Jimmy Omps helped put Shepherd and Handley on sports maps of yesteryear
SHEPHERDSTOWN — The gymnasium at Handley High School in Winchester, Va. is named after two Shepherd University graduates and athletes who guided the Judges for years and years.
Hunter Maddex preceded Jimmy Omps at Handley after both men had spent their undergraduate days at Shepherd.
Jimmy Omps had been a three-year basketball starter for the hardwood Rams, finishing his senior year during the 1956-1957 season, where do-everything coach Jesse Riggleman was holding court in Sara Cree Hall. The Riggleman-led Rams of the 1956-1957 season went 11-9 overall and even had a 5-3 record in the far flung WVIAC.
When Shepherd had its first-ever track and field team in 1954, Omps was a member of the outfit.
His athletic prowess landed him a spot in the Shepherd University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.
After receiving his undergraduate degree from Shepherd, he went on to earn a masters of education degree from the University of Virginia.
While coaching at Handley, Omps was the head basketball coach from 1967 through 1974. His teams gave him a career record of 101-48 overall, once reaching the Virginia state semifinals and also claiming district and region championships.
He had a lengthy tenure as the athletic director at Handley, serving from 1967 through 1995 in that administrative position.
Omps had begun his coaching days at Handley, guiding the track and field and basketball teams after coming home from Shepherd.
When Handley instituted its own Athletic Hall of Fame, Omps became the first person to be inducted, as both a player and a coach.
Still active today, he can be found working at the Omps Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Winchester.
He was a past president of the Winchester Shawnee Lions Club. Omps officiated sports in the western corner of Virginia for years.
From his time at Shepherd, where he also served as the trainer for its undefeated 1955 football team, Omps then became a symbol-statesman of the athletic excellence that was Handley High for many years.
He’s in the Shepherd Hall of Fame. He’s in the Handley Hall of Fame as both an athlete and a coach.
And he’s more than a well-respected gentleman, who when mentioned among the sport’s dignitaries and greats in Virginia, can bring a smile to the faces of those who played for him, participated in games he officiated or knew him from his years at Shepherd.