Spartan great Jerome Taylor passes away

Jerome Rico Taylor

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — Jerome Rico Taylor, 28, of White Sulphur Springs, passed away Saturday, Sept. 29, 2007, at Dallas Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, after a 14-month battle with leukemia.

Jerome was born April 21, 1979, in Princeton. He attended Greenbrier East High School in Fairlea, where he was a Class AAA First Team All-State selection in 1996 and graduated from Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., in 1997. Jerome attended West Virginia University on a football scholarship in 1998 and played under coach Don Nehlen for two years. He then attended Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he received a full football scholarship.

He was pursuing a degree in community health and social work and had one more semester before graduating. His education was very important to him, having a 4.0 average. He continued his schooling as long as he could during his illness. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in White Sulphur Springs.

Preceding him in death were an uncle, Keith Berry, and Sharon Taylor.

Jerome was the son of Karen Winkfield of White Sulphur Springs and grandson of Kenny and Jackie Carter also of White Sulphur Springs. Other survivors include four brothers, Mike Taylor of Bluefield, Marcus Berry of Tampa, Fla., and Matthew and Michael Winkfield, both of Huntington; a sister; Monica Winkfield of White Sulphur Springs; two nephews, Ethan Berry and Taylor Noel; and a host of uncles, aunts, cousins and friends.

Expressions of sympathy donations may be made to First Citizens Bank for the Jerome Taylor Memorial Fund for anyone wishing to donate to help offset funeral expenses.

2007 Sports Hall of Fame class announced

The 2007 Class of the Greenbrier East Sports Hall of Fame has been announced.

Jim Justice, Larry Baxter, Tom Dotson, Bob Carlisle, and David Bell are the new members.

Formal induction ceremonies were held at the October 26 home football game versus Princeton. 

See the entire Sports Hall of Fame here.

Spartans off to fast start

FAIRLEA — One area Class AAA football squad is off to a fast start this season. Greenbrier East is 2-0 heading into week three of the prep schedule.

The Spartans defeated Lincoln County 34-14 and Ripley 34-20. East travels to Spring Valley (0-1) Friday looking to make it three straight.

“Our kids are really excited,” East head coach Mike Michael said. “This is something that they have worked awful hard for. It’s been a long time since we’ve been in this position but there’s a lot of tough schedule ahead of them. We just have to keep working and keep improving and get better every week.”

The last time the Spartans started the season on a positive note was 1998, when they began the campaign 3-0. East finished 8-3 that season, losing to Buckhannon-Upshur in the opening round of the playoffs.

Although the Spartans are 2-0, Michael is still cautiously optimistic about the remainder of the schedule.

“You have to be realistic about the whole thing,” he said. “Last year, we opened up with Cabell Midland and Parkersburg. Of course, this year we opened up with Lincoln County and Ripley, which are teams more like ourselves and what we did last year.”

Michael sees Spring Valley as a good measuring stick for his team.

“They have a nice team and played very well in the MSAC grid-o-rama,” he said. “They were open for the season opener and didn’t have a game that week, which sorta puts them a game behind. They did good things against St. Albans but didn’t put anything together and keep drives going. They didn’t get the ball in the end zone but they played good, solid defense.”

The key to the turnaround for East this season has been something that just happened.

“It’s just been a lot of hard work,” Michael said. “Our kids have really put a lot of time and effort into the weight room and summer conditioning and got themselves into great shape. It’s just nice to see them have some success here for their hard work.”

It’s also been another season of playing in Michael's system.

“We’re just so far ahead of where we were last year at this time,” he said. “The kids understand what we’re doing on offense and defense and how we conduct practice and what we expect of them. It’s just been a real joy this and fall camp to coach these guys.

Senior fullback Jacob Coleman has been a key player, rushing for over 100 yards in each of the first two contests. Senior halfback John Gadomski is also running the ball well behind East’s young offensive line.

Junior quarterback Brandon Dolan has also emerged in Michaels’ offense.

“He’s really grown up this year,” Michael said. “He does a real good job of running and executing our offense.”

Greenbrier East set to battle Ripley

FAIRLEA — The first high school football game will be played on Greenbrier East’s newly installed $1.2 million synthetic turf field when the Spartans take on the Ripley Vikings this evening at Spartan Stadium.

Principal Jeff Bryant said formal dedications to officials from The Greenbrier and Lynch Construction, the key players in funding the new field, will occur at halftime.

In March, The Greenbrier backed a $900,000 loan for the Spartan Athletic Foundation and guaranteed $300,000 for its portion of the new turf. Lynch Construction of White Sulphur Springs also poured in $300,000 worth of labor.

“We are very thankful to the two big partners that stepped up to make this happen,” Bryant said Thursday.

Paul Ratchford, president of The Greenbrier, approached Bryant last year after attending a homecoming game where downpours made field conditions nearly impossible for play.

Ratchford will be at tonight’s game and participate in the halftime ceremonies, Bryant said.

The state-of-the-art “A-Turf” field is composed of micro-fibers and laden with tiny rubber pellets designed to reduce injuries associated with grass fields.

Spartan head coach Mike Michael said players are getting familiar with the new field and scrimmaged on it two weeks ago.

“It’s a special field,” Michael said Thursday.

Bryant said the field has already been used for midget league and junior high football games and high school soccer games.

