Published: November 25, 2009 05:53 pm      

Beaver football in Beckett blood

BLUEFIELD — The Beckett family likes to joke that playing football for Bluefield High School is “kind of in the blood.”

Those bloodlines have produced three Beckett backs who were part of three state championship football teams — and this Friday night, their nephew Levi Beckett is set to quarterback the Beavers in the 2009 semifinals.

John Beckett Jr. was a halfback on the 1965 team that beat Dunbar in the finals. Jim Beckett was also on that squad, and two years later was the senior running back when Bluefield beat Stonewall Jackson for the 1967 title. Joe Beckett quarterbacked the Beavers’ 1975 edition that defeated South Charleston for the state championship at Mitchell Stadium.

“It’s the winning tradition,” Levi’s father Jeff Beckett said earlier this week. “It’s been such a motivation for Levi.”

Levi wants to join the unlikely list as the starting quarterback. He already has a tenuous claim to the title parade, as a backup wide receiver and a budding quarterback on the 2007 championship team.

Jeff Beckett played on Bluefield High football teams from 1979 to 1981, “but I wasn’t fortunate enough to play on a state championship team,” he said. “I like to brag about what the others have done, though.”

His son now has his shot, wearing the same jersey number — 19 — that John and Joe wore.

Joe Beckett said with a laugh, “It’s been a long dry spell for the family.”

Their generation of the family includes a sister, Margaret, who is now a schoolteacher. “She’s cheered for us all,” Jeff Beckett said.

The roots of the tradition lie in part with the brothers’ late father, John “Johnny” Beckett Sr., a graduate of the now-closed Northfork High School who moved to Bluefield to work for the N&W Railroad (now Norfolk-Southern).

Jeff Beckett recalled finding out that his father played running back for a U.S. Army football league when John Sr. was stationed in Germany in the late 1940s — including a game at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

He said that his father worked for the railroad as a brakeman and at the time of his retirement was a timekeeper at the regional headquarters on Princeton Avenue.

But John Sr. had an unpaid job, overseeing youth sports for the city of Bluefield — the same post later held as a paid position by the late Herb Sims and now by Robin Lefler.

John Sr. took on coaching American Legion teams in Bluefield, which included such BHS standouts as Richard “Dickie” Ward and Pete Wood, and Beckett’s sons, Jeff Beckett said.

Joe Beckett said, “Bluefield had a very big youth league program. The football players were kind of idolized. That was a big deal. (The players said,) ‘When I grow up, I want to play for Bluefield,’ or ‘I want to play for Princeton.’ ”

Jeff, the youngest brother, said, “I can remember as a kid, being with the American Legion teams as the mascot. I had a little helmet and I’d run out on the field.” He also recalls the uniforms being stored in the family’s basement in the off-season.

When the Beavers played a home game, Jeff said, “We’d be the first ones at Mitchell Stadium. … We still sit at the 50-yard-line, ‘cause that’s where my dad always used to sit.”

The brothers also are quick to credit the influence on their lives of BHS football coaches Merrill Gainer, who led the 1965 and ’67 title teams, and John Chmara, who coached Joe and Jeff.

Jeff said his brothers have talked to Levi “about the coaches, and what they instilled in young men. He’s seen their success — how they turned out.”

John Jr. is in charge of the trust department for First Century Bank, headquartered in Bluefield. Jim manages a hardware store in Bethesda, Md. Joe is the nationally-recognized director of athletic training at Concord University, with the rank of associate professor. Jeff is pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in Princeton.

He is also proud of being a Mercer County resident, he noted. “We live here because of the community,” he said.

Jeff said that when Levi was younger, “he played other sports — soccer, basketball. He started playing football in the fifth grade. We didn’t want to push him into anything. We just wanted him to see what he’d like to play.

“But the first time he carried the ball, we could see that he had potential.”

They now see that potential realized on a weekly basis. Jeff’s brothers are present for many of the games as well. Jim Beckett surprised his brothers by driving in for a game earlier this season.

“He has reservations for Wheeling, hoping Bluefield gets to the championship,” Jeff Beckett said. “He’s taking off work. He’s ready to go if things work out that way.”

The plans almost came to an abrupt halt on Sept. 19 when Levi broke his collarbone fighting for yardage at midfield of Mitchell Stadium against Charlotte Country Day School.

“At first it broke our hearts to see that happen,” Jeff Beckett said. In the days that followed, Jeff said his son “never looked back. He always looked forward. He knew it would take time to heal. Until then, he wanted to be a leader on the sideline, to motivate and encourage his team.”

He said that Levi was cared for by team physician Dr. Walid Azzo. The quarterback was evaluated weekly. “They said, ‘You’d do good to get back for the James Monroe game,’ ” Jeff Beckett recalled. Levi did better than expected, returning to action on Oct. 23 at Oak Hill, with Bluefield already enjoying a sizeable lead.

“We trusted the way the coaching staff handled him during the process,” Jeff said. “We knew they wouldn’t put him in too soon.”

“I’m just thrilled for him personally,” the quarterback’s father said, “because of his hard work, his dedication, his desire to be a part of a winning tradition.”

He said his son “has always been self-motivated. He’s already talking about next season. He looks ahead; he doesn’t look back.”

— Contact Tom Bone

at tbone@bdtonline.com