the new gear to six teams Wednesday at the Coonskin Armory in Charleston.
“We start Monday and we still have uncertainty where we’re going to even have school,” Hall said. “It’s good to get them back in here for a sense of normalcy. That way they feel a little more comfortable about the season and the school year.”‘
The donations mean even more to some players who were not only worried about their football season, but also lost their homes and all of their families’ possessions.
“From all the devastation we’ve had, it just really brings hope that people would want to help a small town like Richwood and other places in West Virginia,” said Cable.
“You can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for us,” Hall added. “Not just for us, but for all of the schools affected. It’s amazing.”