The Spartan Athletic Foundation is seeking sponsors to help pay its part of the loan, Bryant said.

“We are looking for a corporate sponsor to buy signs that will be placed at the stadium to pledge their support,” he said.

For more information, contact Bryant at 647-6464.

Second-year East coach sees improvement

By Gary Fauber
Register-Herald Assistant Sports Editor

The Greenbrier East Spartans could not have been faced with a more difficult situation than the one they stared at last August.

Coach Mike Michael, who previously had coached at Philip Barbour, was not brought to Fairlea until July. That meant the whole season was a learning experience. He had to learn about the players; they had to learn
about him. Brand new schemes had to be crammed into a months time before the season opener.

Oh, and the season opener itself was a doozy.

"It was pretty tough starting out," Michael reflected. "To not get here until July and not have a lot of time to work with the kids, and then the first two games are Cabell Midland and Parkersburg didn't help. In hindsight, maybe 2-8 wasn't so bad."

A year later, everybody is on the same page. And Michael, who feels they got better toward the end of the season, thinks that can spill over into 2007.

"I felt we improved as the year went along to the point that we were pretty competitive at the end and we were playing hard", he said. "The kids are way ahead now as far as the learning
curve goes."

There are key holes to fill, including the quarterback position that was shared by Dominique Daniels and Edgar McClintic. Of course, they combined to attempt just 37 passes on the season. And linemen Josh Smith, Jared Smith and Brandon Wilson are tough losses as well.

But Michael is happy about what he has seen in the preseason.

"The hitting has been real good, which is encouraging," he said. "We have a lot of young people working in there. I really like the way the kids are working and have come together as a team."

Three players have been vying to take over the quarterback spot. They are junior Brandon Dolan and sophomores Sam White and Nathan Lilly.

"All of them have looked good at times," Michael said. "They are doing good things for us, but they've got to grow up fast."

The Spartans do have experience returning at running back. Among the returning players are senior fullback Jacob Coleman. He was the teams leading rusher in 2006, going for 472 yards and five touchdowns. Also back is senior halfback Jonathan Cosby, who was right behind Coleman with 465 yards and a pair of scores.

"(Cosby) started at the end of the year and did a good job for us," Michael said.

Senior John Gadomski should see some snaps, as should junior Dylan Hanna. At receiver, seniors J.C. Burr and Josh Norman were both starters last season. They are being pushed by sophomore Andre Sinclair, who did not play football his freshman year, freshman Marco Peterson, junior Tyler Cutlip and sophomore Ethan Mounts.

With the loss of three starters on the offensive line, some shuffling might be necessary up front. Junior center Del Wallace started last season, but
may have to move to either guard or tackle spot. Junior Henry Mullins returns to play at a guard position. Seniors Shane Krausman and Brandon Arbogast, sophomore Timmy Gwinn and junior Todd Richmond could also see time.

On defense, Coleman will start again at linebacker, while Wallace will move to linebacker from nose guard, where he was a two-year starter. Norman will play on the defensive line.

In the secondary, Gadomski will enter his third season as a starter. Burr, Dolan and Lilly also will see time in the backfield, as will Hanna. Gadomski will likely handle the kicking chores. Michael sees how much the team has improved. He just hopes it shows up on Friday nights.

"Record-wise, how well do, I have no idea," he said. "We could be better, but it could not show up in the record. But I think were going in the right direction."

Michael looking for big things from senior Gadomski

By Gary Fauber
Register-Herald Assistant Sports Editor

John Gadomski felt like a freshman all over again. Good thing he's a quick study.

With coach Mike Michael taking over at Greenbrier East in July, there was little time for pleasantries. Everyone involved had to get used to each other in about a month before the season started.

"It was pretty tough, Gadomski said. It was like my freshman year. I had to start all over again. We started out with a tough schedule. We came out playing the hardest schools. We got the hard part out of the way early. That helped a little. The rest of the season wasn't as much of a surprise."

Fortunately, Michael had experienced players like Gadomski to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Gadomski will be a third-year starter when Greenbrier East begins the season Aug. 24.

A 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior, Gadomski will see time at running back this year, as well as in the defensive backfield. Last year he had 78 tackles for the 2-8 Spartans. He also handles the kicking chores for Greenbrier East.

"He's been a two-year starter and played some when he was a freshman," Michael said. "He's been through it all."

Michael added that Gadomski's presence made things a little easier.

"He's a good student, a good citizen and a good worker," Michael said. "He loves to work out and it shows up in all that he does. He has improved 110 percent from last year. Were looking for big things from him this year."

Gadomski said he will do whatever is asked of him.

"I will pretty much do whatever I can to help the team," he said. "Wherever coach puts me, I want to do my best at it." 

Gadomski believes the Spartans can be an improved team this season.

"I think we can be really good," he said. "We have a big group of seniors who have played together for a while. We know how each other is going to react in certain situations. We know what to expect."

Things seem to be going more smoothly for the Spartans in 2007. Last year they were learning about Michael. This year they're just learning from him.

"I worked out over the summer with coach Michael," Gadomski said. "He taught us a lot during the offseason. He has opened us up to running new formations and being aware of stuff you wouldn't usually be aware of on defense."

"We know what to expect from them and we know what their limitations are, what they can do and what they can't do," Michael said.