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o
Chronicle All
ready to run i
By RANDY PETTITT
Chronicle Sports Editor
CHARLOTTE - The Winston-Salem
Chronicle Allstars will make their debut
this weekend, as the Charlotte NBA Pro
Am League kicks off its summer campaign
this Saturday at Johnson C. Smith University.
The Winston-Salem Chronicle All-Stars
will open their 7-week schedule against
Charlotte's Phillip Morris squad at 2:30
p.m. on the campus of Johnson C. Smith
University.
Walter L. Funderburk, the head coach
of the Chronicle All-Stars, says that the
team will be ready to run.
"We plan to play with an up-tempo
style," Funderburk said. "It won't be
sandlot ball by no means, but we will be
-running every chance we get."
? The Chronicle All-Stars consist of a mixed
bag of players, most of whom attended
nearby colleges and were mainstays in the
Big Apple League last summer. Funderburk
will take his team of 11 and combine
them with an NBA player to form
Winston-Salem's Chronicle-sponsored
representation in the eight-team Pro-Am
league. v
According to Funderburk, most of the
I Dari
Crazy Gattis
BY RANDY PETTITT
- Chronicle Sports Editor
Buying something on an impulse is
we're all guilty of at one time or another
new shoes or a blouse perhaps. But Susa
dared to be different.
She bought a race car.
Naturally, Keith and Faye Qattis
among other things - skeptical whc
daughter told them she was going to 1c
race car.
They knew she loved to drive, but on
track?
In her early teens, the 24 year old gra<
North Forsyth High School had alwa
fond of driving the family car along t
roads of rural Surry County.
She had the urge to see what she coul
the track.
It hadn't dawned on Gattis that sh<
become only the second female racer
30-year history of Bowman Gray !
though. She was not out to prove her suj
to men or anything like that. Quite sim
was still a lady ? a lady that just wanted
And a few hundred dollars later, she w
to tackle a predominantly male sport wh
are often fragile, and the turf has be
established.
With most of her financial support
from a job at Sears and her grandmother
the guys in the street stock pits figured h(
dream would be short-lived. But thn
later. Gattis still arrives everv Saturda
noon in her old Ford pickup with a rac
tow.
Hangin' Tough
As the words painted on the rear dec
Ford Granada indicate, Susan Gattis is4
I thei^ abrotto
ft
Stars
in Pro-Am
teams in the league won't know exactly
what NBA pro they are going to get until
game day.
"We pretty much don't know which pro
we are going to pick up until we get down
there," Funderburk said.
"Only three of the pros are pretty well
set as to which teams they will play on.
Xavier McDaniels will probably play for
the Columbia S.C.-Jazz, Kenny Green with
the Greensboro-Barnstormin' Across the
ACC team and Michael Jordan with the
Charlotte-Budweiser team.
'That will leave Thurl Bailey, Brad
Daugherty, "Spud" Webb, Tyronne Corbin,
Eric ''Sleepy" Floyd and some other
NBA players pretty much up for grabs," he
said.4
The Charlotte NBA Pro-Am League will
play all of its games at Johnson C. Smith
University, which is located just off lnterstates
77 and 85 in Charlotte.
Five of the eight teams in the league are
Charlotte-based, with the other three coming
from Winston-Salem, Greensboro and
Columbia South Carolina., *
Funderburk says that from his observations
thus far, the Columbia Jazz might be
the league's early favorite. He is optimistic
Please see page B3
ng to be
takes the wheel:
a
-- some
were - ^r lijm? Vt j9|
their *^5
>ok at a W HxWl - jfl
ET iflHp^nSP^P |3
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ys been ^ 3 L^^M
he back - i R*
w " ''^ "V-V^IF
d do on
in the
^. ^Kiv
as ready ?
ere egos
;en well Susan Gattis constantly spei
ed to the regulars at Bowmar
coming bV James Parker).
, a lot of
jr racing tough." She has endured two se
je years second fiddle to the Stadium regi
y after- stock division, and longs for a
ie car in could pave her way to the front
"I've tried to get a sponsor,"
does most of the work on the c
it's just hard for me to go up to
k of her and ask for money to spend on
'hangin' Pat O'Brien, a fellow compet
?aaw?Mtmtmwo** \ ^
to start mOngMgh #1
^pvi didn't too
Mt * L'" nUng'probt*m.
- Roy Lim ?
