I’m not sure if this is the right sort of thing to admit, but one of the great pleasures of this job is the fact that we often get to shine light on people in the community who truly deserve to be recognized.

Why might that be a bad thing to admit, you ask? Because sometimes the people in question would be just as happy to go about doing their good deeds anonymously, without any fanfare at all.

Case in point: Anyone driving by a particular home on Stavemill Rd last week might have witnessed a rather peculiar sight. As if out of nowhere, a small fleet of vehicles descended on the property, winding up the driveway and parking in the front yard. Within seconds, a group of young men emerged and made their way towards the house. A band of fraternity brothers who had lost their way, perhaps? A very unlikely hoard of Avon representatives? No, the young gentlemen in question were members of the Powhatan High School baseball team.

As the story goes, an e-mail had been circulated around Powhatan High School earlier that day from a staff member looking for any students or teachers who might be able to help a disabled woman empty out a storage shed in her yard.

Within minutes of receiving the e-mail, I am told, head baseball coach Gregg Conner had volunteered to help.

Within about 15 minutes of their arrival at the woman’s home, the shed had been emptied and the young men drove off to do whatever it is teenagers do on a beautiful spring day when they aren’t doing good deeds.

As I’ve noted in these pages before, I have spent a fair amount of time around teenage athletes over the past few years, both as a sports editor for this newspaper and as the wife of a Powhatan High School coach. I have never ceased to be surprised by the maturity with which they carry themselves (most of the time—they are still teenagers after all) and by the respect they display for their coaches and fellow teammates. I am quite sure, after she met the baseball team last Thursday, that a certain resident of Stavemill Road now shares those same feelings.

One other part of this story that bears mentioning is that Conner was not exactly wild about the idea of having the team’s good deed publicized. Having spent decades cultivating an image as a hard-line, no-nonsense kind of coach who strikes fear into the hearts of both opposing players and umpires alike, I think he was a little reluctant to have his cover blown.

Sorry, Coach Conner, I guess I just couldn’t keep it to myself.