HISTORY WITH HAYES: Before Baseball Stardom, Billy Wagner Was A Football Standout

Billy Wagner unfolded the old newspaper and laughed.

“Hey, this is what I’m talking about right here,” Wagner yelled to a group of friends.

The scene played out last Saturday during Wagner’s annual baseball clinic in Tazewell. An onlooker gave Wagner a copy of the Bristol Herald Courier’s 1989 football preview edition.

There was a photo of Wagner uncorking a throw with his left arm. There was Wagner holding the ball for kicker Robbie Colley. He also posed for a photo with fellow Tazewell High School standouts Rick Ferris, Steve Rainey and Colley.

Wagner was listed at a generous 5-foot-9, 161 pounds, and his spot at quarterback was big news heading into the 1989 season. A collarbone injury cut his junior season short.

“I really think with Bill back there we can get some things done on offense,” Tazewell coach Dave Litz told the BHC’s Steve Bawden.

Before he was an All-Star closer in the big leagues, Wagner was a quarterback/cornerback for the Tazewell Bulldogs. He scored five touchdowns and threw three TD passes as a senior as Tazewell compiled a 5-5 record.

Wagner and his close friend, and former Graham athlete, Erik Robinson shared some laughs about their old days on the gridiron.

“We used to sit there and talk about how good we were,” Wagner said. “Erik came to visit me and brought a video tape of a Tazewell game. We got us a VCR and everything. We’re watching it, and they beat us 19-0. The whole time, you have this persona that you thought you were good. I watched it and said, ‘[Dang] you Erik, now I know I was awful.”

Wagner still keeps tabs on his former high school team, thanks to his friend.

“We talk about some old football games,” Wagner said. “He calls me and tells me how Tazewell is doing.”

Wagner isn’t the only former baseball star who once took to the field on Friday nights.

Bristol native Jimmy Gobble, a relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, was once a defensive back at John Battle High School. Gobble’s gridiron career came to an end as a sophomore after he suffered a wrist injury in a 1996 Hogoheegee District game with Holston.

Meanwhile, Texas Tech has become one of college football’s most interesting stories this fall and the Red Raiders are currently ranked second in the country. Offensive tackle Rylan Reed pitched for the
Appalachian League’s Bristol White Sox in 2002 and made 12 starts. However, he gave up baseball to pursue football. Looks like he made a good choice.

Now, for a look at events that occurred on this week in high school football history:

November 3, 1962
Elbert Tucker and Geoffrey Trout scored touchdowns in Clintwood’s 14-0 blanking of Wise … Bill Booth rushed for a touchdown, Ken Lovins caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from Charlie Wright, Lewis Eads connected on two extra point kicks and John Battle nipped Fries, 14-13 … Walt Skeens threw two touchdown passes, but it wasn’t enough as Virginia High suffered a 52-26 setback to Tennessee High.

November 5, 1971
Abingdon crushed Grundy, 41-8, as George Pope rushed for two touchdowns. Andrew Hounshell, Dan Richards, Gail Thompson and Gary Gregory also scored for the Falcons … Sullivan East played to a 21-21 tie with Greeneville. Don Foster had two touchdowns for East, while Charlie Wells also scored for the Patriots … George Heath scored three touchdowns and Tennessee High erupted for 42 second-half points in a 49-8 thumping of Virginia High.

November 4, 1977
Virginia High closed the game with 50 unanswered points in a 50-7 victory over Tennessee High. Mike Hughes had 110 rushing yards and four touchdowns for VHS … Sam McKinney’s 1-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds left and his ensuing 2-point conversion run clinched Abingdon’s 28-20 triumph over Graham … Peanut Price rushed for three touchdowns and also threw an 87-yard TD pass to Tony Sykes in Saltville’s 35-6 win over Lebanon … Behind the play of Kokie Wagner (191 rushing yards, three touchdowns), Marion picked up a 35-26 win over Richlands.

November 10, 1989
Head coach John Wayne Martin directed Fort Chiswell to a 20-6 win over Chilhowie in the first round of the Region C, Division 2 playoffs. Stephen Fields’ 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter accounted for Chilhowie’s lone score … Gary Waller had Rural Retreat’s lone touchdown as the Indians were walloped by Bath County, 56-6, in the Region C, Division 1 playoffs … Jefferson County earned a 14-0 TSSAA playoff win over Tennessee High as quarterback Erik Hutchins rushed for a score and threw a TD pass. Brent Bowman provided one of the few highlights for THS as he intercepted a Hutchins pass in the first quarter.

thayes@bristolnews.com|(276) 645-2570