Putting a Shine on Wheeling's Super Six
Friday, December 4 , 2009
By SCOTT MCCLOSKEY- The Intelligencer & Wheeling News-Register
His given name is William Cordery. Most people know him as "Sarge."
For the past 15 years, Cordery has worked behind the scenes to make the West Virginia Super Six high school football participants feel like champions during their time at Wheeling Island Stadium.
Cordery, who has served as an equipment manager for several high school and professional football programs over the past three decades, is busy once again this week hanging football jerseys and polishing helmets in the locker rooms at Wheeling Island Stadium. But this year will be his last volunteering for the Super Six in that capacity, as he will step down following this year's event.
"It's just like Christmas morning - their eyes get real big," Cordery said, referring to the reaction of the players when they first walk into the locker room.
Cordery said that's the biggest reason he works to give the locker rooms that polished and professional look during Super Six weekend.
"The kids, they deserve this ... every kid in the state of West Virginia ... deserves it - even if you go 0-10, I think they deserve something like this in their life," Cordery said.
Each year, Cordery goes through the same routine before the state high school football championships. He said once the teams arrive, with the help of a few volunteers, they carry the football gear into the locker rooms where each player has his name already taped above a locker. The shoulder pads are placed on top of the lockers, the uniform jerseys are neatly placed on a hanger and the helmets are polished to a deep shine and then placed in front of the locker.
"Those helmets shine," Cordery said. "When they walk in, it's something ... I even clean up their shoes and get the mud off," he said.
It was 15 years ago that Cordery suggested the idea of setting up the locker rooms to the Super Six Committee. "They thought it was a great idea," he said.
That idea has become one of the hallmarks of Super Six weekend.
Cordery's fascination with equipment management can be traced back to 1969 during his senior year at Bridgeport High School. He said it was a knee injury that kept him from playing football, so he agreed to be the equipment manager.
He then spent several years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves. Back home in 1979, he was driving by Wheeling Island Stadium and noticed Wheeling Central Catholic High School's football team practicing. He decided to approach the team's head football coach, the late Jim Thomas of Wheeling, about working as a part-time equipment manager. He said Thomas called him the following day and offered him a spot working with the team. That's when his career as an equipment manager first took off.
Cordery said it was Thomas who first tagged him with the nickname "Sarge." He said the title has stuck ever since.
Cordery admits that a lot of people don't even know his real name.
"I'm thinking of changing my name to 'Sarge' Cordery instead of Bill Cordery," he said.
Cordery worked as an equipment manager for nine years in professional football, including two years with the Tennessee Titans, before an accident ended his time with that organization.
Cordery, who has been working with the Wheeling Park High School football program for the past few years, said he intends on working with the program as long as he can before retiring completely. He said he will always be appreciative to Ohio County Schools and the Super Six Committee for letting him play a part in the Super Six weekend.
"We love the kids, we're there every night for them, no matter whether it is practice or a game ... We're there for the kids," Cordery added.
Several Super Six committee members had nothing but praise for Cordery's tireless work over the years.
"He is a true ambassador for us ... he's the kind of guy who can't be replaced, what he does is second to none," said Super Six co-Director Howard Corcoran. "He works all night and takes a lot of pride in what he does."
Wheeling Park High School Principal Bernie Dolan, the Super Six's other co-director, added that "one of the big things he does is he makes such an impression on the athletes and coaches who come to the Super Six. ... He does such a professional job and goes out of his way to make it a great experience for the kids."
Wheeling Park Athletic Director Dwaine Rogers added, "He's a very special guy here. ... He works hard and has done this for a long, long time."
As the football players from Wayne, Bluefield, Brooke, South Charleston, Weirton Madonna and Man high schools walk into their assigned locker rooms for the first time and find their jerseys and shiny helmets lining the room, they can thank "Sarge" for making them feel like a champion before they even take one step onto the field - a memory that will last their lifetime.
