Page Four
The Pendulum
March 24.1377
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1977 Elon College "Fightin’ Christian” Baseball team.
Teams rolling along
Baseballj tennis, golf reaching peak
Elon’s spring sp>orts have
been rolling in the last few
weeks, and the schedules for all
the teams are heading for a
peak in the next few weeks.
Baseball stands at 2-4 overall
and 1-1 in the conference as of
press time. The team has posted
wins over Pembroke State 17-2
and Madison College 6-5, while
the diamonders have fallen 7-6
to N.C. State, 16-8 to E^t
Cfirolina, 5-0 to Pembroke State
and 9-4 to Madison. The team is
hitting a swift .270 and has
proved they can hit the ball and
nin. Through six games, the
team has stolen 32 bases which
averages 5.3, far better than the
other conference teams.
Tennis stands 3-1 with the
team posting a 9-0 shutout over
Pembroke State last weekend.
The team has posted wins over
Guilford 6-3, Catawba 7-2 while
only falling 4-5 to Kutztown
from Pennsylvania.
The golf team have been
stroking along the ssmie lines as
last year. The team has won
"first” place in four out of the
five tourneys or matches they
have participated in. The team
is hoping to go to the nationals
again this year to repeat the
1976 season except finish two
strokes better. The team
finished #2 in the NAIA last
year by one stroke loss to
Gardner-Webb.
Be sure to check out the
"Sports Clipboard” for the
upcoming sports events.
Athlete keeps 42-year promise
for new Elon baseball field
by Tim McDowell
Public Infomiation
During the 1935 Elon Collie
football banquet, Webb
Newsome, a young, muscular
athlete who dominated Elon’s
football, baseball and boxing
teams, stood and made an
announcement to the college
president.
"Some day I’m going to come
back here and build you an
athletic field you’ll really be
proud of.”
Dr. Leon Edgar Smith, who
was president of the college at
that time, applauded and told
Newsome that certainly would
be fine, and went about his
business of eating.
Webb Newsome came back to
Elon College on March 7,1977,
with a commitinent for ^0,000
for the baseball field which he
promised Dr. Smith 42 years
earlier.
1 guess he thought I was
joking,” Newsome commented
with a smile that spread across
his broad face as he and his wife
sat in the president’s office on
c£unpus and remembered their
days at Elon.
The first week after Newsome
graduated, he got a job teaching
and coaching, and got married.
Although he loved teaching
and coaching, Webb quickly
found it was not rewarding
enough to suK*>rt a family.
"During th^ days I played
professional baseball in the old
Piedmont League. I made more
money in the summer playing
ball than I did all year teaching.
I couldn’t have made it except
for saving what I made in the
summer to carry me through
the winter,” Newsome recalls.
So, with a degree in history
and physical education, he went
into the roofing contracting
business and eventually settle
down for a comfortable life at
Bermuda Run in Advance, N.C.
Elon, however, remained on
his mind, and he vowed to keep
that promise he made to
President Smith.
It was at Elon that Newsome
was an outstanding footballer
at quarterback and halfback.
He scored 17 touchdowns and
two extra points for a 104-point
scoring total, and is still the
10th leading scorer in Elon
football history. He threw at
least six touchdown passes,
scored four touchdowns in one
game against Western
Carolina, was named
all-conference three times at
quarterback and halfback and
was named to the all-state team
twice, once as a halfback and
once at quarterback. He was
captain of the 1934 grid squad.
In baseball, Newsome posted
an 11-8 pitching record, while
batting .265 during a four-year
career. He batted .349 during
his freshman year and was the
leading batter in the "Little
Six” Conference. Newsome
played six positions while
donning a Maroon and Gold
uniform — pitcher, first, second,
third, shortstop, and right field.
He was an all-conference
selection in the spring sport
Elon’s baseball team won the
conference championship three
of four years during Newsome’s
playing career, and the
Christians were runners-up
during his senior year.
And, just so he would have
something to do year round, he
did a little boxing, becoming the
only undefeated boxer at Elon.
In fact, he W£is never even
knocked down.
In 1975 Newsome was
inducted into the Elon College
Sports Hall of Fame at ^lecial
ceremonies.
"I’m proud to be an alumnus
of Elon College,” Newsome said.
"I married a wonderful girl
from here, and I’ve always kept
an interest in the school.”
As a child growing up in
Salisbury, Newsome always
had an interest in attractive
baseball diamonds.
