MORGANTOWN — Normally, we create our evaluations of our athletes on the numbers they produce, numbers that are referred to as statistics.
These numbers are so important that they become worshipped almost like shrines ... in baseball, 56 games hit in consecutively, .400 batting average, 600 career home runs.
In basketball there is Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point NBA game which is chiseled in that sport’s Mount Rushmore, while in football there are 100-yard rushing games, 1,000-yard rushing seasons and 4,000-yard passing seasons.
The numbers often equate to our evaluations of the players and to the team’s valuation of the players, now in the college game as well as the professional ranks.
But the true worth of an athlete is little different than that of a grocer, a salesman, a doctor or mechanic, for it is the unseen things that create true value.
What one does for his community, for his neighbor, for those far more needy than himself may never be captured in headlines, but they are captured in handwritten notes of thanks that go the athlete receives without the help of a PR assistant, an agent or a newspaper headline.
Whether or not Babe Ruth called his World Series home run against Charlie Root and the Chicago Cubs may remain a topic of conversation today while his visits to kids, his promise to hit a home run for them, are of far more consequence.
West Virginia wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III has once again found a far better way to celebrate his role as a Mountaineer football player than just by coming up with a new celebratory touchdown dance.
Gallagher, a Uniontown, Pennsylvania, native, came to the university with a trunk full of talent but also with a heart bursting at the seams with empathy for those he could help, and on Tuesday he went on social media to reveal his latest program.
His aim is to provide a place for children who, like himself, have lost a parent and need someone or something to help them fill that void.
A budding star who may well benefit as much as anyone in Rich Rodriguez’s new offense — and who at present seems to be ready to do so as a receiver rather than splitting time on offense and defense — Gallagher lost his mother, Crystal Fields-Gallagher, at age 7.
"It was a very hard time for me," Gallagher said. "I didn’t really understand what was going on as it happened. But, as I got older, I understood that she wasn’t going to be around anymore and it was a hard time for me, my two sisters and my father. They were married for multiple years and that made it hard for the family.
â€I wish someone was there, someone like me as a role model to help me get through the tough times of losing a parent. That’s why I’m starting a program to help kids who have lost a parent. I’m going to help mentor them; I’ll teach them things. We’ll go to lunch, play video games and do things they like to help keep their minds off it.â€
A college athlete’s time never really is his own. It is now a full-time job, along with school, especially this year at West Virginia where a new system is being learned and as many 80 new players on the team are trying to learn to bond with each other.
But there is something special in Gallagher’s heart, something that seems to run through the entire family.
Early on, he adopted WVU Children's Hospital as a special cause, and last year, after catching a game-winning pass against Kansas, he made himself even more of a hero within the WVU family as he made a $1,500 contribution to the hospital.
This wasn’t just a publicity gift he was giving.
â€Ever since I was in high school, it was important for me to be a role model and find ways to give back. My senior year I started to work with the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh," Gallagher said.
Upon his arrival in Morgantown he began supporting the university’s children’s hospital.
â€This is my second year supporting the children’s hospital here in Morgantown,†he said at the time. “It means a lot to me to help out in some way and I want to inspire other athletes to have a positive impact.â€
Certainly, it has been implanted by his father, who took on the role of a single parent, but it was something that was important to him with or without urging.
This is another step forward to honor his mother.
â€My mother was a great person,†he said. “Everybody loved her in the community. Everyone loved her in the family. She was a thousand-point scorer in basketball. She was always high-spirited. She loved to have fun and she loved to always be around her kids."
She played high school ball in Pittsburgh at what now is Albert Gallatin High.
â€She has been the backbone of the team ever since I’ve been here,†coach Bob Genovese said in a newspaper article after her graduation. “Her leadership will be hard to replace.â€
She went on to play under Jim Brinkman at Fairmont State, playing on teams that had 13-15 and 14-13 records as a freshman and sophomore.
She left Fairmont State to attend Penn State-Fayette, which did not have a women’s basketball team. She studied criminology and went to work in the Fayette Correctional System and the Fayette Adult Probation office, while raising Rodney III and his two sisters, Alyssa and Kaylea.
â€I was always under her butt all the time,†Gallagher went on. “I always wanted to be around her. When I was bad, she used to use hot sauce to punish me.â€
Now, Gallagher will spread her spirit among those who will appreciate it most.
â€This is something I care about a lot and I want to help as many kids as possible,†Gallagher said.
