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The seven new members of the Rockbridge County High School Athletic Hall of Fame represent a multitude of sports and a twodecade span of class years.
But one theme was prevalent from the remarks that each Wildcat gave at Saturday’s induction ceremony in the RCHS gym: community.
Longtime coach and administrator David Miller and former RC student-athletes Michael Burant, Andy Cline, Kelly Evans Chemi, Katherine Flint, Peter Shaner and Greg Stubblefield all praised the dedication of coaches, teachers, teammates and family members as they became the second group to be inducted into the hall.
An eighth honoree, boys basketball star Jeffrey Early from the class of 2008, deferred his induction to next year so that his family can attend the ceremony.
All seven of the new hall members had numerous family members and friends in attendance on Saturday. But the highlight of the night for most folks seemed to be the induction of Miller, who’s been involved with RC athletics since the school opened in 1992.
Known as “Weenie,” Miller currently serves as the ’Cats’ golf coach. His past roles have included a stint as the RC athletic director, head coaching responsibilities for boys tennis and boys basketball, and assistant coaching duties for both football and hoops.
Miller has won multiple district titles in tennis and golf, and the latter program finished as the state runner-up in 2017. He was also honored as the Valley District and Region III Administrator of the Year during his run as AD.
Miller’s father, also known as Weenie, was a legendary figure in Virginia athletics, coaching basketball at VMI and Washington and Lee and later serving as athletic director at Hampden-Sydney College. He was inducted into multiple halls of fame during his lifetime.
When the elder Weenie Miller passed away in 2003, his son inherited those myriad plaques and trophies, which he now has on display. The younger Miller mused that he hopes people believe those awards were given to him, and not to his dad.
“If people don’t look real closely at the dates, they might think, ‘This guy is awesome,’” Miller joked. “Now I have a hall of fame plaque of my own.”
And that wasn’t all: during the ceremony, emcee and RC teacher Valerie Clay announced that the Weenie Miller Coaches Award has been established in his honor. This scholarship will provide an annual gift of $2,500 to one male and one female Wildcat senior for the next three years. - Cline, a member of the class of 1994, was an all-district, all-region and all-state linebacker for the RC football team, which won its first district title during his senior season in 1993. He also played basketball for the Wildcats.
After graduating, Cline competed for two seasons at Bridgewater College – an injury cut his playing career short – before entering the coaching field, where his tenure included a stint as an RC assistant and eight years as the head football coach at Buffalo Gap. He lauded his own high school coaches for inspiring his interest in joining their ranks.
“These coaches not only taught me about the game of football,” Cline said. “They taught me about life.”
The former gridiron star also reacted to a comment from RC principal Mike Craft – a longtime football coach himself – during his opening remarks. “Everybody wants to be drafted in the first round,” Craft said at the top of the ceremony, referring to the second crop of inductees. “But it’s an honor to be in the second round.”
“I’m perfectly fine being a second-round pick,” Cline said, drawing laughter from the crowd. -Stubblefield, a 1996 graduate, was a star football and baseball player. On the diamond, he was a three-time allregion selection and the 1995 Blue Ridge District Player of the Year, and he also earned a pair of all-region honors in football. Stubblefield went on to earn All-USA South laurels at Ferrum College, where he was a four-year starter on the baseball team.
The two-sport star mentioned his reservations about being a freshman when RC opened its doors in 1992. Both of his older siblings had graduated from Lexington High School, and he had hoped to follow in their footsteps.
“It turned out to be some of the best years of my life,” Stubblefield said of his time at RC. -Flint was a three-sport athlete for the Wildcats, competing in basketball, lacrosse and softball. But it was on the hardcourt where she excelled, becoming the first RC girls cager to record 1,000 career points and earning all-district recognition in the process.
She duplicated that scoring benchmark at Shenandoah University, joining the Hornets’ 1,000-point club and garnering All-USA South recognition. The 2006 RC graduate later served as the girls basketball coach at her alma mater for two seasons.
During her speech, she reminisced about returning to a familiar venue. “It’s great to be back in the gym where everything started,” Flint said. -Chemi was unable to attend the ceremony due to the weather, with Tropical Storm Ophelia moving through Virginia and the mid-Atlantic on Saturday. Instead, the longtime broadcast journalist taped a video message from her studio at CNBC, where she currently hosts “The Exchange.”
A 2003 graduate, Chemi participated in the academic team, indoor track and field, and junior varsity basketball at RC. But her induction rests on a tremendous career in cross country and lacrosse.
As a harrier, she earned all-state honors after a thirdplace finish at the state meet. On the lacrosse field, the former Kelly Evans and her Wildcat teammates won three regional championships and twice advanced to the state title game under the direction of her father, Dave, who accepted the inductee plaque on his daughter’s behalf.
Chemi went o n t o g arner A ll-Old D ominion A thletic Conference honors for the W&L lacrosse team. But she recalled her initial fascination with the work that Doug Chase produced about her Wildcat exploits in this publication, saying that it helped to inspire her career choice.
“I loved the feeling of being in the press,” Chemi said in her video message. -Burant, from the class of 2000, lettered in 11 of the 12 eligible sports during his time at RC. Beyond some notable accomplishments in basketball, wrestling and baseball, he was a two-time all-district pick and an all-region selection as a football lineman.
Burant continued his gridiron career at Furman University, winning two Southern Conference titles and helping the Paladins reach the Division I-AA national championship game in 2001.
He believes that attending high school in a tight-knit community allowed him to thrive. “The small-town living was something that was really important to us,” Burant said of his family. -Saturday’s ceremony concluded with the youngest inductee: 2014 graduate Peter Shaner, who starred in golf and tennis at RC and then went on to have a distinguished career on the links for Randolph-Macon College.
A three-time state tournament participant in golf and a member of three district championship teams in tennis, Shaner brought the night full circle by reflecting on how the RC community supports its student-athletes – and how valuable those experiences can be for high school kids.
“Sports are such a big part of our lives,” he said. “They’re life-giving; they’re encouraging. They build character.”
During his opening remarks, Craft had alluded to those same community connections – and to the next generation of Wildcats that can draw inspiration from the achievements of the new hall class.
“These young people want to emulate you,” Craft said. “They want to be like you.”
