Local food equity nonprofit Cultivate Charlottesville launched a fundraising campaign to help cover a $500,000 budget shortfall. Without the donations, the organization may close as soon as spring 2025, according to a November 26 social media post.
“Cultivate Charlottesville is at a critical funding crossroads,” shared the organization. Among other challenges, the nonprofit cited staffing changes, depleted savings, and grants falling through as contributing factors to possibly closing. “Our work is focused on the local food system, and we’re calling on the local community to help us reach our fundraising goal.”
The potential closure of Cultivate Charlottesville puts a strain on already under-resourced food equity efforts. While it terminated Fresh Farmacy deliveries in July, Local Food Hub will shut down entirely at the end of the year. Cultivate Charlottesville was one of the nonprofits expected to help bridge the offerings lost with the closure of LFH.
Through its partnership with Charlottesville City Schools, Cultivate has worked with 20,500 students in its community gardens since its launch in 2007. The nonprofit has also grown and distributed more than 100,000 pounds of fresh produce to community members in public and subsidized housing.
To donate to Cultivate Charlottesville, visit cultivatecharlottesville.org/donate.
Follow the money
The Augusta County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation into the financial records of former United Way president and CEO Kristi Williams after the nonprofit paused operations in early November.
Williams left her role with United Way of Staunton, Augusta County & Waynesboro just before the nonprofit shut its doors temporarily. She worked with the organization in various roles since October 2018, according to her LinkedIn profile.
While rising operating costs were previously cited as the reason for the closure, questionable transactions that occurred during Williams’ tenure raised concerns for investigators and board members.
In a November 20 filing obtained by The Daily Progress, ACSO requested a search warrant for Williams’ financial records with DuPont Community Credit Union going back to January 2023. The warrant application also includes an affidavit with copies of checks totaling more than $20,000 written and signed by Williams.
For information about resources and updates on the operational pause of UWSAW, visit united waysaw.org.
Kristi Williams. Photo via LinkedIn.
So far so good
University of Virginia men’s basketball interim Head Coach Ron Sanchez held his first Coaches Corner at Dairy Market on December 2, after taking over the program from former coach Tony Bennett weeks before the start of the 2024-2025 season. Despite Bennett’s sudden departure, the Hoos have had a respectable 5-2 start under Sanchez’s leadership. The Cavaliers’ next big test comes on December 4, when the team will face the undefeated Florida Gators in Gainesville. Tipoff is at 7:15pm.
UVA men’s basketball interim Head Coach Ron Sanchez held his first Coaches Corner on December 2. Photo via UVA Athletics Communications.
Big discovery
Construction crews uncovered a literal pillar of history while working near the Rotunda at the University of Virginia on November 26, according to UVAToday. The stone pillar was unearthed near the building’s lower north plaza and is believed to have been buried by workers in the early 20th century. The pillar was previously part of a wall along University Avenue.
Christmas pun
Spruce Lee is the official name of Charlottesville’s 2024 holiday tree. The tree will be lit December 6 during the annual Grand Illumination at Ting Pavilion, where it will remain throughout the holiday season. Beyond the fun, this year’s naming contest also served as an informal introduction to ranked-choice voting, which will be used in the 2025 Democratic Charlottesville City Council primaries. Spruce Lee won with 59 percent of the vote, coming out ahead of runner-up Boots with the Fir.
The Women’s Initiative received a grant of $50,000 from Sentara Health, according to an October 31 press release. The grant will support the organization’s culturally responsive mental health care offerings, including Sister Circle, Bienestar, and LGBTQ+ programs.
Founded in 2007, The Women’s Initiative is a Charlottesville-based nonprofit supporting women and others affected by gender-related trauma. In addition to traditional counseling and support groups, the WI also offers culturally responsive programming.
One such program, Sister Circle, focuses on supporting and building community for Black women and other BIPOC people. In addition to culturally focused counseling, Sister Circle hosts regular events for Chihamba West African dance, yoga, and writing.
“I am so grateful for the renewed investment from and long-time partnership with Sentara and their recognition of the vital need for culturally responsive mental health care,” said Elizabeth Irvin, executive director of The Women’s Initiative, in the release. “Through our programs and their support, we continue to work to address health disparity, so that all members of our community have an opportunity to heal and thrive.”
For more information on The Women’s Initiative and its programming, visit thewomensinitiative.org.
Clean sweep
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Virginia to strike roughly 1,600 voter registrations in a program that targeted noncitizens but actually removed several U.S. citizens from the rolls. The ruling came on October 30, less than a week before Election Day. The case could return to the court, but only after the election. There is no evidence of non-citizens voting in Virginia.
Up in the air
All eyes are on UVA men’s basketball this week as the team opens its season following former head coach Tony Bennett’s retirement. In the wake of Bennett’s announcement, Charlottesville native Chance Mallory decommitted and Jalen Warley confirmed his transfer. The team’s first game is at home on November 6 against Campbell State. Things will get tougher for the Hoos later in the month when they face No. 12 Tennessee on November 21.
Making moves
Charlottesville Area Transit begins updated routes on Saturday, November 9, after years of community calls for more frequent and accessible service. Route 4, between Cherry Avenue and Harris Road, and Route 6, including Ridge Street and Prospect Avenue, will both see weekday buses running every 30 minutes from 6:30am to 7pm, with additional evening options. These changes stem from CAT’s 10-year strategic plan to improve the bus system. For more information on the route changes, visit charlottesville.gov.
