FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 1, 2014
For more information:
Glenville State College
Public Relations Department
(304) 462-4115
GLENVILLE, WV - Five individuals were inducted into the Glenville State College Curtis Elam Athletic Hall of Fame during the collegeâs annual Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony on Saturday, May 31st.
The 2014 inductees were: Bob Turner, Keith Pritt '58, Fred Taylor '60, Charles âBernieâ Buttrey '76, and Kent Pilant '97.
Bob Turner, a native of Gilmer County, excelled in basketball at Glenville High School. Upon entering Glenville State College he played basketball for the Glenville Pioneers in 1950-51 when the team was State Tournament Champion.
After a three year stint in the United States Army, where he played basketball with an Army team in Frankfort, Germany, Turner returned to Glenville State in 1954, landed a spot in the starting five, and turned out to be the strongest defensive weapon that the Pioneers had that season.
The following year, he served as pivot man on a team that went to the finals in both the WVIAC Tournament and the NAIA playoffs in Kansas City, Missouri. Turner was team captain and was named to the WVIAC All-Tournament Team that year with fellow teammate Rudy Poole. He was also awarded a spot on the All-Conference Second Team.
His team was WVIAC First Team All-Conference in 1956 and in 1957. Turner and fellow teammate Alan Reich were named to the All-Conference Team.
Known for his rebounding skills, team spirit, and defensive ability, he greatly aided his team in rebounds; snagging over 400 during the 1955 season.
In his position as center, he was known throughout the Conference as the key man who stopped opposing high point scorers. This and his rebounding excellence are what caught the eye and admiration of opponents and fans alike.
He and his wife, Wyene (Bush) Turner, maintain homes in Normantown, West Virginia and in The Villages, Florida. They like spending as much time as they can in their native Gilmer County but are snow birds in Florida from November through April.
Keith Pritt, a native of Rand, West Virginia graduated from DuPont High School in Kanawha County and was a three year letterman in football for the Pioneers, playing offense, defense, and special teams.
Pritt, a 1958 Glenville State College graduate, was on the WVIAC Conference First Team his senior year. He was also team captain his senior year and for four games during his junior year.
During his college career, Pritt was freshman class vice president, vice president of the G Club, and clerk of the Holy Roller Court.
He received a masterâs degree in secondary school administration from West Virginia University and a masterâs degree in health administration from Marshall University.
Pritt coached at DuPont Junior High School from 1958-1962 where his teams won county championships in football and basketball.
He went on to coach at Charleston High School from 1962-1974 where he was offensive and defensive line coach. He was also the designated assistant head coach under Frank Vincent when the school won three consecutive class AAA football championships and one runner up State AAA championship.
During this time, he also coached three state championship track teams and two state runner-up teams in addition to being the schoolâs wrestling coach.
In 1974, he was promoted to Director of Athletics, Health, and Physical Education for the Kanawha County school system where he organized the Mountain State Athletic Conference (aka MSAC) which included schools from Kanawha, Cabell, Raleigh, Wood, Greenbrier, and Putnam Counties. He also started the Capital City Classic Track Meet.
Pritt was named the American Association for Health and Physical Education Athletic Director of the Year in 1978.
He has written a sprint training and hurdling article for Coaches Digest, coached professional football for the West Virginia Rockets, coached the West Virginia Lightning professional football team to a national minor league championship in 1996, and coached track and field at the University of Charleston.
Pritt was assistant principal at Charleston High School in 1992-1993 and at Herbert Hoover High School from 1993-1996. Additionally, he served as principal at Roosevelt Junior High School from 1996-1999 and was Director of Parks and Recreation from 1999-2002.
He currently trains athletes in football, tennis, and track and field.
He and his wife Dora (deceased) had two children, John William Pritt and Patty (Pritt) Dodson. He has five grandchildren and lives in Charleston.
Fred Taylor, a native of Walton, West Virginia, graduated from Walton High School where he was a three varsity sport standout in football, basketball, and baseball.
He was a four-year starter on the Pioneer football team at GSC and starting safety for the 1958 WVIAC undefeated team.
In 1959 he was starting quarterback, team captain, and leading scorer for the Pioneers.
During his college career, Taylor was also a member of the Pioneer baseball team, G Club, and the Kappa Sigma Kappa fraternity.
A 1960 graduate from GSC, he received a masterâs degree in Physical Education from West Virginia University in 1965 and obtained a degree in Education Administration from the West Virginia College of Graduate Studies in 1989.
Starting in Avon, Ohio, he was head high school coach in nearly all sports and then returned to his native West Virginia at Walton, Ripley, and Ravenswood High Schools.
Taylorâs longest tenure of 31 years was at Ravenswood High School where he served as athletic director and head football coach.
He had a career football coaching record of 209-129-6 and coached 36 all-state players. He coached State AA football championship teams in 1972 (undefeated) and 1976 (11-1). He also had a semi-finalist undefeated State AAA football championship in 1974.
Taylor was selected West Virginia High School Football Coach of the Year in 1976 by the West Virginia Athletic Coaches Association and runner-up West Virginia High School Football Coach of the Year by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association the same year.
