He’s been named Coach of the Year, he’s coached in six different decades, he

has coached in more football games (454) than any other coach in Virginia, he is

the third winningest active coach with 301 victories, and is probably one of the

only football coaches in Virginia to say that he has coached all four of his

sons on the gridiron. However, Norman G. Lineburg received the biggest

honor of his legendary coaching career Saturday night when the Radford City

School Board officially dedicated the playing field inside Bobcat Stadium as the

Norman G. Lineburg Field.

“The people in Radford

don’t owe me one thing,” said a modest Lineburg about this honor. “I have

been given a chance to coach in this high school, this community and all of

these fine people. It’s just been a wonderful experience and I have thoroughly

enjoyed it.”

More than 200 Bobcat

faithful, including former and current players and coaches, as well as other

coaches from throughout the area gathered to honor Lineburg. With threatening

skies and lightning in the background, school officials moved the event inside

following the National Anthem sung by Whitney King and Kaitlin McCue.

“Frequently local

governments, school boards and colleges will honor individuals by naming a

building, a park, or a field in honor of someone that has past away and that

person never has an opportunity to find out how the community feels about

them,” said Radford Mayor Tom Starnes. “Tonight, the school board is doing

it right by naming this field the Norman G. Lineburg Field while you still have

plenty of time to enjoy this prestigious honor.”

The naming of the field came

about earlier in the summer when the Radford School Board voted to name the

field in honor of Lineburg after being approached by the RHS Athletic Booster

Club.

“

Norman

has been such an influence on so many Radford athletes, it is almost hard to

describe the impact he has had,” said former School Board Vice-Chairman Carter

Effler in an earlier interview. “His example, his sense of fair play – he

has a real sense of integrity that makes him such a fine man and someone who you

are happy to put your trust in. That sense of fair play, of never cheating to

try to get a win has really characterized Radford athletics and that is to his

credit.”

Retired Salem head coach

Willis White, Va. Tech head coach and former Radford assistant Frank Beamer,

Steve Ragsdale (Giles), Jim Hickman (Northside), retired Pulaski County head

coach Joel Hicks and Floyd County’s Winfred Beale, were just of the few

coaches that came out to honor a man that has won two state football

championships, six regional crowns and 11 district titles in his stellar career.

Not only has Lineburg bought

two state football titles to Radford, but he also coached the Bobcats to the

state Group A track and field championship in 1998.

“Track is a love of mine

also,” said Lineburg.

Lineburg first came to

Radford in 1970 after starting his coaching career as an assistant at

Andrew

Lewis

High School

in 1959. In 1962 he coached at

William

Byrd

High School

and then started the varsity program at Fieldale-Collinsville in 1965.

Ironically, Lineburg and

now-retired

Salem

head football coach Willis White applied for the top spot at Radford.

“I applied for this job the

same year that

Norman

did,” said the legendary White. “I backed out because an opening was

becoming available at Patrick Henry at the time. I have always loved Radford and

Norman.”

As Lineburg mingled amongst

the gathering like a politician at a political rally, you could see the

well-loved coach shaking hands, posing for pictures and kissing babies.

“The things that I believe

in the most as a coach came from Norm,” said Frank Beamer, who was an

assistant under Lineburg at Radford for two years. “Treating people right,

being respectable to your players, being what you are. I learned all of that

from Norm.”

As the evening continued, a

host of speakers in the likes of David DeHart (class of 74), Bill “Skipper”

King (Class of 72), Dr. Nick Pappas (coach Lineburg’s teammate at Shepherd

College, Gary Tilley (RHS Athletic Booster Club president), Wayne Pridgen (RHS

coach) and several others roasted Lineburg.

“A gentleman, a motivator,

a great husband, father and a grandfather, a mentor, a great coach, a true

friend,” were comments echoed by several of the speakers throughout the

evening.

After several speeches by

former players and coaches, Karen Gerlach, Radford School Board Chairperson, and

Dr. Minnie Dean, past chairman of the school board, presented the official

resolution in naming the field to coach Lineburg and his wife, Joann, in front

of standing ovation that lasted several minutes.

“Before I start my remarks

I want to do this,” said the veteran coach. “There is not anything like

Bobcat tradition when you walk out of that locker room and the zits pop out on

you as you walk through that field toward Bobcat Country lined by sandlot kids

from the little squirts all the way up to the older kids. We then take that

field and the VFW is out there and we always shake their hands. We don’t do

anything without that fight song, so let’s hear it again.”

With a standing crowd joining

in by clapping and cheering, the band played on once again.

“I don’t know how to say

this…let me just say thanks,” said Lineburg.

Lineburg’s speech was lined

with thank-yous and memorable highlights about his 34 years at Radford.

One of the remarks that

brought a roar from the crowd was when Lineburg stated that the leading rusher

in Bobcat history was his wife, Joann. “She has ran up and down those

sidelines as much as I have,” he said.

Lineburg continued on about

the great stories and memories in Bobcat history he has experienced over the

years from players giving it all to win ball games, to the tough practices they

encountered, to individual problems on and off the field.

One of those stories Lineburg

mentioned included an encounter with a cheerleader when he first came to

Radford.

“There was the little

cheerleader, named Sandy, standing against the wall. I walked up and she said

who are you? Well I’m here to teach and coach. She then said what are you

going to coach and I said I like to coach football. She said we have tough

people here coaching football and you don’t look the part. She then looked me

right in the eye and said we love our sports here at this school and don’t you

mess it up.”

What has been Lineburg’s

philosophy been over his six decades of coaching that has bought him and his

teams so much fame? “Keep life simple. It doesn’t need to be caught up in

this hype that takes athletes in different directions, especially at the high

school level,” said Lineburg. “Keep it simple, keep it fun and always make

it so that it’s never myself, never I, it’s always we, it’s always team,

it’s always family and to me that’s what the whole deal is about. That’s

what you should take through life with you and tradition.”

Also, Lineburg was not the

only Bobcat to be recognized Saturday night, as the 2003-04 varsity athletes

were honored with their Wachovia Cup pins. The Bobcats won their first-ever

Wachovia Cup for athletic excellence in Group A this past season.

(reprinted with permission)

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