The following blog about Stedman Bailey originally ran September 12, 2013.  The staff of Connect-Bridgeport joins the city of Bridgeport and the entire Mountain State in sending wishes of recovery to this former Mountaineer standout. Bailey was one of the victims in a Tuesday night shooting in Miami. Read about that here. 

 

He’s the 8th ranked college wide receiver in the nation and he can run like the wind.

Yet, every time I watch Stedman Bailey do his thing, I think of the Atlanta Airport.

It was Jan. 12, 2010, at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport where my family and I first became aware of the up-and-coming Mountaineer talent.

We had just landed to catch our connecting flight to Pittsburgh. For the past couple of hours, we had been in the air over the Caribbean islands, returning from our post-holiday treat to Cancun.

Tired, tanned – and dressed very inappropriately for the winter weather to which we were returning – we had grabbed a bite to eat at one of the airport restaurants. It was then that the TV brought us the news that a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake had been rocking the grounds of Haiti as we were in flight.

After digesting our food and the world news, we plopped down in the waiting area at the gate of our departing flight.

My son Jeffrey noticed a couple of guys sporting WVU warm-ups. He said they were surely athletes. So, I asked them who they were.

They had a laidback spirit and were very friendly. The duo told us they were from Florida, returning to WVU after spring break. Both were going to join the Mountaineers for the 2010-11 spring training season.

Bailey had gone to Miramar High School and been coached by former Mountaineer, Damon Cogdell. For one year, he had been a red-shirt freshman at the University. He was joined on the flight by Daquan Hargrett from Miami Northwestern High. Hargrett ended up seeing limited playing time at WVU and transferred to Florida International University in 2011.

Our younger son, Jacob, was itching for an autograph. The only thing we had handy was a picturesque Cancun postcard. That has become one of our favorite mementos from our trip. On the front, there is a serene scene from the Mexican shores; on the back, two signatures and WVU jersey numbers. Hargrett signed as #29 and Bailey as #10. Since, he has claimed his favored #3.

That year, Bailey made his mark at WVU, earning All-Big-East freshman honors by ESPN.com, taking the fourth-leading receiver spot and completing those beauty catches against Maryland and NC State.

Since then, Bailey has stacked up yards, honors and confidence from his fans. To date, he has 21 career touchdowns to his credit and ranks 3 for all-time WVU TDs.

The Perines are proud to have made his acquaintance on a bittersweet day in 2010. We’re glad our paths crossed some hundreds of miles away from the Mountain State and pleased he has found himself a real home with the Mountaineers of  West Virginia. 

 

Julie Perine can be reached at 304-848-7200, julie@connect-bridgeport.com or follow @JuliePerine on Twitter.