Southside Virginia lost a piece of what makes it special when sports personality Cliff Gunn died at his home. A heart attack on Monday morning took him away from us all too soon. He was 52.

For followers of Dixie Baseball and Softball, which is how many around here came to know him, summers will never be quite the same. His folksy voice and signature way to announce games on WBBC 93.5, was as July as fireworks and trips to the beach.

It just didn't seem like a complete summer until one could hear his “home run! Ya-ya!” call describing the pitch crushed by “the good kid from Farmville, Charlotte or Crewe.”

In my duties with The Farmville Herald, and with competing radio station WVHL 92.9 FM, I sat next to him in crowded press boxes or under tailgate tents along a baseline for over ten years.

Richard LeSueur, Frank Shanaberger and I (and Steve Wynn at WSVS) sat alongside Cliff and each other through 100-degree heat and hours-long thunderstorm delays – just to get a day's worth of baseball action in – even if the day's festivities wrapped up sometime after midnight.

The three stations were (and still are) competitors when our respective board operators threw the switch to put us on the air. But after the games, it was all about thrice-told stories in the parking lot over a can of warm Pepsi.

In this business, you learn quickly that you can't get too far without help from your so-called adversaries. Whether it's sharing a quick glance at a line-up for an upcoming game, or in the most extreme cases, it's loaning a piece of equipment to help the other guy get on the air.

Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of setting up a remote from a field in the middle of nowhere, knows how difficult it is. Even if the other guy not getting on will inflate your listening audience, you try your best to not let that happen.

Cliff definitely had a unique way to call a ball game. If a pitcher was taking one for the team, he'd avoid handing out criticism. It was always a strange hop that allowed that ball to get past the “shortstop who will remain anonymous,” or when a player would strike out looking, his “big blank stare” wasn't accompanied by an identity after the strike out.

Countless times, Frank, Richard or I would be asked by area kids if they could get on the air. We'd kindly point the youngster over to Cliff. The kids would be the star guests of his “Fan in the Stands” interviews. I can imagine it's quite a thrill for a kid to get his voice on the radio.

We didn't do that. Not because we didn't think it was a good idea. It was Cliff's thing. In a business of copycats and rip-offs, some things are sacred. And on that, we realized he had us.

His summer stick-and-ball filibuster went on for about six weeks, only to be interrupted by rain and bluegrass, and would wrap up mere weeks before the transition into football season.

For 20 years, he broadcast the Nottoway Cougars on the gridiron. Just as he would with the younger kids, he'd praise the players when they did something good, and carefully word around a mistake – though if he didn't agree with a referee's call or a coach's decision, he wouldn't hesitate to give his perspective. Adults were fair game.

While it's true nobody will be able to fill the shoes of the good man from Blackstone, I do hope that WBBC carries on his legacy of broadcasting as many Dixie Baseball and Softball tournaments as possible. I can say without a doubt, that he'd like to see that too.

We in Southside Virginia are fortunate to still have locally-owned radio stations and newspapers that recognize the value of locally-generated content. We're also fortunate to have community-minded businesses to sponsor such events.

Even so, the area owes a large thanks to Cliff and other broadcasters, who often double as account representatives when lining up sponsors. Without their efforts, our little corner of the globe would look even more like the rest.

Fortunately, thanks to Cliff, and people like him, our young boys and girls can still get a taste of the limelight in the lazy days of summer.

Cliff, “take your base” on your glorious “W-A-L-K” up to Heaven. Down here, you'll surely be missed.