The Official Publication of the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs Booster ClubVolume 1, No. 3 August 2017

Today, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Robyn Schon, our topnotch General Manager of the Berglund Center – and boy, are welucky to have her!!!

Q. Where were you born?

A. Eden, North Carolina

Q. What is your education?

A. Under grad at Bluefield College, then went to Michigan StateUniversity (graduated with a degree in Organizational Manage-ment) and then got my Master’s Degree from Hollins University inCreative Writing.

Q. Tell us a little about where you were before coming to Roanoke.

A. I started out working at Coliseums in Greensboro, Joe Louis Arena(Detroit); Atlanta Omni (no longer there) and finally here to theRoanoke Civic Center (now Berglund Center).

Q. What year did you arrive in Roanoke and what was your titlethen?

A. In 1998 and I was the Director of Marketing. In 2004, I became Assistant General Manager and in 2011became General Manager.

Q. When the previous General Manager left, what was the process you went through to take over as GM?

A. I didn’t even apply – the Regional Vice President of Spectrum just came to see me and told me I wasgoing to be the next General Manager. I just stood there and stared at him. He said that most people atleast said “thank you.” I was just speechless.

Q. Do you have any idea how many other females are employed with Spectrum in this capacity?

A. I believe there are only 3 or 4 female General Managers within the company (and Spectrum is world-wide).

Q. Who is your “boss”?

A. Well, I answer to the City Manager on the local level and to a Regional Vice President with Spectrum.

Q. How many employees do you oversee?

A. I have a fulltime staff of 28 and about 400 part-time employees.

The Interview — Robyn SchonMaggie Drewry

Robyn Schon, General Manager ofthe Berglund Center

Robyn Schon...continued on page 3

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From the EditorLinda “Hatty” Hart

I must begin by thanking everyone for your support with articles,photos and a fantastic Hockey Word Search puzzle. You may noticethat our newsletter staff is growing right along with our list ofcontributors. If you are involved in a booster club activity, thinkabout taking a picture for the newsletter so we can share it witheveryone else as space permits. Just email it to me and make surethat the word DAWGS is in the subject line.

This newsletter gets circulated among the players and team man-agement. We will also be selling print copies to fans at the homegames for $1 an issue to encourage fans to join the fun.

One of my personal goals for this newsletter is to recognize all ofthe contributions made by members in support of our team. Thereare so many ways we form what BC President Bobby Woolwinerefers to as “the team behind the team.” And each of contribution,big and small, deserves recognition.

When you see a member or a group of members doing somethingout of the ordinary, let me know. If you don’t want to write about ityourself, just call and give me a tip. I will find someone on ourintrepid staff to follow your lead and write it up.

Bobby mentioned the donation of towels and linens to the boosterclub in his President’s Message. That led to my finding out how thiscame to pass, and led me to contact a new booster club memberthat I might never have known otherwise. Check out page 10 tolearn more.

We are Booster Club members because we love hockey and want itto stay in our valley. This means we cannot be shy in promotingwhat it is we do.

Think of us like your local newspaper ... only better. We want tocover everything “Dawgs” that is fit to print. NNNNN

Grant Street Digital, Canton, SDDale Ducheneaux: 605-310-3478dale@grantstreetdigital.com

Booster Club OfficersBobby Woolwine, PresidentTommy Boothe, 1st Vice-PresidentCarol Mason Murray, 2nd Vice-PresidentBrittany Leftwich, SecretaryBarbara Woolwine, TreasurerBrad Melton, Member at-largeTammy Overfelt, Member at-large

Printing

Newsletter Staff

Newsletter Contributors

Newsletter SubmissionsArticles & photos :

Linda “Hatty” Hart540-389-0328 home305-934-4530 cellhqdl@aol.com

Advertising

Linda Hart, Editor & PublisherRobert Hart, Staff PhotographerMaggie Drewry, Feature WriterJoey Overfelt, Player UpdatesDianne Prout, Advertising ManagerAmelia Glasser, Copy Editor

Contact Dianne Prout atdiprout@aol.com for information andadvertising rate sheet.

