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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2006
SPORTS
Section
Kudos to
the good
guys
among us
This time every year, some
well-intentioned sports colum
nist writes about how today’s
African-American
athletes would
disappoint Martin
Luther King, if he
were alive.
“It’s Black
History Month,”
they write, “and
today’s black ath
letes aren’t
respecting Dr.
King’s dream.”
C. Jemal
Horton
See GOOD/3C
Teen racer driven to
climb series ladder
By Herbert L. While
herb .white9- thecharlotteposirom
Marc Davis isn’t old enough to
have a driver’s license, but he’s on
the fast track as a professional
PHOTO/HARRY DAVIS
Marc Davis, 15,
Speedway. Davis
signs autographs for fans last year at Hickory Motor
aspires to race in NASCAR's top divisions.
Davis, 15, is one of the youngest
drivers in Drive For Diversity, a
national program designed to
expand ethnic and gender diversi
ty in the motorsports industry He
was chosen from a pool of more
than 300 applicants and will drive
late-model cai^ for Joe Gibbs
Racing.
“As in every sport, the talent
gets younger and younger,” said
Davis, a native of Mitchellville,
Md., a Washington suburb. “All
the teams want a certain mold
they want to market.”
Davis fits right in. Last year he
landed a Drive for Diversity ride
with Roush Racing in limited late-
model cars at Summit Point
Please see DAVIS/2C
Then the writer goes on to
mention a few select names: Ron
Artest, Tbirell Owens and Rae
Carruth. You know, guys who
are supposed to represent the
typical, rich, spoiled athlete who
thinks the world owes him
something
I say that’s a bunch of you-
know-what.
Fine: There are a handful of
black athletes who act as if they
don’t have a bit of sense and
never use the home-training
their mothers and grandmoth
ers certainly gave them when
they were kids.
But if we’re really honest with
ourselves, even the most cynical
of us would go ahead and admit
that there is not an overabun
dance of true knuckleheads in
professional sports.
Check the headlines. It’s the
same guys messing up over and
over Owens, Artest and retired
people like Mike Tyson and
Dennis Rodman.
Other than that, most other
professional athletes handle
themselves in respectable ways,
highlighted by volunteerism and
mentoring - which is a lot more
than I can say for the majority of
us so-called “regular” people.
Unfortunately, thou^, the guys
who stay out of the headlines for
negative reasons hardly ever get
a word written about their off-
the-field behavior.
Funny, isn’t it?
So, I’m taking this column, at
the outset of Black History
Month, to talk about the good
guys in sport, the men who
would make King and Malcolm
X gmd any other civil ri^ts
leader proud, if they were alive
today
Those guys, folks, are the rule,
not the exception.
This month, I want to remind
you of people like Carolina
Panthers safety Mike Minter,
who is the epitome of dignity
and decorum Sure, Minter is
pretty well-known in the Queen
City for his charity and class.
But outside the Carolinas, he
probably is regarded as no dif
ferent fium, say, Chad Johnson,
the flashy Cincinnati Bengals
wide receiver who dances more
than a Rockette whenever he
scores a touchdown.
I want to remind you of
Indiana Pacers power forward
Jermaine O’Neal, who, yes, was
seen on camera defending Artest
and himself during that infa
mous brawl in Detroit last sea
son. But you should know that
ONeal was the most contrite of
the athletes involved in that
whole mess - when I don’t think
he necessarily had to be. In addi
tion, a few months before the
brawl, an Indianapolis hi^
school giri asked ONeal to take
her to her senior prom. After
clearing it with his fianc^, he
obliged.
And there are many other sim
ilar examples.
The thing is, we have to search
much too hard to find these
types of stories
It is much too easy for the gen
eral public to sit back and write
every professional athlete off as
a jerk who doesn’t care about
anything but his endorsements
and his touchdowns/home
PHOTOS/CURTIS WILSON
Charlotte Bobcats head coach Bemie Bickerstaff can’t get anything to bounce his team’s way during a 12-game
losing streak.
Sprains, strains, losing:
Bobcats have them all
By C. Jemal Horton
FOR WE CH-ARLOnr. POST
When the Charlotte
Bobcats joined the NBA a
year ago, it was understood
they would endure some hard
times in their infancy
But few people could have
anticipated this kind of ugli-
ness.
Heading into Wednesday’s
home game against the
equally horrible Atlanta
Hawks, the Bobcats had a
league-worst record of 11-35
and had lost 12 consecutive
games, marking the worst
losing streak in franchise his
tory
And there does not appear
to be many more victories in
sight.
