Local author completes book about Handley-James Wood football rivalry

WINCHESTER — Longtime readers of The Winchester Star know just how much former editorial page editor Adrian O’Connor enjoyed writing about the epic high school football clashes between Handley and James Wood from 1967-70.

With the help of his good friend and former co-worker Wayde Byard, the Winchester and Frederick County communities can get an even deeper look into what made that era so distinct in an 80-page, magazine-style book, “Echoes of the Four-Year.”

It was a time of not only memorable games and revered coaches, but also a time of extraordinary transition. Desegregation of local schools and the closing of Douglas School in Winchester for Black students occurred in the 1960s. And the prospect of Winchester’s annexation of approximately six square miles in Frederick County loomed as Handley and James Wood prepared to face each other in their 1970 matchup.

It’s all covered in the book, which will be available for purchase at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at a tent by the steps at Handley’s James R. Wilkins Jr. Stadium, 30 minutes before the Judges host James Wood in the 62nd edition of their rivalry that started in 1962. (The only season the teams have not played since 1962 was in the 2020-21 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.) The cost of the book is $20.

O’Connor worked at The Star for more than 27 years until retiring in January of 2020. He passed away at age 68 in January of 2023. A Frederick County resident, Byard worked at The Star as a reporter, sports editor and assistant managing editor for more than 19 years until leaving to become the spokesman for Loudoun County Public Schools in 2000. Byard retired from LCPS last December.

After Byard’s retirement, O’Connor’s widow Toni asked him if he could finish the book. Byard wrote a lot about that time period while he was sports editor from 1984-93. O’Connor — who referred to the 1967-70 games as “The Four-Year War” — is officially the book’s author. Byard edited the book and conducted about 15 interviews to provide supplemental information.

Byard was happy to bring O’Connor’s work to print and highlight some influential figures whom he feels should never be forgotten.

“It’s always intrigued me how people who are important in the community can kind of vanish over time if they’re not remembered,” Byard said.

Byard finished the book as a tribute to several people. The head coaches of the two programs — who each took college jobs after the 1970 season — are also a big part of why Byard wanted to finish O’Connor’s book.

Guided by Walter Barr — whose first year as the Colonels head coach was in 1967 — James Wood posted a 38-2-1 record from 1967-70, with its only losses and only tie during that time coming against the Judges. The Colonels posted their second 10-0 record in program history by defeating the Judges 9-7 to end the 1968 season.

In 1970 James Wood ended up claiming its only state championship following the legendary 22-22 tie with the Judges in a battle of 9-0 teams. James Wood finished with a superior Virginia High School League power rating, allowing the Colonels to compete in a region championship game while Handley’s season ended. Barr’s next stop was Shepherd College (now University), and his other jobs included leading Sherando High School, Shenandoah University, and finally, James Wood again from 2005-07.

Led by Ron Rice — whose first year as Handley coach came in 1966 — the Judges went 36-3-1 in those years, with a 2-1-1 record against James Wood. The 1967 squad posted the first 10-0 mark in program history by capping the season with a 14-0 win over the Colonels. Rice’s life ended at age 35 in 1972 when he suffered a heart attack during his second year at the University of Maryland.

Barr and Rice helped the athletes they coached to succeed not only in football, but also in life. Among the people Byard interviewed for the book were former Handley quarterbacks Doug Toan and Jerry Partlow, halfback Jim Rhodes and end/defensive back Tom Dixon, and former James Wood players Ron (linebacker) and Jerry Combs (fullback).

“These are people who were really impacted by the coaching they had at a critical time in their life,” Byard said. “[Almost] 60 years later, they talk like it’s yesterday. They talk about the explicit lessons that they learned, how these lessons shaped their lives, how these men really inspired them to be more than they could be on the field and beyond the field. It’s something really special. It’s very rare an individual has that kind of impact on that many lives.”

Byard said the book also gave him a chance to pay tribute to people like former state senator and Russ Potts, The Star’s sports editor during those football battles; John Capehart (an assistant coach on the 1966 and 1967 Judges who went on to become a Winchester Public Schools superintendent); Dr. Brian Landes (James Wood’s team physician during that time, Byard said he taught quarterback Mike Headley how to kick); and Jerry Kelican (a Handley assistant from 1962-1967 who went on to become head football coach and athletic director at James Wood).