Maggie DrewryShirley HoltBrittany LeftwichJoey OverfeltNick Prout

Advertising:

Dianne Prout540-977-0287 home540-309-5012 celldiprout@aol.com

Gina M. PolsterBrad MeltonCarol MurrayBarb WoolwineBobby Woolwine

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Q. Tell us your background in hockey.

A. I worked at Joe Louis Arena and workedwith my beloved Detroit Red Wings. Mylove for hockey just took off. Then Iworked for an IHL League before comingto Roanoke (ECHL, UHL and SPHL).

Q. When you came to Roanoke, there wasalready a good bit of history (some good,some not so good).

A. Yes, for sure. I have actually worked withfive different hockey leagues.

Q. When the Vipers folded in 2006, did youthink we would ever have a hockey teamback in Roanoke?

A. Well, because of the recent failures, Ilearned what it would take to have asuccessful team, and it took some yearsto find it. I had my list of what would beneeded and that included local owners, aproper hockey league, capitalized prop-erly, and commitment from the City.

When I first talked with Bob (McGinn),our conversation lasted about 30 minutes.I then picked up the phone and called JimCombs (SPHL) and I told him he had tocome to Roanoke and meet this man. Asit turned out, our first meeting was withBob and all three sons, Jamie, Tye andBrock. I told him what I wanted (and thatincluded some local owners).

Of course, Chip and Bonnie (Grubb) and Ihad been working on this for severalyears. I then approached Robin andChrissy Bennett (Sports Haven), Dr. Mattand Terry Skelton (medical and youthhockey parents), Mason and StephanieMcLeod (real estate) and Steve & DanaEsworthy (youth hockey). They all metBob and the rest, they say, is history!

Q. After our first year, what is your assess-ment and what would you like to seeduring this upcoming season?

A. I thought the first year went great – but I would like to seemore season tickets sold – and more promotions. The staffis working hard to have more promotions. I also felt that itwas essential that a good booster club be in place, and Ihave been blown away by the Roanoke Railyard DawgsBooster Club and everything they have done for the team.It is truly amazing that the Booster Club was able to do allthey did with so little time to pull things together. I havetold Bob on numerous occasions how lucky they are tohave this Club as part of the team – and he is certainly infull agreement. I also understand that there will be pocketschedules and I think this is important. Not everyone is onsocial media.

Now, let’s really meet Robyn:

Q. What do you do in your spare time?

A. My animals are my therapy – I have 4 dogs, 4 cats, 4 goatsand a Koi Pond!! I also love to write and have actuallypublished a book of poems.

Q. What people don’t know about you?

A. That I was a professional singer!

Favorite TV show: Hannibal

Favorite vacation destination: Rome

Favorite Music: 80’s rock

Favorite College Team: Michigan State University Spartans!!!

Many thanks to Robyn for taking time from her very busyschedule to sit down and tell us all about herself. She is anamazing woman – we are so blessed to have her at BerglundCenter! N

Robyn Schon...continued from page 1

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President’s MessageBobby Woolwine

What a busy few weeks we have had this summer. I know the season is not hereyet but there is so much preparation to be done for the upcoming season we can’tslow down but must look ahead to the tasks at hand.

We had thirteen of us go to the 29th Annual ECHL Jamboree in Greenville SC and itwas quite an eye opening event for many who were there for the first time. Noneof them had ever had interaction with other clubs to appreciate the difference inhow things are done differently throughout minor league hockey.

As we walked out of the workshop sessions one of our members looked at me andsaid, “We really have an outstanding booster club.” I know this statement wasmade after listening to the other clubs complain about not having enough peopleto help with various tasks needed for their clubs.

When the discussion turned to committee work and we began listing our commit-tees and chairpersons people were amazed at how much participation we had in our club. It was very nice to seeour members participate in the jamboree and I think they all came away with a better appreciation for theculture of our club and maybe a little better understanding of why I always say how lucky we are here in theRoanoke Valley.

At the jamboree we came away with many great fund raising ideas and I feel down the road they will help usimmensely. I have always believed that these events were very worthwhile and this year was certainly noexception. We will be discussing these ideas as we get closer to the season to start and implementing several ofthese ideas.

