3B
SPORTS/The Charlotte Post
Thursday, July 10, 1997
Matkins makes his call early
All-America going to USC
Continued from page 1B
to experience this. This is truly a
blessing. I appreciated every
phone call. It’s not a burden, but
they do call aU the time of the
night and wake you up.”
Tb handle the volume of calls
coming into the Matkins’ home,
two additional phone lines were
installed. The entire family -
father Larry, a Charlotte police
officer, mother Joan, an admin
istrative coordinator at First
Union and brother Gerald - had
a hand in helping Matkins
decide. TTien they swore them
selves to secrecy until it was
time to tell the world.
“It’s been one of the great
experiences of our lives,” Joan
Matkins said. “This last week
has been chaotic. After we took
our visit a couple of weeks ago,
we probably knew then where
Keith would be attending col
lege, so it was hard keeping it
under a cap for a week.”
“Coach Scott and his staff
have laid out a foundation for
winning. I want to play and be a
part of the building of the col
lege of champions.”
Besides South Carolina’s
emergence in football and bas
ketball, Matkins said he was
impressed by the school’s acade
mic programs. He hopes to
major in physical education and
become a teacher or coach when
his playing days end. From his
first visit to the Columbia cam
pus, the USC family - including
President John Palms - treated
him like family.
“South Carolina just wel
comed me,” he said. “The
moment I stepped on the cam
pus, it was like We want you,
we W8mt you to play both
sports.”
Hearing that, apparently, was
worth the wait.
QB still has a date with destiny
Continued from 1B
'Then there’s the legacy of West
Charlotte, which could also be
renamed Quarterback High.
'The list is impressive in just the
last five years alone: Pep
Hamilton won the black college
national championship last sea
son at Howard. David Green
started and struggled with a
winless Duke squad. Benny
Council, who led West Charlotte
to the state championship in
1995, is catching passes as a
North Carolina receiver.
“Tve learned a lot from top
players in the past,” Matldns
said. “They get you ready for
games.”
Now there’s Matkins, who
feels it’s an honor to be following
a long line of passing Lions. In a
way, his success is theirs, and
vice versa. You can’t afford to
slide at Quarterback High.
“I can’t let those guys down,”
Matldns said. “I can’t let my
fiiends and family and commu
nity down. I hope to be a great
quarterback at the University of
South Carolina, make my fami
ly and fiiends proud.”
Opponents will be proud this
fall, too, especially if they nail
Matkins and the West
Charlotte. The Lions are usual
ly the standard for football
excellence in this neck of the
woods, and Matkins’ reputation
will surely make him a target of
everyone’s best effort.
“I don’t mind having that pres
sure on me,” he said. “I saw
what it was like for Steve
(Shipp, a Florida-bound receiver
who played at WCHS) last year
and how he handled it. I enjoy
the challenge.”
Not that Matkins won’t have
some help. West Charlotte’s
loaded again, especially on
offense, where the points pile up
quicker than O.J. Simpson
sightings. If the Lions’ defense is
stout, Matkins could elevate
himself finm can’t-miss prospect
to prep legend.
I think we’ve got a chance to
win the state championship,” he
says. “We have a pretty young
team this year, but we’re fast.
We’ve got players like Reggie
Blackmon, Rashad Hair and
Derrick Green. 'Those are top
players.”
And so is Keith Matkins,
Quarterback High’s main man.
Doby remembers
breaking barriers
By David Maraniss
THE WASHINGTON POST
Johnson C. Smith hoop eamp July 20-25
. . By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
r-.. Young basketball players can
.pick up a few tips at Johnson
. C. Smith’s annual basketball
^ camp July 20-25.
The camp, which features col-
, lege players and coaches as
instructors, will be held at
Brayboy Gym on the Smith
campus. Registration is July 20
from 4-6 p.m. at Brayboy and
the jirst session will begin at
6:30 p.m. Campers will be
housed at Greenfield Hall,
where a full-time residence
hall director will be present.
Activities will be supervised
by JCSU men’s coach Steve
Joyner and his staff, college
players and successful high
school coaches from the
Charlotte area.
Day sessions only are $175,
which includes insurance, a T-
shirt and awards as well as
lunch and dinner. Overnight
campers’ fee is $240 and
includes breakfast.
Campers will also participate
in Shoot for the Stars, a train
ing program that emphasizes
the development of positive
role models. The program
enhances awareness, promotes
changes in attitude and con
tributes to development in self-
concept, communication skills,
refusal skills, problem solving
and academics.
Shoot for the Stars will be
conducted by Wally Jones, a
former Philadelphia 76ers play
er and Miami Heat player.
For more information, call
378-1206.
There is only one person alive
who knows what it was like to
be a black ballplayer integrat
ing the white world of the
major leagues during the his
toric summer of 1947. If you are
young or only a casual follower
of baseball, perhaps you have
not heard of him.
Larry Doby is 72 years old
now, and his calm manner
seems out of style in this
unsporting age of self-obses
sion. He is neither a celebrity
nor the stuff of myth, simply a
quiet hero with an incompara
ble story to tell.
