GARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITY
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Serving the Gardner-Webb University community for more than 60 years
This Editionjstudents tops at beep ball
In campus news
Samba Fall used to hang out
with Pamela Anderson’s kids.
Now, he’s playing basketball
and studying communica
tions at GWU. See the Fall
feature on Page 2.
Spring Formal is coming up
on April 28. See more on
Page 2.
— In community news—
The brothers who own the
Snack Shop are bringing a
Georgio’s to Boiling Springs.
See more about the venture
on Page 2.
— Opinion/editorial —
Matt lists his top 10 moments
from the past four years in
Gardner-Webb sports in his
editor’s column on Page 3.
Jacob Conley chronicles a
trip to Washington D.C. with
Dr. Thomas Jones in his
Wisdom on Wheels column
on Page 3.
— In sports —
GWU assistant wrestling
coach Daniel Elliott com
petes in the University
National Championships
this weekend. For informa
tion on that, and Coach Scott
Shipman’s recent wrestling
success, see Page 4.
The Diamond ’Dogs ended a
recent slide this week against
the Jacksonville Dolphins.
See more about their recent
play on Page 4.
Weekend
Weather
Saturday Sunday
April 21 April 22
71/47 76/51
Mostly Sunny Sunny
Source: NO A A
Annual score 16-0;
faculty just can’t win
By Matt Tessnear
matthewtI984@earthlink.net
Dr. Chris Davis and Dr. David
Carscaddon know hpw to use a
bat, but the students rallied to de
feat tlie faculty, 17-16, in the 16th
annual Gardner-Webb University
beep baseball game April 13.
About 50 GWU students and
faculty members, as well as mem
bers of the community, were on
hand under sunny skies at the
GWU Softball Complex to take in
the game.
The students trailed by as
I many as seven runs, but made two
comebacks in consecutive innings
to defeat the faculty in four in-
I nings.
I “This is our sixteenth year
i 'and the students have won every
I year,” said Parrish Calloway, dis-
i abilities specialist with the GWU
I Noel Program for the Disabled.
! “We have opened the game
i up this year to allow our blind
I students to invite a friend to play
; against the faculty/staff members,”
j said Calloway. “Any sighted per-
I son participating in the game is
1 required to wear a blindfold.”
j Some students might not think
i beep baseball is as much fun as
\ regular baseball, but that’s not the
I case, said Calloway.
I “They should come and watch
the game,” said Calloway. “Who
! would not want to see Dr. Carscad-
Dr. Glenn
Bottoms
makes
contact
with the
ball during
ast Fri
day s beep
ball game
between
faculty
and bund
and sight
impaired
students at
Gardner-
Webb. The
students
rallied from
a large
deficit for
the win
Photo courtesy
of The Star
don blindfolded, trying to find a
beeping base?”
Trailing by four runs heading
into the last iiming, the students
had one last rally. Following runs
by Nicole Campbell and Ruthie
McCall, Pam Johnson, who went
4-for-4, completed the rally with a
walk-off hit for the win.
Campbell also went 4-for-4
for the student team. Carscaddon
and Davis each went 4-for-4 at the
plate for the faculty team.
.. “I’m making up for last year,”
said Davis, adding that he wiped
out on the metal tee last year, cut
ting his leg.
Beep baseball was invented to
allow sightless players a chance to
play baseball. Charley Fairbanks,
an engineer for Mountain Bell
Telephone Co., created the first
beep baseball in 1964.
There are several differences
between beep and regular baseball.
Pitchers throw a ball that is about
twice the size of a regular softball
and has a pin in it, said Calloway.
The pin is removed and the ball
starts beeping as it is thrown.
Hitters get three swings in each
at-bat. If the batter does not hit the
ball, he/she gets two swings from
a tee.
See Faculty, page 2
Escape from prison
Self-taught artist used painting to cope during time behind bars
Index
News
Opl.d
Spoi-Ls
Online
WWW. g wupilot. com
By Matt Tessnear
Matthewtl984@earthlink.net
Allen “Skip” Roth became
very creative during a three-year
stint in North Carolina prisons in
the mid-to-late 1990s. That cre
ativity has been on display, in the
form of about 50 pieces of art, in
Gardner-Webb University’s Com--
munication Studies Hall since
March 29.
The show is called “Autodi-
dactic,” which means self taught,
according to Roth. His wife, Tru
dy, is an art student at GWU and
her connection brought Skip’s art
work to the campus.
Skip and Trudy told the story
behind the work to The Pilot on
March 29.
On Father’s Day in 1995, Roth
shot a neighbor named Max, who
Skip said had been molesting the
Roths’ son, Timothy.
The man had proclaimed to
his friends that he was going to
kill Roth and headed through the
woods and onto the Roths’ prop
erty in McDowell County. He
pointed a gun in Skip Roth’s face;
Roth’s painting of his view of the
gun is depicted in a painting called
“Max’s Last Stand.”
Looking at that painting, it is
easy to see why Roth believed his
life was in danger.
