By Stephen Smoot
Counting necessary stops, slowing down to avoid hitting deer, and getting behind the occasional hard-working farmer driving his tractor, the drive from Seneca Rocks to the crossroads village of Artie takes about four hours.
For Sam Yokum, however, being honored in the tiny Raleigh County town took a playing career, then decades of teaching the game of baseball, mentoring generations of young men to learn both America’s pastime and also the kind of good character it takes to succeed in any endeavor.
Two structures grab a visitor’s eye as they complete the drive up Clear Fork Road to where it intersects with White Oak Creek Road deep in the coal bearing hills west of Beckley. One is the darkened wood and bright mortar log White Oak Church, the only nod to modernity on its outside being handicapped ramps to aid entrance.
The other significant structure in town is the old post office, in operation from 1908 until 1997. For more than 40 years, starting during Eisenhower’s presidency, the same postmistress held sway every single day, never even missing a single day of work. The building itself, her husband helped to construct.
Although everyone in a small village knows who gets them their mail, Bradie Branch Williams’ son and current owner of the building earned himself legendary status as a player and coach in the Ohio and Kanawha Valleys.
And now former junior high school, high school, college, and professional coach Tex Williams has dedicated his life to honoring the best in West Virginia sport in the building where his mother served the public for so many years.
Last summer in a ceremony at the former Artie Post Office, now the West Virginia Sports Museum, he added Yokum, Pendleton County Middle/High School head baseball coach, and 23 other distinguished names to the rolls of the most accomplished who are honored therein.
Some would call leading the effort to memorialize the state’s best in sport a mission, but to Williams, the labor of love feels more like a vocation in the Christian sense of the term.
“Fifteen years or so ago,” Williams shared, “I retired from my career as a player and as a coach.” He understood, however, that “God has been so good to me and blessed me all my life . . . I just had a blessed life.”
Those who do feel God’s grace so powerfully continue to seek ways to serve Him. For Williams, honoring those who not only excelled as players and coaches, but who also served as mentors to so many was a natural next step.
It all started with mementos left to him by men who to Wiliams were cherished personal friends, but to everyone else were icons. Jerry West, whose impact on the National Basketball Association was outstripped in impact by no other, gifted Williams a set of posters during his tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers. Williams had also collected a number of mementos related to his friends at all levels of sports.
More than 10 years ago, Williams started displaying his memorabilia “of people who impacted my life” on the walls of the old Artie Post Office. He realized that this old building that had served the public so well could have a new and even greater purpose.
And 10 years ago, West, the “Logo” himself, helped to cut the ribbon to open the West Virginia Sports Museum.
From the start, however, Williams wanted to shine the spotlight not only on big names, such as National Football League receiving great Randy Moss, golf icon “Slammin” Sam Snead (whose swing was described by the greatest golfer of all time, Jack Nicklaus as “so perfect,” and West Virginia University basketball star “Hot” Rod Hundley, but also “the regular guy who worked his tail off all his life.”
Enter the Class of 2024 of the West Virginia Sports Museum.
Of the 24 inducted, almost all will be remembered by alums of the schools they coached and the schools they beat. No national figures here. The names do reflect rich traditions of winning and coaching excellence. Along with Yokum, Williams also honored Wade Armentrout of Moorefield, one time Class AAA baseball champion coach Raymond Swisher from Ripley, and others from quite literally every corner of West Virginia.
“You pay tribute to those who deserve it,” stated Williams. He went on to say that “Sam is one of those coaches who are heroes.”
When Williams says heroes, he means more than wins. He includes the impact that a coach like Yokum has on the young men who play for him, the countless hours spent in mentoring and shaping teams to be the best they can be, both as individuals and as a team. He includes the dedication of a coach like Ripley’s Swisher who personally doted for many years on the grass of the field that now bears his name, ensuring it was in the absolute best condition for his players.
This is what makes a sports figure a true hero in Williams’ mind.
Yokum’s name was suggested by one of his fellow baseball coaches, John Lowery from the powerhouse program of Jefferson High School. Yokum described him as “Mister Coach in the state of West Virginia” and said, “He put my name in the hat.” Then he asked, “Have you ever heard of Artie, West Virginia? Have you ever heard of Tex Williams?”
Yokum answered in the affirmative, including to being honored by Williams in the ceremony earlier this month.
Williams planned the ceremony around remembering the career of the recently passed West. Jerry Lucas, West’s teammate on the 1960 gold medal Olympic team, and a player for the Cincinnati Royals, San Francisco Warriors, and New York Knicks, spoke.
Lonnie Warwick of Mount Hope, who spent 15 years in the NFL and played in Super Bowl IV, was also memorialized.
As was Williams’ mother, the indefatigable Bradie Blanche Williams.
“When you first walk into the place, it’s wall-to-wall banners,” said Yokum. He added that he saw “rows of different people who had been enshrined. This building, honest to goodness, it was a 50 foot by 50 square foot building. He also explained that the total number of banners could have covered the walls of the inside twice over.
The event commenced at 11 a.m. with an old fashioned West Virginia meal of hot dogs, salads, and other victuals. One by one, the invited speakers took to the podium set up in the yard behind the building. A fence held the banners of those inducted on that day.
“The program was three hours at least. A lot of people spoke,” remembered Yokum. He noted that honorees during the years included anyone even related to sports, including referees, umpires, and other officials.
Of the occasion, Yokum said, “It was an honor. I don’t like making a big deal of it. It’s kind of humbling, though. It was an enjoyable and enlightening day in Artie, West Virginia.”
In Williams’ career, he coached at Saint Albans High School, the University of Charleston, Alderson-Broaddus College, and the Charleston Gunners of the old Continental Basketball Association. He is a member of the Marshall University Sports Hall of Fame for both basketball and baseball, as well as others. Williams’ name also graces Saint Albans’ basketball court.
