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1B
Cliarlotte
SPORTS
THURSDAY, May 8, 1997
Feeling OK, Davis returns to JCSU
Aldridge
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Bill Davis is back at work after a
heart attack.
Aldridge a
Power player
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Former UNC Charlotte guard
Markita Aldridge is going to be
an American Basketball League
rookie again.
Aldridge was selected by the
Portland Power in the fifth
round of the league’s draft
Monday, the 38th player taken
overall. She played with
Portland and Colorado during
the ABL’s inaugural season last
year, but was cut, making her
eligible for the draft.
Aldridge is
UNCC’s all-
time assists
leader (442),
fourth leading
scorer (1,440)
and eighth-
best rebound
er (601), mak
ing her the
only athlete in
school histoty
to collect over
1,000 points, 500 rebounds and
300 assists. A former Michigan
Miss Basketball at Martin
Luther King High in Detroit,
Aldridge was a Parade All-
America.
Aldridge, who averaged 14.4
points a game in four seasons as
a 49er, joins Florida’s DeLisha
Milton, Auburn’s LaTicia
Morris, Louisiana State’s Elaine
Powell, Colorado’s Erin Scholz
and Stanford’s Charmin Smith
as Portland draftees.
Cunningham
gets 2nd chance
By Ron Lesko
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -
Randall Cunningham 11 fell at
home in Las Vegas the other day.
He got a cut over his eyebrow.
For one of the few times in the
boy’s life, daddy couldn’t be there
for him. He was off playing foot
ball again, trying to revive a
career that once made him one
of the most exciting quarter
backs in the NFL.
“It feels weird,” the father said.
“Really weird.”
After sitting out last season,
Randall Cunningham started
his first minicamp with the
Minnesota Vikings on Friday.
He left his 15-month-old son -
the boy whose birth cost him a
week of practice before a playoff
game against Dallas in January
1996 - and began settling into
what he insists will be a com
fortable role as Brad Johnson’s
backup.
There will be none of the bit
terness that defined his last sea
son and a half in Philadetphia,
none of the turmoil.
Cunningham promised that
when the Vikings signed him
last month, and he promised
again last week.
“I matured as a person,”
Cunningham said. “The year off
has helped me to calm myself
down and get all the negative
feelings out of my heart and just
to start thinking positive. I feel
really, really good.”
Cunningham looked pretty
See BACKUP on page 4B
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Bill Davis’ heart - and sense of
humor — are doing just fine.
A week after being admitted to
a Charlotte hospital after what
was described as a mild heart
attack, the Johnson C. Smith
football coach was at his campus
office preparing for next season.
Comparing his condition to a car,
Davis said his time away from
football was a chance to do some
preventative maintenance. At
any rate, he plans to be on the
sidelines when the Golden Bulls
start fall practice.
“The engine hght came on and
I had to go in for a tune-up,”
Davis said. “Tm ready to go
another 500,000 nules. TU be
here. Tm not going anywhere.”
Davis, who said he feels better,
has been told to slow down for a
while to avoid taxing himself too
much too soon. At this stage,
easy does it best.
“Tm doing fine,” he said. “I had
a big scare. Fve just got to do
things on a smaller scale for the
next four to six weeks.”
Davis stiU has work to do over
the next three months. The first
job was to let everyone coimect-
ed with the program know that
he’s OK and will be on the side
lines next season. For a program
that lost coach Daryl McNeill in
the middle of spring practice,
maintaining stabUity is impor
tant.
“Tm making sure the players
finish the semester, let them
know that nothing has changed
and grading spring practice,”
Davis said. “One of the most
pressing things we have to do is
hire some new coaches.”
One of Davis’ duties will be to
recruit more depth for the offen
sive and defensive lines and
receiver corps. He was encour
aged by the Bulls’ starters, but
sees room for improvement.
“On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10
being the best, Fd say a 6,” Davis
said. “We need some depth. We
looked pretty good with our first
23 players, but after that we’re
kind of thin.”
Although most high school and
junior college players have made
commitments for next year,
Davis beheves good athletes will
be available. Some players with
Division I potential may have te
look at the lower levels because
their college entrance scores
may force them to move down.
He’s also hoping to attract junior
college players looking to get
into a four-year school.
“You’re going to have a lot of
guys who don’t make what they
are required to score to get into
Division I,” Davis said.
“You always find guys late. You
find guys who had big dreams of
going Division I but that bubble
bursts. It’s a difference between
a big college and no college.
What we have to do is be smart
and open oim wallet.”
Last running of the Bulls
Chicago goes
for last hurrah
By Mike Nade
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICACX) - One final fling?
