T-L Photo/RICK THORP Beallsville High School athletic director Delmas Moore makes remarks Friday night during a ceremony christening 40 new chairs that will adorn the sidelines at Beallsville High School athletic events. The chairs, costing $100 each, were made possible by community members who had each chair emblazoned with the name or names of a loved one of special Beallsville contributor.

BEALLSVILLE — “The Pride Continues,” isn’t just a saying at Beallsville, it’s a bedrock belief.

If someone in the community is in need, chances are everyone will come together to aid that person.

Same goes with its schools.

Beallsville athletes might not always be on the winning side of the ledger, but they certainly have the support of the public. Proof of that was on full display this past Friday night in between the JV and varsity boys’ basketball games against Bridgeport.

Before a large crowd, chairs were lined up from basket to basket in the high school gym. Forty of them, each with their own unique story, but, in sum, representative of a community’s athletic heritage.

The new chairs are now in use at Beallsville High sporting events, part of a program to continue improving the school’s athletic facilities.

“The old chairs were purchased in, I believe, 2002,” Beallsville High School principal Casey Tolzda said. “Since we have the new school, we figured we’d get new chairs with our new logo.”

The old chairs will be taken to the new Delmas Moore Fieldhouse, which opened this past fall.

Following Friday’s ceremony, the new chairs replaced the old ones and were used for the second half.

“(Head coach) Rick Jarrett is sitting in a chair with his dad’s name on it,” explained Tolzda, whose family purchased one in honor of his grandfather, Lou Tolzda Sr. “The four chairs at the scorer’s table have names on them of people who kept score for more than 30 years.”

All told, 40 families or individuals purchased chairs for $100 each. Tolzda said with athletic department funds being scarce, a program was devised to have folks sponsor the chairs. It was an immediate hit.

“We put it on Facebook and got the word out and before we knew it we had 40 families or individuals who wanted to do it,” he said. “We hardly had to push. It just happened.”

Funds raised were used to purchase the chairs, the lettering, and racks to store them.

“If you look at the names on them it’s a who’s who of Beallsville history,” Tolzda said. “This community just gives back every time you ask for something. They just jump to it.”

The ceremony was an emotional one, at times, with names from the past being intertwined with faces from the present. It was also reflective of the ever-changing face of Beallsville athletics.

“We’re just taking it one project at a time,” Tolzda said. “We have our eyes on possible new bleachers at the football field and a new press box.

“We have a wish list and we keep knocking them out one at a time. We’re not gonna give up.”