Welcome to our West Virginia Mountaineer Pride site. I hope our collection of “Pride-filled” moments, memories, and poetry entertains you. I wish to thank all fellow Mountaineer “fan-atics” who contributed their memories.
"I suppose that if the more than one million mountains in West Virginia were leveled flat, the state would reach all the way to Texas. In any event, its boundaries extend farther north than Pittsburgh, farther south than Richmond -- the capital of the Old Confederacy -- as far east as Buffalo, New York, and as far west as Columbus, Ohio. It is the most southern of the northern and the most northern of the southern; the most eastern of the western and the most western of the eastern. It is where the East says good morning to the West, and where Yankee Doodle and Dixie kiss each other good night! It is the state that is 'wild and wonderful' and 'almost heaven,' with its beautiful hills and its law-abiding, God-fearing, and patriotic people." Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), United States Senate, April, 1983.
Mountaineer Pride #1
I took my son to Urbana to see the WV/Illinois game. Lighting Buggs lived up to his nickname by speeding downfield to catch the winning pass and win the game in the final seconds. Illinois was stunned but all Mountaineers were elated. It's great to know he is still involved. He is a true Mountaineer hero.
(Submitted by: Jack Elbon)
Mountaineer Pride #2
Whenever I go out of state I always bring a t-shirt or polo shirt that has West Virginia on it to wear. I am proud to be a West Virginian and a WVU grad. I love to show off my WVU Alumni license plate and if I see a Marshall license plate on a car I try to get in front of it if I can. I enjoy going to Mountaineer Field and seeing "The Pride of West Virginia" perform.I was excited to see our basketball teams do well last year in the NCAA and NIT tournaments and I support all WVU teams. I enjoy talking about West Virginia and I'm glad I was born a West Virginian.
Michael Bragg
WVU Class of 1989
Mountaineer Pride #3
Mountaineer Pride #4
When I was away from my beloved WV and living in Austin, TX, I had to work one Christmas eve. We were not busy at the data processing center where I worked and were listening to the
radio and the dj asked for requests from anyone who could not be home for Christmas. I called and requested 'Country Roads' of course. When it started playing I started to cry. My co-workers just could not understand how the love for a State could make you cry. I just smiled and said, "If you were
from West Virginia you would understand." (Submitted by: Jim Ransbottom)
Mountaineer Pride #5
What follows are a few poems by the Morgantown poet, Joseph Gatski. He is a true talent and a person who captures the spirit of West Virginia. (These poems were submitted by Jim Shaffer, Blue Tic Council.)
Mountaineer Pride #6
Hello, I’m a recent WVU graduate in Mechanical Engineering.
It’s great to see someone taking pride in WVU! I have a funny story that
occurred just a couple of weeks ago. I work at a plastics plant in
Marietta, Ohio. (Marietta is right on the Ohio River, so the employees here
are split about 50/50 between West Virginia and Ohio. You can
imagine the hype prior to the WVU/Ohio State game!)
While I was walking to the production area with my boss (who is a
Ohio State fan and lives in Ohio) he reached into his pocket and told me
he had brought something for me. I held out my hand (expecting the worst) and
was surprised when he handed me a Buckeye! I laughed and asked my boss why he gave me a
“worthless nut.” Later that day I was in my office when I announced
that I had found a use for the "worthless nut." Paperweights -- the Buckeye doesn’t do
a very good job at holding down papers -- but at least it does have a use!
I took the “worthless nut” home with me and altered it slightly
before returning to work the next day. While we were sitting in the
morning meeting my boss was bragging how he had ‘got
me!’ Everyone thought that it was funny. Then I spoke up to say that I
had something for my boss. I handed the Buckeye back -- only this
time the Buckeye was painted WVU BLUE & GOLD! LET'S GO
MOUNTAINEERS! (Submitted by: Steve Gorrell , Proud WVU Grad)
Mountaineer Pride #7
One of my favorite memories of my father was him going absolutely insane while we were listening to a SC Tournament game against GW. WVU had a big lead and "Hot Rod" Hundley was doing his dribbling act while being guarded by a kid named Bucky
McDonald. McDonald had committed the unpardonable sin (in my father's eyes) by leaving WV to go to an out-of-state school. According to the unbiased reporting of Jack Fleming, McDonald got so frustrated that he hauled off and
punched Hundley.
I grew up with Bucky as one of the original boogeymen images of an
athlete......and all of a sudden one day in Martinsburg, about 15 years later,
I was introduced to this big teddybear of a guy with a huge grin and an even
bigger laugh. Son of a gun if it wasn't Bucky McDonald in the
flesh! (And he claimed he never touched Hundley in that game.) There I was trying to decide whether to believe Jack Fleming or this guy who
had hold of my hand and was about 100 pounds heavier than me!
(Submitted by: Jim Ashley, MEG, Dunn Loring, VA)
The nickname "Snakes" or "Snakers" was actually given to WVU athletic teams by the Pitt Panthers before the turn of the century. It was rumored the West Virginia hills were filled with black snakes and, therefore, Pitt refused to play in Morgantown for many, many years.
"Mountain Men" or "Mountaineers" was first used by Mountain Honorary, the ranking honorary at WVU. "Mountaineers" was gradually accepted as the nickname of WVU athletic teams between 1910-1917 and first used by the WVU baseball team.
(This was documented by Paul B. Martin, longtime editor of the Martinsburg Journal, noted WVU historian, and past president of the WVU Alumni Assocation. - from the MEG Digest, Monday, January 18, 1999.)
If you would like to see your Mountaineer Pride moments featured here, please email me. I will try to add any contributions to the Mountaineer Pride site within a day of receiving them!
The opinions voiced here are purely the rantings of the author and not those attested to by anyone associated with West Virginia University!