Norman G. Lineburg: A Living Legend Is Honored
He’s been named Coach of the Year, he’s coached in six different decades, he
Advertisement
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)
Please visit: The
Radford News Journal
Click Here to view this Link.
Click Here to view this Link.
Previews! Are you ready for some football? Pre season practice is just
around the corner, and VirginiaPreps.com has already started publishing school
and district previews! Don't miss a single one (many are *FREE* to view!) Click
Here!