'The breakup of the Chicago
Bulls is possible - maybe even
imminent - and Michael Jordan,
Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman
and coach Phil Jackson are
approaching each playoff series
with the requisite sense of
urgency.
“This is a team that was put
together for the sole purpose of
winning a championship this
year,” said Jackson, whose team
swept Washington in the first
round and opened a best-of-7
series against the Atlanta
Hawks with a 100-97. “It might
be the last time you see this
team together.”
Jackson, who has guided the
Bulls to four titles in the ‘90s, is
nearing the end of an \musual
contract that gives him the right
to negotiate with other teams
during the playoffs. Jordan, the
34-year-old megastar who is get
ting paid $30.14 miUion, has
said he will retire if Jackson
goes.
Rodman, six times the NBA’s
top reboimder, also has a one-
year deal. Pippen, one of the
game’s best all-around players,
is signed through next year but
has been unhappy with his rela
tively meager salary ($2.25 mil-
Uon this season) and probably
won’t stick around after 1997-98.
“The whole Phil-Michael thing,
the makeup of the team, that’s
something that we’ll decide after
the season is over,” owner Jerry
Reinsdorf said Sunday. “I only
have one goal, and that is to win
the most possible champi
onships over whatever period of
time that I own the team.”
On Monday, Jackson said: “All
I know is that the management
and I have made a truce ... that
we wouldn’t talk about it. Since
See BULLS on page 3B
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO/FRED JEWELL
Chicago Bulls’ Scottie Pippen goes up against Atlanta Hawks’ Christian Laettner during the
fourth quarter Tuesday in Chicago. Pippen scored 29 points as the Bulls beat the Hawks 10O-
97.
Knicks battle
rust and Heat
By Chris Sheridan
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - 'The New York
Knicks, a.k.a. Tfeam Boredom,
waited aU week to learn their
next opponent. They found out
Sunday it’s Miami, and their
wait wasn’t over.
The Knicks-Heat series didn’t
begin until Wednesday night in
Miami, rheahing the Knicks
went almost nine days without a
game.
That factor, combined with
back-to-back games at Madison
Square Garden next Sunday
and Monday, give the Heat a dis
tinct advantage, coach Jeff Van
Gimdy said.
“Two days would have been
plenty of time to prepare for any
body. Now they also have two
full days to prepare,” said Van
Gundy, who started his prepara
tion for the second round last
Tuesday - the day after New
York completed a three-game
sweep of the Charlotte Hornets
in the first roimd.
Victories by Orlando in Games
3 and 4 prolonged the wait for
the Knicks, who flew to
Charleston, S.C. for a three-day
minicamp before returning
home Saturday night.
The Knicks were expecting to
play Games 1 and 2 on Tuesday
and 'Thursday, with the possibil
ity of having back-to-back games
at home next Saturday and
Simday.
Instead, the schedule makers
booked the start of the series a
day later - yet kept the back-to-
backs in place for next Sunday
and Monday.
“Certainly for the road team,
and the younger team, to play
back-to-backs is an advantage
for them. They come in, play two
quick games, then go back
home,” he said.
New York and Miami had a
See KNICKS on page 3B
Livingstone takes on CIAA track elite
By Brian Powe
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
SALISBURY - Livingstone
College doesn’t have a big bud
get track program.
Or big-time athletes.
But the Bears have become
one of the top teams in the CIAA
by making the most of what’s
available.
Several Livingstone athletes
qualified for the NCAA champi
onships in Evansville, Ind., May
22-26 and the women’s team fin
ished second in the CIAA cham
pionships in Norfolk, Va. 'The
Bears’ 400 meter relay of April
Davis, Yolanda Morgan,
Rasheeka Jones and Denice
Brown team finished behind St.
Augustine’s with a time of 48.08
seconds.
Livingstone coach Clifton Huff,
who has been at the helm for six
years, says his athletes work
hard, which allows the Bears to
compete with bigger schools.
“St. Augustine has always
been at the top of track and field,
winning 11 national titles,” he
said. “So, if we come second to
them or Norfolk State, who’s
also just as competitive as St.
Aug’s, we should be proud.
'These are programs with 8,000
to 9,000 students with a lot more
resources and equipment than
we have, and we still performed
quite well.
“Tb qualify is not new for us,
but to have excelled with such a
yoimg group of guys. We are
made up of 90 percent fi'eshmen
and sophomores.”
Huff, a Livingstone graduate,
came back to restore the notori-
See TRACK on page 4B
PHOTO/LIVINGSTONE COLLEGE
Livingstone’s 400 meter relay team of April Davis, Yolanda Morgan,
Rasheeka Jones and Denise Brown qualified for the NCAA champi
onships May 22-26. The Bears finish^ second in the CIAA champi
onships with a time of 48.08 seconds.