It’s Parkersburg’s day on ESPN

PARKERSBURG -Today's the day.

The day ESPN introduces Parkersburg to the rest of America.

The day our city and its sports teams will be placed in the national spotlight by the all-sports network.

During its 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter, ESPN will run two segments on Parkersburg, one of 20 communities in the United States selected for its TitleTown USA competition.

Last week, an ESPN production crew spent two days in Parkersburg gathering material for its presentation. It visited numerous sites around the community, including the three high schools - Parkersburg High School, Parkersburg South and Parkersburg Catholic - that have won 192 West Virginia state sports championships.

It also shot film of the Erickson All-Sports Facility and from the overlook at Fort Boreman Park.

It will combine those scenes with highlights from the 192 state titles to put together one of the two segments featuring Parkersburg.

The other segment will come from last Friday's TitleTown rally conducted at Stadium Field. Approximately 4,500 coaches, athletes, cheerleaders, band and dance team members and local sports fans turned out to celebrate Parkersburg's selection as a TitleTown finalist.

ESPN was there for the three-hour duration of the event, capturing all the highlights, including skydiver Ted Williams' pinpoint landing near the 50-yard line while displaying a banner carrying the logos of the three high schools.

The ESPN production crew kept cajoling the crowd to get involved for its cameras and the locals - who braved 90-degree heat to be part of the show - obliged every time.

Wendi Nix, an ESPN personality who served as the host of the Parkersburg segment, surrounded the TitleTown stage with athletes and cheerleaders from the three high schools, while a representative of each school carried their flag.

Nix also interviewed Parkersburg sports figure Mike Hayden, an all-state running back at PHS who served as that school's athletics director as well as a successful head football coach at Parkersburg South. Hayden made a strong case as to why Parkersburg should be TitleTown USA.

Those who miss the 6 p.m. SportsCenter will have plenty of other opportunities to see the segments on Parkersburg, as they also will be broadcast during the 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. airings of SportsCenter as well as during hourly replays that will run throughout the morning on Wednesday.

Also, ESPN Classic, Channel 27 for Parkersburg cable subscribers of Suddenlink Communications, will air a replay of the 2006 football game between Parkersburg High and Parkersburg South - a 42-3 Big Reds victory - at 2 p.m. today.

TitleTown voting begins Wednesday.

Click on the link at right to vote.

There are no restrictions to the number of times any individual can vote. The winner will be announced by ESPN on Sunday.

Other cities vying to be TitleTown USA include Green Bay, Wisc.; Louisville, Ky.; Gainesville, Fla.; Detroit; Williamsport, Pa.; Boston; Los Angeles; Columbus, Ohio; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; San Francisco; Pittsburgh; Valdosta, Ga.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Chicago; Lawrence. Kan.; Palo Alto, Calif.; Massillon, Ohio; and New York City.