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SPORTS
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1997
Fists of fury
Heavyweight boxing champion
Evander Holyfield solidified his
place in history by beating
Michael Moorer. Page 4B
The second season starts for local teams
Rice
By Eric James Bozeman
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
The road to the state high
school football championship
starts Friday.
Four Charlotte teams - West
Charlotte, Independence,
Providence, and West
Mecklenburg - have hopes of
winning the prize for the first
time since West Charlotte’s
championship in 1995.
West Charlotte takes a 9-1
record into a first-round game
with Greensboro Grimsley. The
Lions may have the short road to
a championship with the re-
emergence of receivers Reggie
Blackman and Aaron Alexander
in the Lions’ 30-13 win over
Independence last week.
“Both Aaron and Reggie played
well,” said head coach Tom
Knotts. “They were rusty, but
Keith (quarterback Matkins) was
glad to see them back, and their
timing with Keith was surpris
ingly good.”
With barely a full week of
preparation, Knotts and his staff
have worked hard to put more
bite in the Lions offense.
“I tend to bear down a little
more than the players do, we all
as coaches bear down more and
hope the kids follow us,” he said.
“We are going to try to throw to
set up the run, and every week
we try to add something new, but
hopefully we’ll make it real sim
ple for our kids and get back to
basics.”
Independence (8-3) travels to
Greensboro to play Greensboro
Page.
“We are very happy,” Said
Patriots head coach Rusty Jester.
“It was one of our goals. We are
excited to be playing Page. We
would rather be playing at home,
though.”
Independence will tiy to ride
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Dell Curr^' and Muggsy Bogues
were the last of the original
Hornets. Now there’s only Curry
after Bogues’ trade last week.
It’s hard
to say
good-bye
By Karl Petraroja
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
The Charlotte Hornets will
never be the same.
The Hornets may be better
this year without point guard
Muggsy Bogues, whom they
traded to Golden State last
week, but they won’t be as
exciting.
Bogues and guard Tony Delk
were shipped west to the
Warriors for guard B.J.
Armstrong. From starting
point guard for 10 years to a
reserved seat at the end of the
Charlotte bench was too much
for Bogues. He was unhappy
with his limited role and loudly
expressed a desire to be traded.
The Hornets obliged and a huge
piece of their history was gone.
“We’ve got to realize that
trades are going to happen in
this business and Muggsy was
definitely a leader here and a
well-liked per
son,” forward
Glen Rice
said.
“I’ve never
seen anyone
with such a
big heart that
is so small and
we’re going to
miss him and
wish him the
^est.”
Though'the smallest player in
NBA history at 5-3, Bogues’
accomplishments in Charlotte
were giant. He played in 632
games, second only to Dell
Curry, the last original Hornet.
Bogues is the team’s all-time
leader in assists (5,557), steals
(1,066) and minutes played
(19,768). He ranks 19th in NBA
assists all-time and is the
league’s all-time leader in
assists-to-turnover ratio.
“I’m sad to see Muggsy go,”
center Vlade Divac said. “I’ll
miss him, he was part of the
family but that’s how it goes in
our business, it’s sometimes
very tough.”
“The trade is unfortunate in a
way,” said David Wesley, who
inherited the point guard spot
after signing a free agent con
tract over the summer. “We all
love Muggsy. We all got along,
but that’s part of the business.”
Wesley is younger, faster and
has two healthy legs. He clear
ly represents the immediate
future of the Hornets.
So does the 30-year old
Armstrong, a nine-year pro
who realizes he was traded for
the most popular player in
Hornets history.
“I know Muggsy had some
great years here,” Armstrong
said. “I know he was one of the
first Hornets here and was here
from the beginning and he’s
really contributed a lot.
“He’s poured his heart and
soul to this organization, to the
city and I think what he’s done,
speaks for itself so I respect
See BOGUES on page 4B
□
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
UNC Charlotte guard-forward Tamika Mackey spent most of last season battling the effects of a tonsillectomy that sapped her
strength. The former West Mecklenburg High standout is fully recovered and ready to help the 49ers improve on last season’s 7-20
mark.
On the rebound
By Karl Petraroja
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
UNC Charlotte hopes a Mac
Attack can help turn its
women’s basketball fortunes
around.
“Mac” is 5-11 junior forward
Thmika Mackey, a former West
Mecklenburg High standout.
Mackey and the 49ers were off
to a strong start last season,
when an emergency tonsillec
tomy sidelined Mackey for five
games, then significantly
sapped her strength the rest of
the season,
“I was kind of down because I
was off to a good start and
finally coming into my own,”
Fully-recovered Mackey is a
major cog for UNC Charlotte
she said. “The team, we started
pretty well...(but the surgery)
set us back a httle bit and me
back a bit.”
Mackey’s iUness and other
injuries forced the 49ers to
struggle through a disappoint
ing 7-20 season. Now Mackey’s
healthy, except for a minor
groin strain, and the 49ers’
prospects appear bright.
“No negativity at all, right
fi-om the coaching staff down to
the players,” she said.
