This double-barreled sports weekend has been a dynamic one-two punch for Tazewell County with today featuring the unbeaten Graham G-Men heading down to Salem for a state championship game showdown with Strasburg High School, just one day after legendary Tazewell baseball coach Lou Peery was posthumously inducted into the Virginia High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Now, with the announcement that Graham will almost certainly have a new stadium built near the school, those two programs have yet another link. Sparked by the tireless work of Larry Blankenship and the Baseball Boosters, the massive diamond facility built behind Tazewell Middle School and named Lou Peery Field, the THS complex has also been a welcome addition to area activities.
Graham has certainly earned the right to have its own stadium. Beginning in the reign of Lawrence “Burrhead” Bradley, whose 1962 GHS team won the state title after a forfeiture by Salem, the G-Men continued their legacy when Glynn Carlock, Sr., took over in 1973 and rebuilt the program.
Carlock’s intense conditioning regimen combined with an emphasis on all-around excellence, produce a host of Southwest District, Region IV and area titles culminating in a perfect state title run in 1989 and another championship in 1995. Peery’s teams won more than 400 games, advancing to many SWD crowns and five Virginia High School state tournaments. In addition, THS became a regular contender in the area’s premier tournament .