“These are people who impacted peoples’ lives very positively, and are now slipping into memory,” Byard said. “I didn’t want their memory to go.”

Byard was impressed by how the players he interviewed could provide so much vivid detail, and not just about the games.

“Just little things,” Byard said. “How they got dressed, what they ate that day [on the days of the games]. Their memories are still crystal clear all these years later because of the intensity and the emotions involved in these games.”

Byard felt the perspective of women on that time was lacking. He’s glad he decided to interview Barr’s wife Connie and Potts’ wife Emily, because he discovered information about their husbands he never knew.

“[Those interviews] gave a more complete depiction of their lives, and what made them tick, and I thought that was important,” Byard said.

Byard also thought it was important to delve into integration and annexation and noted that those topics tied into football.

Handley opened its doors to Black students for the first time in the 1963-64 school year, and the school became fully integrated when Douglas School closed in 1966. Byard spoke to Capehart at length about a situation that required a lot of hard work, from a lot of people, over a long period of time, to improve. For example, Byard wrote about the racially motivated fistfights that took place in 1975.

“I think [school integration is] a story that should be preserved for the community,” Byard said. “Integration was very hard, and people really worked at it very hard.”

While there could be difficult moments in the classroom and in the community during the 1960s and 1970s, one of the ways in which students of all races could relate to each other was through football.

“I think the football team really represented the best of what Handley had to offer on [integration],” Byard said. “The players seemed to get along. They seemed to embody the ideal of what integration should have been. And it really wasn’t like that for the student body in general.”

Byard spoke to Dixon, a 1971 graduate who went on to become an influential teacher and successful basketball coach at his alma mater, about the difficulties former Douglas students had with the transition to Handley. Some of the Handley teachers and students did not want Black students at the school.

“A lot of Black students simply left school and never came back, which is a shame,” Byard said. “We’ve come so far as a community now.”

Byard noted former Douglas football and basketball coach Edwin Barksdale should be commended for instilling strong values in his students and athletes, some of whom would go on to compete for Handley. Byard wrote about him as well.

“Here’s a man who taught all day and drove kids to Strasburg and Woodstock so they can play athletics,” Byard said. “The man was incredibly dedicated. It’s kind of heartbreaking that he didn’t go to coach at Handley and places like that. People expressed that to me that he really put a lot in the community, and when integration came, he was kind of pushed aside. I’m sorry about that, but again, it shows how far we’ve come.”

Byard also thought it was important to write about annexation. The 1970 classic was the last football game played between Handley and James Wood before the current boundary lines were established on Jan. 1, 1971. Winchester expanded from 3.4 square miles to 9.3 after the annexation. That meant some students who were in the Frederick County school system would be in Winchester’s starting in the fall of 1971.

“There was a bitter court fight over [annexation] a few weeks before the great game in 1970,” Byard said. “There was a lot of tension in the air. There were a lot of political ramifications. A lot was put on the backs of young men playing in a very stressful situation. I don’t think the players knew how fraught the community was about the city-county rivalry, but there was an atmosphere of tension there that was palpable.”

During the process of finishing the book, Byard felt O’Connor was guiding him.

For example, Byard was having breakfast with the Combs brothers at Cracker Barrel one day, and they were discussing Paul Campbell’s tying extra point that made it 22-22 with 2:09 left in the 1970 game against Handley. Byard said he wished he could talk to a relative about Campbell, who is deceased.

“Right then, Jerry looks up from his coffee and says, ‘I think that’s Paul Campbell’s sister,’” Byard said. “Two of the servers that morning were Paul Campbell’s sisters. We sat down, talked about their brother, his recollections of the game and what kind of person he was. I kind of felt Adrian’s hand on my shoulder right then. I said, ‘This is too great a coincidence. Adrian, you get an assist on this one, buddy.’”

Byard felt he definitely owed O’Connor his assistance with this project.

“I don’t think I was there for Adrian enough in his final days there, and that has always haunted me,” Byard said. “Going through his notes, and seeing his writing, and doing something that was important to him, to me it was a way to really put a capstone on our friendship.”

Anyone who can’t make it to Handley on Saturday but would like to purchase a book can email Byard at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Follow on X @WinStarSports1