Brookville fund hopes to make Whorley’s athletic dream reality

John Vasvary used to have a running joke with the late Jim Whorley.

Whenever something went wrong at Brookville High School, Principal Whorley would tease that former Assistant Principal Vasvary was to blame, even after Vasvary retired.

“Whatever it was, it was my fault, unless it worked, then it was his idea,” Vasvary recollected, chuckling.

Now, less than 10 months after Whorley’s death in a boating accident, Vasvary is looking to help bring one of Whorley’s real-life ideas to fruition.

At a football game last Friday, Vasvary helped Brookville High School announce the creation of a new Jim Whorley facilities fund. The first goal will be to build a field house for athletic teams at the school, one of Whorley’s long-standing dreams.

The announcement came in addition to the reading of a memorial resolution from the state House and Senate and recognition from the Virginia High School League.

“We wanted to demonstrate to the Whorley family what Jim meant, not only to Brookville High School but also to the state,” new Brookville Principal Bruce Abbott said.

Abbott said a field house would be a welcome addition at the high school. He said that currently, when one team is in the playoffs, other Brookville High School teams have trouble getting access to the locker rooms. A field house could provide locker space near the playing fields for fall and spring athletic teams like football, soccer, baseball, softball or track.

Abbott estimated that the fund now has $10,000 to $15,000. About $250,000 to $300,000 would be needed to build the field house, minus service donations from local businesses, he said.

Campbell County School Board Chairman Leon Brandt said that the school system won’t contribute to the fund anytime soon but might try to help in an auxiliary way in the future, possibly providing storage for equipment used in the project, for example.
Brandt added that he personally would contribute to the fund.

“He was like a brother,” Brandt said, later reminiscing about all the away football games he and Whorley had driven to together. “Jim was a special person to a lot of people.”

Vasvary echoed Brandt’s sentiment. He recalled the bonds he and Whorley built when they used to coach football and track together during the ’70s, when both were teachers at Brookville. Decades later, when Whorley applied for the position of principal at Brookville High School, he invited Vasvary to “come on home” and serve as his assistant principal and athletic director.

In his time as assistant principal, Vasvary saw Whorley as a person who acted on a vision of a welcoming school at the center of the community.

“You can never measure what he did by one building, but we wanted to do something permanent,” Vasvary said. “You don’t want to forget him.”