Ronald Curry (left) and Michael Vick (right) during their high school days in the 757. (Tom Lemming)
One was arguably the greatest high school athlete Virginia ever produced: a dual-threat quarterback pursued by almost every college in the country; a basketball star who thought about jumping straight to the NBA; the national player of the year in both sports and someone destined for superstardom.
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Great article, Andy! Have missed your reports for a while. Signed up for year subscription based, in part, on your joining the good guys.
middletennhokie
Great article, Andy. This is clearly the reason you have so many dedicated followers. Just glad the evil empire didn't get this piece, and it was your first on TSL!
middletennhokie
Fantastic article, Andy. This is clearly the reason you have so many dedicated followers. Just glad the evil empire didn't get this piece, and it was your first on TSL!
Arch72Hokie
I saw RC play as a Sophomore in a VHSL HS playoff game in NOVA vs. a very good McLean HS team. A huge Hampton crowd followed their belioved Crabbers. Curry dominated on both sides of the field in a one-sided a 28-0 win. If I recall hwe was rdirectly responsible wfr at least 3-TD's, 2 on Offense and 1 on defense as a Safety. If you had told me that day there was another QB in the same district that was better, I never would have believed it. But there was. During a soccer tournament (I'm a referee) in 1998 here in NOVA, I met a guy who was the coach of a New River Soccer Club team who worked in the Campus Emporium store on South Main. Rumors about Vick abounded so I asked the guy what he knew. It seems Corey Moore was a regualr at the store. Morre told the guy that one day in practice when MV was a redshirt, he said to himself, "I'm going to show this hotshot what big time CF is all about." Sop, he lined up as he customarily would. Vick took off around his end. Moore made his moved and in a flash, he was pickinf gidirt from between his teethc: "he showed me a move and quickness I had never seen before." One can only imagine how good MV would have been had we a serious OC and a QB coach in those days. When I saw Vick in Moore's, "Terror Dome" coming out game vs. Clemson on a Thurs night I couldnot believe what I was seeing. Here was a R-Fr. QB, a man among boys who made other players look like they were standing still. I still believe that had Michael had his full array of weapons (Ricky Ford was injured and Shyrone Stith was sidelned early) and not jammed his thumb early in the game, we would have scoredmore than 29 pts. .
ges
Welcome back Andy.
I just signed up, leaving a certain not to be named journal for this fine publication.
I feel like I've been wandering in the wilderness for weeks and now I'm found.
Let's go Hokkkies
mdriver
vtgriff09, thank you for the commentary on your friendship with Mike Vick. I never had the pleasure of meeting him but personally know a number of people that have. And every one of them, like you, have stated how friendly and humble he is in real life.
And Andy, welcome aboard the Techsideline family. Always loved your work at the Athletic, but so glad that you are now with Will and Company. Congrats and only the best now and in the future and thanks for this fabulous article.
VT Pez4Life
excellent read. thanks for that
hokiecrown
What an article! Reading this made me feel young again.
amazng_grace
Great to be reading your fine work, Andy! Like many others have written, my primary reason for subscribing to The Athletic was to enjoy your articles. Will's announcement that you joined TSL was like Christmas in March!
And happy to read that Curry is doing so well in life.
ANDYISGOLD
Got my Bitter fix again.
joepugh2
I am guessing this is the article that was originally written for Athletic. Happy to be a subscriber and now eligible to read it here. Great work!
spudman
Thanks Andy
HokieSean24
Awesome article.
If I remember correctly, their senior year in HS Curry was First Team All State QB and Vick was 3rd team.
Sandwiched between them was a future NFL wide receiver who was drafted by the Florida Marlins and played several years of minor league baseball before going to Tennessee and then the NFL as a WR, Kelley Washington.
DW Hokie
Just curious, Andy: was this article one you had researched and at least mentally written that would have appeared in The Athletic?
Andy Bitter
I'd actually filed it at The Athletic in early February. It went through several rounds of editing and was ready to go. Then I got axed.
They gave it back to me. I think they realized they'd get flamed in the comments section if they went ahead and ran it.
RonSwansonsAlterEgo
You think? More than they were flamed already?
This was a great read, Andy. Thanks!
duckpond
Welcome HOME Andy!!!
duckpond
Welcome HOME Andy!
duckpond
Andy -this is HOME!!!!!!!
sfs48
Happy to see Andy on-board at TSL! I had canceled my Athletic subscription as soon as they dropped Andy. Now I have him back, seems to have worked out all around.
As for Curry, I remember him as more or less a bust at UNC, especially in basketball.
YBYSAIAHokie
What a great article. Excellent job. I'm really impressed with Curry's attitude. I never knew he was so mature and grounded.
“For me, I never compared myself to other people. I never cared what other people had,” he says. “All I was worried about was how was I going to help me and my family have a better life than I did. So when it comes to what you did or what you could have done, it’s like, man, God has blessed me in so many ways. Like, I don’t chase those pipe dreams.”
