BLACKSBURG, Va. — Pierson Prioleau waited two long years to get his hands on the lunch pail, so the moment he finally did, right after Virginia Tech’s season-opening win against Rutgers in 1997, is etched indelibly in his mind.
“I had to watch a lot of really good football players carry that lunch pail around, guys like JC Price, Cornell Brown, Torrian Gray, Myron Newsome,” said Prioleau, now the Hokies’ safeties coach, who had seven tackles and a 43 -yard fumble return for a touchdown against the Scarlet Knights that day.
“I couldn’t wait to get my hands on that thing. And the first time I got my hands on it, I immediately understood the honor, but I also immediately felt the responsibility of being the person to carry that lunch pail.”
The lunch pail tradition is back at Virginia Tech, the school announced in a tweet Friday, another way new coach Brent Pry is reaching back to the Hokies’ past.
It’s back.#ThisIsHome | #GroundUp
ℹ️ https://t.co/5oHPhSKulk pic.twitter.com/GotKxKwgVc
— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) August 26, 2022
The Hokies were light on specifics about the pail’s return after a two-year hiatus, although expect the process to be the same as when it was a symbol of Bud Foster’s defenses at Virginia Tech from 1995-2019, with a defensive leader tasked with carrying the pail to and from practice during the week and to the sideline on game day.
“It’s an exceptional deal,” Prioleau said. “I had the opportunity to be a freshman on that ’95 team when the lunch pail came into existence, so I know what that lunch pail means to this program, what it meant to that ’95 team and what it meant to all the teams moving forward. Not just to the football players, but to this whole community and its values.
“Its values are ultimate teamwork; its values are carrying around the hopes, the dreams, the goals of this entire university. So it’s having the opportunity to start this new era off with a little piece of the old going forward.”
The lunch pail began as a token for a Hokies’ defense seeking an identity in 1995 when Foster and Rod Sharpless were co-coordinators. Sharpless procured the original pail from his mother-in-law’s neighbor in New Jersey.
There have been many pails since then, carried to and from the field by a defensive leader of the coaching staff’s choosing. The tradition has evolved over time, with players collecting turf from the field after road victories and putting it inside. Tech painted on the side the letters WIN, which Foster said stood for “What’s Important Now.”
After the tragic shooting on campus in 2007, the names of the victims were placed inside on a laminated card with a maroon ribbon and an inspirational reminder: “We will remember. We will prevail. We are Virginia Tech.”
Only two people have ever been awarded a permanent pail: former defensive end Darryl Tapp, who carried it for almost two years straight during Tech’s early ACC days, and former defensive line coach Charley Wiles, Foster’s longtime right-hand man.
When Foster retired in 2019, Virginia Tech put up a banner in Lane Stadium next to the retired numbers featuring his last name and an outline of the lunch pail.
In the post-Foster transition, Virginia Tech phased out the connection to the lunch pail as Justin Hamilton, one of Foster’s proteges, tried to get his footing as the new coordinator. To Prioleau, the decision came out of respect.
“It’s with his blessing and the blessing of the people of the past that we’re bringing it back,” Prioleau said. “I think when Coach Foster left the sideline as a defensive coordinator, that decision was made in respect of him. It wasn’t this program turning their back on the moniker or all the things that the lunch pail represents, but with the new era, the opportunity to bring it back, it was an easy decision to make. …
“It was a no-brainer for us. Anybody that’s been around this program understands what that lunch pail brings to the value, not just to this team, but to this community. So to have that thing back on our sideline is big-time.”
A tradition like no other.#ThisIsHome | #GroundUp | #LPD
ℹ️ https://t.co/5oHPhSKulk pic.twitter.com/iqmYLtsOUq
— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) August 26, 2022
Prioleau still fondly remembers getting to tote the pail back in ’97. He said it’s a huge honor and a motivator.
“Guys understand you’re not really playing to get the lunch pail, but you’re playing the best that you can be to be the best on the football field at any given time,” Prioleau said. “Everybody’s playing the best that they can possibly play and it’s with that reward that you assume the responsibility of being the very best. Not just on the field, but being the very best leader in the classroom, being the best teammate in the locker room.
“So you don’t just get the lunch pail by going out and getting a ton of sacks or tackles or an interception or two. You get the lunch pail by being the ultimate teammate on the defensive side of the ball.”
(Photo: Rob Kinnan / USA Today)
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