Retired Superintendent-Transylvania County Schools. Husband, father, grandfather, educator & mountain philosopher. Public Schools advocate
Western North Carolina
Joined June 2009
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Jeff McDaris retweeted
On This Day in 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd Played Their Final Concert with Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines — The Next Day, They Were Gone
On October 19, 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd walked onto the stage at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in South Carolina. Nobody in the building knew they were watching the final concert Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines would ever play.
It should have been the beginning of a triumphant new chapter. Just two days earlier, the band had released Street Survivors, an album that captured Lynyrd Skynyrd with a revitalized three-guitar attack built around Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Steve Gaines. Gaines had brought something special to the band — not only as a guitarist, but as a songwriter and vocalist.
That night in Greenville, Skynyrd tore through “Workin’ for MCA,” “Saturday Night Special,” “That Smell,” “Travelin’ Man,” “Gimme Three Steps,” “Call Me the Breeze,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and, finally, “Free Bird.”
Then the music stopped.
The following day, October 20, the band boarded its chartered plane for Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and his sister Cassie Gaines were killed, along with assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick and the two pilots. The surviving members suffered serious injuries.
Lynyrd Skynyrd would never again take the stage with that lineup.
Looking back, there is something almost unbearable about that final “Free Bird” in Greenville. To everyone there, it was simply the last song of another Lynyrd Skynyrd concert.
Twenty-four hours later, it had become a farewell.
Jeff McDaris retweeted
Having 4pm NFL games ending in the dark now (East Coast viewers) and then hearing the ticking of the "60 Minutes" stopwatch makes me feel that I have Algebra and American History homework to do tonight, even though I'm in my 50s now.
Jeff McDaris retweeted
"At the 1999 All-Star Game, an ailing, 80 year old Ted Williams was brought out to a roaring crowd for the opening ceremony.
As the cart pulls up near the pitcher's mound, the American League and National League All-Stars, and slew of Hall of Famers all converge on the mound.
The players surround 80 year old Ted Williams and one by one they shake his hand and embrace him.
There's Mark McGwire and Cal Ripken Jr. surrounding Williams.
Then Tony Gwynn, who had developed a close relationship with Williams, breaks through the crowd.
Ted Williams wipes away tears as he chats with star after star;
The fans stand and watch.
Ten minutes pass.
Then fifteen minutes.
Officials from Major League Baseball move in on the spontaneous scene and attempt to break it up so that the game isn't delayed too much longer.
But the players don't budge.
Even the public address announcer asks the players to return to their dugouts.
But they ignore the announcement.
They just wouldn't let go of the moment. Williams asks McGwire to lean in so he can ask him a question.
"When you foul a ball off, do you smell burnt wood?" Williams asks.
"All the time," McGwire responds.
"I did too," Williams says, grinning proudly.
Jeff McDaris retweeted
I often get asked what my all-time favourite baseball picture is.
To be honest, so hard to answer, I have seen over 10000 pictures.
That said, this one is near the top. Mantle hits a home run off Koufax in the 1963 WS. That stare from Sandy says it all
Jeff McDaris retweeted
Willie Mays is the only player ever with 3,000 hits, a .300 average, 300 home runs, and 300 stolen bases.
His real line reads 3,293 hits, .301, 660 homers, and 339 steals.
Nobody else checks all four boxes.
Jeff McDaris retweeted
Fifty years ago (Jan. 16, 1976), NC State's student newspaper, @NCSUTechnician, had a review of a country concert at Raleigh's Memorial Auditorium with the headline: "Dolly Parton--No Woman Can Rival Her."
It's rare that a newspaper headline can hold on to the truth for 50 years.
Jeff McDaris retweeted
NC State University and the United States Army have signed a Regional Intergovernmental Support Agreement, establishing a new strategic partnership designed to strengthen innovation, workforce development and collaboration across a range of disciplines. ncst.at/RJ7s50ZBF4G
ALT Chancellor Howell in a dark suit with a red tie and glasses shaking hands with a man in a U.S. Army uniform smiling warmly.
Jeff McDaris retweeted
Tomorrow, the NC State Board of Elections is going to decide early voting plans for the 20 counties whose boards did not come to a unanimous decision.
So, how do the plans disagree?
Here’s a short post where I attempt to explain:
chriscooperwcu.substack.com/…
#ncpol
Jeff McDaris retweeted
The largest number of Americans born in a single year arrived on campus in the autumn of 2025, and now a falloff is looming. College enrollments are forecast to drop 13% by 2041, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. wsj.com/us-news/education/co…
Jeff McDaris retweeted
In 2013, Mariano Rivera announced it was his last season.
Every team in baseball lined up to give him retirement gifts. A gold record. A rocking chair made from broken bats. A fire hose nozzle from the FDNY.
He accepted all of it.
But at every single ballpark, he asked for something else first.
He wanted to meet the employees.
Not the executives. Not the owners. The ushers, the ticket sellers, the custodians, the grounds crew. The people who show up at 6 a.m. and leave at midnight and never get thanked by anybody.
The Yankees' media relations director helped coordinate it, working with each team to pull together a group.
And Rivera did it at stop after stop, all season long, in his final year, at 43 years old, while still closing games.
Here's what he told about 20 Rangers employees in Arlington:
"We would never have a chance to see you guys, and that's why I wanted to do this. That was important to me, to make sure to thank those that work behind the scenes. No one sees them."
In Cleveland, he sat down with 25 staff members for half an hour before a game.
And partway through, he stopped and asked a question.
"Where's the drummer?"
For forty years, a man named John Adams had sat at the top of the bleachers in Cleveland with a bass drum, pounding out a beat to start rallies. Every home game. Four decades. He bought his own ticket for the seat next to him so the drum could sit there.
Adams raised a drumstick from the back of the room so Rivera could find him.
Rivera's response: "Hey, you the man. Being loyal, being there day in and day out. I really respect that."
At Fenway, he finally met a man named Baz who had been a fixture in that ballpark for decades. Baz afterward: "Pretty special. I've got tears in my eyes."
In Anaheim, where Rivera made his major league debut in 1995 and got his first career save in 1996, he sat with longtime Angels staffers and listened to their stories.
At every one of these, he took a photo with every single person and handed each of them a signed baseball.
His explanation of the whole thing:
"I want to be remembered as a player that gave for others. It's not that I'm better than anyone else; that's not true. I have been blessed and treat everybody the same because I wanted to be treated like that. With respect."
And this wasn't a farewell lap by a guy limping to the finish.
He saved 44 games that season with a 2.11 ERA at 43 years old. He pitched a scoreless inning at the All-Star Game, which kept his career All-Star ERA at 0.00 across thirteen appearances.
He finished with 652 saves, the most in the history of baseball, and a 0.70 postseason ERA that will probably never be approached.
In 2019 he became the first player ever elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously. Every single ballot.
Not Ruth. Not Mays. Not Aaron. Mariano Rivera.
The greatest closer who ever lived spent his last season making sure the people nobody notices got to be noticed once.
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