P»g» lA—MIRItOR-HERAU}—Tliundky, June 14, 1979
East Gaston Had Best Overall Record In SWC
KM Native Adams Takes His Program To The Top
V"
Adams, left. Van Dyke talk strategy.,
By GARY STEWART
Sporto Editor
Molt coAchoi only
dream about the kind of
■eaion Klngi Mountain
native Jerry Adami had
with hli Bait Oaiton High
Warrlori during the 1978-79
■chool year.
Adami, who bellevei In a
wlde-opin offenii In both
football and baiiball,
coached hli grtdderi and
dlamondmen to South-
weitem 8-A Conference
Utlei and hli ichool’i
entire athletic program
won the SWC’i AU-Sporti
IVophy for having the beet
all-round record.
Adami and hli talented
aailitant coach, Darrell
Van Dyke, alio a KM
product, took their
baieballera to the itate 8-A
finale, where they loit a
beit-of-three cham-
plonihlp leriei to White
Oak High of JackionvUle.
“We felt real good about
getting out of the con
ference,” laid Adami, a
former All-State lineman
at KMHS and Weatem
Carolina. “We felt all
along that we were playing
In one of the atrongeit
conferences In the state
and as we moved through
the playoffs that became
very evident.”
The Warriors defeated
Mooreivllle, T.C.
Roberson and South Stokes
to reach the state finals.
They had a final record of
18-8. Five of those losses
were to SWC teams. In
cluding two to Kings
Mountain.
“After being defeated by
White Oak” he added, “we
still felt the best tesun we
played was Kings
Mountain. I'm not saying
that because of being from
Kings Mountain, but
because It’s a fact. We lost.
5-8 and 4-3 to White Oak but
with a few breaks we could
have come back home
state champions.
"We still feel good about
being number two In the
state,” he went on. “When
two good teams meet, the
one that gets the breaks
will win, and White Oak got
the breaks.
“The eerles we had with
Kings Mountain was the
best one I've ever seen or
coached,” he went on.
"Defensively, we were
well matched. Offensively,
I thought we hit the ball a
little better. Both of us had
good pitching In Freddy
Petty for us and Tim Leach
for Kings Mountain, and I
folnk our Wayne Klnley Is
going to rank In their
category before he’s
through. I feel like David
Ray Robinson of the
Mountaineers was idso a
good pitcher. He did an
excellent job every time he
idtched against us.
“I think the type of
aeries we had Is good for
baseball,” he went on. “All
of the kids know each
other, and all of them are
good athletes. Kings
Mountain was a well-
coached team. Barry
Olbaon does a good job and
I have a lot of respect for
him.”
East Oaston won the
SWC championship series
against the Mountles, two
games to one, coming from
three runs down to win the
title game 7-6. TTie two
teams split a pair of one-
run decisions In regular
seasonplay.
“How I feel about our
season Is beyond any
Imagination,” said Adams.
'80oacH Van Dyke helped
A Busman’s Holiday: Sports And Pictures
What does a sports writer-photographer do on
his vacation? Take a busman’s holiday, of course,
and attend sporting events and take pictures.
My wet vacation began two weeks ago when I
attended the first two rounds of the Kemper
Open, where I got soaked on Thursday and tried
out a new 136 mlllmeter lens on my almost new
Olympus OM-1 camera Friday.
I attended most of the Kemper Opens at Quail
Hollow Country Club In Charlotte but I believe this
last one was the best ever. I saw some of the best
golf I’ve ever seen and had the best time because I
went with friends Instead of going specifically to
cover It.
Dub Blalock, Garrison Goforth, BUI SeUers and
I had the privilege of foUowlng Craig Stadler on
his record-breaking round of 10-under-par 62 in
Tliursday’s opening round, and we stayed at the
18th green to see Jerry McGee come along 30
minutes later and break Stadler’s mark with a 61.
McGee went on to win the $63,000 first prize.
Blalock, Ken Qonlnger, Lyn Valentine, Chuck
Austin, Ronnie WUson and I followed Masters
champion Fuzzy ZoeUer on Friday and had a ball
listening to his quips. He’ll soon make golf fans
forget Lee Trevino and Chi Chi Rodriguez.
