Football: Hickory chain gang is a family affair

Chesapeake

Kevin Curling has patrolled the sidelines as a member of a chain gang at Chesapeake high school football games for more than 30 years for a simple reason.

"It's the best seat in the house," Curling said.

Curling, 52, by his count has worked the chain at about 160 high school games, missing fewer than a dozen since his first year in 1977. He started at Great Bridge and moved to Hickory when the school opened in 1996.

Curling played football at Great Bridge and soon after began carrying on a tradition that his father, Ray, started at Great Bridge in the early 1960s. Since then, Curling and his brother Kirk, and friends Bill Little and Dennis Wenger have been sideline regulars. Curling's daughter Brandi and his nephew Jon Briggs also have joined them.

Kevin and Kirk Curling, Little and Wenger are Great Bridge graduates.

"We've been fortunate to give something back to the community by volunteering our time," said Kevin Curling, a juvenile probation officer in Chesapeake. "But we've been rewarded with seeing some good football, some accomplished athletes from Hickory and from the opposing schools, and to then follow them into their college, and in some cases, professional careers."

Curling was a quarterback and defensive back at Great Bridge and began working the chain gang full-time at Great Bridge while studying at Virginia Wesleyan.

Mostly, they've enjoyed watching the Great Bridge-Hickory rivalry and watching Chesapeake's programs develop, from the Deep Creek and Western Branch heydays to Oscar Smith's recent ascent to perennial power.

"It's just something we've enjoyed following," Curling said.