Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer to speak locally

By Bennie Scarton Jr.

Published: April 23, 2008

MANASSAS – Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer will be the featured speaker at the “Breakfast of Champions” benefit on May 6 at the Carteret Boys and Girls Club, 9501 Dean Park Lane, Manassas.

Proceeds from the event, which will begin at 8 a.m., will benefit more than 12,000 Northern Virginia youth.

Lindsay Czarniak, NBC 4 sports anchor, will be the emcee for the breakfast that will also feature Tyronne Drakeford, former Washington Redskin and Super Bowl champion with the San Francisco 49ers; Roy Hibbert, Georgetown basketball; Susan Walvius, University of Southern California’s women’s basketball coach; and others who will be available for autographs.

Drakeford, now the athletic director at the Boys and Girls Club, is a graduate of Virginia Tech and was instrumental in getting Beamer to come to Manassas to highlight the event.

Tickets are $50 each (which includes a commemorative autograph shirt) and reservations are due by May 2. Call Liz Guzman at 703-365-2582, Ext. 224, or e-mail . for more information.

“We expect Beamer’s presentation to focus on how the Boys and Girls Clubs play such an important role on youth development,” said Vincent Borello, regional vice president of the Boys and Girls Clubs.

The region consists of clubs in Manassas, Dale City, Dumfries, Fredericksburg, Falls Church, Herndon and Alexandria.

The main sponsors are E.E. Wine Inc. and BB&T Bank. Upwards of 500 people can be seated. Kitchen Gourmet is catering the buffet dinner. The Prince William Chapter of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association is also assisting.

A donated cruise package will be raffled.

Born Oct. 18, 1946, in Mount Airy, N.C., Beamer grew up in Hillsville where he earned 11 varsity letters in high school as a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball. He attended Virginia Tech and was a starting cornerback for three years on the football team, playing in the 1966 and 1968 Liberty Bowls.

After graduation in 1969, he attended graduate school at Radford University while serving as an assistant football coach at Radford High School.
Beamer’s college coaching experience began in 1972 as a graduate assistant for the University of Maryland, College Park. After one season he became an assistant coach at The Citadel under Bobby Ross. He spent seven seasons at The Citadel, with the last two as defensive coordinator. He moved on to become defensive coordinator at Kentucky’s Murray State University in 1979 under Mike Gottfried.

After two seasons, he was promoted to head coach and spent six seasons at the school, compiling a 42-23-2 record. Beamer took over a Hokies football program that was largely unsuccessful in its first century, reaching only six bowl games in that span.

He has since built the Hokies into a perennially ranked team. In his 19 years at Tech, his overall record is 156-82-2.
His teams have made 15 consecutive bowl appearances, have won three Big East championships and two ACC titles.  In 1999, he won consensus National Coach of the Year honors when he led his team to an undefeated regular season and appearance in the National Championship game against Florida State, losing in the Sugar Bowl game.  Beamer is married and has two children, Shane and Casey.

Czarniak joined News 4 in June 2005 from WTJ-TV, NBC’s station in Miami.  While there, she was a sports anchor and reporter and hosted Fins TV, the Miami Dolphins show.

She grew up in Northern Virginia and graduated from Centreville High School. She attended college at James Madison University and began her broadcasting career as a CNN production assistant.

Bennie Scarton Jr. is a staff writer at the Manassas Journal Messenger.