I guess the two things I learned most at the
Kemper were that Garrison Goforth and I can’t
get under the same umbrella (we got soaked
Thursday) and Dub Blalock will walk your legs
off. My feet and legs are still sore!
* The second part of my busman’s holiday took
the famUy to the mountains of North Carolina,
where we never saw the sun shine (and got
soaked again) but had a baU. We took over four
rolls of film even though It was so rainy and foggy
you couldn’t see more than about 30 feet ahead of
you.
All the years I’ve gone to nearby C!hlmney Rock
I had never realized the true beauty of It until this
time. My wife, Mary Jo, and I took our two little
ones, five-year-old Leigh Anne and two-year-old
Dee, walking on the nature trail for the first time.
Other than braving the rain, our biggest task was
keeping the Independent Dee (who didn’t want to
be led) from tumbling down the side of the
mountain.
A note to anyone thinking of going to Chimney
Rock for a day. Don’t hang around the Rock and
gift shops. Walk that nature trail and be sure to go
to the waterfall at the top of the mountain. It takes
almost two hours to walk there and back, but It’s
worth every achelng step of it. It’s one of the most
beautiful things In God’s creation. And be sure you
take a camera and about 10 rolls of film. I snapped
up most of my film before I ever got there and was
sorry I didn’t save plenty.
The kicker to the whole vacation came last
Saturday when we met my wife's sister, Joye
Spencer, her husband, Ed, and their daughter,
Julie, In Taylorsville for a trip to the Land of Oz,
where we’d promised for months to take our
children.
GM!V
UTeWhRT
We left early Saturday morning so we’d have all
day, drove through Banner Elk and were taking
our turn up to the top of the mountain to Oz when
Ed noticed a sign <m the side of the road which
read "Land of Oz, opening June 23.”
The embarrassing thing was that all four of the
adults had discount coupons that had the same
information oi them, but none of us had bothered
to read them.
So, we started back down the moimtain and
stopped off at Tweetsle, where we rode rides In the
rain, took another In a long list of countless rides
on the Tweetsle railroad and listened to the
ageless Fred Kirby sing "Every Time It Rains, It
Rains Pennies From Heaven." With the ad-
/mission price at Tweetsle, though, It rains dollars.
M ',GE
Photo by Gary Stewart
Kemper Open champion Jerry McGee...
JERRY ADAMS
me a lot. He’ll be taking
over as head coach next
year and I think he’ll make
a great coach. He’s very
energetic and
knowledgeable and eager
to learn.”
Winning championships
is a new feeling for East
Gaston.The Warriors have
been In the SWC for seven
years after Stanley and
Mt. Holly, two perennial
powers In the old 3-A
Gaston County Con
ference, and the football
title last faU was their first
SWC UQa In a major sport.
Most of the credit for the
program’s Improvement
belongs to Adams, who
took over the program
after several years as an
assistant coach In South
Chrollna and a brief sUnt
as head coach at Bessemer
City. Adams Installed new
systems which took a few
years to perfect but now
has the athletic program
on a aoUd foundation, as
evidenced by the school’s
winning the All-Sports
TVophy.
“We won the trophy by
one point (over KMHS and
Shelby),” recalled Adams,
"so we’re not going to be
sattslfled. We’re going to
try to keep Improving our
program. If we alt around
and be stalslfled. It’ll be
riaht back where It was.
The Southwest Conference
Is very competitive.”
Adams will have little
lime to rest, as ha Is
alreiMly planning for the
beginning of fall football
practice. •
“If you pliin on com
peting,” he says, "you
have to put a lot of time In.
The athletes do It, so you
have to do It yourself," he
says.
Adams says three things)^
contribute to a successful
athletic program.
“First,” he says, “It
takes a dedicated coaching
staff that works well
together. I feel Ilka wr^
have that at East Oastonr
“Secondly, you have to
have an atmosphere where
the athletes have con
fidence In the coaches and
In themselves, and I feel
like we have this. And^
thirdly, you have to have
good material, and I feel
like we have this.”
All of that could be bad
news for East Oaston foes
for years to come. ^
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