BLACKSBURG – Bud Foster first noted Dalton Keene’s toughness well over a decade ago.
Keene’s father, Wes, had just flung the small child into the water at Claytor Lake. Dalton Keene landed hard on his back, popped right out of the water and started wailing.
“Wes grabs Dalton and kind of flips him up and he spins around and boy, belly flops or landed on his back,” Foster, Virginia Tech’s longtime defensive coordinator, recalled Tuesday. “But he no sooner than hit that water than he jumped up and he was just screaming bloody murder. And that’s when Stacy, Wes’ wife, I’ve never seen a woman beat a guy so much in my life.