Roth, armed with a pistol, fired
one shot into the man’s abdomen,
killing him.
“We had a gunfight and he
came in second,” said Roth, who
was sentenced to 11-14 years in
prison. He was granted unani
mous appeal after 24 months and
left prison in 1999, after spending
time at Central Prison and prisons
in Pasquotank County, Marion
and Salisbury.
Skip says he didn’t fit in with
the prison culture. When the
Roths moved to North Carolina
from Florida in 1979, Roth had a
Photo by: RaoFierTucRer
Allen “Skip” Roth stands in front of some of the paintings he
created during his time in prison. The gallery showings in the
communications hall of his works ends April 27.
clean record without even a park
ing ticket, he said.
To survive in the brutal prison
atmosphere, Roth taught himself
to paint. He painted with soot
and modified barber’s brushes on
sheets and mattress covers. The
prisons were picky about supplies,
so he used whatever he could find
to paint about 300 pieces during
his prison time, said Trudy Roth.
“Autodidactic” tells the story
of the shooting and the prison
time.
“It’s an emotional thing, a win
dow into the dark part of my life,”
said Roth.
“Nobody would want these
pieces hanging in their living
room. The pieces work together to
tell a story. The pieces are just like
one piece. I would never want to
do that again, but when you’re an
artist, experiences are important
for your art.”
The self-taught pieces were
displayed at Zone One in Ashe
ville while Roth was still in prison.
His work has also been displayed
in Australia, England and South
Africa.
Trudy and Skip have now been
married for almost 40 years.
“It was a hard time for all of
us,” said Trudy, who visited her
husband every week he was in
prison. “But it would’ve never oc
curred to me to do anything dif
ferently or separate my family.
We’ve always been a family.”
Roth says his life would have
been much different had he not
married Trudy because of the sup
port and love she has provided
him.
Susan Bell, a GWU art profes
sor, helped hang the show. Bell
said the pieces tell a love story.
“What has amazed me is how
candid they are about it, how
nice they are,” said Bell. “But it’s
the past and they treat it like the
past.”
Roth also published a book
called “Chainsaw’s Justice,”
which is a fiill account of the sto
ry. Additionally, John Handon of
WYFF Channel 4 in Greenville,
S.C., did a story on his work.
The Roths now make a living
in Old Fort by doing chainsaw
sculptures. That art form started
when Skip pulled out a chainsaw
to build the family’s cabin in Mc-
See Roth, page 4
7 am sure she is
in a better place. ’
Patsy Dickens
1948-2007
By Grace Whiteside
Special to the Pilot
Many students knew Patsy
Dickens, not only as a teacher, but
as a role model and friend. The
professor of speech, debate and
acting at Gardner-Webb Univer
sity died in her home in Ruther-
fordton on March 30 following a
long fight against ovarian cancer.
She was 58.
“Patsy was just an incredible
person and for me personally to
watch her and
her will to
teach and min
ister to stu
dents was just
incredible,”
said Dr. Bob
Carey, chair of |
the Communi
cation Studies
department.
Terra Wilson, a senior and for
mer speech student, said that Dick
ens had a big influence on her.
“Mrs. Dickens was a shining
example of God’s love,” Wilson
said. “She reached out to her stu
dents by praying for them and ask
ing us to do the same for her. She
truly impacted my life by how she
genuinely cared for me and my
well-being.”
Dickens’ character had a mem
orable effect on students who are
no longer on campus.
Walter Wong, a graduate of
Gardner-Webb and now in phar
macy school at Loma Linda Uni
versity, in California, said, “Mrs.
Dickens was a great teacher. I am
sad that she has to leave us so soon.
I know she is a brave woman and I
am sure she is in a better place.”
Lance Lucas, a GWU graduate
who works in New York City, said,
“One memorable quality I remem
ber about Mrs. Dickens is that she
had a genuine interest in learning
about each one of her students.
“She would inquire about our
family, hobbies, career plans,
weekend activities, and other in
terests as a way of developing a
personal relationship with each of
us. Mrs. Dickens would go on to
encourage us to pursue our own
personal goals, and, when one
of us would succeed, it was duly
noted as she would proudly and
publicly announce her students’
accomplishments in class.
“I was thankful to have a pro
fessor like Mrs. Dickens who
genuinely cared about me and my
future,” said Lucas. “Mrs. Dick
ens truly cared about each one of
her students and epitomized the
former Gardner-Webb motto of
‘People who care.’”
Her husband. Dr. Doug Dick
ens of the Christopher White
School of Divinity, said the stu
dents were right.
“She loved students and was
very good at what she did, both
here and at Texas Christian Uni
versity,” he said.
Dickens seemed to make a
positive impact wherever she was.
She grew up in Sterling, Okla.,
and was a member of the Okla
homa All-State basketball team
in 1966. She was named twice an
“All-American” player, and was
captain of the Pan American wom
en’s basketball team in 1970.
She went on to graduate summa
cum laude from Ouachita Baptist
University where she was named
the Outstanding Senior Woman of
her class. She attended Southern
See Dickens, page 4
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