Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Radford Mayor Bruce Brown likes to remind people that the city is home to the Virginia High School League’s 1A and 2A classification spring championships in every sport. Thursday, he pointed to a newspaper headline that read “Titletown USA.”
“That’s what Radford is June 8-10. People from all the state will descend on the city, and we’re happy to have them here,” he said.
For the past 16 years, the city and Radford University have been a fine host for all the spring events. Salem has hosted several playoff semis, but that all changes this year as a lot of 3A and 4A championships will be held in the Roanoke Valley.
Some 1A and 2A events will be held at Calfee Park in Pulaski and at Virginia Tech.
Governmental, Radford University, community and VHSL officials gathered in what has become a tradition—lunch at RU’s Dedmon Center.
Brown said the longevity of the championships here in Radford echoes the “Titletown” idea, and enables the city to introduce itself to thousands of people that attend the activities associated with the playoffs.
Looking at the bigger picture, those numbers point to almost $750,000 being pumped into the local economy.
“We get to show off the beauty of the city and the New River Valley and put out the welcome mat to all those people,” Brown said.
The Virginia High School League’s Tom Dolan said no where else in the state of Virginia has his organization seen such a cooperation as with RU and the city.
Brown agreed, saying the groups are able to put together a great product.
The community has been awarded for the championships through 2018, and Radford University Athletic Director Robert Lineburg is excited about another opportunity to host them this year.
“It’s great to have all those schools and their fans here. We (the university) enjoy hosting it, and it’s a win-win situation for us all,” he said.
Event schedule is as follows:
Thursday, June 8: Tennis at Radford University
Friday, June 9: Tennis at Radford University, 2A softball and baseball at RU; 2A soccer at RU; 1A boys soccer at RU, 1A baseball at Calfee Park in Pulaski, 1A softball at Virginia Tech.
Saturday, June 10: All the championships will be held at Radford University.
Updates will be available in this newspaper as teams make their way through conference and regional tournaments.