A few weeks after Billy Wagner was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Brad Pyott had his weekly lunch with his uncle, Jack Pyott.
During their lunch, the two Tazewell High School graduates discussed the recent achievement of their alma mater’s most famous alum. Jack told Brad he had recently been contacted by Roger Pike, another Tazewell graduate, who suggested that the Town of Tazewell recognize Wagner’s enshrinement.
Tazewell hung up signs recognizing Wagner’s selection as a National League All-Star during his time with the Houston Astros. During the trio’s initial conversations, they decided that the latest tribute to Wagner’s professional baseball career needed to be “a whole lot bigger” than a sign. Pike suggested a statue.
Brad Pyott, the attorney for the town of Tazewell, started to think where the statue could go and where the residents of Tazewell would be receptive to the idea.
“I knew the Mini-Park … was a place that never really found its footing as to what it could be [and thought] that would be a great place for it,” Pyott said.
At a town council meeting following Wagner’s election to the Hall of Fame, Pyott asked the council how the town planned to recognize Wagner. The council suggested a parade or another sign. Pyott disagreed.
“I said, ‘We need to go big or not go at all,’” Pyott said. “It is worthy of something of this stature to do a statue in his honor.”
The council told Pyott they would think about it. In the meantime, Pyott talked with Tazewell’s Industrial/Economic Development Authority, who owns the Mini-Park, and asked what they thought about the idea of a Wagner statue on the property. The I/EDA was on board. Pyott told them he would inform the town council and let the I/EDA know how they needed to proceed to make the project a reality.
Pyott thought of another stamp of approval the project needed. The one of the man whose likeness the bronze statue would bear.
Pyott contacted Erik Robinson, one of Wagner’s former Ferrum College teammates who represents the Eastern District on the Tazewell County School Board, and ran the idea by him. Robinson liked the idea but doubted Wagner would be up for it due to his humble nature. Robinson reached out to Wagner.
Wagner appreciated the gesture but suggested that Tazewell put up a plaque somewhere recognizing his Hall of Fame induction instead.
Pyott again disagreed.
“I responded and said look, this is bigger than a plaque. This is something that goes well beyond, a generational type of thing to be able to say look at what you’ve accomplished,” Pyott said. “We need to make this larger than life that he accomplished this.”
Robinson went back to Wagner (who now coaches baseball at the Miller School in Albemarle County) and told him the town insisted they erect a statue to honor him. Wagner ultimately blessed the project.
Pyott then went back to the I/EDA and told them that for the project to happen in the Mini-Park on Main Street, it needed their official blessing also. The I/EDA stamped its approval.
“My board was thrilled with that project proposal,” said Cara Spivey, the town of Tazewell’s I/EDA chairman. “Our board was really passionate about celebrating and thanking Billy.”
Pyott assembled a committee to help get the project off the ground. Everyone that Pyott asked to join the committee accepted. The group has met every two weeks since.
“It has been sort of a crawl, walk, and run,” Pyott said. “We are thrilled to get to the point that we are at the running stage now.”
The Billy Wagner Park Committee is scheduled to kick off its fundraising campaign for the project Saturday, July 26, in Tazewell at Main Street Moments — the day before Wagner is enshrined into the Hall of Fame.
“We will be set up on Main Street with what we call our ‘Mini-Billy,’ which is an 11-inch clay replica of what the statue will be when it is finished,” Pyott explained. “[We will also have] a life-size cut out of Billy to demonstrate where it is going to be at the park and sort of how it will fit in with the whole look of Main Street.”
The committee plans to have the 5-foot-10 statue completed by October 2026.
“This is all happening fairly quickly for us, but we have been planning for several months to get ready for this week knowing that this would be the best time to kick off awareness for the project, the support for it, the necessary publicity for the fundraising aspect of it,” Pyott said. “We figure, from the numbers we have run, that it is going to be at least a $250,000 project. We are raising all this grassroots. Not a dime of it is coming from Billy or anything that he is doing. This is all in honor of him. This is going to be one that the Town of Tazewell, Tazewell County, and Southwest Virginia pull together to honor him.” 
