Road Trip to Cecil Burks and Bill Gullett
Wednesday  - April 13th, Charleston, WV


77 years old Cecil Burks, West Virginia State Checker Champion.  Cecil played his last tournament in 2003 at the D4 in Lexington, NC.
According to Cecil his health has been slipping ever since,  but to watching him perform on the checkerboard he seems to still be a strong Master Player.
In addition to checker, Cecil was an outstanding high school athlete, excelling in both football and baseball in Boone Co, Seth, WV.   He was the Sherman HS quarterback in the early '50s.
Cecil gave us his checker library which Ted Williamson and I will share, hopefully Ted  will aspire to his level of checker proficiency.
We presented Cecil with two checker hats, the one he is wearing and another "2006 Nationals in Medina" cap, which he in return gave Ted his Marshall University cap. 

We gave Cecil 2 checker caps, he in return gave Ted his Marshall Univ. cap.jpg (89441 bytes)Ted Williamson visiting Cecil Burks in Charleston (picture taken 4-13-2011).jpg (93008 bytes)Cecil Burks, Charleston, WV (picture taken 4-13-2011).jpg (95552 bytes)


L-R: Carson "Bill" Gullett of Rush, KY; Boyd Smith of Huntington, WV; and Ted Williamson of Kenova, WV.
Bill is almost 76 years old, with a birthday coming up on May 8th.  The four of us spent Thursday, April 14 playing checkers at Bill home.
He is known as "pastorfuzzy or amos71" on the internet.  Below are some pictures of his 1997 National in Greensboro, NC & 1998 National in Hattiesburg, MS trophies.

Boyd Smith-Huntington, WV (picture taken 4-13-11).jpg (110411 bytes)Bill Gullett's two National Trophy (picture taken 4-13-11)08.jpg (95187 bytes)Bill Gullett's 1997 National Trophy top (picture taken 4-13-2011).jpg (74690 bytes)
Ted had everything setup, two full days of  "West Virginia Checkers" before we drove out to the Missouri Open in Windsor, MO.  Nice folks,  wonderful friendships, and an enjoyable week of checker playing...

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