Marty Gordon
You can say Carolyn Shockley of Blacksburg has always had a scorebook in her hand.
As a student at Carroll County High School in Hillsville, she picked up a pencil in 1970 and started the new task.
“I wasn’t the cheerleader type and always was interested in sports,” she said.
The occupation also led to a love story of a different type, she found her husband, Jim.
He was also a student at Carroll County High School, and she jokes it took three seasons going through football to basketball and finally baseball before he finally noticed her. The couple have been married for 53 years.
The couple’s involvement in Blacksburg athletics also gave her the opportunity to keep stats for her son’s and husband’s sporting events including filming Blacksburg High School football games. She also kept pitching charts for the baseball team and the scorebook at basketball games.
At Virginia Tech, she started with the drive charts. And yes, they were by hand, something she continues to do up until today. The early days there was no electronic ways to keep the statistics.
Recently, the press box learned how important Carolyn and her husband, Jim, still are in keeping the stats by hand.
“Now, it’s just a backup. But four weeks ago, the computer went down, and they had to turn to our handwritten sheets once again. We are also the backup for the staff to double check everything,” she said.
During the recent UVA and Virginia Tech football game, Shockley received a special recognition. She was convinced to come out of the press box and down to the field.
“I got tricked to come down, and then was overwhelmed when they started talking about me.”
“I had no clue,” she said.
Shockley was honored for her 53 years of service to the Virginia Tech Sports Information Department and given a special football jersey with her name and number 53.
Beginning as a Tech student in 1972, she is now the longest tenured Division I female statistician in the entire country. She has also served as the first female statistician to work in the Virginia Tech press box.
To date, she has worked over 300 football games, over 700 men’s basketball games and nearly 700 women’s basketball games for a total of nearly 1,800 contests so far.
After being honored on the field where she typically watches from a distance, she headed right back up to the press box to finish the ball game.
She doesn’t plan to retire anytime soon. So, for now, Carolyn Shockley is still carrying her scorebook, practically everywhere she goes.