T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Local prolific sportswriter Doug Huff being honored at a banquet for being the 8th most influential person in high school football history by MaxPreps hosted by the OVAC.

WHEELING – During his storied sports writing career, Doug Huff’s influence on high school sports stretched beyond the Ohio Valley and across the United States. MaxPreps made that clear when it placed him eighth on the list of the most influential people in high school football history.

The Ohio Valley Athletic Conference joined MaxPreps in the celebration Sunday when it honored Huff for that ranking.

The OVAC welcomed guests to The Capitol Theatre ballroom Sunday afternoon to laud Huff, the longtime sports editor of the Intelligencer, for his work.

Event organizer Bob Koch said that once he was made aware of Huff’s MaxPreps accolade, he knew that Huff needed to be honored in the Ohio Valley.

“Linda Myers and I put our heads together, and we thought, gosh, that’s a pretty prestigious award. So we ought to do something for him,” Koch said. “Of course, we checked with Doug first to make sure he’d go along. And Doug said that’d be great. And it went really well. We had a good response, a nice turn out and all of that. Everything fell together real nice.”

In addition to Huff, the MaxPreps list also included the 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, early football pioneers Pop Warner and Walter Camp, star players Jim Thorpe and Red Grange, lawyer Thurgood Marshall, Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, and many more.

During his thank you speech Sunday, Huff said that he is only one of three of the 25 names that made the list that’s still alive. Nike founder Phil Knight at number 24, De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur, who won 151 games and ranked No. 23 and Huff are those three.

Huff’s ranking came from his creating the first national high school football record book.

His career at The Intelligencer lasted 44 years, serving as associate sports editor for 12 years and sports editor for 20. During that time, he also produced national rankings and All-American football teams with Street & Smith’s Magazine and later Student Sports and ESPN.

“The Valley has always been great for sports,” Koch said. “I mean just look at the crowds we get for the high school football and basketball events. This has always been a sports area. I’m sure I speak for a lot of people who used to look forward to when they got the newspaper and were able to read Doug Huff’s column.”

He added that he remembers going directly to Huff’s column in the newspaper first when he received his daily paper.

“That’s the first thing I’d read, the heck with the headlines. I wanted to read the sports, and I wanted to see what Doug Huff had to say,” Koch said. “It’s just nice to be able to kind of pay him back a little for all the time and effort he’s put into it, and how much he influenced not only nationally but the impact that he had on the local school scene here.”

Huff also ran the West Virginia Sports Writer’s Association for 40 years.

On Sunday he talked about what he considered the top five accomplishments of his career.

He said that the top 5 accomplishments

Huff said that number one has to be compiling those national records, which would form the foundation for future marks and stand the test of time, and be the first to do it.

“Being the first in anything is special. Whatever you’re in, whatever business you’re in, whatever sports you’re involved in, if you’re the first to do something, be proud of it that stands out, and hopefully it stands the test of time,” Huff said.

His second proudest accomplishment is having a regional, state, and national audience the work he’s done for books, magazines, periodicals, and websites.

Number three was being an active member of the West Virginia Sports Writers Association for 60 years.

“That was special to me, I’m so proud of my work there, especially with the nation’s largest statewide sports banquet and the 76-year old Sports Hall of Fame,” Huff said. “Working on those things just made me feel good, because you knew you were doing something that meant something to other people. You’re recognizing other people and that’s special.”

Fourth is serving the longest tenure and authoring the most sports columns in history at the Intelligencer.

Fifth is the work he has done for the nation’s largest high school sports conference, the OVAC.

“I’m proud to know my fingerprints are all over the OVAC Sports Museum and Hall of Fame projects. There’s no local or regional sports museum in the country in comparison to our project,” Huff said. “Working with the OVAC on that project was just tremendous. I’ve had a blessed life, and wish all of you the same, and thanks go to the OVAC for hosting this banquet.”

Huff’s longtime friends also spoke at the banquet offering heartfelt stories and jokes about the many years they’ve spent as his friend.

John Sorrenti kicked things off by welcoming everyone in attendance before announcing that the food provided by Hall of Fame Cafe was ready to be served.

Wheeling Central Catholic High School football coach Mike Young spoke about Huff’s humility.

“Doug is a true legend and great individual. He has shown so much class, so much dignity, over the years, with all of us, coaches, administrators, and parents,” Young said.

OVAC director Tom Rataiczak spoke about how Huff began writing about athletics when he was just 12 years old.

“When I was 12, I was trying to spell athletics,” Rataiczak said. “Doug had a unique way of writing, he will give you snippets to ponder. He would tell you who were the top leaders in various categories. He would point out who was the best at this or the best at that. And then every once in a while, he would throw you a curve and go back into the ’50s and ’40s and rank who was the greatest in whatever sport he chose.”

He added that Huff would mention athletes from all across the United States to be able to have a broader audience argue about who they thought truly was the best.

“It was something that young college students who were hopped up on caffeine at 8 o’clock in the morning needed to argue about before they went to class,” Rataiczak said.

WVU Senior Director of Digital Athletics Content John Antonik was born and raised in New Martinsville just like Huff. He said that it was inspiring to see someone from their small town receive national attention.

“I would get the Street & Smith’s Magazine and just thought it was so cool that a guy from New Martinsville was writing for probably the most widely circulated sports magazine of its kind in the country,” Antonik said.

OVAC executive director Dirk DeCoy said that he’s only known Huff for seven years which is the least amount of time out of all of the speakers.

“I’ll tell you right now, Doug, I will never introduce anybody with more accolades in their profession than you, but I will tell you on the person side, I’ve know you as a person for seven years now, and you’ve treated me with the utmost respect, and I haven’t known you for 70 years, but the way that you’ve treated me is like we have been good friends for the past 70 years,” DeCoy said. “Your accolades as a person far exceed your accolades as a professional, and your professionals are just out of this world. So that says a lot about you, Doug Huff.”