For me one highlight of the jamboree is always seeing old friends I have made from these events over the courseof these last 29 years. It is a reunion of sorts and I always cherish those days spent there.

The coach of the Greenville Swamp Rabbits spoke briefly at the jamboree and I was fortunate enough to get tospeak with him after his talk was completed.

He is a great guy and had nothing but praise for our coach Sam Ftorek. He stated that Sam was one of the coachesin this league that would respond to calls to have players moved up to the ECHL. He further stated that therewere in fact coaches that would ignore calls for players to be called up to the ECHL, he said one team never calledhim back the entire year.

I really feel this is doing a great disservice to the players working hard to improve themselves and not be giventhe opportunity to move up to a better paying situation. I am proud that our coach is willing to send guys up nomatter the consequences here in Roanoke, it is a very unselfish act.

The coach of Greenville said that he had no doubt Sam was going to have a great year this year due to the factthat he showed so much movement for players to the ECHL last year. It was very refreshing to have a coach speakwith so much honesty and I hope they are very successful this year. I know several of our booster members spokeof coming back down there to watch the Swamp Rabbits play this year and if last year is any indication we mayhave some players from our team there in Greenville. I would welcome a trip back down there to watch theSwamp Rabbits play and perhaps when we have those 28 days without a home game we can make that happen.

The other thing we brought back to us from Greenville was the right to host the jamboree in 2019. It is a hugeundertaking and I look forward to this challenge and the preparation has already begun. It is almost two years

President’s Message ...continued on page 5

Booster Club PresidentBobby Woolwine

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N

Shakers RestaurantValley View Mall

7:00 PMMonday - September 11, 2017

Dinner at 5:30 – 7:00

Business meeting begins promptly at 7:00 p.m. it wassuggested that if you want to eat, try to come around5:30 in order to give the servers ample time to bringfood to us.

Next Booster Club Meeting

President’s Message...continued from page 4

away but there is much to do and although it isa marathon not a sprint we need to progresseach month to be prepared come July of 2019.

Lastly I want to ask everyone in our club to bethankful daily for what we have here inRoanoke, a great area, great booster membersand a great relationship with our owners,front office and coach. I am so lucky to havesuch a hardworking, respectful, and talentedgroup of officers and booster club members.The biggest difference in the culture of ourclub compared to others is the willingness ofour members, and board of directors andchairpersons to do whatever is needed tomake our club successful.

All we have to do is show a need and someonefills that need. Here are a few examples:

• We needed cases of water for our playersand days after that meeting took placebooster club member Crystal Melton gotus 16 cases of water donated.

• We needed someone to take over a couplecommittees and I no sooner sent out theemail than Brad Melton, Crystal’s husband,was volunteering to head that committee.

• In days we got donations of towels, washcloths, sheets and hand towels from KimO’Conner who is a new member and man-ager of the Dawgs host hotel, ComfortSuites. This saved us hundreds of dollarsand Brad Melton has already picked themup, counted the items and placed them intotes.

The season will be here soon and I urge you tocome to our off season meetings, engageyourself in helping promote hockey here in thevalley. We have a great, friendly, honest group ofpeople and I urge you to come a be a part ofwhat we have going here as it truly is somethingspecial.

Shakers Given Dawgs MemorabiliaNick Prout

At the end of our Inaugural Season,Dianne and I waited alongsideother fans to get our InauguralSeason poster signed by the team.With two team signed posters andonly one home to hang it in, wetalked about using the second onefor the Booster Club to auction offto raise money for the comingseason. But before we could makeour offer, Bobby Woolwine an-nounced that he wanted to getsome memorabilia to hang atShakers (The Official Restaurant of the Rail Yard Dawgs BoosterClub).

Dianne and I told Bobby that we would have our poster profes-sionally framed and bring it to Shakers. We did exactly that.Within a couple weeks the poster was framed and ready to goon a wall. After taking in the movie “Dunkirk” one afternoon,we went to dinner at Shakers and gave the framed poster tothe day manager. He was very appreciative of both the posterand the booster club. Shakers manager is now a member of ourbooster club as well. N

Nick & Dianne Prout

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N

Group photo of all of the attendees at the 29th Jamboree

2017 Jamboreeby Barb Woolwine

A group of our Booster members attended the Jamboreethat was held in Greenville, SC. We all learned a greatdeal about how other clubs operate and the issues thatthey face. I was not surprised to hear many clubs statethat the same few people did everything for the club andthat most of their members only showed up for theparties to be around the players, I had been involvedwith another club where this was exactly what hap-pened.

