The West Virginia Baseball Coaches Association plucked Shepherdstown native Vic Holmes for its Hall of Fame last weekend at its annual meeting in Charleston.

It wasn’t the first — nor likely the last — athletics Hall of Fame for Holmes, a Shepherdstown High School graduate before the small school closed following the 1971-72 school year.

After leaving Shepherdstown High, Holmes went through his backyard and enrolled at Shepherd College (now Shepherd University).

He would play four years of basketball for legendary coach Bob Starkey and the same four years for the Shepherd baseball team.

His basketball seasons were spent with the high-scoring Rams who regularly won more than 20 games per season and regularly scored nearly 100 points a game in some years. Only Fairmont and Coach Joe Retton kept the Starkey-led Rams from winning the West Virginia Intercolle-giate Athletic Conference championships in those days.

Holmes was a starter and trusted scorer/playmak-er/defender on those Rams teams from the halcyon days of Shepherd basketball.

He was twice honored by the now-gone WVIAC with all-conference laurels.

In the spring of his four years at Shepherd, Holmes played mostly first base for the Rams, but did pitch enough to record a 9-0 career mark on the mound.

In three of his four seasons with the baseball Rams, Holmes led the team in hitting.

But he wasn’t inducted into the West Virginia Baseball Coaches Association for his two-sport exploits at Shepherd.

What got him recognized by his coaching peers was his 16 years as the head baseball coach at Martinsburg High.

During his teaching/coaching tenure at Martinsburg High, Holmes won three Class AAA baseball state championships and coached two players who eventually did well enough to find their way to the major leagues.

Holmes and Martinsburg won baseball state championships in 1983 (beating Beckley Woodrow Wilson), 1989 (stopping DuPont) and again in 1995 (winning over South Charleston).

He tutored outfielder Scott Bullett and left-handed pitcher Doug Creek, who both reached the major leagues.

He also was Martinsburg’s head basketball coach for years, finishing that stint with many more wins than losses.

It was in 2012 that Shepherd recognized Holmes and his dual contributions to their athletic teams by placing him in its Sports Hall of Fame.

Now that Shepherdstown High School has organized a sports Hall of Fame it is a safe bet Holmes will be enshrined in it since he played three sports for the Cardinals and excelled for the now-shuttered high school that lives on as a middle school.

Holmes was something of a conservation piece as a left-handed throwing shortstop in his high school days.

Shepherdstown High as an athlete. Shepherd College as an older athlete. And Martinsburg High as a successful coach and teacher.

Shepherdstown native Vic Holmes is now the analyst on the Shepherd football radio broadcasts that have occupied his fall/early winter Saturdays (and scattered Thursdays) for about 20 seasons.

He’s still involved in athletics . . . as any left-handed throwing shortstop should be.