Tempered Steel: How Frank Beamer Got That Way

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  Frank Beamer

  Frank Beamer, head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies.

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  Lane Stadium, Home of the Hokies

  There was a time when you could buy a Virginia Tech football ticket for $5 and sit about anywhere you wanted, recalls Barnett Beamer, older brother of the Hokies’ head coach. These days Lane Stadium’s 65,000 seats are filled every game.

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  Floyd Allen, Frank Beamer's great uncle

  Frank Beamer’s great uncle, Floyd Allen, depicted in newspaper accounts as a fierce mountain man, was convicted of murder (along with son Claud), in the 1912 Hillsville Courthouse shootout, and was executed by the state of Virginia.

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  Sidna Allen, another of Beamer’s great uncles

  Another of Beamer’s great uncles, Sidna Allen, was sentenced to decades in prison for his role in the March, 1912 courthouse shootings.

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  Herma Allen, Frank Beamer's mother

  The courthouse shootings and the dishonor it brought her family deeply affected Frank’s mother, Herma Allen Beamer, shown here as a young woman.

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  Herma and Raymon Beamer, Frank Beamer's parents

  Herma with her husband, Raymond Beamer, himself a former star on Hillsville’s high school teams in the 1930s. It was Raymond Beamer who provided the competitive nature for Frank and brother Barnett. The morning after his sons’ varsity games at Hillsville, Raymond Beamer would go over their performances in detail.

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  Raymond and Herma Beamer

  Raymond and Herma Beamer at a Tech game in the 1990s when the program began to prosper under their son.

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  Beamer Children

  The children of Raymond and Herma Beamer, left to right: Barnett, Frank, Billie Jean and Betty, in the late 1940s

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  Beamer Children - 60 years later

  The Beamer children 60 years later, with Frank again holding a football in his lap.

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  Young Frank Beamer in the Hospital

  Young Frank with nurses during his treatment for burns that required he undergo more than 30 different operations. For four years after he suffered the burns at age 7, Beamer spent most of his summers in the hospital undergoing the difficult grafts needed to replace skin on his face, arm and shoulder.

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  Frank Beamer as a player

  Even though the hospitalization left him weak, Beamer recovered to become a top-notch quarterback at Hillsville High School and later a star defensive back at Virginia Tech.

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  Beamer Community Playground dedication

  A proud Herma Allen Beamer with her four children at the dedication of a Beamer Community Playground they sponsored in their native Carroll County.

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  Frank Beamer on the field

  During his 25 seasons at the helm Beamer has led the Hokies to 19 consecutive bowl appearances, four ACC titles, three Big East conference titles, six BCS appearances and one National Championship game. He is currently the winningest active coach in FBS.

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  Frank Beamer with the team

  As of the end of the 2011-12 season the Virginia Tech football team is 209-98-2 under Frank Beamer, who enters his 26th season as head coach in 2012. Since the beginning of the 1995 season no team in the FBS has more wins than Virginia Tech.