I was glad that our members that had never attended aJamboree could hear the stories and realize that our clubis very unique because a very large percentage of ourmembers are very active and are willing to do whatneeds to be done to further the club which in returnhelps the club do better things for our hockey organiza-tion. Everyone had a great time and the Saturdayevening entertainment included a photo booth thateveryone could enjoy. Our group had a fun time puttingon some crazy and funny disguises and taking pictures.The weekend was a great success and our members havecome back with many new ideas. We also look forward tohosting this event in 2019.

Barb Woolwine, Brittany Leftwich, Carol Murray,Sharon Mougin and Kathy Stevens at the “dress-up”Photo Booth event.

29th Annual ECHL Booster Club JamboreeJuly 28-30, Greenville, SC • Hosted by the Greenville Swamp Rabbits Booster Association

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Kathy Stevens with some of the baskets auctioned offin Greenville.

Pat Kelly, 1st Commissionerof the ECHL

Award presented to the Rail YardDawgs Booster Club for highestattendance

Baskets for the Jamboreeby Bobby Woolwine

As the jamborees began to grow the cost of holdingthe event grew with them. As time went by clubsbegan looking for ways to fund the event. The ideawas brought up for each booster club attending tobring something from their area to raffle off as adonation to help defer the cost of the event. Thistradition began many years ago and has grown overthe years in quantity and success of the host club. InGreenville this year the host club raised about $2600from raffling off the donated baskets. As usual ourclub led the donations with seven baskets donated forthe 2017 Jamboree. The hope is that folks rememberthat come 2019 and bring baskets for donations alongwith plenty of cash for the raffling off of the basketswe will have.

The donated items included everything from art workto wine. Had we a toy zebra, it would have covered A-to-Z but we will be satisfied with an A-to-W this time around. I want to thank all our members who made somany thoughtful contributions for this event and rest assured there was a lot of notice taken of how manybaskets the group from the Dawgs carried to South Carolina. We donated more than anyone else by far and thishelped defer the cost of the event for Greenville.

I have no doubt that many clubs will reciprocate in 2019. N

Get ready for Pennsylvania in 2018

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August Business Meeting and Social at the Woolwine’s

The usual business meeting took place before the Social.

Bobby Woolwine kept everyone focused and the meetingconcluded in one hour.

Members lined up for the pot-luck cookout

Tammie Overfelt and Bob Stevens worked thegrills.

Maggie Drewry, Juanita Wilson, George Holt and TomEdwards around the “groaning board.”

Maggie Drewry and Tom Edwards enjoydining alfresco.

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Printing

Joey’s Player UpdatesJoey Overfelt

Joey Overfelt

Two Dawgs are playing in the Australian IceHockey League

Jackson Brewer — Sydney Bears18 GP 13G 20A 3rd in scoring4W 10L 20TW 30TLJune 25th Hat TrickJames Kruger — Melbourne Mustangs9G 5W 4L7W 7L 10TW 20TL

Nick SchneiderQuinn is walking and celebrated her first birthday over thesummer. Nick says that it is exciting to watch her learn newthings every day. He is working out a little bit and his anklefeels good. Nick hopes everyone had a happy and safe 4th ofJuly

Colin MurrayColin Murray has been recovering from a knee injury. Hisknee is coming along very well actually. He is seeing a lot ofpositives mid-summer and hopes he can continue the rehabat this good pace.

Colin has done a little bit of traveling and a lot of working.Heloves Roanoke! And says it is awesome city. If he doesn’tmake it to an ECHL team he would be more than okay tocome back to Roanoke to help build the team

Riley SpraggsTaking a major step in his life, Riley Spraggs got married onJune 10th. He and his wife are expecting their first baby thisDecember. N

Peggy Tinsley and Brittney Schneider becamefriends last year as Peggy and Dennis babysatQuinn for Nick and Brittney on several occa-sions. Peggy found out that Quinn’s bedroomback in Minnesota had a Winnie the Poohtheme.

