Coach Yogi Kinder remembers when Don Blankenship led the drive for a new football field at the old Matewan High School, and when Blankenship made sure the team's players "stayed in nice hotels and ate at the best restaurants" on trips to the state playoffs.
"To this day, I have kids talking about our football trips, some of which would have never, and have not since, experienced such trips," Kinder said. "I am just scratching the surface of things he has done for our community, and only from the football aspect."
Kinder described Blankenship's generosity in one of more than 100 letters the former Massey Energy CEO's criminal defense lawyers sent this week to U.S. District Judge Irene C. Berger.
Civic leaders, friends, family members and former employees describe Blankenship as having frequently opened his wallet for local health clinics, annual Christmas parties for area children, and all manner of school and community groups.
"I was always impressed by his emphasis on giving back to the area," C. Donovan Beckett, a local physician and businessman, wrote in one of the letters. "I have always admired his desire to contribute to the local economy."
Letters to judges asking for lenient sentences are nothing unusual, but Blankenship's defense team collected, by their count, more than 110 of what they called "character letters" that fill more than 200 pages, with some of them going on for four or five pages.
In their sentencing memo, defense lawyers asked Berger to read every one of the letters before making a decision. Blankenship, convicted in December of conspiracy to violate federal mine safety and health standards, faces a maximum of one year in prison, a $250,000 fine and millions of dollars in potential restitution payments. Berger has scheduled a sentencing hearing for April 6, one day after the sixth anniversary of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster.
"These letters address the history and characteristics of Mr. Blankenship more knowledgeably and authentically than the words of prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys or persons who never interacted with him," the defense team told the judge.
The attorneys noted that letter authors wrote to the court "notwithstanding the risk to these persons of being criticized."
Some of the letters came from former top Massey Energy officials, including E. Morgan Massey, whose family founded the company and who was the top executive of its predecessor firm, A.T. Massey Coal. Massey bragged about the company's successful effort under his and Blankenship's leadership to become "the largest union free coal company in the U.S."
"It was under my management that we learned to aspire to be such a good employer that the men would not need a union to secure their benefits," Massey wrote. "This included not only the dedication to safety and fair remuneration, but also removing the barrier between management and labor making everyone 'members' of the same team."
Many of the letters from former Massey officials or employees repeat some of the points defense lawyers repeatedly tried to make to convince jurors to acquit Blankenship, including that he was a safety innovator who constantly pushed for new technology.
Others also pushed Blankenship's long-standing theory that - contrary to the findings of multiple government and independent investigations - that the 2010 Upper Big Branch explosion was not caused by a long list of major violations of basic safety practices but by an uncontrollable influx of natural gas into the underground mine and an unworkable ventilation plan forced on Massey by federal inspectors.
"Your honor, Mr. Blankenship is not a bad person," wrote retired Massey president Baxter Phillips. "He is a very misunderstood person."
Many of the letters are intensely personal, offering a window into Blankenship's private life beyond his very public career as one of the Appalachian region's most powerful and controversial coal executives.
A high school friend, David B. Akers, wrote that Blankenship was "an excellent baseball pitcher and could have probably gone to college on a baseball scholarship," but "family finances didn't allow him to accept a scholarship and he worked his way through college by working in the coal mines."
Blankenship's daughter, Jennifer Gibson, wrote that her mother was an alcoholic whom Blankenship divorced "when he could not longer bear the pain of this type of existence."
"Dad raised [Blankenship's son'] John and me on his own after they were divorced," Gibson wrote. "It amazes me that even before the breakup, he managed to hold his career and our family life together in spite of the mental toll that addictions can have on a person and a family."
Other letters on Blankenship's behalf came from rank-and-file employees who worked for Blankenship or from various personal and professional acquaintances.
Former longtime Massey pilot Larry Joe Cox, for example, said that Blankenship "never complained if the helicopter was out of commission for maintenance or if I had to cancel a flight due to weather, whether it was a flight for him or other employees."
James Crockett, former mechanic for Blankenship's son's dirt-track race team, wrote that while Blankenship wanted the team to do well, "he still wanted all aspects of our operation safe."
"This form of racing is not as advanced in the safety field as it should or could be," Crockett wrote. "Don would always point at things that could be done to improve the safety of not only the drivers, but the crews and fans alike."
Heather Pope, who worked for Blankenship at his Belfry, Kentucky, office, recalled in her letter that Blankenship was very good to her when she was going through a painful divorce and later trying to juggle work and being a single mother.
"During the 11 years I worked there, I would have to leave early or come in late at times because of sick children or things going on at school and during that time I also went through a divorce," Pope wrote. "Mr. Blankenship was always kind and understanding of the fact that I had small children and of the situation with my divorce."
Steven Wilson, a Williamson eye doctor, wrote that he examined Blankenship not long after what the doctor called "the UBB incident."
"We openly prayed together, we embraced, and I told him to count on my ongoing prayers for him and the families/friends of the deceased miners," Wilson wrote. "It was a raw and tearful experience I'll always remember."
Still other letters came from some of the men who were Blankenship's top lieutenants at Massey for many years.
Frank Foster, a longtime Massey safety officer, wrote that he knows personally that Blankenship did not want injuries or violations because, "I spent years investigating them for Mr. Blankenship," who he said "wanted to know why they happened and what we could do to prevent recurrences."
Likewise, former Massey official Ben Hatfield wrote that he knows Blankenship cared about his workers, "because I've been there with him at mine sites in the middle of the night when we experienced a fatal accident."
"Don always wanted to know what went wrong and how we can prevent it from ever happening again," Hatfield wrote. Hatfield wrote that Blankenship had a management style that was "obnoxiously intrusive" and that he "micromanages to a maddening extent."
Hatfield, who was president of International Coal Group when that company's Sago Mine blew up, killing 12 miners, wrote that, "The Don Blankenship who has been disparaged during the recent trial for his alleged disregard toward mine safety bears no resemblance to the person I have known for over 30 years.
"As is often the case, the pain and anger arising from a tragic accident like the UBB mine explosion causes family members, regulators, prosecutors and even the general public to search for a culprit to punish," Hatfield wrote. "It is a very normal human reaction that brings many to look at past behavior and communications through a biased filter of presumed bad behavior. In this particular case, I believe the emotional stampede for 'justice' has overwhelmed any effort to review Don Blankenship's behavior and record on the basis of facts."
Hatfield's twin brother, Dennis, also wrote a letter on Blankenship's behalf. Dennis Hatfield was in charge of Massey's Martin County Coal subsidiary when that company's huge slurry impoundment in Eastern Kentucky collapsed, causing a huge environmental disaster in the region.
"Putting production over safety was never even suggested at any time in my management tenure under Don Blankenship," Dennis Hatfield wrote.
Read the letters at https://www .documentcloud.org/documents /2778624-Blankenship-Character- Letters-1.html and https://www.document cloud.org/documents/2778625-Blank enship-Character-Letters-2.html.
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kward@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1702 or follow @kenwardjr on Twitter.