The Shadow
Dale Burdette, head wrestling coach at Alleghany High School since 2004, is running to retain the seat he was appointed to fill on the Clifton Forge Town Council.
Born in 1974, the son of Sylvia Dayne Burdette of Clifton Forge, Dale was a three-sport athlete at Alleghany High School where he lettered in football, wrestling, and baseball, his favorite sport.
After graduating in 1992, Dale attended Dabney S. Lancaster Community College for a year before entering Virginia Military Institute where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics and business in 1997.
Following his graduation from VMI, Dale entered law school at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville where he earned his doctor of jurisprudence in 2000.
After returning to Clifton Forge to study for the bar exam, Dale’s interest in athletics took him in a different direction.
He served as a teacher’s assistant at Boiling Springs Elementary School for four years during which he became the assistant wrestling coach at Alleghany High School.
Dale observed, “I found that I really enjoyed working with kids and never took the bar exam.”
By 2004, Dale was hired as the varsity wrestling coach at AHS, and he has served as an assistant football coach for three separate stints at AHS, 2000-2004; 2013-2019; and 2022.
As for his two older brothers, Gary, who is an assistant football coach at Lord Botetourt High School, was the head football coach at AHS from 2013-2019, and Reggie, his other older brother, is a retired U.S. Navy Corpsman.
Dale is employed by the Alleghany County Recreation Department, and he is married to Sabrina Thacker, a graduate of AHS who is an employee of Wal*Mart.
He and Sabrina’s twins, Brock and Brooklynn, are seven, and Dale has two step-children, Remington Tucker, 18; and Dylan Tucker, 20.
As for his view of the Town of Clifton Forge’s future, Dale remarked, “I see Clifton Forge as being a niche for a small-scale town of destination for tourists.”
He continued, “I’d like to see our town capitalize on our unique railroad niche and the beautiful Masonic Theatre.”
“I think if marketed properly, we could be a day-tripper destination for tourists,” he added.
Concerning the main problem facing the Town of Clifton Forge, Dale observed, “I think that some people in our community don’t feel involved in decision-making.”
He noted, “I’ve always tried to give back to the community, and on the basis of being a town councilman, I want to be someone who is approachable.”
Dale pledged, “I may not have the answers, but I’ll do my best to find the answers and address people’s problems and concerns.”
As for why he applied for one of the two vacated seats on the Clifton Forge Town Council that was created after Dr. Ronald Goings resigned after a successful campaign to serve on the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors and Mayor Pam Marshall resigned, Dale said, ‘I was approached to apply, and the idea of serving intrigued me.”
He and Councilwoman Deborah Laudermilk were chosen from several who applied to fill the seats, and both are on the ballot for the Tues., Nov. 8, election.
Dale sees the strength of the Town of Clifton Forge as being its people.
He offered, “I think that the strength of our community is the small town feel where everyone knows everyone here where we are nestled in our beautiful mountains’ landscape.”
Having been inducted as a member of the AHS Athletic Hall of Fame, Dale continues to enjoy working with the youth of the Allegany Highlands as an employee in the Alleghany Co. Recreation Department and as the varsity wrestling coach and assistant varsity football coach at AHS.
As for his coaching career at AHS, he is the second-winningest coach in the history of the school, trailing only Gary Rice in coaching victories, and 10 of Dale’s wrestlers have gone on to wrestle at Division I schools.
