By Brian Hoffman, Sports Editor
When Isaiah Board strides onto the court for “Senior Night” this Friday
his grandfather, Alvin Board, Sr., will be by his side. That’s only fitting, as
“Pops” has been by his side all his life.
Isaiah’s mother, LaCole, died in her sleep when Isaiah was just two years
old. Isaiah’s father was not in the picture, so Alvin and wife Tracy stepped up.
LaCole died at 23 on July 9, 2009, and by July 20 Alvin and Tracy had custody of
Isaiah. Alvin still thinks of LaCole every day.
“Every morning when I open my eyes,” he said. “I couldn’t even set foot
in the high school gym until Isaiah started playing there. It’s still hard, to be
honest.”
Isaiah has been on the Byrd varsity team for the past four years, the last
three as a starter. He scored his 1,000th career point against Hidden Valley on
January 13th , and capped it off by sinking a game winning three pointer in
overtime to give Byrd a 57-56 win. He’s been a joy to coach for Terrier head
coach Brad Greenway.
“He’s super competitive, but he’s quiet and just goes about his business,”
said Greenway. “He’s very much a team player to the point where I had to force
him to be more selfish. His granddad raised him that way.”
Isaiah comes from a basketball family. His great grandmother, whose
maiden name was Lara Belle Andrews, played basketball for G.W. Carver High
School before Roanoke County Schools were integrated. Grandpa Alvin, or
“Pops” as Isaiah calls him, played for legendary coach Roland Malone at William
Byrd in the ‘70s. Alvin was a teammate of all-time Byrd great Mickey Hardy,
who went on to play at Virginia Tech and was head coach at William Fleming
High before retiring last year. Those Malone coached teams were legendary with
familiar names like Anthony Conner, Jimmy Dunbar, Mickey’s twin brothers
Angelo and Tony Hardy and other solid contributors.
“We were loaded,” said Alvin, who played point guard. “We won the
district in ’78 and ’79.”
Alvin recalls sinking a shot that came to mind when Isaiah hit the big shot
against Hidden Valley.
“We were playing Natural Bridge and the game went into double
overtime,” he said. “I hit the game winning shot. Everyone was patting me on the
back.”
Alvin’s son Alvin, Jr., or “AJ,” played for Byrd under coach David
Culicerto and went to play for Bluefield College. He was younger than LaCole,
who worked hard to make a name for herself on the Byrd hardwood.
LaCole didn’t make the middle school team as a seventh grader. After that
Alvin poured a concrete slab in the yard for a miniature basketball court. Alvin,
Sr. worked with his two children on fundamentals on that court, also taking them
to the Mount Pleasant Elementary School gym when they could get in.
By the eighth grade LaCole made the middle school team. Then, like
Isaiah would do 23 years later, she made the Byrd varsity team as a freshman. By her senior year LaCole became a captain of the Terrier team and a first team All-Blue Ridge District guard under coach Marcee Cook. She went on to become a junior college All-State Tournament selection while playing at Virginia Western
Community College.
LaCole was working as a child care aide and a teacher’s assistant at Total
Action Against Poverty’s Head Start program when Isaiah was two, and she was
eight months pregnant with twins. Her last checkup was a positive one, but three
days later she passed in her sleep and the twins did not survive. Isaiah, who was
two, remembers very little of his mom but he’s heard a lot from people who knew
her.
“They say she was caring and people loved being around her,” said Isaiah.
“And she was very good at basketball.”
The acorn didn’t fall far from the tree, even at Isaiah’s young age.
“He wasn’t even two and he had a little basket to shoot at,” said Alvin. “I
remember her calling me all excited and saying, ‘Daddy, Daddy he shoots for
hours at a time’.”
And he’s still doing it. Isaiah is Byrd’s top scorer and one of the top
guard’s in the Roanoke Valley. He’s a deadly three point shooter with NBA type
range.
“That shot he hit to beat Hidden Valley was out at the volleyball line,”
said an astonished Byrd coach Greenway. “There’s no limit to his range.”
Like mom and granddad before him, Isaiah wears uniform number 12.
“I wanted number 10 but Mickey (Hardy) wanted it too so they gave it to
him,” recalls Alvin. “I liked (former UNC point guard) Phil Ford and he was
number 12 so I decided to go with that.”
It started a family tradition that lives on with Isaiah. Everyone in Vinton
knows the Boards. Isaiah’s cousin, Jaylen Board, is the Byrd jayvee basketball
coach.
Sadly, Isaiah’s grandmother passed in 2019 and now it’s just Isaiah and
Pops at their Mount Pleasant home.
“Now he’s pretty much taking care of me,” said Alvin with a chuckle.
Obviously, basketball comes up often at the Board home.
“We talk basketball all the time,” said Isaiah. “I’ll come home after the
game and we’ll talk about how it went and what I did. He’s always giving me tips
and he’s always been there for me. He’s stepped in as a real father figure.”
Greenway has been impressed with Isaiah as a person as much as a player
in the years he’s known him.
“Coming from the things he had to deal with he easily could have gone the
other way,” he said. “I’ve had him in the classroom and on the court and he’s
never been anything but respectful. He has a chip on his shoulder, but it’s a good
kind of chip.”
Isaiah would like to continue to play basketball in college. He’s not a big
kid but he’s tough and he can shoot, and he’s a team first player. Any coach
should love to have a kid like that on the team.
As for this year, Isaiah hopes the team finishes the year strong and maybe
even beats Northside once before he graduates. He’s played in big games and had some big moments, and when he scored his 1,000th point two weeks ago they stopped the game and gave him the ball. He didn’t have it long, as he presented the ball to his grandfather to the delight of the Byrd crowd.
“It was one of the most special moments of my career,” said Greenway. “It wasn’t necessarily a basketball moment, but just a touching moment.”
“Pops” had a big smile on his face as he cradled the ball his grandson had
just shot to score his 1,000th point. There have been a lot of ups and downs in the
past 20 years, but this was definitely a high point for the Board basketball family.
“I felt like it was the thing to do after all we’ve been through,” said Isaiah.
“It’s something we’ll always remember.”