Head Coach Tony Bennett enters his 13th year with the men’s basketball program. Since 2013, his teams have won five ACC regular season titles, two ACC tournament titles, and a national championship. Photo: Matt Riley / UVA Athletics
Buddy Boeheim goes to the line. Virginia leads Syracuse by two, 29 seconds on the clock. Boeheim makes the first free throw. He makes the second. 69-69. A few seconds later, down at the other end of the court, UVA’s trusted floor marshal Kihei Clark pokes his way into the paint, and whips a pass out to freshman Reece Beekman. Beekman hasn’t made a shot all day. He’s zero for five. But now, with time running out, he’s only got one option: He drains the three as the buzzer sounds.
Beekman sprints down the court, his teammates chasing him and jumping for joy. The UVA men are headed to the quarterfinals of the 2021 ACC men’s basketball tournament.
Or so they thought. As soon as the celebration ended, news broke that someone on UVA’s team tested positive for COVID. The Cavaliers were disqualified from the conference tournament and, a week before the NCAA tournament, were sent back to Charlottesville, where they weren’t allowed to leave their apartments or dorms, and were unable to practice.
The disruption doubtless contributed to the upset that followed: The Hoos secured a 4 seed in the tournament, but fell 62-58 to 13-seed Ohio in the first round. It was an unceremonious end to the Cavaliers’ impressive season, going 18-7 overall and 13-4 in the ACC, winning another ACC regular season championship.
In the offseason, the bad news piled up. The program lost three players to the transfer portal, freshman Jabri Abdur-Rahim and sophomores Casey Morsell and Justin McKoy. Trey Murphy III, Sam Hauser, and Jay Huff headed to the NBA, leaving Tony Bennett with a bare roster.
But, not for long. In addition to four-star recruit Taine Murray of New Zealand, the Hoos landed two big transfers: Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin.
Gardner, the 6-foot-6, 246-pound senior forward from East Carolina University, averaged 18.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 35.2 minutes per game in 2020-2021. He also shot 47.9 percent from the field, 50 percent from beyond the arc, and 73.7 percent from the line. He was named to the American Athletic Conference first team and the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 24 first team. On a team that doesn’t return a single double-digit scorer from last year, Gardner will be expected to carry a lot of the offensive load.
Franklin, the 6-foot-4, 204-pound junior guard from Indiana University, averaged 11.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game in the 2020-2021 season. Further, he shot 42.9 percent from the field, 42.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 74.1 percent from the line. If Franklin doesn’t start to begin the season, expect him to come off the bench pretty quickly.
The team still has three veterans from the 2018-2019 championship team, all returning for their fourth year and likely to make an impact. The diminutive Kihei Clark is the team’s elder statesman, entering his senior year as a regular starter. Last year Clark averaged 9.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. He made the All-ACC third team in 2019 and was an honorable mention in 2020.
The team’s other veterans haven’t played as much thus far in their careers. Kody Stattmann, the 6-foot-8, 200-pound guard started 10 out of 24 games his sophomore season but only played four games in the 2020-2021 season due to a non-COVID-19 related cardiac issue. In those four games, Stattmann shot 58.3 percent from the field and averaged 3.5 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.
Francisco Caffaro, the 7-foot-1, 242- pound redshirt junior (and an Olympian with Argentina this summer) is ready to take the reins at center. He’ll have big shoes to fill—literally—with the departure of Huff. Caffaro played less than seven minutes per game across just 17 appearances last year.
Another notable returning player is Kadin Shedrick. Shedrick didn’t see much of the floor in 2020, but the 6-foot-11, 231-pound forward had an impressive showing in the Pepsi Blue-White Scrimmage in October. He also scored a career-high 12 points and pulled down a career-best eight rebounds versus St. Francis last December. Expect Shedrick to start.
UVA’s disqualification from the ACC tournament and disappointing finish in the NCAA tournament left a bad taste in the mouths of Wahoo faithful, but this year, the Cavaliers are ready to compete and win. They open the season ranked 25th in the AP poll. We all know what happens when UVA plays with something to prove.
A UVA women’s basketball team full of fresh faces will look to veterans like graduate student guard Amandine Toi for leadership. Photo: Matt Riley / UVA Athletics
The 2020-21 season didn’t go great for the UVA women’s basketball team. In fact, it barely went at all. The team was hit hard by injuries and COVID complications. After just a few games, Head Coach Tina Thompson was down to six eligible players, and the program decided to call off the season entirely after an 0-5 start. Heading in to 2021, there’s nowhere to go but up.
Thompson, a WNBA hall of famer from her playing days, enters her fourth year in charge of the Cavaliers, without a winning season under her belt, and she’ll have a roster full of fresh faces to work with. Virginia landed five transfers this offseason: Eleah Parker, McKenna Dale, Camryn Taylor, Taylor Valladay, and London Clarkson.
Parker is a graduate transfer from the University of Pennsylvania and two-time Ivy League defensive player of the year. The 6-foot-4 forward averaged a .485 field goal percentage, 8.4 rebounds per game, and had a total of 233 blocks over three seasons at Penn.
