The Pendulum Sports
Ellon College, Elon College, N.C. 27244
Thursday, January 22,1981
A LOOK AT SPORTS
Go
Christians
You play ball where?
The Elon Sports Corner
by Vicki Blankenship
Sports Editor
Elon College? Where is
Elon College? Ten years ago
that response was common
when an athlete from Elon
told where he or she played
intercollegiate ball. It does
not hold true now. Elon
College athletes are making
their claim in conference
titles, district titles, and even
top ranking national teams.
There are 12 intercolleg
iate sports at Elon, and
every sport accept for wom
en’s tennis (only in its third
year) has held a conference
title several times and even
district titles. Several teams
have made it 'to regional
tournaments and national
tournaments.
Elon football is considered
the powerhouse of small
colleges. The football pro
gram at Elon has held 16
conference titles, 3 district
titles, and has been in the
top ten national rankings six
times since 1973. The year
1980 saw Elon football at its
best with the NAIA National
Championship over North
eastern Oklahoma State held
on Elon’s own home stad
ium.
Men’s basketball has
claimed 10 conference titles
plus three NAIA District 26
championships, along with
winning over 25 different
invitational tournaments.
The women’s program since
it began in 1972 has won
and been in the top three of
their conference several
times. In addition, they have
won a State AIAW cham
pionship, a Regional 2
AIAW consolation cham
pionship. Lack of funds
kept the girls from compet
ing in the nationals.
The baseball program has
grown tremendously. In the
past several years the Elon
baseball team has faced
tough competition such as
University of North Caro
lina. The baseball team has
held 17 conference titles,
two district titles and in 1979
the baseball team was
ranked 13 th in the nation
for small colleges. The bat is
not only being swung by the
men though. In 1977 the
first intercollegiate women’s
softball team was formed. In
Christians claim
championship
by David Temple
1980 was a banner year
for Elon College football as
the Fighting Christians cap
tured the national cham
pionship with a 17-10 win
over Northeastern State Uni
versity on December 20.
Bobby Hedrick became
one of the leading running
backs in the history of
college football by pushing
his career rushing total to
5,503, which set a new
NAIA record. Hedrick’s
1,793 yards during the sea
son pushed him over the
1000 yard mark for the
fourth season in a row.
Hedrick’s performance
earned him several post sea
son honors including All
SAC-8, AU District 26, AP
Little All-American, NAIA
All-American, and Honor
able Mention in the Sporting
News AU-American poll.
Yet Hedrick was not the
entire offensive story for
Elon this season. Freshman
Fred Jordan took over at the
other runningback spot and
scampered for 914 yards on
only 146 attempts for an
impressive average of 6.3
yards per carry. Jordan’s six
touchdowns were second
only to Hedrick’s record
setting 18.
John Bangley, a transfer
from VMI, guided the of
fense at quarterback as he
threw for 1,202 yards and 2
touchdowns. Bangley got off
to a shaky start early in the
season and raised a few
question marks. However
those question marks quickly
became exclamation pointe
as he led the Fighting Chris
tians to the championship.
At the other end of most of
Bangley’s passes was tight
end Joey Hackett. Hackett
grabbed 30 passes for 481
yards and 3 touchdowns.
Elon head Coach Jerry Tol
ley had high praise for his
tight end, pointing out the
number of game saving or
game breaking catches that
he made throughout the sea
son.
Elon’s receiving corps was
their first year of play the
Golden Girls were 6th in the
NCAIAW Tournament and
4th in overaU team stats. In
1978 they captured the
NCAIAW Championship
and also won the Appala
chian State University Invi
tational Tournament in
which mostly large colleges
competed. In 1979 the Gold
en Girls placed 4th in the
state and in 1980 the girls
returned to win the con
ference championship and
place 4th in the state.
The matmen at Elon have
come to life winning the
District 26 tournament five
times since 1971. In 1978 the
wrestlers were 5th in the
NAIA Regional VII cham
pionship.
Volleyball at Elon has
been in the top three of the
state four times since its
beginning in 1972. The
Golden Girls even made it to
the regionals in 1974 where
they took second place. The
Golden Girls remain a threat
in their conference.
There is a lone sport at
Elon that individual players
put forth their best efforts
Sports Editor
Vicki Blankenship
and do not get much rec
ognition, and that sport is
the Elon golf team. Since
1972 the golf team has put
their individual efforts to
gether to come up with four
conference titles, a second,
third, and fourth place in
the conference, two NAIA
District 26 championships
along with three second
place finishes in the district,
and have been nationally
ranked in the top ten for
five years. In 1976 and 1978
the golfers were second in
the nation.
The soccer program at
Elon has been having a face
lift the last two years. For
the first time in soccer
history at Elon College, the
soccer team had a winning
record in 1979. This was the
beginning of getting respect
from other colleges. In 1980
the soccer team rose to vic
tory to claim the conference
title. The team advanced to
district playoffs.
Once a small college hard
ly known for its athletics,
Elon has become known and
feared for its power in the
Carolina’s Conference. But
not only has it captured the
respect in its conference, it
has become well known in
district and national play.
Elon College? Oh Yea! That
is the school near Burlington
that does so welkin athletics.
*
w
All District 26 nose gnard Chris Worst displays his cfaunpionshlp fever tiehind the NAIA
Nadonal Playoff banner. Photo by Paul DeFord.
also strengthened by the play
of Steve Vargus. Vargus
caught 23 passes totaling 352
yards, 5 of those catches
were for touchdowns. The
kicking unit also enjoyed
better success this season as
punter Phil Melton averaged
36.9 yards per boot and kept
the opponents deep in their
own territory, often inside
the ten yard line. Kicker Phil
Melton had his best season
to date by hitting 10 of his
16 field goal attempts with
eight of them coming from
beyond the twenty. Renn
also added 46 extra point
kicks to total 76 total points.
Behind much of Elon’s of
fensive success, however,
was a greatly improved of
fensive line led by Donovan
Brown, Clint York, Harold
Hill, and Alan Peters. The
line not only led the way for
the rtishing game but gave
Bangley excellent pass pro
tection.
The Fighting Christian de
fense also enjoyed a fine
cont. on p. 2