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1951: COACH WAYNE UNDERWOOD'S FOOTBALL TEAMS WELL KNOWN - A Look At Life In The Hills |
| (08/19/2025) |
| Reprinted Charleston Gazette 1951 Calhoun County High is well known for the fine football teams Coach Clyde Underwood has been turning out for the past five or six years. One of the team's most ardent supporters is W. O. (Ollie) Umstead, a former Marshall gridder who has been postmaster here 18 years. "I feel kind of optimistic about the team even though there is one regular back from last year's undefeated bunch," Umstead said. The gymnasium the "Red Devils" play their basketball games in is another of Umstead's prides. It is in the stone National Youth Administration building about three miles from town, and has been the scene of many basketball tournaments. The community cannery, operated by the board of educatio, is on the NYA building grounds. The postoffice, located in the old Bank of Grantsville building, has grown to second class rating since Umstead has been in office. "We do about $100,000 a year business in general receipts," he said. "I started out working in my father's store here, and I suppose I'm pretty well stuck." Umstead was born at nearby Mt. Zion, and his brother Ivan, who now lives near that town, served as Grantsville mayor two terms. Two newspapers serve the town and the county - The Calhoun Chronicle, a Democratic paper, and The Grantsville News, the Republican voice. Olin J. Barrows and his attractive wife, Mary Ann, are The Chronicle's editorial staff and mechanical department - and they handle every other branch of the work in stride. Their paper has a paid-up circulation of 1,200. "We've been in town only six years," Barrows said, "but we're certainly glad we chose Grantsville to settle in." Since they took over the paper, the Barrows have expanded it from two pages of local news to eight. Barrows is a newspaperman of long standing, has worked on more papers than he can remember in West Virginia. Born near Winfield, he met his wife-to-be while working in Bluefield. Eddie Leggett and his sister, Katherine Louise, are the people behind The News. They have been editing the paper for a year, since their father, Hal Leggett, became ill. Both are young, but they were raised in the business as their father operated the paper for some 20 years. "We're learning the work the hard way, but we are both trying," Eddie Leggett said. "I think we both like." Only three decades ago Grantsville was an almost inaccessible village. The only stretch of paved highway in the area was right through town, and rutted dirt roads led to surrounding cities. Grantsville has fitted itself to the present, however, as a farming center, an oil and gas production region and a pretty and pleasant to live.
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