THE IP PILOT
Gardner-Wfebb Cdlege
GARDNER-WEBB COLLEGE f ^ BOILING SPRINGS, NORTH CAROLINA
Gardner-Webb Bulldogs Continue Top Ranking
GWC’S ’77-’78 BASKETBALL TEAM
Back row, left to right: Coach Dennis Davis, Curtis Odom, Norman Mukes, Ed Cook,
Lewis Young, K.C. Graham, Will Franklin, Charlie Brunson, Oscar Mooney, Phil Cox,
Jeff Medford, Carl Martin, Mark Broadway, Manager. Seated, left to right: Coach
Eddie Holbrook, David Shuford, Manager, Earl Nesbit, Dennis Smart, John Borders,
Louis Crosby, Bruce Price, Steve Mitchell, Terry Shelton, Manager, and Coach Ron
Hooper.
The Gardner-Webb Bull
dogs have currently slipped
to No. 2 in the nation in the
NAIA poll after having held
the top position for several
weeks. Drury College, cur
rently No. 1, suffered a de
feat Saturday night, which
will reflect in next week’s
poll. The Bulldogs are 19-0
overall and 14-0 in district
26 competition.
The mastermind of the
Bulldog’s success is head
coach Eddie Holbrook.
Coach Holbrook came to
GWC in 1964 when it was a
junior college. His overall re
cord at GWC is 331 wins and
62 defeats.
What does Coach Hol
brook think about his team’s
ranking? “The ranking is a
real honor to the young men,
to the program, and to the
school. Even more than all
those things, I think it says
a great deal about the way
the people across the coun
try think about our basket
ball program because the
polls, particularly the
NAIA, are voted upon by
coaches from aU over the di^
ferent parts of the country.
So the fact that we have
been able to have a pretty
good basketball program
and have a good tradition
helped us a great deal with
the polls this year. Since we
are undefeated, it’s only na
tural that we are going to
get a good deal of atten
tion.” (Prophetic, in view of
the latest controversy con
cerning the defeat in
Hawaii!)
With several other unde
feated teams, does Coach
Holbrook think his team’s
top ranking is deserving?
“Yes, I think we are de
serving. In pre-season polls
we were ranked as high as
second. We won the NAIA
International Tournament
in Kansas City and played
real well. We have a difficult
schedule and play in one of
the toughest regions.”
What are Coach Hol
brook’s basic feelings about
his team’s progress thus far
this year?
“We still do not feel we
are playing as well as we can
play, but that is, to some ex
tent, by design because we
had rather be playing at our
peak along in February—
certainly by the latter part
of February during tourna
ment play. We are satisfied
with our team’s progress,
but we feel like we can play a
little better. I hope so any
way.”
Could Coach Holbrook
cite any particular player
who has contributed the
most this season?
“No, I could not cite one
player. It would not be fair
to the other guys because all
of them contribute and they
contribute in a very signifi
cant way. I do not like to get
into singling out any one
player because it takes more
than one player and more
than five players to have a
good basketball team.”
Coach Holbrook was
asked how many consecu
tive games have been won at
GW’s Bost Gymnasium.
“The paper said 74. I do
not keep up with streaks like
that. We are more concerned
with trying to encourage our
guys to play as hard as they
can every time out. We do
not really mention winning
streaks.”
Has Coach Holbrook had
any coaching opportunities
from other schools?
“Yes, I have had oppor
tunities to make moves to
other institutions. One of
the latest that everyone
knows about, occurred last
summer from Austin Peay
State University.”
We salute Coach Hol
brook, his assistants Ron
Harper and Dennis Davis,
and all the Bulldog’s team
members.
RESULTS
aGW 98 Scotland Nat. 70
bGW 119 Portugal Nat. 58
bGW117 China Nat. 77
bGW96
Czechoslovakia Nat. 87*
GW 95 Wofford 70
GW 91 Limestone 70
GW 68 Mars HiU 47
cG W 109 Livingstone 1030T
cGW 73 Pfeiffer 72
cG W 97 Lenoir-Rhyne 86*
dGW 84 N.C. Methodist 60
dGW 114 High Point 95
GW 77 Belmont Abbey 73
GW 94 GuUford 92
GW119
Johnson C. Smith 96
GW 90 Catawba 860T
GW 99 High Point 970T
GW 87 Lenoir-Rhyne 86
GW 126 Morris College 83
a-International Game
b-NAIA International Cup
Tourney
c-WBTV Carolina Classic
d-GW Holiday Classic
*-Championship Game
Sports Entertainment Arena Planned For Gardner-Webb
by Tommy Watts
That’s right, folks, in
about a year from now,
there will be a ground-break
ing ceremony for the most
unique building on the cam
pus of Gardner-Webb Col
lege. It will be called the
Sports-Entertainment Aren-
a. It will be kind of a hybrid
building that will house a
performance area for music
and drama; the health and
physical educational pro
grams wiU also be housed. It
will have a large gym for in
tercollegiate basketball
games, along with activity
rooms and class rooms for
educational purposes and
many small gyms.
“We have all these needs
and we think that we will be
able to raise the money for
one building. So we are go
ing to have to design it so
that all these activities will
take place,” stated Jerry
McGee, who is the Associate
Director of Development.
The Staff identified the
architects they want by tra
velling through Tennessee,
North and South Carolina
and finding out which archi
tects had done a similar pro
ject before.
The Administrative staff
has also added to the list the
local architects in the Cleve
land County area and some
that were referred to the
staff by the Board of
Trustees. The list has been
narrowed down to five firms,
who will be interviewed on
Feb. 15, when the most
qualified will be selected.
Jerry McGee informs us
that, “I wouldn’t want to
hire an architect because of
his low price, which prob
ably would mean that he
would be less experienced.
We would rather go ahead
and raise a little extra
money and have a quality
project than have someone
to come in and not know
what he is doing.”
The development office as
of now doesn’t know what
the building looks like, but
they do know what activities
are going to be in it. The
staff has had some prelimin
ary sketches of the building
thus far but have no definite
ideas. Jerry McGee says, “I
see it as kind of a twin
theatre, where as you go in
the door you have a common
lobby. As you go to the left
you go to one part, maybe
for instance the gym; as you
go to the right you would go
to the theatre, so as you can
see it will be kind of a unique
building.”
As for the fine arts pro
gram, it will still be at O.
Max Gardner. Mr. McGee
feels that the Music Depart
ment is fantastic and
“should have a nicer place to
display their talents.” It will
do a great deal for our drama
department. There is also a
real possibility to expand
the drama department by
holding classes on drama.
The plans are to start rais
ing funds for the first few
months, here on campus
through the Office of Deve
lopment. Then decisions will
be made on where to go with
the fund-raising campaign,
who the prospective leaders
of each area will be, and
what the potentials are for
gifts in the various areas.
“We feel very strongly here
that it wiU be a mistake to
borrow a lot of money,” Mr.
McGee informs us.
The ground-breaking cere
mony will be held when the
Development Office feels
that they have sufficient
funds and pledges for the
Arena. Mr. McGee believes
that it would not be this
summer, but should be with
in a year, probably around
January, 1979. A building
this large will likely take
about two years to be fully
completed.
The fund-raising cam
paign will consist of mainly
the geographical region
surrounding the Boiling
Springs area with^a 60 to 70
mile radius in each direction.
This is because the people
nearby are the ones most
likely to benefit from the
arena, by coming to perfor
mances, basketball games,
and to hear speakers. The
area will be divided into sec
tions to set up fund-raising
organizations. Gifts will be
solicited to people who con
tribute money as a thank-
you. There are also plans to
hold a ‘radiothon and/or
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