The Class of 2025 was inducted into the Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame Saturday at the Grand Pointe Conference and Reception Center in Vienna. In the front row, from left to right, are Rhonda Alltop (representing Roy Alltop), Jeff Burkhammer, Rick Haught, LeAnne Ross Kelly, Doug Little and Mick Price. In the back row, from left to right, are Dan Schwieterman, Sydney Snodgrass, Butch Varney, Ted Vanscoy and Ed Wilson. (Photo by Jim Mahan)

VIENNA — The Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame welcomed 11 area greats as part of Saturday’s Class of 2025 induction banquet at the Grand Pointe Conference and Reception Center.

The hall’s 27th annual ceremony was headlined by eight coaching legends in Roy Alltop (Wirt County), Rick Haught (Ritchie County), Doug Little (Wood County), Mick Price (Jackson County), Dan Schwieterman (Noble County), Butch Varney (Jackson County), Ted Vanscoy (Ritchie County) and Ed Wilson (Pleasants County). Jeff Burkhammer (Wood County), LeAnne Ross Kelly (Washington County) and Sydney Snodgrass (Ritchie County) were inducted as athletes.

Alltop coached the Wirt County boys basketball team for 21 total seasons and is the program’s all-time winningest coach with 245 victories. He led the Tigers to the Final Four twice and a state runner-up finish once in 1990.

Prior to his coaching career, Alltop was a prep standout at Gilmer County where he excelled in baseball. He went on to play collegiately at Glenville State.

Alltop passed away earlier this year and was represented at the induction by his wife Rhonda and friend Mike Lucas, another Wirt County coaching great and fellow MOV Sports Hall of Famer.

“The hardest thing, really, is the simple fact that I’m here and Roy’s not,” Lucas said. “It’s an honor to do this.”

Lucas told a story about Alltop coaching during the state tournament.

“In the semifinals they were up against Doddridge County, a local conference rival that had beaten them rather handily twice during the regular season,” Lucas recalled. “Not on this night. At the end of the second overtime, Wirt was down by one with one of his guys going to the foul line to shoot a two-shot foul. No time on the clock. You make one of them, you go to a third overtime. You make both, you win the game. The kid’s out there by himself. He misses both shots. He goes down. He is distraught. He is destroyed. Roy came running from the bench and got to the young man, gets his arms around him. Now they’re both down. I don’t know what was said and I didn’t need to know. I know that it was a scene that I won’t forget. That was Roy. That was my brother.”

Burkhammer was a three-sport athlete who starred in basketball for the Williamstown Yellowjackets. He was a two-time first team all-stater in hoops and helped lead the program to a 40-6 record during his final two seasons.

He went onto play collegiately at Alderson Broaddus, where he played point guard and became the program’s all-time assists leader.

After college Burkhammer became a successful men’s basketball head coach at North Greenville College, Sante Fe Community College, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Lander University and the University of West Florida.

“I loved growing up in Williamstown,” he said. “Great sports town. Great fans. Great coaches. I loved playing summer basketball at the park in Williamstown. I loved playing in the state tournaments in football and basketball, and especially beating Gilmer County. That was a lot of fun.”

Haught helped Ritchie County reach new heights in football, boys basketball and track. He led the Rebels track team to the promised land in 2003, the first state title in any sport in school history. The Ritchie County thinclads later won five more state titles in a six-year span from 2010 to 2015 under Haught.

In football, Haught compiled a 45-15 overall record, including a state championship in 2021. That team, which defeated Williamstown 42-21 in the championship game, featured Haught’s son Ethan at quarterback.

“That night that we won the state championship in football, for our community, was a magical night that you didn’t ever want to end,” Haught said. “I’m glad I got to experience that with him.”

That same year, Haught also coached boys hoops and led the team to its first ever state tournament berth.

“I coached many years against Mick Price,” Haught said. “When we finally beat Mick down at The Pit, I’m driving home on the bus. Kenny Wright, who coached against me for years, calls me on the phone on the bus ride. He said, ‘Hey, did you know you’re the first Ritchie County coach ever to beat Mick Price at The Pit?’ That’s my Mick Price story.”

Price has coached boys basketball at Ravenswood for 47 years and has racked up 776 wins, making him the second-winningest active coach in West Virginia.

“I’ve been blessed to coach some great kids during my 47 years at Ravenswood,” Price said. “Many have gone on to have successful careers and become great husbands, fathers and leaders in their community. Hopefully I’ve been able to instill some of those great qualities into every kid who came through our program.”

He guided the Red Devils to state titles in 2006 and 2009 and has taken 16 teams to the state tournament in total.

Price had high praise for his fellow inductees, including Haught and Alltop.

“The thing I respected most about Rick is his teams are always so well coached,” Price said. “Roy Alltop had great teams at Wirt County. Every time our teams met on the floor, it was knockdown, dragout for 32 minutes. If you flinched against a Roy Alltop-coached team, you got beat.

“My dad used to say, ‘Man plans, God smiles.’ Who in the world would ever believe that an official (Vanscoy) would be inducted into the hall of fame the same year Mick Price would be inducted? I’ll say this about Ted’s officiating — he was fair, he was honest and he was professional, and I can’t say that about all of them.”