Dale is another graduate transfer from the Ivy League. In her 2019-2020 season at Brown (the Ivy League conference opted out of competing during 2020-2021 due to COVID), the 6-foot guard ranked third in conference for points per game (17.0), second in three-point percentage (.385), and first in free throw percentage (.851).
UVA also added two transfers from Marquette, a team that went 19-7 last year before losing to No. 1-ranked UConn in the Big East tournament final. Taylor, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, averaged 12 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game during her 2020-2021 season at Marquette. She was named to the 2019-2020 Big East all-freshman team and was a 2020-2021 All-Big East honorable mention. Valladay is a junior guard who averaged 5.2 points and 1.8 assists per game for the Golden Eagles last year.
Virginia’s last transfer is Clarkson, a 6-foot-2 junior forward from Florida State. During her 2019-2020 season at FSU, Clarkson averaged 1.2 points and 1.4 rebounds, and shot 43.8 percent from the floor in an average of 7.5 minutes per game. Clarkson transferred to UVA last winter and received eligibility waivers from the ACC and NCAA, but the season was canceled before she had a chance to play.
Key returning players include Amandine Toi, a graduate guard who played in all 30 games of the 2019-2020 season. She shot 32.1 percent from beyond the arc that year, and averaged 4.3 points and 1 rebound per game. And she started hot in the abandoned 2020 season, hitting five threes in a career-best 23-point performance against Clemson. She toppled previous personal records in the five games of the 2020-2021 season, setting a career record of 23 points against Clemson, including five three-pointers.
“We have a full roster, so that is like ‘woo-hoo!’” Thompson said in a press conference at the ACC media day earlier this month. “That’s a blessing in itself.” Thompson said she’s looking forward to this season’s depth and versatility, something she says is a luxury she hasn’t experienced at UVA yet.
Thompson’s offseason recruiting didn’t end with the transfer portal. She also recruited two-time NBA champion and former NBA assistant coach James Posey to her staff.
“Coach Posey is what we call a purist,” Thompson said in a press release. “He loves all aspects of the game and has played it at the highest level. He brings a championship mentality, a wealth of knowledge, and a teaching spirit, with development being his specialty and passion.”
Posey worked as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2014-2019 and has held various coaching positions around the league since. He won NBA championships with the Miami Heat in 2006 and the Boston Celtics in 2008.
With a reshaped roster and revamped staff, the Cavaliers are sure to improve on last year’s showing. After all, they really couldn’t be worse.
First week action
Men
vs. Navy, Tuesday, November 9, 9pm
vs. Radford, Friday, November 12, 7pm
Women
@ James Madison, Tuesday, November 9, 7pm
vs. USC, Sunday, November 14, 1pm
Faces in the crowd
After playing last season in front of a tightly monitored friends-and-family-only crowd, this year’s UVA teams will have the support of a full John Paul Jones Arena behind them. All fans must show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to enter the building, and masks are required.
Last Thursday, three UVA men’s basketball alums took the first step in their NBA careers. Trey Murphy III, the 6-foot-9, 206-pound guard, was drafted 17th overall to the New Orleans Pelicans, making him the 11th first-round pick from UVA and the ninth UVA player to be drafted under Tony Bennett. Murphy played at Rice University for two years before transferring to Virginia for the 2020-2021 season, when he averaged 11.3 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Murphy was also the first NCAA Division I player to earn a spot in the esteemed 50-40-90 club (50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three, and 90 percent from the line) since 2017-18.
As an undrafted free agent, Marquette transfer Sam Hauser agreed to a two-way contract with the Boston Celtics. The two-way contract means Hauser will likely spend his time playing for the Maine Celtics, Boston’s G-League affiliate, and hope that good performances earn him a spot on Boston’s main roster.
Jay Huff, who was a part of the 2019 national championship team, also didn’t hear his name called during the draft, so he agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract with the Washington Wizards. The Exhibit 10 deal will give Huff the chance to potentially earn a two-way contract with the Wizards after participating in the team’s training camp.
New transfer Sam Hauser should serve as the men's basketball team's primary offensive threat this year. Photo: UVA Athletics
By Julia Stumbaugh
Hope springs eternal in the hearts of Wahoo faithful. First, there’s the hope that the season will be carried out safely, with basketball not endangering the health of players, fans, and the rest of the community.
Then, of course, is the hope that the teams will soar.
The women are looking to outperform early projections of a bottom-conference finish with a new, untested roster. The men, led by a star transfer, will battle to live up to championship expectations.
Last season’s tournaments were canceled by the coronavirus. This year, with precautions in place, we’re hoping a season can be carried out safely. It’s been a turbulent off-season of viral disease, professional drafts, and surprise transfers. But with college basketball finally on the horizon, it’s time to take a look at the familiar faces and new talent seeking to push Virginia’s teams to the top of the rankings this winter.
Freshman guard Kaydan Lawson, handling the ball above, is among the many new faces on the Cavaliers’ roster. Photo: UVA Athletics
Building for the future
Virginia women’s basketball will rely on fresh faces this year. The team lost the only three players who averaged over 30 minutes per game last season to graduation, with guard Dominique Toussaint, forward Lisa Jablonowski and 2020 10th-overall WNBA draft pick Jocelyn Willoughby saying so long last spring.
