By Bob Madison for The Shepherdstown Chronicle
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Country roads — they were once tangled by steep curves, no shoulders, road kill and too much time to traverse them even to nearby hamlets or towns.
But there were some fascinating athletes and personalities found along those narrow strips of sometimes rutted pavement.
West Virginia University football standout Bruce Bosley came from well-hidden Green Bank in rural Pocahontas County. Bosley became an NFL star after his four years in Morgantown, leaving his legacy in San Francisco with the 49ers.
Chuck Howley came from the Wheeling area to play his often-acclaimed football at WVU. He changed positions at times before finally surfacing in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys, where he became history’s only player for a losing Super Bowl team to be named that game’s MVP.
The dangerous and curved roads even led out-of-state where much-decorated Joe Marconi was found in Fredericktown, Pa. and recruited to star for WVU in the autumns when Art “Pappy” Lewis was coaching and making his news in Morgantown. Marconi later was a stalwart player for Coach George “Papa Bear” Halas in Chicago.
