fanuarp 22, 1993
Guilford "old-timer" is good in
a game, better In a library
Brian Tomllri
Reprinted with permission of The
Greensboro News and Record
David Winn is an athlete who
became a student who became an
athlete. He's also a husband. And a
father. And a scholar.
Guilford College's basketball
program lists the sophomore guard
at 5-foot-10, but he's shorter than
that.
It's about the only instance
there's less to him than meets the
eye. At age 28, he is well into what
amounts to a second life.
"The basketball just kind of
came," Winn says over the phone
from his home in Eden as Alex, his
2 l/2-yearoldson,demandsabowl
of Cap'n Crunch. "Alex was the
reason for going back to school.
"I pictured people saying,
'What's your mommy do, Alex?'
'Well she's a professional. She
went to school.'
'"Well, what's your daddy do?'
'Oh, well, he didn't go to school.'
"If you wanted to write a story
about why I did it," Winn says,
"it's Alex—wanting to be a good
father and the type that can be a
role model. I want him to have that
attitude."
Or, rather, that new attitude. Not
long ago, Winn was ambling along,
working for a decent salary at a job
with Duke Power that he didn't
like, playing basketball every
chance he got—successful yet mis
erable, longing for something more
Can You Beat the Greek?
Test your NBA and college bas
ketball prognosticating ability
against Eric "the Greek" Pappas,
unequivocally Guilford's most
knowledgeable sports mind.
The holidays are over and "the
Greek" is back. With only one
NFL game remaining, i.e. The
Super Bowl, and with basketball
season in high gear, it seems like a
logical time to make the transition
from the gridiron to the basketball
court.
Over the next several weeks, a
selection of National Basketball
League games and college basket
ball games will be listed on the
accompanying entry blank. To go
head to head with "the Greek", all
you nave to do is enter your win
ning selections. Whoever outpicks
"the Greek' and has the best record
of all entrants will receive certifi
cates for two dozen glazed dough
nuts courtesy of Krispy Kreme.
but not sure what it was or how to
get it.
Until the day his wife, Janet,
picked up the paper and read of
Guilford College's night school
program. They decided it was per
fect for him—if he had the guts to
try it.
"I talked till I was blue in the
face, trying to make him go to
school," says Janet Winn, who has
a master's degree and works as a
counselor in the Eden school sys
tem. "I've even enrolled him in
schools."
"It was either now or never,"
David Winn says. "I guess I just
quit being chicken. I hate to admit
it, but I was scared."
It turned out to be the good kind
of scared, like a queasy stomach
before a big game—not enough to
make him sick, just enough to make
him play better.
And has he played. He made
straight A's that first semester, in
the fall of 1991, and held onto his
job as an appliance repairman for
Duke Power.,.;
People at Guilford took notice
and nominated him for a presti
gious Charles A. Dana scholar
ship, which covers up to half of
Guilford's tuition.
He won the Dana and he did not
disappoint. Over half the course
work for his degree in sports medi
cine is done and his grade-point
average is 3.68.
It includes a B-minus in a phi
losophy class that may have had
more impact than all the A's put
If no one can outpick "the
Greek," he gets the doughnuts.
All members of the Guilford
community are encouraged to en
ter; however, please limit entries
to one per person. Place entries in
the boxes located on the news
stands in the Founder's lobby and
in the Underground. Deadline for
entries is Sunday at noon.
GB7
iGame 1: Indiana at Charlotte Winner: I
I Game 2: Chicago at San Antonio Winner: I
| Game 3: Portland at Utah Winner: |
| Game 4: Houston at New Jersey Winner: |
|Game 5: L.A. Lakers at Washington Winner: |
■Game 6: Sacramento at Atlanta Winner:
J Game 7: Philadelphia at New York Winrer:
NCAA
Game 8: UJM.C. at Seton Hall Winner: ::
iGame 9: Indiana at Ohio State Winner: I
|Game 10. Duke at Florida State Winner: f
{Tiebreaker: Total Score of NBA game:
Phoenix at Detroit Total Score: i 5
uName: Phone #: .
Sports
together.
"I'm the kind that, if I don't do
well, sometimes I quit," Winn says.
"I don't deal well with struggling.
"I still don' t know anything about
philosophy, but I learned how to
succeed in a course I wasn't well
adapted to and didn't have any
interest in."
Success bred confidence. Once
he had taken the chance and reached
for one dream, he reached for an
other—he'd play basketball.
Not pick-up games in and around
Eden, even if they did give him the
chance to go against college play
ers like N.C. State's Donnie Seale,
East Tennessee State's Robert
Doggettand others. Not recreation
league, either, "with Domino's
Pizza or something like that on
your shirt," he says.
Real basketball, the kind he had
tasted only briefly at Drewry Ma
son High School outside
Martinsville, Va., because of a bro
ken collar bone. The return to the
game at Guilford—an NCAA Di
vision 111 school, which, unlike its
Division I counterparts, imposes
no age limits for athletes —was
exhilarating.
"It feels great," Winn says, "just
to shoot lay-ups in warm-ups."
"Here's this guy that hasn't
played an organized competitive
game in 10 or 11 years," Guilford
coach Jack Jensen says. "To have
the opportunity to look at a career
change and to play on an organized
basketball team for the first time in
that long—he's so excited he's
'
about to jump out of his skin."
In his debut, he was relatively
cool and calm last Thursday in a
69-64 win at Hampden-Sydney,
hitting two of five field-goal at
tempts and his only free throw for
five points, but nerves hit him in
his first home game Saturday
against Virginia Wesleyan.
Winn is regarded as a deadly
outside shot; he wentO-for-4 in the
Quakers' 81-69 loss. He has made
95 of 100 free throws in practice;
he missed his only attempt against
Wesleyan.
Four days later, in a 63-59 win
over Randolph-Macon, he hit three
of eight shots, including a 3-pointer,
for seven points.
"Practice was learning," Winn
says. "This is going to be learning,
too.
"Physically, I feel great. There's
no way I'm out-classed out there."
"He's as good a shooter as there
is in our league, I think," says
junior guard Paul Ferrell, who is
ranked first in the Old Dominion
Athletic Conference and 10th in
NCAA Division 111 in assists. "He's
in as good a shape or better than
most of the players on our team.
"He'spickedmypocketacouple
of times in practice, running be
hind me. He's quick."
Winn's pursuit of his dream has
cost his family. They're cutting
every corner financially, Janet
Winn says, and hoping David's
1982 Pontiac—the one his team
mates plastered a Band-Aid on—
holds up through two more years
of commuting from Eden.
It's been hardest on her.
"I'm a planner," she says. "I had
my whole life planned out. I've
learned not to have routines and
not to know what to expect next—
GUILFORD COLLEGE COMMUNITY
SENATE AND UNION ELECTIONS
0
Petitions for candidacy in the Senate and Union
Executive Council Election are available at the
Information desk in Founders Hall.
Candidates must run on a ticket system and submit a
petition to the Senate Elections Committee by
February 2, 1993.
Elections are on February 23,1993.
Further details are available at the Information Desk.
fcfre t&uUtortrian
and to pray and pray that every
thing turns out all right."
In one sense, it already has.
"He is just wonderful to be
around," she says. "People can't
even believe I'm talking about the
same person. I think it's the first
time he's ever been really happy
with himself."
"When I was 19," David Winn
says, "I thought some things would
never end.
"When you know they're going
to end, you appreciate them a lot
more. I'm trying to milk every
thing I can out of life."
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Smashed!
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DRIVE DRUNK.
US Department of Transponat'on
11