WHEELING — Joey Galloway comes back home to the Ohio Valley pretty often. His father and two of his brothers still live in the area.

Nonetheless, Wednesday made for a very special homecoming for the former Bellaire, Ohio State and NFL wide receiver.

Galloway, now a college football analyst for ESPN, was the guest speaker for Wednesday’s 2025 YMCA Light of the Valley luncheon where legendary Bellaire basketball coach Gene Ammirante was given the Dr. Lee Jones Patron of Youth Award. It was an occasion that Galloway, a former player of Ammirante’s, knew he had to be there for.

“This whole event was special,” Galloway said after the event concluded inside the Wheeling Park White Palace. “When they asked me to come talk about ‘Coach A,’ I jumped at the opportunity. It gives me a chance to say thank you to someone that has given me so much over the years, and, honestly, to give him credit for some of the success I’ve had. These things don’t happen if not for guys like him.”

Galloway — who totaled 108 receptions for 1,894 yards and 19 touchdowns for Ohio State before embarking on a 16-year NFL career that included six 1,000-yard seasons — played multiple sports at Bellaire, including playing basketball for Ammirante.

Galloway credits his experience with people like Ammirante, head coach of Bellaire boys basketball from 1981 to 2011, for the success he would go on to have.

“This place is special to me, not just Bellaire, but the entire Ohio Valley, and I feel like these things that I get a chance to do, that I’ve been blessed to do, give me a chance to represent what I was given when I was here,” Galloway said during his address. “People think that my skill, especially as a young kid, was that I could run or jump or catch. That wasn’t my number one skill. My number one skill was the ability to recognize a blessing. Guys like ‘Coach A.’ He made a comment when I was little in his basketball camp, I didn’t miss one word when there was a speaker, or when ‘Coach A’ was up front, and he said ‘You’re always paying attention when somebody is speaking.’

“Well, I had the ability to recognize that I’ve been blessed to be around and learn from guys like ‘Coach A.’ ‘Coach A’ is my biggest fan. Every time I see him, we talk football. He loves ESPN. But what he doesn’t realize is I was his biggest fan first, as a kid. As a little kid, I used to sit across the court from where ‘Coach A’ was coaching, … I was watching, and I’m like, ‘I can’t wait to play for that guy.'”

How Galloway was impacted by Ammirante extended far beyond the pair’s time together at Bellaire.

“There were all these experiences and things that I learned from ‘Coach A’ that I didn’t actually know I learned until I started coaching my own kids,” Galloway said during his address. “When I got older and I had kids, and I saw my kids playing, I decided to coach because they weren’t getting the same experience that ‘Coach A’ gave us. And that’s why I got into coaching. […] My kids are growing up, and I’m coaching a lot of kids, and they think I’m pretty smart. They don’t understand, I’m just giving them what you gave me.”

Galloway told stories about the time Ammirante piled his team into a van to take them to an Ohio State basketball game, and the time Ammirante threw a trophy into a lake after his team got into a post-game fight, while reiterating how much Bellaire basketball’s all-time wins leader shaped him into who he is today.

“‘Coach A,’ I’ve been given so much, and I thank you, and I thank everyone else in this room that has been a part of that. I am so thankful that I get a chance to represent what I’ve been blessed with, which is guys like ‘Coach A,’ Coach [John] Magistro, they have blessed me and given me an opportunity to represent them to the rest of the world. When I come back here, not just Bellaire, the entire Ohio Valley, that love is felt wherever I go, and I appreciate that.

“When you turn on your TV and see me there, understand that I’m just the guy that gets the fruit off the tree, but the actual tree is sitting next to me. The blessing I had was recognizing the giants that I had a chance to stand with and learn from and be around and emulate.”

Galloway’s presence was appreciated by YMCA Wheeling Executive Director Adam Shinsky.

“For me, personally, it was awesome,” Shinsky said after the event. “I remember being a really young kid at the YMCA and watching Joey play basketball, and when I found out that basketball was his second sport and football was his main sport, I was just amazed because of just how good of an athlete he was.

“And then, just coming full circle today to him coming back and giving back to the YMCA and speaking about ‘Coach A,’ it’s just a privilege for the YMCA and an honor that he’ll come back because this is a really crucial time for the YMCA as we expand. Having Joey come back and saying how much it means to him, means a lot to us.”

Shinsky and Jamie Bordas presented Ammirante with the Dr. Lee Jones Patron of Youth Award to close the ceremony Wednesday, and also presented the funds raised for Wheeling YMCA – a remarkable $68,800, which Bordas said was the third-highest amount ever raised in the 18-year history of Light of the Valley.

Galloway, who is dedicated to philanthropic work himself through the Galloway Foundation, was happy to see funding from the event go towards a good cause.

“It’s nice to see some of these people, knowing what they do,” Galloway said. “And knowing that I come from this area, hopefully there’s so many more kids that get an opportunity to do some of the things that I’ve had an opportunity to do. But it comes from organizations like the YMCA giving kids an opportunity to do that.”