Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Hidden Valley's King diagnosed with cancer
Bob Beecher and Randy Bush will coach girls' basketball team.
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Hidden Valley has elevated two assistant coaches to be in charge of its girls' basketball program on an interim basis in place of first-year head coach Brenda King, who was recently diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Hidden Valley athletic director Chris Morris said Monday that Bob Beecher, a former men's basketball star at Virginia Tech, and Randy Bush, an assistant football coach for the Titans and a former boys' basketball assistant, will take over the girls' team during King's absence.
King was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer three weeks ago and is undergoing chemotherapy treatment. She recently was discharged from Lewis-Gale Medical Center but has not returned to her teaching position and is convalescing at home, Morris said.
Morris said he is unsure when King might be able to resume her coaching duties.
"We're hoping she's going to be back for part of the season," Morris said.
Basketball practice begins for VHSL schools on Nov. 10. The Titans' first game is Dec. 2 at Brookville.
King replaced Mike McGuire, who left for an assistant coaching position at the University of Richmond after leading Hidden Valley to back-to-back Group AA titles.
Morris said King has not spoken to Hidden Valley's players since the diagnosis of her illness, but said both Beecher and Bush -- whom King brought on board as assistants for this season -- have addressed the team.
Beecher, who played on two NCAA tournament teams at Virginia Tech from 1983-86, is the father of former Hidden Valley star Kylee Beecher.
Beecher said Shawn Patton and Lindy Stetson will have coaching roles with the team. Patton was a Hidden Valley assistant under McGuire and former coach Steve Buchanan. Stetson is a social studies teacher with a basketball background.
"Everyone is going to be involved," Beecher said. "It's going to be a group effort. The expectations of the girls will be met."
Bush stressed the interim nature of the jobs.
"This is Brenda's program," he said. "We're just going to keep things going until she's able to come back."
King was hired at Hidden Valley in late May after spending the previous two seasons as the girls' head coach at Pulaski County, where she won 35 games and took the Cougars to two regional tournaments.
King coached Radford to a pair of Group AA titles and a runner-up finish between 1988-90. She also became the first woman to coach a boys' varsity basketball team in Virginia since World War II when she took over the Radford program at age 29 in 1991. She coached Radford's boys' program for two seasons.
Hidden Valley has adopted the slogan "Fight Like a King," as a vehicle to generate school and community support.
The school is selling wristbands for $1 apiece and T-shirts for $10 apiece to raise money to help with King's medical expenses. Hidden Valley also will hold a students-vs.-faculty benefit basketball game at 2 p.m. on Oct. 31, with all proceeds going to the family.
King's husband, Danny, died of lymphoma in September 2005.
Her daughter, Kelly, is an eighth-grader at Hidden Valley Middle School. Her son, Jared, is a former star athlete at Pulaski County who signed a baseball scholarship with Virginia.
