MARCH, 1974
THE VOICE
PAGE 7
Broncos Lose To Va. State
The Fayetteville State
University Bronco basketball
team will have to wait until
next year for another chance
in the Cl A A Tourney.
The Otis Hawkins-
coacned crew was knocked
out in the first round of the
29th Annual CIAA Tourney in
Greensboro by the Virginia
State Trojans, 91-77.
The club finished the
season wiin a 13-13 record.
Robert Wilson led the
Broncos with 18 points. All-
CIAA forward Alton Cogdell
had 17, Otis Newkirk, 16,
James Tyus 6, and Rubin
Ruffin, 11 points.
The team will lose only
three seniors off the squad and
will be looking for some help
in the “big man” category.
“We are hoping to find
some good recruits,” began
first year coach Otis Hawkins,
“because we certainly needed
a big man all year long.”
Returning veterans in
clude Robert Wilson, Monte
Baker, Tim Msu'riot, Rubin
Ruffin, Mike Ross, Sterling
Harris, John Barrows,
Wilbert Washington, Stacy
Burrs, and James Bullock.
,
f
THEY’LL BE BACK NEXT YEAR - These three FSU Broncos wUl be back next Broncw bow^ to the Virginia State Trojans, 91-77. (L-R) Robert Wilson lays in a
year to face tough CIAA opponents. This action was taken by VOICE two-pointer, in second photo Sterling Harris shoots a bucket, and Rubin Ruffin
photographer Gilbert Foust at the opening round of the CIAA Tourney as the goes up for two in heavy traffic. (VOICE PHOTOS BY GILBERT FOUST)
' Cogdell Eyes Another Championsiiip
and the Pros
ALTON COGDELL
It is hard to believe that
Fayetteville State University
(N.C.) basketball star Alton
Cogdell at one time was not
interested at all in the game
created by Dr. James A.
Naismith in Springfield,
Mass. in 1891.
In fact, the St. Pauls,
North Carolina native, (about
12 miles from Fayetteville)
was really interested in
baseball and did not become
basketball-oriented until he
entered the ninth grade.
However, many
basketball players in the
CIAA (Central Intercollegiate
Athletic Association) can vow
that Cogdell does know how to
■play - and play extremely
well - the game called
basketball.
The 6-4 forward, who
creates and has more moves
than you can shake a stick at,
is presently a senior at
F’ayetteville State University
and is averaging over 20
points a game.
Thinking back over his
high school days in nearby St.
Pauls, Cogdell seemed a little
surprised that he escaped the
“atmosphere” of baseball in
his hometown because
baseball was a year-round
sport.
“When I was growing up
all the boys played baseball.
We did not have any inside
basketball courts. All we had
were outside courts and the
thing was just baseball, not
basketball. In fact, I played in
position of catcher and short
stop and was doing quite well
until I was introduced to
basketball,” said Cogdell.
Cogdell credits Robert
McKnight a junior high school
teacher at St. Pauls for for
mally introducing him to the
game.
■ “At the time I was just a
seventh-grader Mr. McKnight
would take my older brother
Larry and myself to the gym
and play us one-on-one.
Needless to say, he’d beat us
every time but I certainly
learned a lot from him.
He taught me how to
dribble and shoot with both
hands. He was a graduate of
Winston-Salem State
University and I believe that
he was on one of their
championship teams. Yes, it
was his interest in me that got
me on the right track in
basketball because he stayed
with me and kept me in
terested in the sport,” said
Cogdell.
Destined to be one of the
all-time basketball greats to
ever don a blue-and-white
Bronco uniform, Cogdell
already has tasted the
sweetness of a CIAA Tourney
Championship.
He was a member of the
late FSU basketball coach
Thomas L. Reeves’ 1973 CIAA
Tourney Champions, the
runners-up in 1972.
Cogdell admits that he has
come a long way from St.
Pauls to Fayetteville although
the two towns are just
“sneezing distance” away. In
fact, he almost did not get to
FSU, at least not the one in
North C^arolina.
“Originally, I wanted to
attend Florida State
University. After high school,
I enrolled at Lake Sumter
Junior College near
Jacksonville, Florida. I had a
homeboy attending Florida
State University and I feel this
is what influenced me to go
there. However, after getting
there I did not like the place
too much and transferred to
Fayetteville State after one
semester there,” he said.
Alton Cogdell has been a
part of winning basketball
since his junior year at St.
Pauls High School. Under the
guidance of his high school
coach Raymond Martin,
Cogdell helped pace St. Pauls
to the state 1-A basketball
finals in 1969 and 1970.
“During my junior year at
St. Pauls we had a 23-3 record
and the last year the CIAA
defending champion Broncos.
Tyus is also a vital cog in the
lineup and was selected as the
“Most Valuable Player” in
CIAA Tourney last year at
Greensboro.
The young man from St.
Pauls, North Carolina has
provided a lot of basketball
thrills for Fayetteville State
University Bronco fans. And
he wishes to close out his
collegiate career on a spec
tacular note.
The capturing of the
CIAA league championship,
the CIAA Tourney, and the
NCAA Small College Division
Championship, is the dream of
the Bronco team.
Last year, the Broncos
captured the CIAA Tourney
and advanced to the NCAA
Regionals taking third place
at Roanoke , Virginia.
Cogdell believes that the
Broncos can take it all this
year. And the way he plays, he
converts non-believers into
believers very quickly.
BRONCOS
ABE
GBEAT!