Parkersburg High students interview former Olympic hockey player Mike Eruzione Thursday at the PHS library during their “Sports in American Culture” class, taught by Sam Vincent. (Photo by Josh Hughes)

PARKERSBURG –Sports transcend generations, and the experiences of famous figures in sports make for great lessons learned by Parkersburg High School students in Sam Vincent’s “Sports in American Culture” class.

In the class, Vincent’s students have been able to interview and learn about a number of sports stars, as the subjects give answers through the power of online platforms like Microsoft Teams.

Thursday’s interviewee was Mike Eruzione, the captain of the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team that improbably captured a gold medal in the event over Finland. In the semifinal contest dubbed the “Miracle on Ice,” the Americans stunned the heavily-favored Soviet Union team to reach the gold medal game.

Eurizone answered questions and spoke to the students for almost an hour, as his responses made an impact on those in the class. For Jack Green, a junior in the course, he recounted all the best parts of everything that took place.

“We’ve talked to a bunch of different people. I think the coolest thing is the life advice they give us at the end,” Green said. “That was probably my favorite thing. That, and just learning more about the sports. Mr. Vincent teaches us about important dates in sports and sports history. We’ll go sport-to-sport and learn a bunch of history about each one.”

Green added Eruzione’s life advice and anecdotes about being an Olympic athlete stuck out the most to him, as the captain shared his thoughts from his home in Winthrop, MA.

“Well, I don’t want to sound like your father or your teacher, but I’m a pretty old school guy,” Eruzione, who is currently Boston University’s Director of Special Outreach, said. “I’m a believer in working hard to achieve your goals in life. I think I said this earlier about being a good person, being a good brother, a good sister, a good neighbor. It’s about making the right choices in life… It’s not easy being a kid today. Social media is a nightmare, and I know when we recruit a hockey player at Boston University, the first thing we do is look at their social pages and see what they’re doing. I can guarantee when you’re looking for a job at a high-end company, they’re going to see what you’ve written. Be careful with that, but also, have fun in your life. Especially with what we’re dealing with now, enjoy every moment, every opportunity you have. I’ve never met a person who’s successful because they’re lucky. They’re successful because they rolled up their sleeves to go to work and dig.”

Leading up to Eruzone’s appearance, Vincent’s students watched “Miracle,” the 2004 film based on the events of the 1980 U.S. team’s journey to Olympic gold. Using that information, students asked him about the accuracy of the movie. He recounted his journey to the top of the team and said the selection process that took a brief period of time in the movie actually lasted two weeks.

The team was whittled down to the top 20 players following tryouts, and Eruzione’s life soon changed thereafter. He told the students about how he handled the spotlight of becoming the team’s captain at just the age of 25.

“I never felt the pressure, and part of the reason was we were so young,” he said. “We didn’t feel a lot of pressure. We were having fun playing. The important thing for us was to continue doing the things we did throughout the season. There was clearly pressure, but I think when you’re on a team sport, everybody shares in that pressure. You’ve got 20 guys in that locker room, you’ve got two coaches and you’ve got trainers. You’ve got everybody on the same page, so it’s easy to feel relaxed. It’s easy to take a step back and go, ‘Oh, this is gonna be fun.'”

Following Eruzione’s interview, Vincent spoke of how he got in touch with the legendary hockey star.

“Mr. Eruzione talked about writing a book, and I read his book about a year ago, during quarantine,” he said. “In the last chapter, it said he worked at Boston University. I thought sending him a letter to Boston University, all it was going to cost me was 50 cents. The worst that could happen is that he doesn’t answer me back. I sent the letter, and he sent me back an email and said, ‘If it works out timing-wise, I’d love to talk to your students.'”

Vincent used a similar method to contact others in the realm of sports, as the class previously spoke to people such as racehorse trainer Bob Baffert, former NFL defensive lineman Mike Golic, NFL rules analysist Dean Blandino and West Virginia University sportscaster Tony Caridi.

Contact Josh Hughes at jhughes@newsandsentinel.com