In addition to being one of the state’s top basketball referees, Vanscoy also carved out an impressive coaching career at Ritchie County in golf (three state titles; two state runner-ups) and girls track (five state runners-up).

He guided the golf team to state championships in 2008, 2010 and 2011.

“Should’ve been four in a row if Sydney (Snodgrass) had been born a year earlier,” Vanscoy said. “It was just a great, great run. I think before that Ritchie County had only been to state once.”

Snodgrass, a freshman and sophomore on those 2010 and 2011 teams, became the first girl golfer in West Virginia history to make the All-Tournament team at state. At the time, there was no girls-only state tourney, so Snodgrass accomplished all of this against boys and girls.

“I remember consistently falling asleep before 9 p.m. and my parents thinking something was wrong,” Snodgrass recalled. “It was truly just out of exhaustion from putting in the work.”

She ended up getting a scholarship to play at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

“Golf has opened so many doors in my life and given me endless opportunities,” she said. “So what can you learn from my story — a tomboy girl who comes from the middle of nowhere? I hope you take away that the work will always show. Average people love the idea of excellence, but when it’s time to work, you don’t see them, you just hear excuses. You can’t teach a loser how to win, but give a winner an opportunity and they will find a way to make their dreams a reality.”

Varney’s accomplishments as the Ravenswood girls basketball coach netted him the honor of having the court inside the Devilette Athletic Center named after him.

Varney coached RHS for 22 seasons and collected 330 victories, including the Class AA state championship in 1982.

The Red Devilettes made it to the state tourney seven times under Varney’s direction, and he developed eight first team all-staters at Ravenswood.

Varney also coached tennis at the school and amassed 448 coaching wins in that sport. His 2013 girls team was the Class AA/A state runner-up.

He’s not the first member of his family to be inducted into the MOV Sports Hall, though. His daughter, Mary Beth Hunt, was a Class of 2006 inductee.

“I’ll tell a quick story,” Varney said. “I was watching game film one night. I’m looking at myself coaching on film. I go, ‘I’ve got a bald spot.’ No one’s told me that I’ve got a bald spot. What do I do? I go wake my wife up. ‘Honey, look at this. Why didn’t you tell me I’ve got a bald spot?’ She goes, ‘Butch, you don’t have a bald spot, that’s just the light shining off your head.’ I slept on the couch last night.”

By the time Kelly graduated from Marietta High School, she was the girls basketball program’s third all-time leading scorer with 1,289 points.

Kelly was a third team All-Ohio honoree during her career and helped lead the Tigers to a district title.

She was also a standout in track under head coach Mollie Schramm and set the school record in the high jump while qualifying for state three times.

She went on to play college basketball at the University of Charleston where she scored 1,135 points in her career.

Her father, Bill Ross Sr., was inducted into the MOV Sports Hall in 2006.

“Standing here tonight is truly special,” Kelly said. “Not just because of this wonderful honor, but because I was here 19 years ago watching my dad receive this very award. I was just weeks away from starting my freshman year at Marietta High School and I hoped that I might be able to put together my own successful athletic career and follow in his footsteps. Nearly two decades later, to be standing here as an inductee myself is an incredibly full-circle moment that I’ll never forget.”

Little recently completed his 25th season coaching the college baseball team at Potomac State.

Under Little’s guidance, the Catamounts have collected 892 wins, including 21 30-plus-win seasons and four trips to the Division I Junior College World Series.

He graduated from Parkersburg High School in 1984. He went on to play baseball at Alderson Broaddus. Prior to becoming Potomac State’s head coach, Little was an assistant at West Virginia University.

“Go back to my 1980s music days,” Little said. “Jon Bon Jovi had a song called ‘Who Says You Can’t Go Home?’ Part of the lyrics go, ‘There’s only one place that calls me one of their own.’ Parkersburg, W.Va., for me, will always be home.”

Wilson graduated from St. Marys in 1970 and later coached his alma mater’s baseball team for 33 years from 1990 to 2022.

In that time, Wilson guided the Blue Devils to 505 wins, two state tournament appearances and six Little Kanawha Conference titles.

A six-time LKC Coach of the Year honoree, Wilson developed 20 first or second team all-staters at SMHS.

Out of high school, Wilson earned a football scholarship to Marshall University. He later transferred to Glenville State and played football and basketball.

As Price said during his speech, “The Wilson family is synonymous with baseball in St. Marys.”

Schwieterman made a major impact as the head coach of the Shenandoah boys basketball team. The Indiana native led the Zeps to 459 victories across 34 seasons, including five Pioneer Valley Conference championships and a pair of OVAC titles.

Schwieterman was a five-time PVC Coach of the Year honoree. In addition to the MOV Sports Hall of Fame, he’s also a member of the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

“I’m very grateful to be inducted into the hall of fame,” he said. “When my daughter was a senior, I decided I was taking off and just being a dad. That really didn’t work as I thought it was going to, because the girls coach said, ‘If you’re going to come to all the games and watch her play, why don’t you sit over here and help me coach the girls?'”

Schwieterman has been an assistant coach since.