CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Parkersburg rolls out the red carpet for ESPN Friday.

As part of the sports network's search for "TitleTown USA,'' a crew from ESPN will be in Parkersburg Friday to record segments for upcoming editions of SportsCenter. And the folks from Wood County plan to put on a show for ESPN viewers.

A pep rally, loaded with giveaways and performances from the city's three high schools, has been planned for 10,000-seat Stadium Field, Parkersburg High School's football facility, beginning at 4:55 p.m. Friday.

"The whole town's really embracing it,'' said Richard Lance, the athletic director at Parkersburg High who has been coordinating the event. "It's something that's going to be a fun time. We'll do the best we can to put on a good show for ESPN.''

Last month, Parkersburg was one of 20 cities selected from a list of 2,000 nominations for "TitleTown,'' defined by ESPN as "the town or city that shares a unique affinity with its title-winning professional, college or amateur sports teams.''

ESPN embarked on a tour of those 20 cities beginning on July 4 and ending Wednesday, with SportsCenter crews taping daily segments from each city. Parkersburg's two segments are scheduled to be televised Tuesday.

The public can vote online (at ESPN.com) for the "TitleTown'' honor from July 23-26, and a live announcement of the results is set for Sunday, July 27 on SportsCenter from the winning town.

Lance expects anywhere from "2,000 to 10,000'' people to show up for Friday's pep rally. The event will bring together fans who are normally rivals, as Parkersburg, Parkersburg South and Parkersburg Catholic will all be on the same side this time. The three schools have combined for 192 state championships - 137 by Parkersburg, 38 by South (which opened in 1967) and 17 by Catholic.

"We're not going to be Patriots, Crusaders or Big Reds,'' Lance said. "We're Parkersburg.''

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Parkersburg rolls out the red carpet for ESPN Friday.

As part of the sports network's search for "TitleTown USA,'' a crew from ESPN will be in Parkersburg Friday to record segments for upcoming editions of SportsCenter. And the folks from Wood County plan to put on a show for ESPN viewers.

A pep rally, loaded with giveaways and performances from the city's three high schools, has been planned for 10,000-seat Stadium Field, Parkersburg High School's football facility, beginning at 4:55 p.m. Friday.

"The whole town's really embracing it,'' said Richard Lance, the athletic director at Parkersburg High who has been coordinating the event. "It's something that's going to be a fun time. We'll do the best we can to put on a good show for ESPN.''

Last month, Parkersburg was one of 20 cities selected from a list of 2,000 nominations for "TitleTown,'' defined by ESPN as "the town or city that shares a unique affinity with its title-winning professional, college or amateur sports teams.''

ESPN embarked on a tour of those 20 cities beginning on July 4 and ending Wednesday, with SportsCenter crews taping daily segments from each city. Parkersburg's two segments are scheduled to be televised Tuesday.

The public can vote online (at ESPN.com) for the "TitleTown'' honor from July 23-26, and a live announcement of the results is set for Sunday, July 27 on SportsCenter from the winning town.

Lance expects anywhere from "2,000 to 10,000'' people to show up for Friday's pep rally. The event will bring together fans who are normally rivals, as Parkersburg, Parkersburg South and Parkersburg Catholic will all be on the same side this time. The three schools have combined for 192 state championships - 137 by Parkersburg, 38 by South (which opened in 1967) and 17 by Catholic.

"We're not going to be Patriots, Crusaders or Big Reds,'' Lance said. "We're Parkersburg.''

The pep rally, which is free, is scheduled to include "a couple thousand dollars'' in giveaways, according to Lance.

After the gates open at 4:30, the first 600 people into the stadium get a spirit towel. State championship teams in each sport will be honored prior to performances from the bands, cheerleaders and dance teams from PHS and South. Mascots from all three schools will also participate. A skydiver is set to land in the stadium carrying an 8-by-10-foot "TitleTown'' banner including the names of all three schools.

Lance admits Parkersburg will have a difficult time beating out pro cities like Boston and New York or college towns such as Chapel Hill, N.C., and Knoxville, Tenn.

"That's pretty tough,'' he said, "and I'm a huge Green Bay Packers fan and, to me, 'TitleTown' before all this was Green Bay, Wisconsin. I'm also a Boston Celtics fan and their 17 NBA titles are very, very important on that level. But to me, it's hard to argue with 192 championships, which we have, and on the level we have. They're just as important as theirs are.

"Our spin in this is that we don't have any professional athletes, we don't pay our coaches hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, and we don't pay our athletes. We just get homegrown people here and we get state championships. That's where our claim to fame is.''

Only three of the 20 cities in the running are regarded as "high school'' towns - Parkersburg, Massillon, Ohio and Valdosta, Ga.

"We'd like to finish as high as we can, if not win it,'' Lance said, "but you're dealing with metropolitan areas with millions of people. Plus, there are New York Yankees fans and Boston Celtics fans all over the country. We have some alumni scattered throughout the country. If we can come in first among the three non-professional, non-college towns, I'll be elated. I'm just elated being in the top 20.''

Lance also expects a past game tape featuring one (or more) of the city's teams to be shown on ESPN Classic, possibly at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Reach Rick Ryan at 348-5175 or           rickr...@wvgazette.com.