Those three graduating seniors represented over 60 percent of the Cavaliers’ 2019-20 offensive production. But even team captain Willoughby’s ACC-leading 577 points weren’t enough to drag the Cavaliers up thestandings, as the team struggled to a 13-17 record. They scored just 61.4 points per game and finished bottom-three in the ACC in scoring for the second consecutive season.
Other key players from last season are fleeing in the transfer portal. Guard Shemera Williams, who ranked third in team scoring and appeared in 21 games after joining as one of the country’s top recruits in 2019, is headed to the University of Southern California. Kylie Kornegay-Lucas, who averaged five points over her 29 appearances last season, is expected to transfer as well. Both played over 20 minutes per game.
Those departures leave redshirt sophomore guard Amandine Toi and sophomore guard Carole Miller as the only 2019 starters left on the team.
Miller averaged six points and 3.6 rebounds per game, making her the most consistent scorer remaining. Toi’s 26 three-pointers ranked her behind only Willoughby and Toussaint from beyond the arc.
The starting roster desperately needs reliable double-digit scoring, and where that will come from in 2020-21 remains to be seen.
Dani Lawson only made five starts last year and struggled to regularly mark the scoresheet, but she did show flashes of potential with a five-game stretch in which she averaged 13 points per game. Meg Jefferson and Tihana Stojsavljevic both played off the bench and could see increased playing time this year, although they’ll be fighting with six new players for a regular roster spot. Covenant School alum Emily Maupin, a graduate transfer from Elon, averaged 11.7 points and six rebounds in her last season for the Phoenix and could help around the rim.
Virginia was one of the conference’s worst rebounding teams in 2019-20, when the team placed 11th in the ACC in defensive rebounds and 15th on the offensive glass. There are plenty of new faces who could help pick up the slack: The Cavs added five freshmen who are all six feet or taller. Zaria Johnson averaged 13 points and 5.9 rebounds in her senior season at Hightower High School in Texas. Dani Lawson’s younger sister Kaydan Lawson notched 18 points and 3.1 steals per game at Orange High School in Ohio. And Aaliyah Pitts was named the Class 6A Player of the Year as a junior at Woodbridge High School in 2018-19. The team also added Nycerra Minnis, who averaged 17 rebounds per game in her senior season at Herndon High School, and Deja Bristol, who averaged 12 points and 10 rebounds at Maryland’s New Hope Academy last season.
Tina Thompson has her work cut out for her in her third season as head coach. An 8-10 conference record in 2019-20 was an improvement over a tough 2018-19 season, when the team went 5-11 in the ACC. But with a conference coach preseason poll placing Virginia 15th out of 15 in the ACC, Thompson will have to make sure her inexperienced squad doesn’t take a step backwards.
The team needs leaders after the loss of its team captain, and scorers after the departure of the only two double-digit producers in Willoughby and Toussaint. Toi and Miller must make the jump from freshmen role players to veteran leaders, and the returning bench players and new freshmen front court will have to be creative in how they fulfill Thompson’s high-energy offensive approach. There will be plenty of competition for starting roles on this brand new Cavalier team.
Senior guard Tomas Woldetensae lines up a jumper in practice this off-season. Photo: UVA Athletics
High hopes
Virginia’s men’s team, as fans have been happy to point out, remains the nation’s defending champion. This year, it has championship dreams once again, and was ranked No. 4 in the nation in the AP preseason poll.
The leaders of that gravity-defying 2019 title squad are long gone—of the seven players who averaged 10 or more minutes per game during the championship season, only junior guard Kihei Clark remains. But a new class is ready to take over.
Redshirt senior Sam Hauser made a name for himself in his junior season at Marquette University, where he averaged nearly 15 points a game and showed off his lethal shot on January 15, 2019, with a memorable 31-point outing against Georgetown.
On April 8, 2019, Hauser watched the Cavaliers win their first NCAA championship. Exactly one week later, he made public his intention to transfer from Marquette; in May, he announced he would be spending his senior year in Charlottesville.
Now that his NCAA-mandated sit-out season is over, the 6’8″ power forward is ready to don the blue and orange. That couldn’t come at a better time for a Virginia team looking to cover the gaps left in the roster by graduating seniors Braxton Key and Mamadi Diakite.
The key parts of the 2019-20 defense, which held opponents to an ACC-best 52.4 points per game, are returning. Redshirt senior Jay Huff ranked fourth in the conference with two blocks per game—including an unforgettable 10-block showing in a 52-50 victory over Duke—while junior Kihei Clark ranked in the top 20 by averaging 1.2 steals.
To return to the Final Four and beyond, Virginia needs scorers. The Cavaliers ranked last in the ACC last year in offense with an average of 57 points per game. The 2020-21 roster offers scoring in spades. Clark grew as a scorer between his freshman and sophomore seasons, going from 4.5 to 10.8 points per game and ranking second in team scoring only to Diakite in 2019-20. Senior Tomas Woldetensae honed his long-range shots with 52 three-pointers and earned starts in 22 of 29 games.
In addition to those two returning guards comes Huff, a 7’1″ center who increased his 2018 4.4-point average to 6.6 points per game in 2019-20 in 18 starts. His height and intimidating wingspan might make him one of the premier centers in the ACC.
