West Virginia's Greatest Athletes

Mainly this post is a memorial for a fallen friend, Michael Wayne Tyson whose body was found at home March 19, 2008. Here his athletic exploits are chronicled in a 1999 article appearing in the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail - juxtaposed with those of Randy Moss and others from Kanawha County, WV. Within the next week or so, a special edition of the internet radio program I host, will allow his friends to remember him in our own way!

Randy Moss is known today across the country for his football feats, but he was a pretty good basketball player, too. He won the state Player of the Year award in hoops twice.

Moss, Walker spur sports debate

Tyson, Alexander also mentioned as all-time greats

July 7, 1999

By Tom Aluise

Daily Mail sportswriter

RANDY Moss' status as the greatest prep athlete ever produced in these parts is seldom challenged. But when it is, Dunbar High School's Melvin Walker is usually the guy thrown into the ring for debate.

"Melvin was as good as there's ever been in the county,'' said Delmar Good, who coached Walker in football at Dunbar from 1963-65. "Melvin could do it all.'' "That guy could do everything,'' said former Winfield football coach Leon McCoy. "He was just a natural.''

So, just who is Kanawha County's best high school athlete of the century? Could it be anyone other than DuPont's Moss? And what about South Charleston's Robert Alexander and Charleston High's Mike Tyson? Those guys could chew gum and walk at the same time with the best of them.