: ... ' /.i r':>" ' '
\
\
ports
Terry Strickland nails the the one-handed jam In some past
summer league action. Strickland, a touring pro In Europe and
the older brother of Duke's Kevin Strickland, will play for the
Winston-Salem Chronicle All-Stars (photo by James Parker).
different
'Look, Mom, I'm racing'
^^hhhpmhhhh^HHH|HHHH&^.
' ? iA.
mSt^^ \ ' /fm. SMff* 't&ifc*' v
- her free time under the hood of her race car. Gattis has provi
Gray Stadium that she's not afraid to get her hands dirty (photo
asons of playing stock division, says that Gattis does remarkably
jlars in the street well considering her financial limitations,
big sponsor that 4Tm sure that if Susan ever gets a really good
of the pack. sponsor, then she could run up front," O'Brien,
said Gattis, who said.
ar herself. "But "It takes a lot of courage just to give racing a
? a total stranger try, and she's managed to stick around this long,
a race car. 1 think that's pretty good myself. She's earned
itor in the street Please see page B4
Mf know Zh?e't/Z
^3B th?yy%i, w 'u,
HHl *4^ nrf _ ' nmsM ~ *?
catch them. himself.
t
V
Three schools
may drop to 3-A
By RANDY PETTITT
Chronicle Sports Editor
According to information released by the North
Carolina High School Athletic Association this
.week, Glenn, Carver and Parkland High Schools in
1 __ _ r i .1 j a ? i?
jeoparuy 01 losing meir <*-/\ status oy a new alignment
proposal for the 1989-90 school year.
Under the current alignment, North Carolina's
High School's are evenly divided into four
classifications, but a new proposal of uneven
distribution would put three city schools well under
the numbers required for 4-A classification.
Parkland, based on the Average Daily Membership
(ADM) figures released by the NCHSAA, is
the largest of the three city schools in question, and
has an ADM of 4,012. Principal A.C. Larrimore Jr.
thinks there is nothing to be worried about.
"I don't think that'll ever happen," Larrimore
said of the proposed new alignment plan.
"And if it does, Parkland High School will continue
to play at the 4-A level as long as 1 have
anything to do with it."
"I believe the folks voting on this, (school principals
and administrators from across the state),
will elect to keep the equal distribution that we have
now," said Larrimore, who is a strong believer in
solid athletic programs.
Carl Clarke, the principal at Glenn High School
where the ADM figure is only 930 students, agrees
with Larrimore. |
"Even if we are below the numbers for a 4-A
school, Glenn will be a 4-A school as long as.I'm
here," he said.
"The easiest way to solve the problem locally,
would be to alleviate the overcrowding at East Forsyth
(an ADM of 1305) by giving us and Carver a
couple of hundred kids eaclj. But you get into
politics when you start moving people around, so
that won't happen," Clarke offered.
"I'm sure Parkland and Carver will elect to stay
at the 4-A level as well."
The administrators at Carver, where the ADM is
the smallest in the county at 859 aren't worried
either.
"They're just looking at the situation with
numbers," a source from the school said. "We'll
continue to play at the 4-A level."
S*To the frustration of many coaches, the
NCHSAA tinkers with-the conferences and
alignments about every five years.
Parkland basketball coach Tom Muse said his ,
teams have played iri*a lot of different conferences
in his 20 plus years at the school.
"As a coach, I quit worrying about this sort of
stuff a long time ago," Muse said.
"Since I've been here, we've played Reidsville,
Greensboro, Salisbury, Kannapolis, Charlotte,
High Point and a bunch of others. I've sort 6f got
used to them changing the conferences."
Muse noted that the annual adjustments do make
conference rivalries hard to establish though.
Glenn's Clarke agreed on the point.
"When we play Greensboro Page and Smith they
don't draw flies," he said of Glenn's sagging attendance
for conference football and basketball
games.
"From the standpoint of the kids, I'm for us getting
into a conference witW more of the city schools.
They don't want to see us play Greensboro. They
vy cini iu pi ay cav.ii uuici .
The NCHSAA will review the findings of a statewide
survey to determine whether drastic changes
will be needed or not.
A number of coaches in the county feel some con- ]
ference changes could result, but that all eight Forsyth
County high schools should remain at the 4-A
level.
Most feel that the current equal distribution j
policy of 25-25-25-25 will be kept, and that the 20
percent 4-A, 30 percent 3-A, 30 percent 2-A and 20
percent 1-A breakdowns will be rejected because of
Please see page B3 - I
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JIPT' responsibility to
k^gM B W educate their 1
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w? W Parents need to get J
i/or- V in tune with their
Ml t kids and keep them j
*?? straight.
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