Page B2-The Chronicle, Thursday, April
Sports People
Deacons' 1
1 * 1 1
says nea a<
By SAM DAVIS
Staff Writer
Recently, the nation's best college
basketball players gathered at the University
of Indiana to battle for 12 positions
on Coach Bobby Knight's U.S. Olympic
basketball team. Among them were dark
? ^ ^^^^^h<5f?B"a^plenTy3'uffforS" moreunheralded
than Wake Forest's 6-9 Anthony
Teachey.
For three years, Teachey played in the
shadow of more polished and publicized
players. But each year he played for the
Deacons, Teachey improved in every
aspect of his game. Finally, with Wake
doing well during the final half of the
'83-84 season and making it to the final
eight in the NCAAs, he got his chance to
shine.
"Towards the end of the season, we
beat some tough clubs, and that gave the
team and myself some recognition," said
Teachey before departing for the Olympic
trials. "The seniors knew that, the further
we went in the tournament, the more exposure
we'd get. Since the tournament,
I've been getting a lot of recognition
throughout the country.
44I still have a. lot to prove," said the v
lean, powerfully-built Teachey. "I've had
to play out of position for four years and
take on taller, stronger players. I'm a true
forward that has been forced to play
center.
Yet Teachey believes playing center at
Wake improved his chances of making
both the Olympic team and the professional
ranks. "I think my chances of making
the Olympic team are pretfy good,"
said Teachey before the tryouts. "I've
been told that six forwards and two
centers will make the team. Since I can
*>
... +*&
H
^K t! * J
**s
?nMP?OlttCBd t^E^B
Giving It His All
Ifi Calvin Rrnum tnrlnn *? ????*??*?
? - ?t y 111^ 1.VT IICJJU1IQ1C <
an air traffic controller? No. The Gi
placing second in the long jump for
syth County's Special Olympics hek
Black College Sports
Delaware ?
By BARRY COOPER
Syndicated Columnist
One of the most dramatic turnarounds in
college athletics has occurred at tiny Delaw
It was only five years ago that the Hor
team lost one game by a staggering 105-0 s<
Delaware State's other sports were in sh
what with the basketball team struggling t
.500 and the spring sports teams little mon
&
26. 1984
i
s
reachey
o it all again
play both positions, l think my chances of
making the team are increased.'*
Teachey did indeed do well in the eyes
of Knight, surviving the first Olympic cut.
- And, though he fell victim to the second
cut (as- did a number of nationallyrespected
players), Teachey has come a
long way both athletically and personally.
Reflecting on his career at Wake Forest,
Teachey said he'd do it all again if he had
the chance. "Coming here to play basketball
and get an education was a decision I
feel will help me throughout life," he
said.
"It's a small school, and everyone
knows you. The classes aren't large so you
get personal attention from the instructors.
"The athletic department stresses
academics very heavily," Teachey said.
"No matter how good you are, you have
to attend class and do your work.
A communications major, Teachey
plans to receive his degree this year in
summer school and, though he doesn't
know when he'll need to put his education
to use in'a full-time profession other than
basketball, he said he's prepared for that
day.
"I've gotten a very good education and .
met a lot of people," he said. "It has
opened me up more as a person and (
prepared me for the future. You've got to
have something to fall back on when your
basketball days are over and I think the |
school does a good job of doing that." f
Teachey's also proud of the record the J
Deacons achieved in '83-84. His class is i
the first in Wake history to win 20 games
four years in a row. And Teachev in- (
dividually is the second winningest i
Please see page B3 I
5T '
t' <s ?%
?r r' ' ? !
[ Wngfrrf
IB
mr^m
Mm mSMttJUm
I
I
I
a safe landing without the benefit of 1
iffith Junior High School student
the 13-15 year old division of For1
last week (photo by James Parker).
state: From h
for their opposition.
But that was five years age
the history of football team is one of the
are State. Athletic Conference, its baske
nets' football a power in the league, and th
:ore. Most of women's track programs hav
ambles, too, MEAC.
o stay above Delaware State's comebacl
: than patsies This academic year, Hornets'
ports IVe
icores, Standings, Columns, F
jM
kVtScI W *
K '&jgL
Mr ^ I
. JfeC, **
HT ul
H Br_ IJ
^ ^1
^^8! 8 8.
1 ~^fl KmJ MM B M M
Teachey (55) in action during the '83-8*
Rams to tangle
By ROBERT ELLER
Sports Editor
Last year, no one, not even Coach Bill
4ayes, knew what to expect when his WSSU
ootball team took the field at Bowman Gray
stadium against a group of former Ram players
n the school's first-ever alumni game. ;
Hayes had junked his highly-successful veer
)ffense in favor of the Delaware wing-T in sprng
drills and had no idea how his team would
fare in using it against an opponent for the first
Christian: Wn
By ROBERT ELLER
Sports Editor
When asked last fall how his team would fare
n '83-84, Norfolk State Head Basketball
Coach Charles Christian -- who had lost
starters Kenny Haynes and Bobby Davis as well
is CIAA Tournament semifinal hero Tim Allen
and reserve Morris Peterson ? offered a simple
answer.
"Well," said Christian, in his third year back
at the Spartan helm after a brief retirement,
uwe have Pope (all-American forward David)
and hope."
Then the Richmond, Va., native took on a
more serious tone in assessing what obviously
svould be a rebuilding year.
"We know David will have an outstanding
season and we have Lawrence Hayes, who
started last year, back," he said, "but
jvervthine else is wide onen "
The hope that the former Virginia State
basketball and football player had spoken of
:ame not only from the likes of recruits Ralph
Tally and Barry Mitchell, transfer Barry Mullen
and a group of returnees that saw limited action
in the previous season, but also from
jflfrjiTrui'v sumrtr-,ftttt tit.
game. "
"Tve atwayTSiiff mar theve ararrgiPT or
secrets to the game of basketball and my
philosophy is pretty basic," he said, the everpresent
toothpick bobbing in his mouth. t4I
believe in the fundamentals and basics and I
teach them. I tell the kids that, if we can keep
the other team from doing the things they do
best on their end of the court and execute what
we do best on our end, we will win."
