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On January 26, 1960, 17-year-old guard Danny Heater of Burnsville High School scored a record-breaking 135 points in a basketball game against Widen High School. He easily shattered the previous state high school record of 74 and the national record of 120.

On January 15, 1890, West Virginia legislators convened in special session to choose the state’s new governor. The most recent gubernatorial election had been deadlocked for an incredible 14 months.

January 6 is the day traditionally known as Old Christmas. It’s a relic of the Julian Calendar, developed 2,000 years ago. Until fairly recently, Old Christmas was still celebrated in some rural areas of West Virginia. It’s recalled in various traditions such as in the fiddle tune “Old Christmas Morning.”

On January 5, 1887, Governor E. Willis Wilson hosted a ball and banquet to dedicate West Virginia’s new capitol building in downtown Charleston. The event…

West Virginia Public Theatre performs 'A Christmas Carol' in the tradition of live radio plays. Listen on WVPB Radio December 24 at 7 PM and December 25 at 2 PM, or watch and listen on demand.

Dancer Andre Van Damme was born in Belgium on December 16, 1919. He moved to Charleston, W.Va. in 1948 and opened the American Academy of Ballet. In 1956, he founded the Charleston Ballet, which, in 1972, was designated the official West Virginia State Ballet.

On Friday, December 15, 1967, at about 5 p.m., the Silver Bridge spanning the Ohio River at Point Pleasant collapsed, plunging thirty-one vehicles plunged into river and killing 46.

Coal operator Justus Collins was born in Alabama on December 14, 1857. He got his start in coal mining in the Deep South but moved north about 1887 to…

Filmmaker “Pare” Lorentz was born in Clarksburg on December 11, 1905. After attending West Virginia Wesleyan College for a year, he transferred to West Virginia University, where he wrote stories for West Virginia Moonshine magazine. At the age of 20, he moved to New York City and began writing for some of the nation’s most popular magazines.

On December 9, 1932, songwriter, musician, playwright, humorist, and poet Billy Edd Wheeler was born in Boone County. He started writing and performing…