Some may not know that Peggy is an accom-plished stained glass artist. She decided tomake Quinn and her family a stained glassPooh window hanging for her first birthday.

This big ocassion was celebrated on July 28th.The art piece was very well received by Quinnas shown by this birthday picture from herparents.

Happy Birthday Quinn!

Quinn Schneider Is One!Linda “Hatty” Hart

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Roanoke Valley Sports ClubThe Roanoke Valley Sports Club is planning a “HOCKEY”program at its monthly meeting on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17,2017. This event will be held at the Salem Civic Center’sCommunity Room.

Social Hour begins at 5:45, buffet dinner at 6:00 and theprogram begins between 6:45 and 7:00. We hope to haveseveral “old time” players in attendance along with severalplayers on this year’s team. Our featured speaker will be BobMcGinn.

The price is $17.00 per person and we must receive yourcheck for reservations NO LATER than Thursday, October 12.

Please mail your check payable to:

Roanoke Valley Sports Club5126 Red Stag RoadRoanoke, VA 24018

or you can give your check to me at the Booster Club meetingon October 9, 2017.

The President of the RVSC this year is our very own ChipGrubb!! If you have any questions, please call me at 540-353-1103.

We would LOVE to have a huge turnout from our BoosterClub!!

Maggie Drewry

Comfort Suites to the Rescueby Linda “Hatty” Hart

In our Inaugural Season the booster club was on a very tightbudget. It was necessary to purchase some items for playershousing that were not of the highest quality. Nowhere wasthat more telling than the bed linens. Most of these sheetsbarely survived the season and some did not last that long.

Here we are going into our second season and all of thosesheets and towels have to be replaced. Good queen size linenscan cost from $50 to several hundred dollars and we are still ona tight budget. The question of what amount we could spendon linens and towels was discussed at board meetings.

It was during this time that our “fairy godmother” came to ourrescue.

Acccording to Tommy Boothe, Kim O’Conner, Director of Salesfor Comfort Suites at Ridgewood Farm, had applied for mem-bership to the club. She then wrote and said that the hotel had

a bunch of towels and sheets that she’d like todonate. He passed this information along toBrad Melton.

Brad Melton had just taken over as chairper-son of the Player Housing Committee. Hereceived the contact information fromTommy. Brad recalls talking back and forthwith Kim for about a week and a half aboutwhat we needed and what she could providefor us. I went down one day and packed it upand brought home. I went and picked up totesand separated them so they would be readyto put in the house.

What he received was amazing. There are flatand fitted sheets for each players’ queen sizebed, shower curtains, bath mats, and towels,wash cloths and more towels.

It turns out that Comfort Suites at RidgewoodFarm was selected last year as the “HostHotel” for the team. Kim O’Connor wasawarded the contract to house the playersduring training camp and visiting teams whenthey travel here for games.

Kim’s hotel specializes in hosting sports teamsdue to their close proximity to the venues inour area. She is from Roanoke and lovessports. She go to the games whenever pos-sible and wanted to join the Booster Club toshow her support for hockey and the Rail YardDawgs in particular.

Kim considers the donation a small token ofappreciation for their business. She said,“Hockey has been missing from the RoanokeValley for quite some time now. I’ve person-ally enjoyed getting to know everyoneincluding the staff, coaches and players. Thestaff at the hotel enjoys having the teams andplayers around. We want them to be success-ful because everyone in the greater Roanokearea benefits if they are. I can’t wait to seewhat this season holds. Go Dawgs!” N

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Word Search PuzzleShirley Holt

2898 Keagy Road • Salem • VA 24153540-375-4800

This is the Host Hotel of the Rail Yard Dawgs Hockey Team. This relaxed all-suite hotel is 7 miles fromVirginia Museum of Transportation and 2 miles from Salem Civic Center Taliaferro Complex.

The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs Booster ClubThanks the Comfort Suites at Ridgewood Farm

For Their Support of The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs Hockey Teamand

The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs Booster Club