Evans “Buddy” King
This column is for Ole Doug, E&H class of 1968.
For the uninitiated, “E&H” stands for Emory & Henry College, a proud Methodist liberal arts college in southwest Virginia, near Abingdon, just down I-81 about an hour and a half from Christiansburg, as most of my readers will know.
Growing up, I learned much about Emory from my Dad, a proud graduate of the Class of 1934.
He attended the college, along with his twin brothers, Clyde and Cline, during the Great Depression. They all got through Emory only by the financial good graces of the Methodist Church and their own hard work.
My Dad and his brothers were part of a King clan consisting of nine children who grew up without a car in the family and without knowing an extra nickel for tuition.
They moved from a farm in Huffville into Christiansburg, on Craig Street, so that the kids could attend Christiansburg High School.
The King’s eventually constituted the largest number of graduates of CHS (eight, one child, a son, died as a baby) from any single family, at least according to my Dad, who kept track of those sorts of things.
My grandfather Charlie, who died before I really knew him, worked various jobs at the mill in town and as a mechanic at the local John Deere dealership and as a handyman, occasionally leaving home and working in the mines in West Virginia or western Virginia when “things got tough.”
“Tough” must have been a relative concept, as I am sure the best of times were not a day at the beach.
My grandmother Virgie Mae had attended “normal school”—not sure what that was, but it qualified her to teach others.
As a result, she imparted a love of learning and the value of an education in her children.
All four boys graduated from college and three had graduate degrees, while all four girls were valedictorians of their high school classes.
Virgie Mae started a King family tradition of the importance of education and the value of hard work.
My Dad flourished during his years at Emory, becoming a top student and campus leader.
He had financial help from the church and worked various jobs on campus, including doing dishes in the cafeteria and selling class rings.
He also somehow found time to begin his lifelong love affair with golf, on a course which ran through the campus, and did well enough academically to be accepted by several prestigious medical schools, sadly never having the money to attend.
So Emory was a revered institution in my home, alongside the Methodist Church, the 8th Air Force and Christiansburg High School.
I knew more about E&H than I cared to at the time. This “immersion” was intensified by many other Christiansburg ties to Emory—my Dad, as principal of CHS and then superintendent of schools, had a penchant (passion ?) for hiring Emory grads.
The football coaches at Christiansburg High during my school years were all E&H Wasps—James “Buddy” Earp (All-American center, 1950 and captain of Emory’s Tangerine Bowl team), Omar Ross, Curtis Campbell and Joe Rusek (All-American guard 1957). I played football for 3 of these fine men during my years at CHS and 2 of them were my principals.
There were also many other coaches and teachers from Emory during my Dad’s years at the helm.
Ken Stickley (assistant for Buddy Earp at CHS and later a very successful head coach at Blacksburg High), Carlos Altizer and Mike Griffith (one of CHS’s greatest all time players too).
In the late 1960’s, Emory had some of its greatest football teams, going undefeated at least one year.
Those teams were populated by many Christiansburg kids—the aforesaid Mike Griffith, Tommy Barber, Ronnie and Butch Phillips, Buddy Shull and Keith Neely.
My Dad took me to several games during these seasons, and I still remember the pride he had in his alma mater and how he loved the “Christiansburg connection.”
It was small college football at its best, in brilliant sunshine on crisp fall Saturdays, not a TV camera or scholarship in sight, at Fullerton Field on campus or sometimes at nearby Patrick Henry High School (in Glade Springs).
A few personal E&H anecdotes: while I had a love for the school because of my Dad, I was swayed by the diversity and opportunities of a larger university, so my attentions were drawn to Charlottesville.
My cousin Joe’s years there made a strong impression which drew me to UVA. While there, the minister at the largest Methodist church in town was one of my Dad’s roommates at Emory.
Every time I was home from school, my Dad would ask me if I had attended services yet and “introduced yourself to Rev. Haley”—my answer was always the same, “next Sunday.” Sadly that Sunday never came.
While my Dad loved Emory till the day of his death, being buried in his Blue and Gold Emory tie, he did like my college choice in some ways.
One of our neighbors told him that he couldn’t afford to send his son to the University of Virginia, so he sent him to Emory.
My Dad always chuckled that my tuition was 1/5 of what Emory was charging. So he didn’t lean on me too much when I made my choice.
One of my favorite Emory stories involves a late Friday night trivia game my first year of law school. My wife and I were hanging out with one of her co-workers and his wife.
Her co-worker, Jim Kelly, was a brilliant guy, a PHD in English from the University of Chicago. The only thing we had in common was a love of baseball and beer.
This particular night, we had played a game called Trivial Pursuit and Jim became agitated, because I never missed a sports question.
I told Jim that one of my several areas of worthless knowledge was knowing the colors and mascots of every major college.
After I had nailed the easy “Kansas State’s” and “Iowa’s,” Jim picked up an almanac and randomly stuck his finger on a page and defiantly said “give me Emory & Henry.”
I immediately said “Blue and Lemon, the Wasps.” He threw the book against the wall.
I’ll end with a piece of trivia that I just came across. Who was the University of Tennessee’s first opponent at what is now Neyland Stadium, the largest college stadium (or close) in the country? That’s right, Emory & Henry College, in 1921.
Evans “Buddy” King grew up in Christiansburg and graduated from CHS in 1971. He lives in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where he practices law with the firm of Steptoe and Johnson PLLC. He can be reached at Evans.King@steptoe-johnson.com.
