If you’re a true old gold-and-blue-blooded Mountaineer who hasn’t yet shared your fondest West Virginia University moments with the world, what are you waiting for?

Perhaps the most famous Mountaineer of all, “Mr. Clutch” Jerry West, recalled his priceless memories of WVU – from watching basketball games here as a scrawny young country boy to receiving what he called the greatest recruiting tool ever.

Even after all of his accolades on and off the court, West says he want to be “as rich as Bill Gates.” But that quest is not a selfish one.

You can unravel his story and many others through the WVU Heritage Project. There, the tales of Mountaineers from the 1940s through today are captured, woven and immortalized for the world to see.

Remember Darren Studstill, one of the starting quarterbacks for the 1993 team that went undefeated in the regular season?

His story, too, is embedded in the Heritage Project. A Florida native, Studstill remembers not only his triumphs on the football field, but his first brush with fall and West Virginia weather.

The Honorable Kevin D. White, a Superior Court judge in Arizona, attributes his successes today to what he learned from one of WVU’s most revered football figures in the 1980s.

You need not be an athlete to pitch in to the Heritage Project.

With watery eyes, Vivien Perrine Woofter, a 1952 graduate, offers her memories of strict dorm rules, the Metropolitan Theatre and ice cream at Oglebay Hall.

This place has evoked emotion ever since its inception in 1867.

Many Mountaineers feel it before they set foot on campus.

Bill Toothman, president of the Peach State Alumni Chapter, remembers his parents driving him to Morgantown for his first day on campus in the 1960s. Not one of them ended the day without shedding tears.

The Heritage Project – an initiative shared by the WVU Alumni Association, Emeritus Graduates and University Relations – serves as a collection of Mountaineer memories that anyone can access anytime, anywhere.

More than two dozen video interviews are now uploaded to the site.

Now it’s your turn.

The Heritage Project is ongoing, and it is more than just videos. Alumni are also invited to send stories via audio, photos or written word.

WVU shaped lives forever. We hope it shaped yours, and we hope you will share that story with us.

Go to http://heritageproject.wvu.edu/

-WVU-

js/11/16/11

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