It didn't take Christian long to instill those
values in his young team. With CIAA Player of
the Year Pope providing leadership as well as
95-0 humiliatic
five MEAC Coac
). Today, Delaware State's eluded football C
: best in the Mid-Eastern white head footl
rtball team is fast becoming schools, women's
le wrestling and men's and women's track C<
e become the class of the Joe Burden and v
It was an incre
i has not gone unnoticed, have put their laui
1 coaches won a staggering most responsible
ek
satures
* m *\V
/ \ m^.
1\ xfcJP?*^* wH
1 >W >Ya
< |^B
kl. .HI
.. sf s
^^rBBr V^^^B
imt M
K? m
^R ^B ' ^ ^MHflBB|^^^|
p
XHMMi^.
IBnt
I season against Georgia Tech (photo by J<
i with alumni Sa
~ time.
On the other hand, the coach also had no
idea what kind of shape former stars such as
Kermit Blount, Anderson Noble, Jerome
McDaniel and Marvin Morrison were in, or just
how hard they would be able to play.
At the end of the game, won 31-12 by his present
players, Hayes was still a little confused.
His team had played raggedly on offense and
defense. The Rams were, in fact, actually
qutgained by the alumni club and Hayes admitrking
miracles y
scoring and rebounding and the rest of the team
providing support, the Spartans got through
November and December unbeaten and their
confidence grew with each win.
"We played some tough road games early,"
Christian recalled. "In one game we were down
by 12 and won and in another we won in overtime.
Then we beat a tough Winston-Salem
team in our first home game."
As the team improved, Christian continued
to preach the basics.
"] L'pnt imnroceinn nnAn tViam /-* ? a
I rwpi lllipl upun IIIVIU I\*J r? VJl IV IU
minimize the other team's strength and they
"Coaching basketball is not something
I set out to do. I was an industrial
engineering major and I got my first
coaching job after a principal saw me
play and needed a bricklaying teacher
who could coach."
- Charles Christian
began to take pride in doing that," he said.
"We set a goal to limit the opposition to 35
points per half."
Christian soon began to notice an eagerness
-rcr accept individual ?MWhrn the kid*?
tice at 8 a.m. and they were all there and ready
at seven," he said, "and all of them seemed to
accept their role, whether it was starting, playing
20 minutes, or five minutes."
Practicing what its coach preached and
achieving its goal of holding opponents to less
than 70 points per contest, Christian's team
rolled up one win after another until running
into pre-season favorite Virginia Union in Richmond
on Jan. 26. The Spartans lost that contest
in overtime as they failed to limit the powerful
A
m to tin athletic
;
h of the Year honors. The winners in- athletic d
roach Joe Purzycki, one of only two credit for
ball coaches at predominantly black and brinj
; basketball Coach Stanley McDowell, from Dui
Dach Fred Sowerbi, men's track Coach Their
vrestling Coach Bill Collick. coaches,
dible coup for the Hornets, who now it had noi
ghing-stock days behind them. The man his first j
for the turnaround may be DelState's
~
f
^^ KTyiI
?^PQ5t?\ a^t t t<Jb
<#
IHwAV# * *i^BVSISHh'^I
ames Parker).
iturday. night
ted that, had the alumni not fumbled the ball
twice inside their 10-yard line, the game might
have been much different.
The alumni team must have been in better
shape than most thought since the Rams, with
the addition of some fine freshman runners,
went on to a superb season, winning the CIAA
Southern Division title. ?
This year, Hayes has expanded the activities
that culminate in the alumni contest. He will
Please see page B3
without maeic
Panthers to their magic number in an 81-80
loss.
But Norfolk followed that loss with one of its
most impressive showings of the season two
nights later at Elizabeth City.
And the wins kept mounting right through
the C1AA tourney championship game.
The season came to an end in the title game
of the NCAA Division II South Atlantic
Regionals against Union, 58-56. But Christian,
though disappointed with the loss, deemed the
season a success.
"Not many teams will finish 29-2," he said.
Then the fiery little coach (he is 5-8 and
weighs 150 pounds), who nearly came to blows
with a somewhat larger "Bighouse" Gaines
during the CIAA tourney and charged a fan
who insulted his daughter after the regional loss
to Union, put things into perspective.
"Coaching basketball is not something that I
set out to do," said the man who carved a
351-60 record in 18 years of high school
coaching before accepting a job as an assistant
to Bob Smith at Norfolk in 1970.
"I was an industrial engineering major and I
got my first coaching job after a principal saw
me play and needed a bricklaying teacher who
?"Ami I feU J h oj ?
thrwTraftrr the l^T^scasorrtatref after his fourth"*^
CIAA tournament title in five years). There
were situations I wasn't pleased with and
pressures 1 didn't need and 1 enjoyed sitting on
the sidelines.
"Plus," he added, tongue firmly in cheek, "I
didn't lose a game in the years I didn't coach."
Christian says he returned to coaching not
for the challenge but because "I'm a very programmatic,
team person. I was thinking in
terms of the university when 1 came back.
Please see page B3
r cnuiaaunce
irector, Nelson Townsend, who is largely given
making the difficult decision to hire Purzycki
Sing in men's basketball Coach Joe Davidson
ibar High School in Washington, D.C.
presence, as well as the addition of other
has given Delaware State the kind of leadership
: had in years. But Townsend, who is working in
ob as an athletic director (he had been director
Please see page B3