On the first day of kindergarten, Jimmy Ball heard the word college and knew that was a place he needed to go. Ball arrived on the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1988 and immediately felt at home. He went on to star on both the Bobcat basketball and baseball teams while becoming the first member of his family to graduate from college. 

After Ball earned his art degree, he returned to Buckhannon as a graduate assistant coach for WVWC basketball and baseball. With a teaching certificate and master’s degree in hand, Ball moved back home to Maryland in Charles County to begin a 26-year career in teaching and coaching. He teaches three different art classes at the high school level while serving as head coach for the North Point High School cross country, boys basketball and girls lacrosse teams. In fact, his basketball Eagles won a state title in 2011. Ball has given back to his community by running several different camps for at-risk and special needs children. 

This past school year, Ball discovered that he received the title of Charles County Teacher of the Year. The veteran educator and coach is currently in the running for the Maryland Teach of the Year award.

The following is an interview with former Bobcat basketball and baseball standout Jimmy Ball: 

Q: How did you learn about West Virginia Wesleyan?

A: “I talked to some of the older teachers and coaches in my county. There were quite a few of them that played at places like Glenville State and West Virginia State, so they knew Wesleyan’s conference very well. When I came out of high school, I didn’t have an SAT score to go to college so I went to junior college first. I went to Charles County Community College in my hometown. Once I completed that, I was looking for a school to attend. My coach at CCCC, Chris Wolfe went to a basketball all-star game in Hagerstown with me and that’s where Coach Greg Walcavich and Coach Steve McDonald spotted me, then I got connected with West Virginia Wesleyan.”

Q: How much did you want to play two sports in college?

A: “At the time I was also playing baseball at the junior college so I couldn’t come visit right away. Here’s a place (WVWC) that wanted to give me scholarship money but I had to tell them ‘wait while I finish this sport first’. Wesleyan kept in contact with me once a week and I went to visit Buckhannon at the end of May. I tell people this all the time that it’s one of those situations when you know as soon as you step foot there. I didn’t even meet Coach Randy Tenney and other coaching staff yet but as soon as I walked on campus, I knew that this was the place that I wanted to go to. As soon as I stepped out of the car there were people on the sidewalk saying ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and that doesn’t happen where I’m from. I’m from outside of D.C. in almost a metropolitan area. Everybody was so friendly. I met with Coach Tenney so that we could do a dual scholarship.”

Q: What was Wesleyan able to do for you?

A: “It was a match and was like being in heaven for me. I didn’t have the means to afford college but West Virginia Wesleyan gave me that opportunity. I am so grateful because I would not be in this situation that I’m in now. I have a career and have been teaching going on 27 years and coaching for 30 years. I’m doing two things that I never would have imagined I could do. I’m so grateful for what West Virginia Wesleyan did for me.”

Q: When did you realize what you wanted to do as a profession?

A: “I was trying to be a professional baseball player and Coach Tenney had that man-to-man talk with me. I wasn’t at that level and I tried to put all my eggs in one basket. I went back home after graduation and laid around on the couch not knowing what I was going to do. Not long after that I got a job teaching art camp to a group of kids (ages 6-12). I had some money coming in and it was one of those moments where the flashes and fireworks go off. I walked into that classroom and I knew that I had figured out I wanted to be a teacher. I made the call back to West Virginia Wesleyan and Steve McDonald was the head men’s basketball coach by then. I told him that I know what I want to do but I don’t know how to do it. I explained the situation to him and Coach McDonald told me that he would give me a call back in a couple of days. Coach McDonald called me back after a couple of days. I had good character and never got in trouble. If that wouldn’t have been the case, they wouldn’t have given me the graduate assistant coaching opportunity. They offered me to come back to get my teaching certificate and my master’s on top of that.”

Q: What did you learn at Wesleyan about coaching?

A: “You can’t be a good coach if you can’t be a good teacher and I took that to heart. You really need to know your material and how to present it while breaking it down into chunks so your players can understand. The fundamentals are always important. All of my coaches always broke a concept down to miniature chunks and added to them as we went along. I caught on to that really well. When I left West Virginia Wesleyan, I was prepared and created all these lesson plans for art education. It was through my art classes and I was ready. I was prepared to go into a classroom and teach. I learned all of that at West Virginia Wesleyan.”

Q: Did you want to stay in West Virginia? 

A: West Virginia Wesleyan was a helping hand for me. When I did my student teaching there I was trying desperately to find a job to stay in West Virginia. I don’t need money or a lot of things. Living in West Virginia was idyllic waking up every morning as an artist seeing the mountains in the background. I saw streams running through a farm and the landscape was so majestic. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a job there but had one waiting back at home in Maryland. It all worked out very well.”

Q: Have you been able to refer some of your students to West Virginia Wesleyan?

A: “Two years ago I had the opportunity to direct three of my students to West Virginia Wesleyan. I called Coach Tenney up and told him that I had three student-athletes that would like to tour the campus. He was thrilled.”

Q: How much of an impact did Coach Tenney have on you?

A: “I look forward to every time I get to talk to Coach Tenney. We talk about the old days about playing for him and coaching with him. I learned a lot from him. He let us do our thing, we knew he was the boss but he wasn’t standing on top of us. He made it fun to where I will never forget those days. If I have something that I need help with I can call and talk to him about it. He was like a father figure because when I was growing up I didn’t really have one. I was the only African American player on the baseball team but Coach Tenney treated me just like everyone else.”

Q: What is your favorite Wesleyan basketball memory?

A: “The first game for basketball we played was against Georgetown (Kentucky). I think they were ranked tenth at the time and the gym was packed. We were down by about 20 points and we came back all of a sudden in the second half. I had 24 or 25 points and 14 rebounds that night to kind of spearhead the comeback.”

Q: What is your favorite Wesleyan baseball memory?

A: “In baseball what I remember the most is us heading down to a southern trip to Jacksonville, Florida. The team bonding was great and we played around 13 games in five days. Playing on the beautiful manicured fields was incredible. We made the trip back up north to come back home and there were snow flurries. My teammates were always there to back me up. We won the baseball conference championship my senior year.”

Q: What was your reaction to finding out about the Teacher of the Year honor?

A: “The principal’s secretary called me to the office and you normally don’t want to get that call. My principal told me to sit down and told me that he was nominating me for Charles County Teacher of the Year. I was like ‘what?’ It was a total 180 from what I thought it was going to be. I was overwhelmed because you don’t get into teaching for the awards.”

Q: What was your reaction to COVID-19 ending the 2020 spring sports season early? 

A: “Going to tell the four senior ladies that their careers were over was mind blowing. My daughters got the girls together and they created these gift baskets and went around to each of the seniors’ houses and delivered those baskets to them just to give them something to let them know that people cared. It was hard for me because I was so busy and I went from 100 miles per hour to a complete stop. I was lost for around two weeks to a month. I didn’t have much energy since I had a 20-year routine come to a halt. My wife and I started doing projects around the house and that got me out of my funk. It’s not about the sport anymore, it’s about the mental health to make sure that everyone is safe and being healthy. If we don’t play a season this year then we don’t play a season. Everything is going to be alright and eventually we’ll get back to playing. I’m very confident that distanced learning is going to be successful because I’m prepared.”

Q: What do you miss the most about WVWC?

A: “When I wake up now in Maryland I don’t get to walk out the door and see mountains in the background. When you walk around Wesleyan you can see a different landscape every day and I miss that. From the surroundings to the people it was like you walking around history.”

Ball has been to married to his wife Lauren for 23 years. The couple has two children, a son named Satchel (19) and a daughter named Jordan (17).