BLUEFIELD — As the 2025 Coppinger Invitational Baseball Tournament is poised to open for its 51st time, tradition and excellence remain the watchwords for the longest continuously held high school showcase in West Virginia.
No one values that legacy more than director Justin Gilbert. Now the assistant principal at Bluefield High, Gilbert played as a member of the Graham G-Men in the late ‘90s, coached the Beavers little more than a decade ago, and is now in his 10th season coordinating the event.
“The Coppinger Invitational is a unique and special event,” he says. “Many schools have featured pages in their programs, for example, with references to their participation and success in it. This tournament has been a significant part of school schedules over the years and it is a prestigious annual event.”
Success has been widespread in the half-century of Coppinger competition, with winners on both sides of the state line. Tazewell, triumphant in two of the last three events, leads all squads with 11 trophies. Richlands is next in line with five title and Princeton has four wins.
The Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles are defending champions, following a 7-2 win over the James Monroe Mavericks in 2024.
The ’25 tournament will open at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 4 with a 5 p.m. game at Bowen Field between Graham and Pike View followed by Tazewell and Bluefield at 7:30. At Hunnicutt Field on Saturday, April 5 James Monroe and Woodrow Wilson (last year’s title game teams) play at 1 p.m. with a 3:30 game featuring Princeton and Christiansburg.
“This tournament (Coppinger) is, I believe, the gold standard of quality high school baseball for southern West Virginia and southwest Virginia, featuring competition and talent that today is sometimes only found in distant venues far from here.
“Playing in the Coppinger and getting a team or individual award is something to cherish for a lifetime,” says Gilbert.
Three-time Coppinger winners include Peterstown, Pineville and Woodrow Wilson (Beckley). East Bank, PikeView, Summers County, Christiansburg, Oak Hill and Bluefield have won twice. Honaker, Union, Independence, Greenbrier East, Carroll County, Pulaski County, Shady Spring, Lebanon and Mount View have also won. The Mount View championship came in 1979, the school’s first year of existence after consolidation between Welch and Northfork in McDowell County. Bluefield’s Beavers are the only team which has competed in all 50 previous tournaments.
East Bank won the first two tournaments in 1974-74, when the event was called the Bluefield Invitational Tournament, its title until 1981. At that point the name was changed to the Allen D. Coppinger, Jr., Invitational Tournament in honor of the local businessman and sports enthusiast who also served for many years as president of the Bluefield Baseball Club and was a key figure in keeping the local Baltimore affiliate, the Bluefield Orioles, in town even after the former grandstands burned in 1973. The Orioles, a Class D affiliation, were part of Bluefield for more than 50 years, a record between a town and a minor league squad.
In relation to the changing local economic climate in the coalfield region including adjustments with school consolidation, from 1985—93 the Coppinger had two divisions (A—AA and AAA) and some years featured as many as 16 teams. The so-called “covid year” of 2020 impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of the tournament, the only year it has not been held since its inception in 1974.
Billy Wagner, a 2025 member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, played for Tazewell in the Coppinger and Pineville’s Curt Warner, a National Football League Hall of Famer, are two of the outstanding athletes who have participated.
Many local and regional coaches and administrators have spent countless hours ...
