North Marion’s Michael to enter West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame

Former North Marion and Mannington High School football and wrestling coach Roy Michael will be inducted into the WV Sports Hall of Fame.

By Doug Huff, West Virginia Sports Writers Association

WHEELING, W.Va. –Two of the most successful Mountain State college and high school coaches will be inducted into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

The honorees are retired West Virginia State baseball coach Cal Bailey and former North Marion and Mannington High School football and wrestling coach Roy Michael.

They will be inducted by the W. Va. Sports Writers Association at the 72nd annual Victory Awards Dinner on May 6 in Charleston.

Bailey retired in 2014 as the winningest all-sport college coach in state history. Michael retired in 2003 after winning seven state titles for two schools in two sports and in two classes.

Bailey compiled a won-loss record of 1,063-521-4 in 37 seasons as Yellow Jacket coach from 1978-2014.  Guiding 36 winning record teams, he became in 2012 only the 10th NCAA Division-II coach to record 1,000 wins. His West Virginia Conference and Mountain East record was 645-168.

He coached 18 WVIAC title teams plus one MEC championship squad with two D-II World Series squads. The 1999 team was ranked No. 3 nationally and the 2005 squad ranked No. 5.

Honored numerous times, Bailey is the only state college spring coach to be selected the all-sport W.Va. College Coach of the Year (1980) and was the WVIAC Coach of the Year eight times and Atlantic Regional coach of the year twice. He was selected to coach the U.S.A. Eastern Division Olympic Trials team in 1985.

An inductee into the W.Va. State and W.Va. Baseball Coaches Halls of Fame, the Yellow Jacket diamond was named the Calvin Bailey Field in 1998.

Bailey has coached 16 All-America honorees including eight first team picks; 36 professional players including three to reach the major leagues–Larry Carter and Paul Fletcher of Ravenswood and Scott Patterson of Pittsburgh, Pa.; and over 100 players who have gone on to became baseball coaches.

Born April 8, 1943 in Newton, W.Va., he is a 1960 graduate of Spencer High School where he played baseball and basketball.

At W. Va. State, the right-handed pitcher earned Al-WVIAC honors and was a 23rd round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1966. He competed six years in the minor leagues and retired in 1971 after playing for the Charleston Charlies. After completing his college degree work, including a master’s, he joined W.Va. State in 1974 as an assistant coach before assuming the head coaching job in 1978.

Bailey resides in Cross Lanes, W.Va.

Michael, meanwhile, was a winner both as an athlete and coach in Marion County.

Born Feb. 1, 1948 in Rivesville, he was a 1966 graduate of Rivesville High before walking on the Fairmont State football program. From 1966-69, he competed on four Falcon teams with a combined 32-4 record and two WVIAC titles and he was a quarterback on he 1967 national NAIA championship team. The inductee into the Fairmont State Hall of Fame became the first Falcon to pass for over 2,000 career yards (2572).

His first coaching job was at Mannington High, which had 11 straight losing football records before he guided the Gators to unmatched success. From 1971-78, he led the football team to back-to-back state Class A titles in 1976-77 and won 32 straight games. In 1977, the Gators defeated Pineville, 28-20 in the title game with the runner-up led by all-time great running back Curt Warner.

Michael’s last five teams went 50-5 including two unbeaten squads and four playoff teams. Overall, his eight Gator squads went 62-23.

In wrestling, he guided Mannington’s only state wrestling champions in 1978 and the school’s final season of 1979 as he was named state Class AA/A Coach of the Year.

When Mannington, and other schools, were among those consolidated into North Marion High in 1979-80, Michael continued his success story as football and wrestling coach by winning four state football titles in a six-year span and adding a wrestling champion in Class AAA..

He guided the Huskies to three straight Class AAA football title games, winning in 1980 and 1981 over Brooke and rival Fairmont Senior before bowing in 1982 to George Washington, 13-9.

A member of those three teams won the 1982 Kennedy Award as the state’s top player, Brad King.

His overall North Marion record was 96-33.

Overall, his 20-year football mark was 158-56 including nine playoff teams with a 14-5 record, 4-1 in title games.

He coached Huskies’ wrestling from 1980-2003 and won a Class AAA crown in 1998 as well as being named Class AAA Coach of the Year.

He coached 17 state champions including two winners of the Dutton Award as state Wrestler of the Year. They were his son Jay Michael in 1991 and Doug Moore, a co-winner in 1993. Michael was 29-0 and 31-0-1 his last two seasons. Moore won four state titles and was 118-2 in his career.

Michael resides in Farmington.





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