In fairness to the Bobcats,
much of the recent futility
can be attributed to an inor
dinate number of injuries.
Four key players in the
Chaiiotte rotation are side
lined indefinitely: reigning
rookie of the year Emeka
Okafcr Rankle), starting small
forward Gerald Wallace
(knee), first-round pick Sean
May (knee) and vital reserve
Keith Bogans (knee).
Also, until this week, start
ing shooting guard Kareem
Rush (finger) was out of the
lineup. And in Monday’s
blowout loss to Cleveland,
standout rookie point guard
Raymond Felton suffered a
back injury forcing him to
leave the game. Tfeam offi
cials were unsure of Felton’s
status heading into
Wednesday
See BOBCATS/2C
Looking
way up
The NBAs worst
records as of
Wednesdas:
Toronto
15-30
New Yorit
14-30
Atlanta
12-31
Charlotte
11-35
Winning’s contagious
for J.C. Smith women
By Cherts F. Hodges
ckerishodges^ thecharioOeposteom
Cassie King, one of the CITAA’s
most explosive women basketball
players, led a confident N.C.
Central team into Johnson C. Smith
Thesday.
The Ea^es weren’t
scared of the Bulls,
especially since JCSU
hadn’t beaten Central
in two years. But
junior guard Tlana
Pope made sure that
would change with a
career-hi^ 25 points
65-61 win, the Bulls’
Taylor
in Smith’s
ei^th -straight
On the other side of the court,
King was held to nine points.
‘T know she’s a good player, but
Fm a good player too, and I came
with it,” Pope said
On a ni^t that could have been
all about Pope, she was quick to
spread the credit,
“We’re doing so well, we’re on this
winning streak and we want it to
continue so we can be number one
in our division and our conference,”
she said
Smith’s roll brings back memories
of last season’s February collapse
when the Bulls went winless and
exited the CIAA tournament in the
second round.
Taylor said that scenario isn’t
going to play out this season.
“Last year we had cne pCTSon to
jcrin the team last year, Brittany
Sumpt^, and before she joined us
we were 7-2. Then we went on a 10
game winning streak,” Taylor said
“When she went down with an
iiyury it was a little too much for
that particular team. .This team
has the ability to score fium mcae
places.”
This year anyone can be the star.
Like Pope on TViesday ni^t.
PHOTO/WAOE NASH
Tiana Pope scored a game-high 25 points
Tuesday against N.C. Central.
SUPER BOWL XL
Bus
stops
where it
all began
By Larry Lage
WEASSOCIAIED PRESS
DETROIT - Before Jerome
Bettis was The Bus, he was
Roney
Tb those in his hometown,
the Pittsburgh Steelers run
ning back still is.
“That’s what we call him
now to this day” his mother,
Gladys -Bettis, said in an
interview with The
Associated Press. “I never
call him
Jerome.”
The NFL’s
fifth-leading
career rusher
will be among
the brightest
stars in the
days leading Bettis
up to Sunday’s
Super Bowl
because the
charismatic, 13-year veteran
likely will end his career at
Foixl Field, eight miles fi*om •
his childhood home.
Sitting in a beautiful house
Bettis bou^t for his parents
on Detroit’s west side - with
a golf course in the backyard
and limos in a neighbor’s dri
veway - Gladys Bettis
shared stories and showed
pictures of the youngest of
her three children.
The new house looks far
better than the place where
those childhood scenes took
place - that old house now
sits abandoned and charred.
While Jerome Bettis is the
face of this year’s Super
Bowl, his mother still can
envision him scurrying off to
school with glasses, a white
dress shirt and a broken
briefcase his dad discarded.
When he was picked up for
school, papers would fly out
of the briefcase with broken
clasps.
Was he a nerd? Yes, she
says.
“He wanted to be like his
dad, who did electrical work
for the city of Detroit,” she
said.
Ethel SessiOTi-Burton was
Bettis’ fourth-grade teacher
at Detroit Urban Lutheran
School, and her first impres
sion is the one many have 24
years later.
“He always had a big grin
on his face,” said Session-
Burton, who was invited to
attend Bettis’ NFL draft and
SOth birthday parties. “He
would even smile when he
started to help the janitor
clean up before school - every
day - when he was in the sev
enth or eighth grade.”
After school during the
winter, Bettis would put on
double-blade skates - this is
Hcxkeytown, after all — and
head to the backyard.
“My husband would get
the hose out to make that
rink every year—it even had
nice banks made of snow,”
Gladys Bettis recalled.