Cavalier fans are likely to see Hauser, dangerous at both close range and from a distance, take over at power forward. After those four starters, the roster could fluctuate. Sophomore Casey Morsell made 13 starts last season but didn’t quite establish himself, shooting an abysmal 18 percent from three. He’ll compete for minutes at guard with four-star freshman Reece Beekman. Freshman Jabri Abdur-Rahim, another four-star prospect and gifted scorer, could get the start as small forward. Redshirt freshman Kadin Shedrick learned Virginia’s system from the bench during his redshirt season last year, and may see some time on the court this season, while freshman Carson McCorkle will likely take his turn as a redshirt.
Coach Tony Bennett ran a relatively tight rotation last year. Only seven Cavaliers averaged more than 10 minutes of playing time per game in 2020. That could change as Bennett tests this year’s deep roster for chemistry and commitment to his system.
With tenacious players like Clark and Huff holding down Bennett’s trademark pack-line defense, and clever scorers like Hauser and Abdur-Rahim arriving to create a dynamic offensive punch, this Virginia team has every reason to dream big.
DJ Ron Manila coordinates with the team, the band, and the announcers to enhance the experience at UVA basketball and football games. Image courtesy of subject
By Robin Schwartzkopf
Ron Manila knew he wanted to be a DJ as soon as he put his hands on the turntables at a family pool party in 2010. A few days later, he had his own set, and the beginning of a lifelong passion.
“I’m in love with music and I always have been for as long as I can remember,” Manila says. “I knew then, this is what I want to do.”
Nine years later, Manila is pursuing his dream as the in-game DJ for men’s basketball and football home games at UVA. After a fortuitous gig at the Virginia Track Challenge in April 2017, he applied to DJ football games at Scott Stadium.
“I was told my audition would be three live games, and if I did good with that, I would get a chance with the basketball program as well.”
In fall 2017, Manila started working at football and basketball games, balancing his full-time job in Richmond with his new work at two very different stadiums. After several seasons with both teams, Manila understands the nuances of each and can prepare his sets to serve the specific environment and crowd.
At John Paul Jones Arena, he says, “volume control is key.” The indoor arena is louder and smaller than the football stadium, which changes how he thinks about getting the crowd—and players—pumped up. While he has the freedom to pick whatever songs he wants to play, Manila says he takes into account songs players have requested and perennial crowd favorites. “I work closely with the directors on certain tracks,” Manila says. “But in-game, I pretty much have the flexibility to go with what the crowd will respond to best.”
What hits are the most reliably hype at Virginia games? His answer isn’t surprising—any frequenter of JPJ or Scott Stadium has jumped and danced along to “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC and Quiet Riot’s “Cum on Feel the Noize.”
During football games, Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” is a Manila go-to with its bold opening and powerful guitar reaching students lounging on the hill and fans in the highest seats. While classic rock appeals to almost everyone, Manila tries to incorporate as many genres as possible in his sets. Game attendees can expect to hear the ubiquitous “Sweet Caroline” plus pop, house, and EDM, all with the twist of Manila’s own style of spinning. Last season, during the fourth quarter of the Miami homecoming game, he decided to test some new tracks. “I introduced a song called ‘Swag Surfin’ by Fast Life Yungstaz, and the whole player and student section went crazy. So now that song is a must-play at all of our football games. I also took a chance and played the ‘Friends’ theme song and surprisingly the student section had a dance to it. So cool!”
Manila isn’t the only one making noise during games—he has to coordinate with the band, announcers, and other programming, all while switching up his beats depending on the flow of the game. With so many elements, communication is key in order to ensure the arena doesn’t become a cacophony of competing sounds.
As the DJ, he channels the energy and flow of the game, following each minute in the action while keeping the crowd engaged and employing his sharp musical intuition. “If the game-winning shot is on the line and the team is coming out of a time out, the band cuts off, and I have 30 seconds to play something to hype up everyone,” Manila explains, adding, “I love it!”
Robin Schwartzkopf is the Arts and Entertainment editor at The Cavalier Daily.
Kyle Guy celebrates as the buzzer sounded on Virginia's win during the NCAA Championship Game. Photo: Jerry Holt
By Charlie Sallwasser
It’s 1am on Tuesday, and Virginia basketball has just won the national championship. I can’t believe it. As a 10-year-old, I used to pretend to be Virginia forward Cornel Parker when I was shooting hoops in my driveway, lining up the game-winner in the national championship game. I made countless elbow threes to secure the title for the Hoos, but driveway fantasy is a long way from hardwood reality. I’m giddy. What a night. What a team.
I cried happy tears tonight. I knew they were coming. I’m a crier anyway (weddings and father-son scenes in movies are my usual pitfalls), and I cried two Saturdays ago when Kihei Clark hit the free throws to cap the miracle comeback against Purdue, clinching the program’s first Final Four appearance since 1984, when I was a year old. On one hand, it’s just sports, but on the other, fanhood of this team is a common thread between my family, many of my friends, and the city I live in. It’s taken me from that 10-year-old shooting hoops in his driveway to a 36-year-old shooting hoops in his driveway with his 6-year-old. Following this team has covered most of my life.
I never wore the honors of Honor. My attitude toward high school academics was a little too cavalier for me to be a Cavalier, but both of my parents and my older sister were, and my youth was marked by trips to Charlottesville for football games and having basketball games on TV all winter. It didn’t take much exposure to any of it before I was sneaking my throwback Ralph Sampson jersey to school for picture day and spending long hours in my driveway trying to adopt Curtis Staples’ lightning-quick release for my jump shot (update: it didn’t take).
