Vol. 3, No. 15, October 1, 2007 - Play by Play

18 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, 2007
LEGENDS OF THE GAMES
Deans: ‘Patrick Henry’s been my life’
by Gene Marrano
WE’VE ALL SEEN THOSE
commercials with actor
Dennis Hopper, declaring
that retirement isn’t just about riding
off into the sunset anymore,
sitting in a
rocker on the
front porch as
the rest of the
Legends of
the Games
Thirty-eighth in a Series
world whizzes
by at a faster pace.
Woody Deans has taken that to
heart: since he retired three years
ago, the former two-time Group
AAA state championship basketball
coach at Patrick Henry High
School has stayed very involved
with athletics there. He announces
football and basketball games on
the public address system, along
with handling some supervisory
chores, the five-year part-time
work that comes
with an early retirement
package.
That’s not all
Deans has been up
to. He works parttime
in the golf
pro shop at Hanging
Rock with his
friend, Billy Mc-
Bride, Jr., and also
helps out former
Roanoke Catholic
basketball player
Kevin Dill at the
p r o m o t i o n - o r i -
ented Adventures
in Advertising in
downtown Roanoke.
Local recreation
teams and schools are among his
clients.
“Very flexible, that’s why I like
working here,” says Deans of the
Franklin Road firm. “If I want to
go play golf, I go play golf.”
That job at Hanging Rock allows
Deans to play three to four rounds
of golf a week. He’ll only admit that
his handicap “has come down”
since he left PH.
A growing passion and the extra
time to practice golf have led to his
participation in the Roanoke Valley
Senior Tour, now in its second
year. Deans has notched one win
(gross score) and a second place.
“I was very proud [of the win at
Draper Valley],” he adds. Not having
to put in “those 13-, 14-hour
days,” like he did at Patrick Henry
has been good for his game.
Basketball has never strayed far
from Deans’ heart; he spent two
years on the game-day staff of the
Roanoke Dazzle, calling the action
for others that recorded the stats.
“It was a perfect fit for me because
I knew basketball,” says
Woody Deans retired as Patrick Henry’s AD three years ago and now
handles PA duties for football and basketball, among other activities
Deans of working with the nowdefunct
professional team. Last
year he operated the clock on
games at Roanoke College and
he may do that at the Salem Civic
Center this winter. And he’s now
the co-founder of a high school
basketball event, the Member One
Valley Shootout, which debuts in
February.
His eyes well up easily when
thinking about the time his wife,
Suzy, baked brownies for the PH
basketball teams — when they
won. Brownies in part fueled state
titles when future NBA player
George Lynch was there (1988) and
when Curtis Staples helped shoot
the Patriots to the championship
four years later. “If I’d known I was
going to be so successful I’d have
bought stock in Duncan Hines,”
Deans laughs.
Thinking about their daughters,
Jenny and Kristie, also brings out
the sentimentality in Deans. It
probably doesn’t hurt that Kristie
works at the Congressional Country
Club in Maryland, which hosted
Tiger Woods’
invitational tournament
this summer.
She got her father
tickets to the
event after Deans
had seen Woods
perform at Pinehurst
previously.
Ironically, the
Deans family lived
in the Cave Spring
area while their
daughters grew
up; one time he
encouraged Jenny
Bill Turner photos
to go sit with the
Knights’ faithful in
the student cheering
section when
he coached against them.
“I will, but I really want you
to win,” she told him under her
breath.
Of the new PH football stadium
and gymnasium,
which he
helped design
with architect
Richard Rife,
the former health and physical
education teacher declares, “I am
so thrilled that Roanoke City has
finally done something first class
in the area of athletics and facilities.
I’m happy for the kids and the
teams.”
In the new gym, Deans worked
with Rife to design space behind
the player benches so people won’t
walk in front of them (a pet peeve
while he was coaching) and suggested
where the officials’ locker
rooms should be placed.
“It’s first class,” reiterates Deans,
who sat down with Rife a halfdozen
times or more to go over the
plans. “He came back and came
back. What we talked about…it’s
in there.”
That includes new weight-lifting
and training rooms, more space
in locker rooms and extra storage,
plus an indoor running track.
Deans was athletic director for
seven years after ending his run of
25 years as a basketball coach and
PE teacher.
“You just couldn’t handle both,”
he says about the prospect of
coaching and being athletic director
at the same time. “Not at a
Triple A school.”
He started coaching at Jackson
Middle School, then coached the
last-ever Jefferson junior varsity
team in 1973-’74. When Jefferson
High School varsity coach Dick
Kepley went to PH, he took Deans
along. Deans coached the JV team
for nine years and then the varsity
for 13 after Kepley left.
“Six districts, four regionals and
See DEANS, Page 17