Pas,e,c10
The Pendulum
r j U ■ fi'I
Thursday, November 3, l9j t
’ i('I f. ez
WBBB sportscaster enjoys follewing Elen -Football
Bill Huff witnesses 215 football games in a ro^j
(
By Debra Taylor
Staff Writer
It was in the early 1970’s and
the Elon Fighting Christians
were playing one of their
toughest rivals, Carson
Newman.
Elon's attack featured. Mike
Lawson, who still holds the
single game rushing record
fora collegiate football player
in the state of North Carolina.
(294 yards against Gardner-
Webb).
Carson Newman apparently
knew that their defense
couldn’t hold Lav/son, so they
had another plan. They left
the water sprinklers on all
night on the playing field, be
fore the game so that Lawson
couldn’t run on it. The teams
ended up playing in ankle-
deep water. The final score
was Carson Newman 42, Elon
28.
Several years later, the
Fighting Christians were to
play Carson Newman again.
This time the Elon club ar
rived on a Friday night. The
players had to sleep under
neath the gym on cots. Right
above them were the basket
ball courts. “Either on pur
pose or somehow” the hosts
had somebody playing basket
ball or dribbling a basketball
on the courts all night long to
keep the Elon team awake.
Bill Huff, a sports broadcas
ter for WBBB in Burlington,
has quite a few stories such as
these. He has seen it all-good
and bad. Since 1964, he has
been with the Elon football
club. Last Saturday’s game
against Gardner-Webb was
the 215th consecutive game,
he has seen. Whether the team
is playing in West Virginia,
Louisianna or Texas, Huff is’
there. He hasn’t missed a
game since his first on on
October 6, 1964, against Camp
Lejeune.
In 1980, Elon made Huff an
honorary team member and
gave him on NAIA cham
pionship ring, which he said
he cherishes “more than my
N.C. State ring.”
Huff grew up on a tobacco
farm in a little town called
Hurdles Hill in Person Coun
ty, N.C. Hurdles Mill had a
“less than 20 population”, 13
people were in Huffs high
school graduating class.
He was active in the 4-H and
received a scholarship to N.C.
State University to study agri
culture,” which I knew no
thing about.” He says. But he
still graduated and went on to
teach agriculture.
On September 24, 1964, he
left teaching and got a job with
WBBB radio as a salesman,
farm director and helping
with sports.
He had never had any for
mal training and the only
sports background he had was
watching games when he was
an usher at Reynolds Col
iseum. At his first Elon foot
ball game he was a ‘gopher”
for Bob Ray, who was then
broadcasting the games. “You’
Photo by Massengiil
FOOTBALL FOLLOWED; Bill
Huff has followed Elon football
since 1964 broadcasting their
games from as far as Texas and
West Virginia. This past year
Huff has broadcast for WSOE
while working with Tom Wes-
tenhiser.
go fer’ this and you ‘go fer’
that, Huff recalled.
Huff began working seven
days a week for $65. He has
now worked his way up to sta
tion manager and was just
elected president of the North
Carolina Association of
Sports Broadcasting.
Many times, Huff has broad
cast a high school game on Fri
day night, then driven all
night to places such as
Bluefield, W.VA., and Birm
ingham Ala., to broadcast an
Elon game on Saturday after
noon.
Huff has seen Elon go from a
1-9 record to winning the
national championship. He
has seen the team lose to a
Junior College because the
opposing team provided all
night entertainment the night
before. He was there in 1973,
when the night before a game
at Abilene Christian, Elon
head coach Red Wilson got
left at the banquet and had to
hitch a ride to the hotel in the
back of a pickup truck.
Huff has seen players such
as Eddie Faust-a Williams
High School graduate who at
one time played a football
game in the afternoon, came
back to Elon and put on a bas
ketball uniform because the
basketball team needed help.
That night he sank 14 out of 14
free throws to help win the
game.
Huff has watched great
athletes such as Rich
McGeorge-an All American
while at Elon in the late 1960s
who went on to play pro foot
ball for 11 years with the
Green Bay Packers.
Throughout these 19 years.
Huff has become a friend to
the team players. Many of
them are “like my own kids,”
he says. He has five children'
of his own who are now grown
and “scattered all over the
world.”
