For the second time in a month, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference is mourning the loss an illustrious coach with the passing of Lynchburg College's Bill Shellenberger.

Shellenberger, 88, was the men's soccer coach at Lynchburg from 1954-1987 and also served as the Hornets' athletic director.

In that latter role, Shellenberger was instrumental in the formation of the ODAC in 1975.

"I think he had a lot to do with me being named commissioner," said Roanoker Dan Wooldridge, a fellow member of the Lynchburg College Sports Hall of Fame.

Wooldridge arrived at Lynchburg College as a student in 1952, the year that Shellenberger came to Lynchburg as a coach and physical-education instructor.

"The first two years, all we did in phys-ed class was play soccer," Wooldridge said. "Then I played on his first [intercollegiate] soccer team in 1954. That year, we went up to Virginia to play, and most of us had never seen a soccer game, much less played in one."

Shellenberger occasionally served as a fill-in coach, and Wooldridge remembers playing basketball and baseball for him, but soccer was Shellenberger's claim to fame. He had a 34-year record of 371-167-48 and was hailed by Sports Illustrated as "the winningest coach ever in college soccer."

One of Shellenberger's proteges was Shelley Blumenthal, who has won nine state championships as the boys soccer coach at Blacksburg High School. Blumenthal played goalie for the Hornets from 1975-78.

"He kept things in perspective," said Blumenthal, named to the Lynchburg Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, before he had ever coached a game for Blacksburg. "I remember, my freshman year at Lynchburg, seeing that I had a lab at 3:30 in the afternoon. I said, 'I've got to drop that lab.' [Shellenberger] found out and said, 'Drop that lab and you'll be dropped from the team.'

"One of the big things I learned from him was how to treat people. It's that old adage, 'People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.'"

Shellenberger, who had been living alone since his wife's death five years ago, had been in failing health, according to Wooldridge.

Emory & Henry athletic director Bob Johnson, previously the Wasps' head basketball coach for 27 years, died Aug. 29, after a long bout with cancer.

Recruiting

North Carolina has taken a basketball commitment from James McAdoo, a 6-foot-8 forward who will be a junior this year at Norfolk Christian Academy.

McAdoo is a relative of one-time Tar Heels' and NBA star Bob McAdoo. James' parents, Ronnie and Janet, played at Old Dominion, and he has a sister (Kelsey) on the team at UNC-Charlotte.

Duke and Virginia were in the final three for McAdoo, who is nursing a shoulder injury that is expected to keep him off the basketball floor until December.

Matt Bailey, a 5-10, 205-pound linebacker from Edna Karr High School in New Orleans, has become the second football prospect to make an oral commitment to Virginia for 2011. The earlier commitment had come from speedy Charlotte, N.C., wide receiver Adrian Gamble, who was offered by the Cavaliers before he had played a down on the Independence High School varsity.

Immediate impact

Former Blacksburg High School kicking specialist Caleb Violette, who did not play for Virginia Tech as a walk-on in 2008, averaged 43.5 yards on eight punts and also kicked a 35-yard field goal Saturday for the University of Massachusetts in a season-opening 21-17 loss at Kansas State.

Later in the game, Kansas State blocked a 43-yard field-goal attempt by Violette, who also handles kickoffs for the Minutemen.

Violette's former Blacksburg teammate, linebacker Tyler Holmes, played for UMass as a true freshman and is starting this year as a sophomore. Holmes had a team-high 12 tackles and intercepted a pass at K-State. The UMass receivers coach is Brian Crist, whose father, Dave, is the head coach at Blacksburg.

Local update

William Fleming graduate Dwayne Priest, the starting tailback for Eastern Michigan as a junior, carried 19 times for 83 yards and one touchdown Saturday in a 27-14 loss to visiting Army. Priest's career high of 118 yards had come at Army during the 2008 season, when he started two games.

Old Dominion's new football program includes offensive lineman Patrick McNichols from Lord Botetourt and linebacker Xavier Duckett from Northside.