Hall Call Podcast

Dennis Carter began his broadcasting career in Danville, VA and over the next four decades Carter became just as popular with sports fans in Central and Western Virginia, as the subjects he covered. Serving as Sports Director at WSET for many of those years, Carter covered local and state sports in the Southside, Valley, and Southwest regions of the state, with a passion that often lead to many lo...

A gifted athlete from Newport News, Virginia, 2020 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame inductee Al Toon studied animal movements as a child to help him improve his skills as an athlete. That strategy worked, as Toon’s abilities led him to become an All BIG10 performer in both track and football, at the University of Wisconsin, and an All-Pro wide receiver in the NFL with the New York Jets. Originally cut...

2020 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Mike Cubbage’s road to the Hall of Fame began in Charlottesville as a 3-sport star for Lane High School, and eventually the starting the quarterback for the University of Virginia as well as the starting second baseman. Since 1971 his focus has been his first love, baseball. In the 49 years Since being drafted by the Washington Senators in 1971, Cubbage...

Whether you loved him or hated him, one thing was for sure when it came to Kobe Bryant; he elicited a reaction from almost everyone. Unfortunately, on Sunday January 26, that reaction was one of sorrow as Bryant and 8 other individuals, including Bryant’s daughter, lost their lives in a helicopter crash in California. Reactions poured out across the world of sports an entertainment, for one of the...

The most successful football team in the state of Virginia in the 21st century, may reside in Harrisonburg. The James Madison University Dukes football team, has appeared in 3 FCS Championship games, brining home two national championships. The 2019 football Dukes are continuing that tradition of gridiron excellence, as they have advanced to the semifinals of the 2019 FCS playoffs. Following what...

The state of Virginia’s preeminent rivalry takes to the gridiron for the 101st time as the University of Virginia host Virginia Tech battle for the Commonwealth Cup. While recent history has favored the Hokies in this battle for annual in-state bragging rights, the level of competition between the programs and their fans is at an all-time high. The 101st matchup has added incentive, as the winner...

20 years ago, the Commonwealth was witness to one of the greatest teams in its storied sports history. The 1999 Virginia Tech Hokies football team, led by Hall of Fame coach Frank Beamer, and an array of talent in all phases of the game stormed through a perfect regular season and BIG East Championship to play for the BCS National Title against Florida State. While the Hokies came up short in thei...

2018 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Michael Cuddyer, has a unique perspective of the game of baseball. Cuddyer not only played the game for 30+ years, including 15 in Major League Baseball, but he now works in the front office of his former club, the Minnesota Twins, as a Special Assistant to the Baseball Operations Department. Having played at the highest level, Cuddyer’s current role can...

Since the 1994 World Cup, soccer has seen an unprecedented level of growth here in the United States. One of the longest continuously run professional soccer franchises in the country, happens to pre-date that ’94 World Cup, while also calling the Commonwealth home. The Richmond Kickers founded in 1993 have undergone many changes over the last 26 years, but the most recent one may be the most impo...

Throughout the history of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, 334 individuals have gained induction representing 22 different sports. Sports that have not been represented to this point include ice hockey, figure skating, and indoor skydiving. In the coming years however, that could change due to the work being done by Virginia resident Bob Pizzini. Pizzini is the current CEO of IFLY: Indoor Skydivi...

Sports have often been used to help raise money for worthy causes. Whether it’s a golf tournament, or a 5k run, or marathon, most people have participated in one way or another in a charitable sports initiative. In 2008, Ken Lees wanted to find another sport through which to give back, and the Table Tennis Charitable Foundation was born. From humble beginnings in 2008, the Table Tennis Charitable...

For over a half century, the Charity Bowl has been played in Southeastern Virginia, with the goal of helping those in need. Recognized as the oldest charitable football game in the United States, the game itself and its support for local charities almost came to an end around 2010. Originally used as a fundraiser for the Joy Fund, an organization that purchased Christmas presents for under privile...

Football has staked out a claim as “America’s Game”, and the popularity the NFL has gained is due in large part to the growth of fantasy football. Fans still have their home teams to root for, but now they have their own teams made up of players from across the league to pull for as well. Fantasy football gives owners an interest in almost every NFL game played throughout the course of a weekend....

Baseball, like many sports, is a global game and over the past two decades Major League Baseball in particular has taken the game to Sydney, Beijing, Havana, and most recently London, among other destinations. Each of these games and the venues created to host them however, have a connection back to Southwest Virginia. Murray Cook, a native of Salem, and Major League Baseball’s Field and Stadium C...

1992 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, Nancy Lieberman, is what you would call a basketball lifer, and a successful one at that. A native of New York, Lieberman was a 3-time All-American, and 2-time National Champion with Old Dominion University Women’s Basketball, represented her country for USA Basketball, played in the WNBA, and has served numerous roles as a coach and commentator. Currently howeve...

Ed Miller, longtime writer for the Virginia Pilot in Southeastern Virginia joined the Hall Call Podcast to talk about the life and legacy of boxing legend, Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker. The 2007 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, and 2011 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame inductee was tragically killed in an auto-pedestrian crash in Virginia Beach in July. The Norfolk native dominated every le...

2018 Virginia Sports Hall of inductee, Thomas Jones, joined the Hall Call Podcast to talk about his football career, and his transition to acting following his time on the gridiron. Jones, a native a Big Stone Gap, VA began playing football near the coal mines of Southwest VA and eventually became the University of Virginia's all-time leading rusher. What followed was a 12-year NFL career, that sa...

The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame's Executive Director, Will Driscoll, speaks to 2004 Hall of Fame inductee and golf legend, Curtis Strange. With golf as a backdrop, topics range from the upcoming 2019 British Open, the 1999 collapse by Jean Van de Velde at Carnoustie, and the state of golf in 2019 (Spoiler Alert: He's excited!).