Players such as Bobby Hi
rick, John Bangley, Dotio;
Brown and Clint York,
members of the natioDi
championship team in li
still come by to visit andji
talk whenever they are
town.
The students can talktoh
and air out their problei
whenever they want, Hi
says. “These guys need soi
body who is their home ai
from home.”
Huff said that the Elonfi
ball players are “quality!
dent athletes and “1 like
feel that I can be a friend.
“Nobody knows how miii -
these boys put in to repress ‘
the school Huff says. "Peo; ■
don’t realize the hours tl
put in during the week jus )
play for three hours J
Saturday afternoon. Therei ■
lot of pressure on footb
players from other sudei
alumni and fans. “I havei |(
greatest admiration for k o
who play sports today.” ,;|
The next game you atta.
look for the member oft«[
broadcast team whose u
form is a cowboy hat andco ■
boy boots. The hat is one of
or 50 that Huff wears to cotf,
up his bald spot. The cowh
hat is the hat that he bought,
the Palm Bowl in 1978 wli
Elon was playing AngeloSU
for the national cha ^
pionship. r
“It was my good luck hat! b
I still wear that hat to evi (j
Elon Football game,” H e
says. And this Saturdaysgi ■
will be his 216th. fe
Football
to face
Record is 11-4-2
Soccer team beats Pfeiffer
Newberry makes 2nd playoff round
I
m'- ■■■■
Continued from page 9
G-W led Appalachian State 17-7
with seven minutes to go but
the Mountaineers scored two
TD’s to win 21-17. So it was the
unsuccesfull onside kick by
Elon that finally relaxed the
visitors.
Elon now falls to 3-2 in the
conference and 5-2 overall and
most likely their national rank
ing of fifth will also drop. G-W
is now 4-1 in the conference
and 4-4 overall.
Elon travels this week to play
Newbery as G-W will host Pre
sbyterian. The Elon game will
be broadcast by WSDE, 89.3 fm.
and airtime will be 6:45 p.m.
The Elon soccer team won the
first playoff game in its history
4-1 over Pfeiffer College here
Tuesday. The Christians now
advance to the second round at
UNC-Asheville today.
Last week the team played its
strongest opponent of the year,
top-ranked UNC-Greensboro,
but lost 4-1 after holding a 1-0
lead at halftime. According to
coach Steve Ballard, the Elon
team did not play up to its
potential against UNC-G but
also did not embarrass them
selves.
The Fightin’ Christians did
play up to their potential
against Pfeiffer as they took a
3-1 lead at the half on three
goals by Sean Flanagan. The
first was assisted by Paul Law
son and the next two were un
assisted.
Pfeiffer’s lone goal was
scored by Rick Cole as Elon
held Pfeiffer to just 14 shots on
goal while Elon’s Joe Bartlins-
ki saved four.
Chris Crusan rounded out
the scoring in the second half
with an unassisted goal. Short
ly thereafter, Ballard was able
to play some of this reserves.
Elon took 19 shots on goal while
Pfeiffer’s goalie saved two.
While playing UNC-G, Elon
lost its lead in the second half
when Andrew Mehalko and
Mike Sweeney each combined
for two goals a piece to pace
UNC-G to their victory.
UNC-G’s talented squad took
27 shots on goal. Elon’s Bart-
linski was able to save 13. Elon
was only able to take eight
shots on goal and UNC-G was
able to save four of them.
Also last week Belmont
Abbey gave Elon a scars until
the end of the game. Withe five
minutes to go Sean Flanagan
was able to net a shot with a
double assist going to Scott
Spada and Marcel Miller.
Although Elon dominated
the game, the Christians were
only able to win 1-0. The Fight
in’ Christians took 25 shots on
goal with Belmont Abbey com
ing up with three saves. The
visitors had 11 shots on goal,
Bartlinski saving seven.
Elon’s record now is 11-4-2
overall as they enter the
second round of playoffs today.
Photo by £
HEADS UP: Elon’s Paul^
son has his eyes on the>)»n
last Saturday’s match a?
top-ranked NCAA DivisW;
foe UNC-G.