SPENCER, W.Va. — Two central West Virginia communities, forever connected by tragedy, will come together in a spirit of competition on Friday night, but ultimately will be as one continuing to heal. The high school football game between Clay County and Roane County will mark the anniversary of the death of Roane County player Alex Miller.
The senior receiver for the Raiders collapsed during a time out at the end of the first quarter between the two teams at Clay County’s home field. He died on the field and the game never resumed. The devastation of the event drew the two old rivals closer together than ever before.
“Clay didn’t have a guy who passed away on the sideline that night, but they felt it just as much as we did,” said Roane County Coach Paul Burdette. “The bond we were able to make not only that night, but in the weeks ahead was pretty special.”
The two communities leaned on one another and for Burdette, the outpouring of support, not only from that night’s opponent, but from all across the state of West Virginia was overwhelming.
“My cell phone didn’t stop from 9:30 Friday night from about noon the next Friday. It was just continuous phone calls and messages. Then all the stuff on Facebook and all of the cards of sympathy which were given to us. It’s never far from my mind,” he said.
All across the state, high schools joined together with a variety of tributes. Most wore Miller’s number or some symbol on their helmet. Several carried his number 80 in their team’s jersey to the coin toss. Entire student bodies on a designated day wore maroon and white, the colors of Roane County High School.
A year later, the impact of Alex on the program is hard to escape. A monument with his picture and a Bible verse sits at the entrance to the stadium at Roane County High School. Inside the Raider locker room, a sheet of Plexiglas covers his locker, forever enshrined to his memory. There are stickers with his name and number and his picture is on a small refrigerator in the coaches office.
“It will be emotional Friday night for sure. We’ll get together and have a moment before the game to honor Alex, but it will definitely be an emotional night,” Burdette said.
The two schools plan to unveil a traveling trophy in Miller’s name which will go to the winner of the game each year, now dubbed the “Route 36 Rivalry”.
“We’ve both got a lot riding on this game obviously, but I think the biggest thing is to honor Alex and his memory,” said Burdette.