The Roanoker - May/June 2018 - 87

25 Y E A R S O F AT H L E T E S

Tech football player and pro player
for the Cleveland Browns. During his
senior year in high school, he rushed
for 2,918 yards and 30 touchdowns.
He was ranked as the No. 19 high
school running back in the nation
by a major scouting service. At
Virginia Tech, he became its all-time
touchdown-scorer (53 total, 27 in one
season). He was co-Big East player
of the year in 2000 and set several
rushing records at Tech. Suggs was
drafted by the Cleveland Browns
in the fourth round of the 2003
draft. Injuries cut his career short.
Most recently, he has been running
back coach at Oberlin College and
Catholic University.

16. Tay Taylor

Ataijah " Tay " Taylor was a
notable Salem High (class of 2013)
basketball player. She played for
Wake Forest, graduating in three
years. Taylor made the Virginia
high school girls' all-state team,
was Group AA state Player of
the Year and Timesland's Player
of the Year. Her team went to the
state semifinals her sophomore
and junior seasons at Salem. Taylor
scored 1,000 points in three high
school seasons and was an ESPN
HoopGurlz Top-150 player. She was
a three-year starter at Wake.

17. O.J. Thomason

O.J. Thomason of W illiam
Byrd High School (class of 2000)
accumulated a V irginia career
high school rushing record 7,536
yards by his senior year, 1999.
Thomason dropped out of Butler
Community College in Kansas and
was later convicted on drug charges.
Thomason lives in Texas and installs
transformers for a living.
TAY TAY LOR

18. Angela Tincher
O'Brien

TAY TAYLOR, O.J. THOMASON, ANGELA TINCHER O'BRIEN: COURTESY OF BRIAN HOFFMAN

O. J. T HOMAS ON

Angela Tincher O'Brien of James
River High (class of 2004) was a
two-time all-state softball player
at James River High (Buchanan),
striking out every batter she faced
on several occasions. She became
an All-American at Virginia Tech
ACC Player of the Year and an
Academic All-American, and after

playing professionally for the Akron
Racers for two years, she became a
Tech softball pitching coach in 2013,
where she remains. In 2008 while at
Tech she pitched a no-hitter against
the U.S. Olympic team, ending a 12year, 185-game winning streak by the
Olympians. She was a member of the
gold medal U.S. team in the 2006
World University Games in Taiwan.
She was one of five college pitchers
to achieve 100 wins, 1,000 strikeouts,
an earned run average under 1.00
and average double-digit strikeouts
per game for her career. She was a
2008 finalist for an ESPY award,
which goes to the college athlete of
the year. O'Brien was third pick in
the 2008 National Pro Softball draft.
She had 157 strikeouts as a rookie,
four short of the league record and
made the 2008 All-NPF Team. She
married Tech baseball player Sean
O'Brien in 2012.

19. Catherine White

Catherine White was a nationallynoted runner at Northside High
School (class of 2007), University of
Virginia and University of Arkansas.
She was a five-time high school
All-American; won 15 Virginia
state championships; was a twotime Gatorade Virginia Female
Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
White won back-to-back 800-meter,
1,600-meter and 3,200-meter titles;
won three-straight 1,500-meter and
3,200-meter indoor titles. She was
the Milestat.com cross country
runner of the year (2005), Milestat.

com outdoor runner of the year
(2007) and Milestat.com All-Decade
team. She was a two-time Timesland
Female Athlete of the Year (20062007), and a USA Junior National
5k champion. She is the holder of
many records in the Southeastern
and Atlantic Coast Conferences
and was All-ACC and All-SEC,
All-ACC academic. She joined
Roanoke College as assistant track
coach in 2013. She graduated from
Georgetown University Nursing
School in 2015 and is an RN at
Georgetown University Hospital's
intensive care unit.

20. Josh Woodrum

Josh Woodrum, Cave Spring High
School (class of 2011) and Liberty
University football quarterback, was
a phenom as a passing quarterback
in high school and college, though
he was only ranked the 1,219th best
QB in the country as a senior by
Maxpreps. At Liberty, he passed
for 10,000 yards (5.6 miles) and
led the Flames to three Big South
titles. He was a three-year starter at
Cave Spring and ranked the No. 3
quarterback in Virginia as a senior.
He passed for 5,303 yards at CS and
tossed 41 touchdown passes. He was
a good runner, as well. Woodrum has
been with six NFL teams in two
years (Giants, Colts, Bears, Bills,
Ravens, Browns) since going undrafted in 2016. He is now with
the Baltimore Ravens. Woodrum
weighed 185 pounds in high school,
230 as a pro.
YOUR PICKS WELCOME

A N G E L A T INCHE R O'BRIEN

TheRoanoker.com

CATHERINE W HIT E

J O S H WO O D R U M

If you agree or have something
to add, we'd love to hear from
you as well. Over the years, the
Roanoke Valley has produced a
lot of exceptional athletes, some
in sports that don't or didn't get
a lot of press (women's sports,
for example), so many superb
athletes spent their careers in
virtual anonymity. Let's correct
that. Email our editor Liz Long at
llong@theroanoker.com. I

MAY/JUNE 2018

87
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