It's not often that a new event comes into the Ohio Valley and just turns the entire area on its ear.

Well, Ken Halloy, the St. John Central graduate and now President of Halloy Boy Sports Marketing in Columbus - did just that this past week.

Halloy was the mastermind behind the inaugural Friends of Coal Classic, which was held on Labor Day at Wheeling Island Stadium.

The Friends of Coal Classic - which included three prep football games - was more than just a trio of football games however. It was a blast for fans of all ages for the better part of two days.

"Honestly, we were thrilled with how well it went," Halloy said during a telephone interview from Columbus. "For year one, I couldn't be happier. The crowds were great, weather was perfect and the people came out and supported it."

While official numbers are still being compiled in terms of attendance, Halloy was quick to estimate seven to 10 thousand strolled through the gates at Wheeling Island Stadium.

"I am probably a bit on the conservative side," Halloy said. "It's tough for me to gauge Wheeling Island Stadium because this was the first event we'd held there, but I can say it was definitely a success and unless things were a complete failure, we were already getting ready for 2009 and 2010."

Halloy expects to have some teams written in stone for the 2009 event within a month and work has already begun on teams for 2010.

"The Ohio Valley has shown a willingness to support this, and I truly believe this has the ability to become one of the premier (high school football) events in the country," Halloy admitted.

The weekend got under way Sunday evening with the gala-like event, An Evening with Don Nehlen and Friends, which was a rousing success. The event featured the former Mountaineers' head coach, but for me and many in attendance it was former ESPN personality Roy Firestone who stole the show. The WesBanco Arena had never looked better for any event that me and the seven others at my table could reccollect.

"It was universally agreed that the arena had never looked better," Halloy said. "We had a good group of people working on that event, and I have to give credit to my sister Ging who is into the event planning. She made that arena look like it did."

I don't think I was alone when I heard Firestone was going to be in attendance to think that he was going to drop a few anecdotes, introduce some people and that would be it. I don't think I was ever more wrong. Firestone opened the program by singing "God Bless America" and later did several musical impersonations. He mixed in jokes about sports, politics and anything else. He was an absolute gem.

"I told people before the dinner that they'd be surprised with Roy Firestone," Halloy laughed. "He just knows how to captivate an audience. That was an all-around great night, and I know Coach Nehlen enjoyed and appreciated it."

Along with Firestone, several legends of the college football coaching fraternity were on hand as well as a couple of Nehlen's former players and his entire family.

One area of the the weekend where we heard some people complaining and it was minimal to say the least was the Monday morning event, "Breakfast with the Coaches."

While, many people came to Wheeling Island to hear folks like John Cooper, Bill Stewart, Vince Dooley, Bill Mallory and others speak, but also came under the premise that they were going to get a meal out of the deal, but they found out there was no food to be had.

"The breakfast was just a title," Halloy explained. "Kind of like 'Breakfast at Wimbledon' is just a title. We'll mark that one down as one the promotor messed up. I had a friend ask me before hand what I was serving, and I said, 'coaches.' He was like, 'seriously, you're not feeding people. You called it a breakfast.' I guess we didn't think that through well enough, and we do apologize for the inconvenience."

After the speakers, the Health Plan Fun Zone was opened, which according to Halloy was well-received and well-attended. It included blow-up games and rides as well as free snacks and souveniers.

It's events like the speakers and the fun zone that are going to go a long way in keeping the event as first-class as any around.

"We want it to be a festival-style event," Halloy said. "We want it to be something that everyone looks forward to. Even if you don't want to buy a ticket and come into the stadium, you can come down and be part of the atmosphere."

Halloy also passed out major kudos to the Wheeling Park personnel and their cooperation, including principal Bernie Dolan and athletic director Dwayne Rogers.

The way the crowds were handled and the way the teams were treated was also something that led to the event being so successful and well-received.

"We had team hosts greet these teams and they basically were with them the entire time they were here," Halloy said. "The coaches were understanding about sharing lockerrooms and we were able to get guys in and out. The execution of the games went off flawlessly."

Halloy and his capable staff had back-up plans had the games ran long to make sure each squad received ample warm-up time.

"We had talked to Coach (Mike) Young and Coach (Gregg) Bahen and asked them if they might mind starting at 6:15 rather than the scheduled six, but it was a moot point because all of the games were over in plenty of time," Halloy pointed out. "We didn't have any major hiccups. We had some issues behind the scenes, but you're not going to put on an event of this size and involve this many people and not have any, so overall, we're pleased."

The only thing about game day that Halloy wishes had worked out differently were the outcomes. The Cleveland Glenville Tarblooders rolled past Thomas Jefferson, Pa.; Lakeland, Fl. steamrolled Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Wheeling Central had little trouble with Steubenville Catholic.

"We're already meeting about next year's matchups," Halloy said. "Sometimes, we only have previous years records and past success to build on, but the further out I can schedule teams the better matchups and programs I can bring here."

And taking the goal to make the Friends of Coal Classic as top-notch as other prep football events around the country, Halloy's got another idea up his sleeve, which he hopes to have in place for 2009.

"We want to get at least one of the games on national television," Halloy said. "It's a priority to make that happen."

When it comes to putting on an event like this along with everything else, it takes money. And Halloy was blessed with the amount of support he received from his sponsors. And folks can expect that to grow.

"Sponsors were thrilled and pleased," Halloy said. "People already want to get involved for next year, and those are words you dream to hear when you are in my shoes. I am very optimistic, I am actually juiced up about the amount of staying power this event has."

Something tells me with Halloy heading this venture, national television is just the start of something really big here. And it'll be something that people will flock to the Ohio Valley for each and every year. And with that comes just another thing the Ohio Valley can hang its hat on.

Staskey can be reached at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com