WV Generals Go Road Trippin’

When the Men’s 85+ West Virginia Generals went on the road to Pittsburgh to compete, they brought a TV station with them.

Well, not really, but they did attract the attention of veteran television reporter Terry Burhans with WTAE in Charleston where most of the team members live. Burhans offers a regular feature segment called Road Trippin’ where he seeks out interesting places and people around the Mountain State. So it was a bit unusual to see him cross into Pennsylvania chasing a story, but it’s a good one because four of the five teammates played for the same high school in Charleston six decades ago.

“I was the shortest center in the state, and we were the largest high school in West Virginia,” Harold Vealey recalls. “One of my best games was against the great Jerry West, who played for East Bank High School. In the first game, we won and I got 25 points. Three weeks later, we played again and Jerry guarded me because I had been the high scorer. Well, he got 40 and I got seven points. I saw him out socially awhile back and he didn’t let me forget it.”

Burhans also made the trip to reunite with NSGA Communications and Media Director Del Moon, who was a reporter at the same television station where Burhans was a meteorologist  in Louisiana nearly 40 years ago. “Del got in touch about coming to do the story, and it was just a hop over the border to hang out with the team at practice and see my old buddy again.”

SAFE Changes But Remains the Same

The SAFE athlete screening program has been conducted at the National Senior Games since 2011. Now its creator is expanding its scope. The Games Daily’s David Altman and Isaiah Stewart become immersed in the story.