Maria Kirby-Smith will sculpt the statue of Wagner in an Astros uniform. Kirby-Smith erected the Coal Miners Memorial statue in Richlands, the statues in front of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol and numerous other statues across the Southeast.
The committee hopes that the Mini-Park, which will be renamed Billy Wagner Park, will serve as more than just the host for the statue.
“We want this to be professional. We want it to be a real permanent fixture and a draw. It is still going to be a usable small park where people can come and sit and enjoy Main Street,” said Spivey, a 2010 Tazewell graduate. “We want it to be Billy Wagner Park, but we want it to be more than just a statue that sits in the park in its current state. We have really tried to exhaust all options to make sure when we move forward it is going to be the most beautiful and best efficient use of space possible because that is what Billy deserves.”
Brad Strong, who was an assistant football and baseball coach for Tazewell during Wagner’s time with the Bulldogs, serves on the committee. Strong did not want to pass up the opportunity to recognize one of his former athletes.
“I think it is a great idea to have this life-size statue in Tazewell. I wanted to be a part of it,” Strong said. “We are excited about it. I want to see that thing go up.”
Strong, who will be in attendance in Cooperstown on Sunday, recalled the odds Wagner defied on his way to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“Unbelievable. He kept that ‘you can’t tell me that I am not going to make it because I am short and small’ mentality. He just fed off it. He stayed in the weight room. He kept working. Well, look at him now,” Strong said. “It sends chills over my body that we are going to have somebody that has accomplished something that very few do. Especially in Virginia. Let alone other places. A little town. Sandy Bottom. Tannersville. Tazewell High School. [Billy] is Mr. Humble.”
Robinson echoed the importance of the project to Tazewell County and how Wagner represents what Southwest Virginia was all about.
“[Wagner] really is the epitome of working hard and being successful in your craft. He came from very meager beginnings,” said Robinson. “A great example of a southwest Virginia boy who just would not give up and was always trying. I think it is fantastic that Tazewell is doing this.” 
Wagner’s 16-year career featured stints with the Astros, the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves between 1995-2010. Wagner is the ninth relief pitcher to be elected to the Hall of Fame. His 422 saves are the eighth most in MLB history and are the second most by a left-handed relief pitcher. Wagner owns the MLB record for strikeouts per nine innings with an average of 11.92. The 1990 Tazewell High School graduate was a seven-time All-Star, including during his final season in 2010, where he posted a career best 1.43 ERA as a member of the Braves. Wagner was elected to the Astros Hall of Fame in 2020.
His professional success came after he was selected 12th overall in the 1993 draft by Houston out of Ferrum College. The Ferrum standout is the first Division III player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Wagner is a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame and the Ferrum College Sports Hall of Fame.
Wagner becomes the sixth Virginian — the first from west of Culpeper and the first modern-day player — to be enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Ray Dandridge, Leon Day, Eppa Rixey, Pete Hill and Jud Wilson are also inductees from the Commonwealth. (See accompanying story on those other Virginians in the hall.)
Wagner’s accomplishments are truly unprecedented. The folks in Tazewell know that.
“It is a great hallmark to show that no matter your background, no matter your access to resources, with grit, determination, and perseverance, you really can defy all odds,” said Spivey. “I love that this is another way to showcase southwest Virginia in that way. I love not only that Billy is from here, but I really think that he really encapsulates all our morals and just the work ethic that Southwest Virginia demonstrates.”
Pyott knows that while there is a lot of work to be done to see this project through. He is very optimistic. “We have a lot of ground to cover yet but we have big ideas, big plans, and I think its for a great project that the public will be behind because it is worthy,” said Pyott. “We are gaining momentum daily and hope it continues to. Everyone I talked to said we can do this. There are a lot of folks out there that are going to want to be behind this and make it happen for [Billy] because of what we want to do to say thank you.” 