"We had a pasture where we
used to play baseball. I would go
out there and build up the
moimd, fill feed bags for bases,
and make sure there wasn’t a
blade of grass around home
plate. All the other kids played
there, but I always took an
# 1 out of 32 NAIA districts
Elon’s Melvin Shreves
wins NAIA award
Melvin L. Shreves, Jr., sports
information direct»r at Elon
has received the Clarence 'Tke”
Pearson Award. The first Tke
Pearson Award was presented
during the NAIA Hillyard Hall
of Fame limcheon, March 11 in
Kansas City.
The award commemorates
the life and work of the late
Clarence "Ike” Pearson who
served as the chief of statistical
services for the NAIA National
Basketball Tournament for 29
consecutive years prior to his
death last November.
Mrs. Betty Pearson, Ike’s
widow, assisted by Bill Grigsby,
originator of the NAIA
Basketball Tournament radio
broadcast service, made the
presentation.
The recipient of the Pearson
Award is selected annually
from among active NAIA sports
information directors from each
of the NAIA’s 32 districts.
The selection of the recipient
is made on the basis of
"outstanding achievements in
the promotion of sports
activities on campus,
throughout the community
served by the institution, and in
the NAIA.”
A 1966 graduate of Elon
College, Shreves returned to his
alma mater in 1970 serving as
both public information director
and sports information director
In those six years, Shreves
had served as coordinator for
Elon for four NAIa
championship events and one
international event (a
basketball game between the
USSR women’s team and a
group of American all-stars). He
also assisted with the publicity
for the NAIA indoor track and
field meets held in Greensboro,
N.C. in 1975 and 1976. Shreves
has won numerous awards with
his Elon publications. He has
won the top award for NAIA
football programs during the
last four years and has won four
awards for his varsity athletic
press guides. His press guides
have also been selected as
award winners five times by the
College Sports Information
Directors of America (COSIDA).
Now serving as secretary of
NAIA-Sports Information
Directors’ Association, he
served on a workshop panel
during the NAIA Athletic
Directors’ Association
meetings.
He and his wife, the former
Peggy Hill, of Chatham, Va.
have two sons, Michael and
Christopher.
SPORTS CLIPBOARD
MARCH
24 Golf vs. Wright State and Pfeiffer - Indian Valley - 1:30 p.m.
Baseball vs. Atlantic Christian at Elon -1 p.m. (DH)
Tennis vs. UNC-G at Elon - 2 p.m.
25 Softball vs. UNC-G and A&T at UNC-G - 2 & 3:20 p.m.
Baseball vs. East Carolina at ECU - 3 p.m.
28 Softball vs. Guilford at Guilford - 2 p.m.
Tennis vs. NC Central - Away - 2 p.m.
29 Baseball vs. Carolina - Away - 3:30 p.m.
30 Tennis vs. Bucknell at Elon - 2 p.m.
31 Golf vs. ACC and UNC-W - Wilson - 1:45 p.m.
Softball vs. Catawba - Away - 3 p.m.
Baseball vs. UNC-W at Elon - 3 p.m.
APRIL
1 Golf vs. Pfeiffer - Stanley Country -1:30 p.m.
Softball vs. N.C. State - TBA
Baseball vs. Wake Forest - Away - 3 p.m.
2 Tennis at Atlantic Christian -1 p.ntL
Baseball va Campbell at Elon -1 p.m. - (DH)
3 Tennis vs. East Carolina - Away -1:30 p.m.
4 Golf in Elon College Invitational
Baseball vs. N.C. State - Away - 3 p.m.
5 Golf in Elon College Invitational
Softball vs. Methodist College - Away - 2 p.m.
6 Tennis vs. Catawba-Away-2 p.m.
Baseball vs. Pfeiffer at Elon - 3 p.m.
interest in making it look good.”
Newsome Field’
will be a major asset to the Elon
^hletic program,” Elon
President Fred Young said.
more emphasis is
being put on our baseball
^gram to balance our sports
department, insuring sports
involvement for all our students
who desire competition but may
not be suited for football or
b^kettoll. Mr. Newsome, who
letter^ m every sport in high
the importance of
a wll-balanced program.
tlon College is grateful for
the generosity of Mr. and Mrs.
Newsome, who have
remembered their days at Ekm
and are now making it possiWe
for future students to
some of the things they missed,
Dr. Young said.
The Newsomes have three
children: Margaret SchUpp
Pennsylvania, Rebecca
Clingman of Clingman’s Dow
N.C., and Richard Webb
Newsome, a senior a
UNC-Wilmington; and four
will
grandchildren.
Opening ceremonies
honor Newsome when the WeDO
Newsome Athletic Field is
completed.