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Fri Dec 12, 2008 10:42 am EST

Bill Stewart calls on Harriet Beecher Stowe, 'Old Wetzel' to defend Mountaineers' from uppity critics

By Matt Hinton

Readers of certain other irresponsible and disrespectful Web sites might have caught the final moments of Bill Stewart's press conference following West Virginia's season-ending win over South Florida last Saturday, when he broke out this bit of Mountaineer inspiration:

And ... scene. Initially, West Virginians had no idea what that means, either, or what inspired it.

But the Charleston Daily Mail, out to prove that the coach/defender of the state's honor hadn't completely lost his mind, tracked down a former history major from Stewart's neck of West Virginia who not only recognized the monologue, word-for-word, but traced its origins to a 110-year-old performance of (seriously) Uncle Tom's Cabin. Gather 'round, children, and hear the tale:

The genesis of Stewart's finishing remarks came at a performance of Uncle Tom's Cabin at the Fairmont Opera House in the 1890s (exact year uncertain). There, a famed Wetzel County character, William Olliver Gallagher, delivered an oratory known as "Glorious Old Wetzel," after he was pushed onstage and asked to introduce himself.
[...]
A man with a large handlebar mustache, [Gallagher] was a known defender of the honor of Wetzel County against what he considered the uppity folks in Wheeling, then the state capital.

When Tom Loehr heard fellow Wetzel County native Stewart's conclusion to his press conference, he knew the words, their context and [where] he had heard them -- or similar ones -- before.

Loehr, 59, is a former state senator and state treasurer who now is a Charleston business entrepreneur. He went to school with Stewart's older brother, Ted, in Wetzel County. Loehr said Tuesday that many New Martinsville natives know part of Gallagher's colorful monologue about Wetzel by heart.

Count the WVU football coach among them. The exact finishing words of "Oll" that night at the opera house went like this:

"Glorious old Wetzel! Whose sons are brave and daughters fair, and which today produces gas enough to light the world, oil enough to lubricate it, and brains enough to rule it."
Emphasis added; paragraph breaks condensed from original.

So there you go: Stewart was defending his team's honor against the uppity folks in Wheeling, or at least the outsiders whose opinions of Stewart's native state are "so far off I want to fist-fight them." Give 'em hell, Coach Stew.

- - -
Hat tip: Ron, and Orson for the video code.

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17 Comments

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  1. 4.0 Point Stance
    1. Posted by 4.0 Point Stance Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:55 pm EDT

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    GASP- Underlying Literary Themes at West Virginia - does Bill Stewart read SMQ?
  2. SnowedIn'Bama
    2. Posted by SnowedIn'Bama Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:01 pm EDT

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    All things are explained. It's not that Bill Stewart is inherently a bad coach. he is just to literate and thoughtful for West F-ing Virginia. If only he was greedy, inconsistent, and full of moonshine and s--t. Then he'd be the perfect coach for the collapsing coalmine state.
  3. Mud Dauber
    3. Posted by Mud Dauber Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:08 pm EDT

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    re: SnowedIn'Bama:
    that's pretty funny coming from the land of mulletheads. btw... how was YOUR SEC title game experience?
  4. BenB
    4. Posted by BenB Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:05 pm EDT

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    We most certainly cannot all get along. In case some were curious.
  5. pocaprofessor
    5. Posted by pocaprofessor Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:15 pm EDT

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    re: SnowedIn'Bama:
    isnt it amazing that many of the people in wv see those in alabama as the lesser educated and more illiterate. by your post, i can see that your education has been limited to words of four (4) letters or less. with your apparent limited intelligence it would be better if you didn't attempt to denigrate others.
  6. BIG COUNTRY
    6. Posted by BIG COUNTRY Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:19 pm EDT

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    to all the bad mouth critics. first don`t comment on what you don`t know. visit ,live ,and learn before you speak . we still give more men and women every year to the military per capita then any other state to keep you safe from your terriost. we still have provided your union with fine people over the year s (hommer hickam , james jett , mary lou retton) this list gets bigger. all stew is saying is, look just cause we din`t win a national title along with 129 othe schools don`t mean we . you guys have to bad mouth the states or its people . i mean i can blame new york for 9/11 or oklahoma for the bombings. or texas for polygimist scandels and not stoping illegal immagration as well as many other states, the fact is that don`t change nothing its football lets have fun an play theres always next year look out ncaa wvu # 1 mountaineers always free
  7. Sleepy Head
    7. Posted by Sleepy Head Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:27 pm EDT

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    He beat the Sooners last year...but does WV actually produce any oil?
  8. robert b
    8. Posted by robert b Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:31 pm EDT

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    yes we produce oil, coal and natural gas hard to believe isn't it
  9. Brent
    9. Posted by Brent Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:07 pm EDT

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    Holy crap...is someone from Alabama really running smack on WV? Seems to me people in your state have endeared themselves to one of our hometown boys. If you had any knowledge of the current economic state of WV, you would know we are one of the few states in position to withstand the current recession. As for the hillbilly s@#!, take notice you mullet-wearin, beer swillin, Forrest Gump lovin, mud boggin, tobacco spittin, cousin kissin, pig rapin state fair enthusist...we know a few stereotypes too. Don't throw stones...know what I mean?
  10. MarkSouthFL
    10. Posted by MarkSouthFL Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:56 pm EDT

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    I find this discussion quite amusing, as I work for a guy from West Virginia (Morgantown, in fact, although he didn't go to WVU) at a company based in Alabama.
  11. Bobby
    11. Posted by Bobby Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:55 pm EDT

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    hey brian p correct me if i am wrong but i think the last couple years wvu has owned the sec
  12. Joseph B
    12. Posted by Joseph B Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:02 pm EDT

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    Hey nothing personal, But I think Bill Stewart is a good coach not a great coach but a good one every coach that is a first year coach usually is a good coach, except Urban Meyer who is a great coach. Not a Gator Fan! However first year coaches drop the ball and he did this occasionally. But in 4 years we will see, because he will get a chance to fulfill his contract, because it is the Big East and Coaches don't get fied for 1 bad season. O by the was I remember when West Virginia was a bad team, they are not, don't sling mud it may come back to haunt you!
  13. Me
    13. Posted by Me Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:16 pm EDT

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    Hmmm, I think, no, I know that Mr. Saban is a West Virginia boy....how ironic....lol
  14. bryan
    14. Posted by bryan Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:10 pm EDT

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    Everyone not from West Virginia
    Go F@&K Yourself.....
  15. IanM
    15. Posted by IanM Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:22 pm EDT

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    #2, I'm so busy laughing in your face. The State of West Virginia is actually in one of the better economic positions in the nation. It's the heart of this country.
    Montani Semper Liberi
  16. rick m
    16. Posted by rick m Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:45 pm EDT

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    I live in w.va. we have food water oil coal and internet what we don't have is ignorance the lack of love we do have jobs great food the best looking country girls and finest of education . now leave our couch alone he is doing better than coach rod, at mich. so want
    to talk about bad talk about him at least we did win more than we lost and the way i see it best of all new coaches
  17. terry m
    17. Posted by terry m Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:52 pm EDT

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    Hide ur sisters!!!

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