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Class of 1996
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Ralph Cummins
For forty years, Clintwood High School football was molded into a successful program by one man—Ralph Cummins, whose 271 victories made him one of the ten winningest football coaches in Virginia history. He first arrived at Clintwood as an assistant football coach and girls basketball coach in the fall of 1950. Cummins briefly left Clintwood in 1952 to coach at Gate City High School, where his girls basketball team lost only once and won the District Championship. He returned to Clintwood in the fall of 1953 and was promoted to Athletic Director the following year.
Cummins retired in 1987 after 40 years of coaching, 35 of which were spent as head football coach at Clintwood. Over the course of those 35 years, his football teams won 271 games, went undefeated 10 times, and won 23 Lonesome Pine District (LPD) Sportsmanship trophies. From 1957 to 1959, Cummins’ teams won 27 consecutive games. His 1977 team was 10-0 in the regular season and won a fifth consecutive LPD Championship, while the 1978 team went 13-0 and won a third State Championship. From 1973 to 1979, Clintwood football teams won 64 consecutive regular season games. Cummins’ girls basketball team won two championships. In his 40 years as a coach, Cummins’ football and basketball teams won a total of 28 championships.
Cummins was voted Coach of the Year in Southwest Virginia eight times and was voted the National High School Football Coach of the Year in 1987. He is a member of the National High School Sports Hall of Fame, the Virginia High School League Sports Hall of Fame, and Emory & Henry College Hall of Fame. In addition to his coaching duties, Cummins also served President of the Virginia High School Coaches Association from 1982 to 1984 and President of the National Federation of High School Coaches Association from 1987 to 1988.
(To Sports Inductees List) |
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