As we’ve done many times in this blog, the topic of greatest athlete in a particular sport, greatest game, biggest win and many more subjects of a similar nature are often fair and fun game for discussion. I was reminded earlier this week of the answer to a question I’ve known for a long time. The question is who is the greatest high school athlete from West Virginia you’ve ever witnessed?

 

This isn’t a question of who the greatest Bridgeport High School athlete is ever or the best in Harrison County history? Honestly, I’d have to think about that. I’m sure the name Chris Springer will come to mind for many that have followed BHS athletics and for those that don’t know it, current BHS principal Mark DeFazio was also a rare four-sport all-state athlete when he was in high school.

 

I can’t say anything about either since they were participating well before my time of observation. To be totally honest, I’m not sure who the best athlete is that I’ve seen in Harrison County or at Bridgeport High School. Certainly, there are some great ones and I’d love to see those that read this blog add their thoughts on that to the list below. Or heck, perhaps even that could be the topic of another blog. To me, it’s something that would require some serious thought.

 

But when it comes to watching the greatest high school athlete I’ve had a chance to watch in the Mountain State, it’s not even close. I was reminded of the answer this past week when Randy Moss was featured on ESPN’s “30 for 30” series titled “Rand University,” which was in reference to the unincorporated town of Rand from which he still calls home.

 

Twice in my life I’ve actually watched an athlete for the first time and knew, immediately, that the person was destined for the professional level – not counting O.J. Mayo, who was already a known commodity when he transferred back to Huntington High School. The first was a young man from Circleville High School named Travis Harper during an American Legion game at Frank Loria Field.

 

Although I was aware of Harper, I had never seen him play. The late Terry “Shakey” Shillingburg asked me to come out and watch Clarksburg Post 13’s game with a squad from the Pendleton County area and there he was in the field. He was so fluid, so graceful and, well; you get it, that it was puzzling to the mind. He could do it all in the field and on the mound and ended up playing for half a dozen years in the Major Leagues for Tampa Bay.

 

The second time was around 1993 or 1994, I can’t remember when because I ended up making a point to find reasons to watch Moss whenever I could. What separated Moss from not just Harper, but every other athlete I had witnessed before and since, was that I was convinced after watching him play football and basketball that not only could he play major Division I in either sport, but that he would end up playing professionally in the one that he opted to compete in.

 

Just how good was Moss while starring at DuPont High School? In 1994 he was the Kennedy Award winner in football. In 1993 and 1994 he was named the state high school player of the year. I actually sat on the all-state committees that voted for Moss as the top player and there was a since in that room, including many long-time journalists, that we were seeing something we would never see again.

 

In one of those meetings, I can’t remember what year it was, someone said that if Moss decided to make track a career that he would have been world class. The writer then explained – in the pre-internet and immediate information era – that as a 15-year-old Moss did run track and despite little training ended up being the state champion in both the 100 and 200 meters with times of 10.94 seconds and 21.95 seconds, respectively.

 

The times were no fluke. The year he red-shirted at Florida State, Moss ran a 4.25 in the 40-yard dash. It nearly topped FSU’s fastest time ever in the 40 – a 4.23 by a guy named Deion Sanders. And for good measure during his sophomore year at Marshall, Moss’ only year with the Herd track team – as a sophomore – saw him win the Southern Conference indoor track 55-meters and 200-meter championships after four years away from running. His 200 time of 21.15 seconds was among the best in the country.

 

He also played baseball and, from all accounts, was more than just an average center fielder. Yet through it all,  yours truly remembers a game Moss competed in that I never was able to witness. Back in 1994, Moss was teamed up with this point guard named Jason Williams, who played more than a dozen years in the NBA, to take on perennial power Beckley Woodrow Wilson in a Thursday morning Class AAA quarterfinal.

 

I had my press pass and my ride down to Charleston ready. I knew and, the fact that the Civic Center was sold out and people were actually scalping tickets showed everyone else knew, that they were in for the game of the century (see Youtube highlight clip below featuring a young Hoppy Kercheval).

 

Everyone was right. And since I woke up that morning with the stomach flu, yours truly missed it. In the end it didn’t matter. I had witnessed not only greatness at the high school level, but I had witnessed the greatest high school athlete at that time that I had ever witnessed. Twenty years later, no one has come close.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo is of Randy Moss being interviewed after the 1994 game with Beckley (courtesy of YouTube), while the bottom two photos of Moss show him in action during his years at Marshall University where he became an All-American before being drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings. Bottom two photos courtesy of Marshall University media relations.