He was nominated for National High School Football Coach of the Year four times by the West Virginia Athletic Coaches Association and was District National High School Football Coach of the Year in 1972, one of only eight football coaches to be so recognized nationally. The recognition ceremony was held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Taylor was coach for three West Virginia High School Football North-South All-Star games.
His coaching accomplishments were captured in Fred Toothmanâs book entitled 'Wild, Wonderful Winners: Great Football Coaches of West Virginia.'
After retiring from coaching in 1996, he was an assistant professor in the Physical Education Department at the University of Rio Grande in Ohio.
Taylor was inducted into the Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
He and his wife Helen (deceased) had three children: Joe, Sandra, and Robert. He has eight grandchildren and resides in Spencer.
Charles âBernieâ Buttrey, a native of St. Marys, West Virginia, graduated from St. Marys High School where he lettered in football, basketball, and track.
He came to GSC after two years of playing football as a defensive end at Marshall University and was Most Valuable Lineman at the 1973 NAIA National Runner-up football teamâs semi-final game.
A 1976 graduate of GSC, Buttrey says he will forever be touched by the 1970 Marshall plane crash that all but obliterated the Marshall University football team and coaching staff. He was a freshman that year and as such didnât make the trip. As fate would have it, he was one of the fortunate ones.
Buttrey was head coach at West Preston High School (1976-1983), assistant coach at Williamstown High School (1983-1994), assistant coach, defensive lineman strength coach, and freshman head coach at Marietta College (1994-1998), head coach at Williamstown High School (1999-2001), and Parkersburg High School head coach (2002-2009) where he had 66 wins and two State Championships.
Buttrey is the only coach in the more than a 100-year history of Parkersburg High Football to lead the Big Reds to back-to-back state titles.
He was named West Virginia High School Coach of the Year by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association following the Big Reds' 14-0 season in 2006, when Parkersburg won the first of two state championships under his guidance.
PHS repeated as state champions in 2007, posting a 13-1 mark in winning the 11th state football title in school history.
Buttrey's Big Red teams qualified for the state playoffs in six of his eight seasons, failing to accomplish that feat only in his initial season of 2002 and again in 2008. His coachâs play-off record was 12-5.
He left PHS in December 2009 as the fifth winningest coach in the schoolâs history. He was inducted into the Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame in June 2014.
He and his wife Robin reside in Williamstown. He has one daughter Kayla (Buttrey) Nelson, two sons Jason and Travis, and three grandchildren.
Kent Pilant, a native of Newville, West Virginia, graduated from Magnolia High School in Wetzel County. A high point scorer in the 1991 AAA West Virginia State Track Meet, he captured individual championships in the 110 meter high hurdles, the 200 meter dash, and the 300 meter intermediate high hurdles while leading Magnolia High School to their first ever boyâs state championship. He set a new state record in the 300 meter intermediate hurdles with a time of 39.2.
Pilant was also a 1000 yard rusher in football at Magnolia and played football as a receiver for the Pioneers when he was a freshman. After one year and with more concussions than one would care to count, he devoted all of his energies to track and field where he lettered for four years and enjoyed tremendous success. His records at GSC still stand today.
He received WVIAC and NAIA District Championships in 110 meter hurdles (1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995), 4 x 100 meter relays (1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995), 4 x 400 meter relay (1994), 400 meter dash (1995), and 400 meter hurdles (1995).
Pilant was 1995 WVIAC Athlete of the Year in Track and Field and 1995 WVIAC Meet High Point Individual.
He is WVIAC Meet Record Holder in the 110 meter hurdles (14.68) and the 4 x 400 meter relay and undefeated for career in the WVIAC in the 110 meter hurdles.
Pilant holds the following Outdoor Track school records: 100 meter hurdles at 13.8, 4 x 100 meter relay at 41.6, and 4 x 400 meter relay at 3:18.8. He also holds the following Indoor Track school records: 55 meter hurdles at 7.74 and 4 x 400 meter relay at 3:28.3. Pilant was a 1995 NAIA National Outdoor Track and Field Championships Qualifier in the 110 meter hurdles and the 4 x 100 meter relay.
Additionally, he was a 1995 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field All-American in the 110 meter hurdles.
His team accomplishments are as follows: 1992 NAIA District 18 Champions, 1993 WVIAC and NAIA District 28 Champions, 1994 WVIAC Runner-up, and 1995 WVIAC Champions.
He graduated from GSC in 1997 and received the prestigious Frank Montrose award that year. He was inducted into the Magnolia High School Athletic Hall of Fame with the schoolâs 2014 class.
He and his wife Meredith reside in New Martinsville. He has two children, Kyndra and Koen.
Twelve former Curtis Elam Hall of Fame inductees were in attendance at the banquet and induction ceremony to extend their welcome to the Class of 2014 inductees into the ranks of GSC's Hall of Famers. They included: Whitey Adolfson, Leland Byrd, Harold Erwin, Steve Gandee, Bill Hanlin, Bob âHooksâ Hardman, Bob Hardman II, Ralph Holder, Gary Ray, Bob Reynolds, Keith Smith, and Steve Taylor.
The Curtis Elam Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 2001 through the generosity of the late Curtis Elam, a 1949 GSC graduate.
