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Compass
May 1979
EC Alumnus Retires From Pro Football
By THOMAS GRAVES
After fourteen seasons
with the Dallas Cowboys of
the National Football
League, Jethro Pugh has
decided to hang up his
cleats. But no other alum
nus of Elizabeth City State
Teachers College or Univer
sity could have done it in
such a grand style.
Pugh came to ECSC in 1961.
The head football coach was
Coach Tom Caldwell. Coach
Caldwell pointed out that the
time came to ECSC, there
were no scholarships for
athletes at our school. In his
freshman year at ECSC Pugh
weighed 212 lbs. and stood six
foot six inches. However, he
did not play one minute his
freshman year. The reason
for this says Coach Caldwell
is that he was not ready to
play football. After his fresh
man year, Pugh got a job in
the cafeteria and worked
hard on conditioning himself.
His sophomore year he
walked into camp weighing
235 lbs., still standing a 6’6”.
Pugh was ready to play ball,
and play he did. Pugh started
every game from his
sophomore to his senior year
at EC.
During his time at EC, the
Windsor, N.C. native, was
voted, All CIAA, his junior
and senior year and
Honorable Mention to the
Little All- American Team.
Coach Caldwell attributes
this to the fact that small
black schools received little
publicity in those days and
therefore the athletes were
shunned when it came to
honors. Many black athletes
therefore failed to get the
honors they rightfully
deserved.
The Dallas Cowboys
became interested in Pugh
when they came to scout
another member of the EC
team, Argo Whitefield and
captain of the team, “Moose”
Thurlis Little. However, the
Cowboys saw Pugh and
decided to draft him on the
eleventh round. Pugh and
(now) Coach Claudie Mackey
both left to try out for the
Cowboys.Pugh however,
made the team and the bold
number “75” has been his
ever since. During his years
with the Cowboys, Pugh
appeared in 23 playoff games,
a NFL record and also played
in five super bowls. But the
183 games he played in as a
professional began to take
their toll on the at the end of
the 1978 season, Pugh an
nounced he would not play
football anymore. “It was a
good clean, honest career and
I feel good about it,” jsays
Pugh. But maybe Coach
Caldwell sums it up the
best.”I rate Jethro among the
top five linemen I ever
coached,” says Caldwell,
“but there is something that
can be distinguished from the
rest. Athletes today want to
know what the school is going
to give them. Athletes in
Jethro’s school days wanted
to know how much playing
time they were going to get.”
I
Tournament winners pictured are Gerald Honneyblue, Johnnie
Williams, Willie Satchell, and Frankie Bordeaux, accompanied by
University Center President, Jerry Parker.
Short stop Gloria Westry fires the ball to
First basewoman, Kathy Fennell to make a
quick out.
r
Jethro Pugh relaxes in the Viking Sports Arena.
Tournament Winners
Awarded at Banquet
By LARRY LISTER
On Monday, February 19
tournaments sponsored in
Elizabeth City State
University’s Ridley
University Center consisting
of pool, chess, table tennis,
backgammon, spades, and
checkers began. The tour
naments were jointly
supervised by Charles
Foster, Director of the
University Center, and Jerry
Parker, President of the
University Center.
According to Foster, his
supervision of the tour
naments extended through
February 28. The tour
naments he supervised were
in pool, table tennis, and
chess. The winner of the
chess tournament, Foster
stated was Willie Satchell in
which six people par
ticipated. The winner of the
pool tournament, which was
held at Horace Davis pool
room due to lack of pool
tables was Robert Jones for
the males and Wayne Taylor
runnerup. The female winner
was Sylvia Peele. Total
participants in the pool
tournament was twenty-four.
The winner of the table tennis
tournament was Johnnie
Hurdle.
Foster stated that this
recreational tournament is
held annually and there is no
fee to the students for par
ticipating. Tournament
winners will be awarded
trophies or certificates at the
annual Intramural Banquet.
The participation, he stated,
was very good. Mr. Foster
wishes to thank everyone for
their cooperation.
Jerry Parker supervised
the backgammon, checkers,
and spades tournaments
which started on Monday ,
February 26 and ended on
Thursday, February 29.
For the champions,
trophies will be awarded at
the Intramural banquet.
There were many students
who wanted to participate,
but failed to pre- register for
the tournaments. They,
Parker stated, were not
allowed to participate in the
tournaments.
Jerry Parker and Charles
Foster wishes to thank
everyone that participated in
the tournaments.
According to Parker, the
tournaments turned out to be
a great success and the
center plans to sponsor the
tournaments again. In each
event the champions were:
checkers Wayne Taylor;
runnerups, Anthony Swain,
spaids: ECSU’s powerful
football players Johnny
Williams and Gerald
Honeyblue defeated
Raymond Robinson and
Michael Patrick On
backgammon, Frankie
Bordeaux defeated John
Ward in the finals where both
players had a great tour
nament.