UVA and NBA superstar Ralph Sampson celebrates Virginia’s first national title. Photo: Matt Riley
When I was in high school, my parents and I would talk to my grandparents every Friday. The Hoos would always come up, and my grandfather would ask me what I thought of specific players or games. He’d oblige my youthful optimism and punctuate it with his trademark “very good,” regardless of how seriously he actually took my analysis.
Virginia’s sports teams have been a steady undercurrent in my relationship with my own father. He’s not one for idle conversation, but I started calling him during every Virginia game I watched when I went away to college, no matter where I happened to be at the time (or how sober). Those calls pinballed from the state of Todd Billet’s jumper to little minutiae of our day-to-day lives, and have kept us much closer than we would have been otherwise. I don’t know how much paternal wisdom I would have missed out on if I didn’t need to chat with my dad about an otherwise inconsequential matinée basketball game. As an adult now with two children of my own, I don’t even get to watch every game these days, much less break them down afterward, but those calls still happen often. I’d be sad if they didn’t.
Now, I share that fanhood with my son. He wears a Kyle Guy jersey every day it’s clean (or he can sneak it out of the house), and when a game runs too late, we watch highlights together the next morning before school. I got to link arms with him on Saturday night when his favorite player lined up the winning free throws, and then hear him breathlessly recap it for my parents on the phone. I didn’t wake him up tonight (though I wish I had), but I can’t wait to sit down after dinner sometime this week, watch it with him, and celebrate all over again.
That’s what it’s about, really. Moments. The linked arms with the boy. Coining a recurring “never a doubt!” with my Dad after having plenty of doubts against Gardner-Webb, Purdue, and Auburn. The joyful, teary (and beery) celebration with my friend Will after Clark’s free throws. FaceTimes, calls, and texts with friends and family near and far tonight. The basketball’s been plenty memorable this March, but the moments have counted for a lot, too.
Hoos fans at Boylan Heights on March 30, when Virginia defeated Purdue 80-75 in overtime. Photo: Martin Kyle
For most of my life, merely seeing Virginia selected to the NCAA Tournament was a thrill. The program made just five appearances in the Big Dance from 1993-94 (the first season I can remember start to finish) to Tony Bennett’s 2009 hiring, and in four of those five appearances, they failed to emerge from the event’s first weekend. Success in that span was judged by the team winning more ACC games than they lost, rather than by any postseason benchmark, but even that modest feat only occurred four times during those 16 seasons.
There were plenty of highs, but they manifested as short bursts of excitement, like upsets of North Carolina or Duke in front of rowdy crowds at University Hall or John Paul Jones Arena, or as superlative individual performances from the likes of Staples, Travis Watson, or Sean Singletary. You could never count on any prolonged success.
More frequent were the lows, groaners like Dave Leitao locking the team out of their brand-new arena for what he felt was subpar effort, scoring three baskets in a half during a loss to Florida State, or losing by 45 to North Carolina in Chapel Hill. In the 10 seasons before Bennett was hired, the team won just 68 of 160 ACC games and played in the NIT five times. It was hard to imagine the Cavs making the jump; the Final Four runs of 1981 and 1984 felt about as relevant to me, a fan born in 1983, as Bob Cousy highlights do to someone who grew up on Allen Iverson. Final Fours felt like they were of a different sport, reserved for basketball’s blue bloods (the Kentuckys and North Carolinas) or random outliers like Loyola Chicago, who would become trivia answers for future generations, barring forever middle-of-the-road teams like Virginia, who couldn’t stay out of its own way.
Tony Bennett changed things. He developed an identity for the team. It wasn’t my favorite at first, and it took a while to get used to—artful scoring is more fun to watch than dogged defense—but it quickly made the team competitive night in and night out. Then, clued in by the slow surge in results and a connection with the humble, honest Bennett, talent started coming in. And with the talent came wins—178 of them over the last six seasons, with four ACC regular season titles and two ACC Tournament titles to boot. And with those wins come expectations of glory on the sport’s biggest stage, and that’s where, on some level, we still felt like there was something to prove.
Forward Mamadi Diakite, who sank a crucial 12-foot buzzer-beater during the Elite Eight, pours on the pressure. Photo: Matt Riley
In 2014, Virginia lost in the Sweet Sixteen. In 2015, the second round. The next year, with a Final Four spot in their sights, a 16-point lead evaporated in a flurry of Syracuse pressure and turned to a seven-point loss. And as everyone knows by now, 2018 marked the first time a top-seeded team had ever—ever!—lost to a 16. Each early exit fanned the flames of doubt around Virginia’s ability to win in March, while simultaneously finding new neuroses to add to the pile.
No matter how unfair it is that so much of the perception of a college basketball program’s health is derived from success in a single-elimination, end-of-season tournament that is mostly popular for how much wild, unpredictable stuff happens and how many people guess wrong and lose money, it’s true, and that perception has been the cloud hanging over this unparalleled run for Virginia hoops. As well as we fans think things are going, we want everyone else to think so too. Even if Bennett is actually the paragon of perspective that he appears to be in public, I’m comfortable saying that his was a fan base in need of some vindication.