‘We’re a stronger basketball
team,” head coach Ed Baldwin
said. ‘We worked hard in the
off-season to get stronger and
the kids were really committed
to get stronger.”
Last season was marked by
late-game mistakes which
turned promising starts into
nightmarish finishes. Mackey
says that must change if
UNCC is to compete in
Conference USA.
‘We had a lot of mental laps
es,” she said. “I think that was
due to fatigue. Qur bodies were
physically run down, we
weren’t in basketball-basket-
ball shape and it started to
show towards the end of the
season.
“Now we have a new
strength coach, Jeff
(Watkinson) and he’s helped us
a lot. You can just teU the dif
ference in our practices from
last year. TheYre a lot more
fun because we can complete
them.”
Despite last season’s illness,
Mackey was still the 49ers
fourth-leading scorer at 8.6
See MACKEY on page 3B
the arm of quarterback C.J. Leal^
and the legs of running backs}
Juan Gamer and Antwain
Thompson to a first round victory.
Jester doesn’t plan many adjust
ments.
“There are no wholesale
changes, but we haven’t added
much all year,” Jester said. “If
you can stay consistent on offense
you tend to do well. When things
don’t go well, we tend to over-
See PLAYOFFS on page 3B
Lacy
named
to Hall
By Moses J. Newson
NATINAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION '
BALTIMORE - It’s historicallyi
significant that Sam Lacy’s selec
tion as a sportswriter to the
Baseball HaU of Fame came as
baseball is observing the bOth
anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s
breaking the racial barrier that
virtually had kept black players
out of the major leagues.
Lacy, ■ sports editor of the
Baltimore Afro-American news
paper for more than five decades,
did as much, or more, as any ■,
sportswriter in America to pave
the way for the integration of the
majors. Adding together his stints
with the Washington Tribune,
Washington Afro-American and
Chicago Defender, he’s been writ
ing professionally more than 63
years.
Two days after the Baseball
Writers Association of America
named him winner of this year’s
J. G. Taylor Spink Award on a 23-
21 vote, Lacy celebrated his 94th
birthday on Oct. 23.
Lacy is being honored for meri
torious contributions to baseball
writing. His shining hours in the
national spotlight comes next
August when he will be formally
inducted into the HaU of Fame in
ceremonies in Cooperstown, NY.
Lacy will be the 49th sports
writer and fhe second of his race
to have his picture placed in the
Scribes and Mikemen exhibit.
He’ll be the first African American
to achieve the honor who did all
his writing for black newspapers.
The other black writer there is
the late WendeU Smith. He and
Lacy often toUed together on the
baseball beat but in addition to
writing for the black-owned!
Pittsburgh Courier, Smith also
wrote for the Chicago American.
Lacy became the first African!
American member of the Baseball^
Writers Association of America ini
1948. At that time the Afro pub-i
Ushed 13 editions. His sponsors,’
Kenny Smith of the New York
Mirror and Joe King of the New"
See LEGENDARY on page 4B
JCSU in need of major overhaul
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
No size.
No depth.
No offense.
That was Johnson C. Smith
football in 1997, a season that
coach BiU Davis would just as
soon forget.
The Golden Bulls, who finished
2-8 after a 19-11 overtime loss to
Virginia Union Saturday, have
nine months to remake the pro
gram. Among the concerns:
No offense. Simply put, -the
BuUs couldn’t get the ball into the
end zone often enough to win.
Especially over the last three
games. Smith’s offense accounted
for no touchdowns. The defense,
on the other hand, had two.
“You gotta score. We can’t win
like that,” Davis said. “We gotta
go to the drawing board over the
offseason, we’ve got to get in the
weight room - we’ve got to Uve in
the weight
room - and get
stronger.’
End of the
(offensive)
line. Smith’s
interior block
ers got pushed
around too
much. From
the start of the
season, Davis
was concerned
about a lack of depth, but by the
end, he wanted to run the entire
emit off campus.
‘We’re just not strong enough,”
he said. “We’ve got some holes we
need to plug. We need some peo
ple with some size up front, some
strength.
Who’ll caU the plays? Three
underclassmen took turns at
Davis
quarterback - junior Keith Mack,
sophomore Bruce Harrison and
freshman Desmond Brown. They
have potential, but who knows
given the state of the o-line?
Mack was the best athlete, but
went down with a knee injury in
the second week. Brown lacked
experience, and at 5-7, isn’t very
tall. Harrison, who got his first
collegiate start against Union,
was 15-of-31 for 115 yards. Mack
should be the favorite should his
knee be recovered, but Davis stiU
might tiy to recruit a new quar
terback.
Calling all linebackers;
They were undersized and under
manned, but sophomore Jeny
Manigault was 14th in CIAA
tackles with 72. New faces and
bigger bodies are badly needed
here.
Secondary is primary. Three
See BULLS on page 3B
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
J.C. Smith safety Angel Rivera (4) and the Golden Bulls defense
faced the difficult taskof trying to keep games close when the
offense failed to score points.