Thursday, December 4, 1969 Maroon and Gold Page 3 r Basketball Preview MARSHALL RETURNS FOR FOURTH SEASON: Elon guard Noble Marshall is beginning his fourth season as a member of the Fighting Christians cage squad. The 6-0, 170-pound senior from Roanoke, Va, is a tenacious defensive player who also found time to average 8.7 points a game for the Christians last year. School Spirit Affects Team By RICHARD YOUMANS Every year the quest ion arises-Where is our school spirit? But per haps this year, Elon’s school spirit has been the best in the past several years. According to Webster, spirit is the feeling, qual ity or disposition char acterizing something; it is a supernatural being held to be able to enter into and possess a per son. Se we can conclude, that school spirit need not be boisterous but need on ly be our inner feelings towards a particular thing. Coach “Red” Wilson stated, "I can’t complain about our school spirit this year. We have had good support at home games; it comes natural when a team is winning but the real test for school spirit is when a ballclub is losing.” School spirit should not only come from the stu dent body but also from the administration and fa culty members. Coach Wilson pointed out that the basic reason for inter- scholastic activities is “to unify the student body, and a school can only have a unified school spirit when administration per sonnel, faculty members, and students are unified. We should all be proud of Elon.” Wilson feels that the main reason why Elon’s school spirit has been ex cellent this year is be cause of the cheerlead ers. “They are perhaps the best in a long time and they really put their heart and soul into their eff orts.” Asked how school spirit could be improv ed, Wilson stated, “I would like to see a more unified togetherness a- mong the leders in the student body. Also, good publicity never hurt a team or a student body.” School spirit is vital to an athletic team. It can either make or break a team and is a definite psychological factor con tributing to the team’s success. Have you ever seen a championship team with inadequate support? Not hardly. This is per haps the main reason why Elon was able to defeat Lenoir Rhyne, while play ing the game away. Pep rallies were held and everywhere one looked there were signs and ban ners, letting the team know that the students were behind them for the championship game in the Carolinas Conference. Diana Kuhnert, Elon junior from Lodi, N.J., stated, “this year’s school spirit was fairly good but not as good as it could have been. There really has not been any improvement over the past several years.” Asked about the import ance of school spirit to a team. Miss Kuhnert said, “it is very important, since it pulls the team together and gives them an emotional buildup for the coming game.” Katie Patrick, Elon junior and cheerleader, gave her overall opinion on school spirit as, “the school spirit has been better than previous years, yet it could be improved, I think that we would all like to see more persons from the admini stration and faculty taking an active part in school activities.’* In relating school spirit to the ef fect it has on a team. Miss Patrick said, “spi- By GARY DEAN The Elon Fighting Christians cage quintet opened its 1969-70 cam paign Friday night, Nov. 28, against the Western Carolina Catamounts in the first roundof the Bur lington Civitan Tourna ment held in Elon’s Alumni Memorial Gym nasium. Friday night’s second game featured the contest between the Guil ford Quakers and the Ca tawba Indians. Winners of the Friday night games were to advance to the finals on Saturday night. A consolation game for Friday night’s losers preceded this champion ship contest. Coach Bill Miller, be ginning his 11th season at the Christian helm, finds himself with somewhat of a rebuilding year. Gone from last year’s 21-8 squad are former stars such as forwards Henry Goedeck and Steve Cad- dell, center Bill Bowes, and guard Pete Johnson. However, the Christ ians have several top flight performers return ing with which to form a nucleus. Heading this list are forward Richard Mc- George, swingman Tom my Cole, and guards No ble Marshall and Tom McGee. Other prominent returnees from last year’s team include for wards Robbie Hicklin and Gomes Coming Dec. 6 - High Point - home Dec. 8 - Lenoir Rhyne - home Dec. 10 - Atlantic Christ ian - away rit definitely helps a team in preparing for a ball- game, and at the same time it makes a game more exciting.” What does all this come down to? Simply this— nobody can instill school spirit into another in dividual. It must come naturally to a person, you either have it or you don’t. If you do possess school spirit, let it be known and heard by others, but if you do not possess it, you are missing one of the most exciting activities in your college life. Bill Wallace, and center Pat Berry. Although two promising newcomers, Jesse Par rish and Ron Graham, have dropped out of school since September there are several other boys who could see considerable action. Among them are center Larry Trautwien, transfer forwards Bob Pingley and Gary Brown, and guards MikeMeach- am and Matt Saunders. The strong points of this year’s club will be the greater overall team speed and improved de fense. The greatest weak ness, at least at first, will be the lack of an ex perienced big man to go with McGeorge on the front line. The Christians have been working hard since Oct. 15 in preparation for the rough 23 game schedule. The Christians play their usual rugged conference schedule as well as non-conference clashes with Campbell, Western Carolina, and Head Coach Red Wil son; “I can’t complain about our school spirit this year.” A&T. The conference should be fairly evenly balanced this year with Catawba, Guilford, and Lenoir Rhyne picked as the teams to beat. The Christians should be ratedasadark- horse and could quite pos sibly walk away with the conference crown at the Conference Tournament Feb. 25-28 in Winston- Salem. Cheerleader Katie Patrick shows a great deal of school spirit. Basketball Roster PLAYER HEIGHT WEIGHT AGE CLASS HOMETOWN Richard McGeorge 6-5 230 21 Sr. Roanoke, Va. Tommy Cole 6-3 165 18 Soph. Burlington, N.C. Noble Marshall 6-0 170 21 Sr. Roanoke, Va. Tom McGee 6-1 170 21 Sr. Deer Park, N.Y. Pat Berry 6-7 220 21 Jr. Norfolk, Va. Robbie Hicklin 6-4 185 20 Soph. Burlington, N.C. Cary Brown 6-4 180 19 Soph. Shenandoah, Va. Bill Wallace 6-4 185 21 Sr. Huntington, W, Va. Larry Trautwien 6-8 210 18 Fr. Richwood, N. J. Mike Meacham 5-10 155 22 Soph. Burlington, N.C. Bob Pingley 6-3 180 20 Jr. Ft. Royal, Va. Matt Saunders 6-2 180 18 Fr. Philadelphia, Penn.

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