This year’s run provided that vindication in cathartic fashion. One needs to look no further than the photo of Bennett hollering to the roof of the Yum! Center after Virginia’s Final Four-clinching win for proof of that. It’s been redemptive for 2018’s historic flop and the disappointments that preceded it, and redemptive for every one of the countless times a national analyst like USA Today’s Nate Scott said something like “UVA basketball is paint-drying, grass-growing, sixth-period-algebra boring.” There is now an evergreen reply to the many critics of Virginia basketball, and it will be raised to the rafters of John Paul Jones Arena.
For me, this Virginia drive to the national championship game has been more than just another six basketball games in March. It touches on three generations of family, 25 years of patience and pain, frustration and elation, late-night phone calls and barrages of texts, and perhaps more emotional and intellectual energy than a man in his mid-30s should be devoting to a team representing a school he didn’t even go to—but my wife and friends can write that piece. Virginia’s thrilling run through March 2019 has been accompanied by joys at every step. I’ll cherish it forever. And I can’t wait to share it with my kid.
Charlie Sallwasser wrote the UVA sports blog University Ball from 2009-2017.
Students flock to the Corner on Monday to revel in the team’s win. Photo: Eze Amos
Boylan Heights goes nuts March 30 as UVA takes down Purdue to advance to its first Final Four since 1984.
Martyn Kyle
Buzzer beater
UVA heads to the Final Four in Minneapolis April 6 after a heart-stopping 80-75 win over Purdue’s Boilermakers, thanks to a last second bucket by Mamadi Diakite to put the Cavs into overtime. The win marks Virginia’s first appearance in the Final Four since 1984, coach Tony Bennett’s 10th year leading the Hoos, and redemption for last year’s first-round loss to a No. 16 seed.
Guilty plea in CHS threat
Albemarle High senior Joao Pedro Souza Ribeiro, 17, pleaded guilty March 27 to making a racist threat online that shut down Charlottesville city schools for two days last month. The Daily Progress reports Ribeiro told a juvenile court judge that he was “bored” in study hall and posted the threat as a joke. He’ll be sentenced April 24. Another Albemarle teen was charged with a felony for a shooting threat to Albemarle High, but police have not released his name.
Suing Alex Jones
Federal Judge Norman Moon ruled that Clean Virginia exec Brennan Gilmore’s defamation lawsuit against Infowars, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and others of his ilk can proceed. Gilmore videoed James Fields plowing into protesters August 12, 2017, and he alleges the defendants spread false information about him, resulting in death threats against him and his family. Jones is also being sued by Sandy Hook parents for claiming the mass murder of children was staged.
One train, two deaths
A Buckingham Branch train struck Sebastian Herrera, 39, of Waynesboro, around noon March 31 in Crozet, and then hours later killed an unidentified man in Waynesboro. Herrera, the third person to die on the train tracks in Crozet since 2015, was killed near Lanetown Road, close to where a Time-Disposal employee died last year.
Orange hotbed
The gated community Lake of the Woods has been the scene of alleged criminal activity recently. Ryan Chamblin, 36, was indicted on 161 counts of possession of child porn March 25. He’d previously been charged with five counts and two of failure to register as a sex offender. That same day, Stafford resident Roy C. Mayberry, 46, was indicted for embezzling more than $450,000 from the Lake of the Woods Association.
Quote of the week
“It’s clear that you would lynch me if you could so I’m never concerned with your thoughts.” —Mayor Nikuyah Walkerin a Facebook comment to Justin Beights, who sarcastically said her negativity is inspiring.
Crime pays—a little into government coffers
Cash-strapped localities have been known to use speed traps to plug their budget holes (ahem, Greene County), and after the Department of Justice found that law enforcement in Ferguson, Missouri, had effectively been acting as tax collectors (bringing 23 percent of the town’s revenue in fines and fees), a 2017 report said that a number of other municipalities were doing the same thing. But it’s not the case in Charlottesville and Albemarle.
“CPD does not use ‘speed traps,’” says Charlottesville police spokesperson Tyler Hawn. “We use traffic enforcement to ensure drivers are following the posted speed limits and rules of the road for everyone’s safety.”
As City Council finalizes its 2020 budget, it voted April 1 to up the local meals and lodging taxes (and seems likely to not raise the real estate tax, after “finding” another $850,000). With all that cash, citizen criminal activities make a small revenue contribution to the proposed $188 million budget. Albemarle County also gets revenue from convictions, a .1% pittance in its $487 million budget.
Here’s how some of the numbers stack up in the proposed fiscal year 2020 budget.
Students at Charlottesville High school were among thousands of teenagers who participated in the March 14 National School Walkout to demand gun control legislation.
Eze Amos
Walking the walk
Exactly one month from the day that a gunman shot 17 people to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, local students and their peers across the nation said they wouldn’t stand for that—so they walked.
March 14 marked the first National School Walkout, where thousands of students left their classrooms at 10am to demand gun control legislation.
As a seemingly endless current of teenagers streamed out of Charlottesville High School, 17 students lay motionless with their eyes shut tight, while holding signs made of red paper and black letters that spelled out the names of each victim of the Parkland shootings.
“We’ve become numb to the fear,” said senior Fré Halvorson-Taylor into a bullhorn to about 700 of her peers. She was reading from a statement that she wrote with Albemarle High School student Camille Pastore, and that representatives from Monticello and Western Albemarle high schools approved.