Keithj21
This
Rgeabhart
Happy to see you here Andy! Just saved me a 2nd subscription!
134750Hokie
Great article and welcome aboard Andy; Can't wait to get the football season kicked off!
Fall92Hokie
Amazing writing and story, Andy. Couldn't be happier to see you at TSL.
Ronfarmer27
Great article Andy. And it feels truly wonderful to be able to write that again!
hokies1693
Great article. Happy to be a new member to TSL.
cdogvt
Great article !
George Baylor
Andy, thank you this was a fun read. Glad you are back in Hokieland.
A winner for TSL, now if only our football team can learn to WIN again. Welcome aboard.
HokieJB
Wow! I never knew the whole story. What a great read.
Bay Area Hokie
What a great article! Thanks for coming to TSL, Andy!
No Clue
Nice trip down memory lane. Watching Ronald Curry's Saturday morning HS sports segments was like watching a seasonal highlight reel each week. I remember being disappointed that VT didn't have much of a shot with Curry but hearing we got a kid out of Warwick that they thought was pretty good.
Welcome to TSL
ChicagoHokie96
Awesome as always. So grateful that we get to continue to enjoy Andy’s talents covering Virginia Tech football!
Cappydave
FYI, Hampton High School won the Virginia state championship in football in 1976 as well. Mike Smith was the football coach. Nice article. Go Hokies!
Born a Hokie
Couldn't wait to read this. Outstanding. I'm glad you are here.
vtgriff09
Great to see Andy Bitter columns on TSL now.
I graduated HS w/ Mike..c/o 98' Warwick HS. One of the nicest guys you will ever meet. I tried warning all of my friends at VT was to come when he took over, he obviously didn't disappoint.
I think a few other interesting tidbits I recall. The Boo Williams AAU team won the national.championship when Curry was in HS. In the national championship game he scored something insane like 62 pts. He was a star athlete playing basketball, not a natural basketball player (as his game was very much like Rajon Rondo..super speed and athleticism, shot was avg at best..really struggled shooting at UNC).
Also, the word on Curry to UNC back in the day was it was based on the AAU connection and the sponsor of AAU team really pushed the UNC angle.
Mike actually came out for our baseball team Sr yr at Warwick HS (which is funny that he was drafted by the Rockies). He threw a 15-20 pitch bullpen inside, Frank Beamer was there that day. He was throwing hard, but all over the place.and knocking tiles out. Beamer told Coach Reamon and our Baseball coach that day, "I want him to play baseball, because if he can hit a little target with a little ball, that will only help him in hitting a larger target with a larger ball." Mike didn't show up after the bullpen day, he told me that he can throw the football 500 times and his arm didn't hurt, but one short bullpen and his arm was killing him. He told our baseball coach (Coach Peters) that he didn't want to explore playing as a hitter because he was afraid of getting hit (which is ironic considering he was a NFL qb).
During that time, even at Warwick HS..Curry was the God of the Peninsula. Mike did not get a lot of hype and was not even larger than life at WHS. It worked out in the long run for Mike, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy because even after stardom at both VT and when I saw him in NN after living there a brief bit after VT, he always went out of his way to talk to you and acted like the same humble guy you knew from WHS days.
Great stuff Andy. It is pretty nostalgic for a guy like me that was in the midst of all of it.
mdriver
vtgriff09, thank you for the commentary on your friendship with Mike Vick. I never had the pleasure of meeting him but personally know a number of people that have. And every one of them, like you, have stated how friendly and humble he is in real life.
And Andy, welcome aboard the Techsideline family. Always loved your work at the Athletic, but so glad that you are now with Will and Company. Congrats and only the best now and in the future and thanks for this fabulous article.
Hokie101
Terrific article-enjoyed it,
I sat at a table in Greensboro with Billy Hite at a Hokie Club event after Tech recruited Vick and he told me Ron Curry was the best HS QB he had ever seen!
OlderHokie
Great to have you on TSL Andy. I decided to re-subscribe as a result. Have always liked your articles.
tallahasseehokie
appreciate the trip down memory lane Andy!
bhokie
Awesome article. Welcome to TSL!!!
RRHokie90
Nothing from nothing, but I think Mike Smith had more to do with the original wahoo commit than anything else...
We know he coveted a job in Charlottesville...
TbirdHokie
Damn, Andy - way to make an entrance! So glad to have you at TSL - we just made the Big Leagues!
MotorCityHokie80
Great journalism. Happy to have you part of TSL.
phtbddh
Lets go Andy B! Great to see you landed on your feet!
Winchester Hokie
Great article... Welcome to TSL!
757nigel
Glad to see your stuff in print again, Andy!
santafe
Great article, Andy. Really interesting stuff, can't wait for more.
Thanks
HokienGeorjaw
Great article!!
HeisenBurg13
Excellent read! Love the history there.
Spartacusjones
Yeah. This is why we follow Andy Bitter.
Reedville_Hokie
Man, welcome to Techsideline, that was a great story!!
57 Comments