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Home Court Advantage: Caldwell returning to Parkersburg to speak at Wood County Recreation fundraiser

By Brett Dunlap 3 min read

PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Recreation Commission will be holding a new fundraising event in April which will host Parkersburg native Kim Caldwell, the head coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team, as the featured speaker.

The Legacy Event Dinner will be held April 19 at the Blennerhassett Hotel in downtown Parkersburg. The event is to help support a variety of programs in the area, including youth sports, events and local festivals.

"We are very excited to have Kim Stephens Caldwell come back to town," said Bill Vincent, executive director of the Wood County Recreation Commission. "She played girls basketball for Parkersburg South.

"Her father, Scott Stephens, coached at Parkersburg South and was a Wood County Recreation board member."

Caldwell is expected to speak about her time playing for Parkersburg South and Glenville State as well as coaching championship seasons at Glenville State for a number of seasons and for one season at Marshall University before being named the head coach at Tennessee. According to her bio on the Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball website, in eight seasons as a head coach, she has compiled a 217-31 (.875) career record.

Sponsorship tickets will go on sale after March 1 where organizations and others can reserve tables. The sponsorships are Bronze ($2,500), Silver ($3,500) and Gold ($5,000) which includes promoting their organization in different ways at the event.

All sponsors will receive 10 tickets and meet and greet opportunities with Caldwell.

The Recreation Commission offers a wide range of diverse sports programs and community events for all ages, including a free summer program for children, officials said.

Money raised will go to supporting the programs for the Recreation Commission, Vincent said.

"It is to continue our programs," he said. "We are offering quite a bit now.

"We feel like we are serving the community, getting our brand out there and just trying to do good things out there."

The programs include Girls Elementary Basketball, Boys Elementary Basketball,

Small Fry Basketball, Winter Volleyball, Indoor Pickleball, The Parkersburg Fishing Derby, Elementary Track, Summer Adventures, Summer Tennis, Summer T-Ball, Beginner Pickleball, the West Virginia State Honey Festival and the Harvest Moon Festival.

"The event is to let people know what we are doing and to help support Wood County Recreation," Vincent said.

The Wood County Recreation Commission started in 1945 and has collaborated with the Board of Education, Wood County Commission, and the City of Parkersburg on a number of projects, events and more, officials said.

For more information, people can call 304-424-7311 or email woodcountyrec@gmail.com.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com

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