VT vs UVA 1992: When Things Started to Change

Virginia Tech was 2-7-1. This was not a great season. Frank Beamer was on the hottest of hot seats and UVA was two seasons from being ranked #1 in the Country by the AP Poll. There was no real feeling that the Hokies were going to pull off some sort of upset. And the truth is they didn’t. What they did do was give hope to a 9 year-old boy and move towards a bowl streak and hall of fame career for their coach.

In 1992 most of the people in Harding Avenue Elementary were wearing UVA colors. It sounds rough, but it was the truth. Only those of us who were hard core Hokie fans were wearing our colors and taking the punishment for doing so.

Roanoke was worse. It was a second weekend so I was with my Dad. He lived in Roanoke at the time and it was UVA country to say the least.

Luckily, I had Bill and Mike to make me feel better. Not to say it wasn’t a fight for the radio. My Dad wanted to listen to NPR, as he always did, and I was fighting to hear the Hokies. It had a hard sell. The Hokies were not having a good season and even after listening for a half, it didn’t look as though we were going to win. I didn’t care. This was as close to a win over UVA as I could remember and I wanted to hear every last minute. We battled for the entire game. I cannot tell you what I missed and what I was able to hear, but I heard from my Dad how we lost as we listened to NPR for the next 24 hours.

Here is the thing, I felt great. The game was close. Unlike all the other games I could remember, we actually played UVA to a single possession. The Hokies were getting better. While there were calls for Frank Beamer to lose his job from here, the next season was the start of the bowl streak and things in the program truly changed.

But it all started with this game. This loss. This radio call in Roanoke. My family doesn’t enjoy sports at all. I am unbelievably lucky enough to have an entire family who cares about sports because their son cares about sports. I was able to listen to Bill and Mike call a game when NPR was otherwise on the radio. I couldn’t be more thankful for what they gave me. I loved the experience and I LOVE my Hokies!