“The idea was that it would be read at all the surrounding schools or otherwise disseminated to the Charlottesville community,” Halvorson-Taylor says.
Over at Monticello High, teenagers also flooded out the front doors of their school, but the students who organized their walkout asked for 17 full minutes of silence as the group walked, one minute for each person killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
And as those same names were read at Albemarle High School, an all-female acapella group sang Coldplay’s “Fix You.”
Among the many signs held there, several said the same things: “Enough is enough. Arm us with books, not bullets,” and “We care, but do you?”
Students at AHS remind that they’re the school massacre generation. Photo Natalie Jacobsen
Several local students are organizing buses to Washington, D.C., for the March For Our Lives this weekend.
A dozen area activist groups, such as the local chapter of Moms Demand Action and the Charlottesville Coalition for Gun Violence Prevention, have organized a sister event at the Sprint Pavilion from 2-4pm on March 24 to demand that the lives and safety of young people in schools become a priority.
“I don’t know what to say but that. That was a thorough butt-whupping.”—UVA Coach Tony Bennett after the historic loss of his No. 1-seeded Cavaliers to No. 16 seed UMBC in the first round of the NCAA tournament
City settles FOIA lawsuit
Charlottesville will give freelance reporters Jackson Landers and Natalie Jacobsen redacted copies of police operational plans for August 12 as part of a settlement of their Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit. The reporters also asked for Virginia State Police plans, but the state argued March 13 in court against turning plans over because they may reuse them. Because they worked so well the first time?
Legislative success
While the General Assembly killed all bills that would allow Charlottesville to better control another Unite the Right rally, it did pass a bill carried by Delegate Steve Landes that will allow Albemarle to regulate parking on secondary highways.
Meat market
New research from meal delivery service Food Box HQ says Virginia singles are among the least likely in the nation to date vegans. In a recent survey, 38 percent indicated that they would not consider dating someone with a diet sans animal products.
New historical society head
Coy Barefoot File photo
After Steven Meeks abruptly resigned as executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society last month, the organization’s board of directors named journalist, author and historian Coy Barefoot as his successor.
Jogger dies
Andrew J. Yost, a 49-year-old who was struck by a sedan while out jogging around 8:30pm February 19 in Barboursville, succumbed to his injuries at the University of Virginia Medical Center on March 10. Driver Guy Wilde, also 49, was charged with one felony count of hit and run.
Militias came to Charlottesville August 12.
Photo Eze Amos
August 12 bills killed
After white supremacists invaded Charlottesville with violent clashes that left activist Heather Heyer dead and the community traumatized, legislators carried bills to the General Assembly to give localities more muscle in avoiding such gatherings in the future. Attorney General Mark Herring also wrote a couple of bills to combat white supremacist violence—to no avail.
Senator Creigh Deeds
Allow Charlottesville and Albemarle to prohibit the carrying of firearms in public.
Prohibit impersonating armed forces personnel.
Prohibit wearing clothing or carrying weaponry commonly associated with military combat at permitted events.
Delegate David Toscano
Allow Charlottesville and Albemarle to prohibit carrying firearms with high-capacity magazines.
Allow any locality to prohibit carrying firearms at permitted events.
Localities may remove war memorials.
Attorney General Mark Herring
Define domestic terrorism as violence committed with the intent of instilling fear based on one’s race, religion, national origin, gender or sexual orientation. The state police superintendent could designate domestic terrorism organizations.
Paramilitary activity is unlawful if done with intent to intimidate with firearms, explosives or incendiary devices.
In brief
Power-less
Dominion Energy says it’s restored power to 42,000 customers in Albemarle following the nor’easter that hit the area starting March 1. At press time 721 were still without electricity.
“We’re like a mosquito on the giant’s ankle.”—Kay Ferguson about anti-Dominion protesters
ACC accolades
Virginia secured the No. 1 seed and won its final home game of the season against Notre Dame March 3. Tony Bennett was named ACC Coach of the Year, Isaiah Wilkins was named Defensive Player of the Year and De’Andre Hunter was named Sixth Man of the Year.
NBC29 anchor dies
Sunrise and noon anchor Ken Jefferson, 65, died unexpectedly March 4 after a brief illness. According to NBC29, he began his broadcast career with a pirate radio station as a boy. He worked at WHIO in Dayton, Ohio, and WWSB in Sarasota, Florida, before coming to Charlottesville in 2011.
Free tampons in jail
The General Assembly passed a bill February 27 that provides free feminine hygiene products to women incarcerated in Virginia’s prisons and jails. Bills to eliminate the sales tax on menstrual supplies for the non-incarcerated died in House committees.
Cop-car escapee pleads guilty
Matthew W. Carver, 26, whose six-week crime spree last summer included breaking into a Crozet woman’s house and stealing her car, multiple B&Es and kicking out the window to escape from a patrol car while handcuffed and shackled, pleaded guilty to 21 felony counts February 28 in Albemarle Circuit Court. He’ll be sentenced June 6.
Not just talking turkey
When a tractor trailer overturned on Rockfish Gap Turnpike February 25, Albemarle police said on their Facebook page that several turkeys got loose and “enjoyed a night under the Crozet stars” until an animal control officer picked them up the next day and “safely wrangle[d] the rafter into a pretty sweet new ride courtesy of the ACPD.” A rafter is a group of turkeys.