This season, as the national
pastime commemorates the
50th anniversary of the break
ing of the color line, the atten
tion has focused inevitably on
the first black player of the
modem era, Jackie Robinson,
who shines alone in baseball
history as the symbol of pride
against prejudice. But Doby
was there, too, blazing his own
trail later that same year. He
was brought up by the
Cleveland Indians on July 5,
1947, three months after
Robinson broke in with the
Brooklyn Dodgers. Some of the
strange and awful things that
happened to No. 42 in the
National League happened to
No. 14 in the Americkn League
as well.
“I think I’m ahead of a lot of
people because I don’t hate and
I’m not bitter,” Doby says softly
now. He has spent a lifetime
“turning negatives into posi
tives,” but he is also sharp and
direct in pointing out what he
considers to be myths sur
rounding the events of a half-
century ago.
Jackie Robinson in death has
gone the way of most American
martyrs, transformed from an
outsider stmggling against the
prevailing culture into a legend
embraced by it. In the retelling
of his legend it sometimes
sounds asthough most people
always loved him. Doby knows
better. He was there and he
remembers. After that first sea
son, he and Robinson barn
stormed the country with
Negro leagues all-stars. They
rarely discussed their common
experience in white baseball
(“no need to, we both knew
what the situation was”), but a
few times late at night they
stayed up naming the players
in each league who were giving
them problems because they
were black.
It was a long list.
“Many people in this world
live on lies. Know what amazes
me today?” Doby asks, his deep
voice rising with the first rush
of emotion. “How many fHends
Jackie Robinson had 50 years
ago! All of a sudden everyone is
his best friend. Wait a minute.
Give me a break, will you. I
knew those people who were
his friends. I knew those people
who were not his friends. Some
of them are still alive. I know.
And Jack, he’s in heaven, and I
bet he turns over a lot of times
when he hears certain things or
sees certain things or reads cer
tain things where these people
say they were his friends.”
Playing and traveling in the
big leagues that year was a
grindingly lonely job for the two
young black men. Which leads
to Doby’s second shattered
myth: the notion that
Robinson, by coming first, could
somehow smooth the way for
him.
“Did Jackie Robinson make it
easier for me?” Doby laughs at
See DOBY on page 4A
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Charlotte Sting center-forward Sharon Manning looks to get off a shot against the Los Angeles
Sparks’ Lisa Leslie. Manning is a valuable reserve for the Sting, who face Cleveland Sunday at 5
p.m. at Charlotte Coliseum.
Manning settles into role
Valuable substitute for Sting
Continued from 1B
helped her settle down. 'Their
encouragement has been to
stick with the fundamentals
for a team that’s still learn
ing.
“Rhonda and Vicky have
been talking to me and they
were saying “‘when you come
in, just relax and just give us
what you’ve got,”’ Manning
said. “That really helps my
confidence level knowing they
want me to score and play
defense.”
“Sharon is a great player,
but Sharon gets nervous at
times,” Charlotte guard
Andrea Stinson said. “Once
Sharon gets settled down, she
plays hard. She stops the silly
fouls and makes great moves
and rebounds. She concen
trates.”
Coming off the bench is dif
ficult, Manning said. After six
seasons of starting in Europe,
Manning’s biggest adjust
ment in the WNBA has been
the reduction in minutes.
Instead of picking spots to
become a factor, she has to get
into the flow earlier and sus
tain it.
“Tm still trying to get used
to that,” she said. “I played
six years overseas and over
seas you play 40 minutes a
game, so I’m still trying to get
used to coming off the bench
and playing five minutes (at a
time).”
Against Los Angeles, for
instance. Manning lived up to
the promise that made her a a
four-year starter at N.C.
State and a star for six years
in Europe. Stinson,
Charlotte’s best player, told
her to relax and have some
fun. Now, Manning is doing
more of it.
“I told her to go out there
and have fun, settle down and
play your game. Don’t let
them dictate what you’re
going to do.”
CAR RENTAL
SOUTH BOULEVARD LOCATION
Special Weekend
Rate
Rates starting at
*78.
32
6400 C. South Blvd. (Next door to Harrelson Ford.)
643-1111
Airport Number 359-4640
Local teams master N.C. AAU meet
>rContlnued from IB
~ the nation last season, will try to
. - win a second AAU national title.
^ - TTie Striders’ Duan Barrino,
. Kevin Chambers and Donand
_ Beamer swept the 100 meters for
13-14 year-olds and with team-
mate Charles Grant, won the 400
meters with a clocking of 46.21
seconds, more than three seconds
better than the second-place
Flight. Barrino had an excellent
meet, winning the 100 in 11.66
and taking second in the 200
(24.12) and long jump (18 feet).
Beamer was first in the 200 at
23.44 seconds and second in the
100 at 11.75 seconds.
Fred Staton was impressive in
the 15-16 division for the Flight,
winning the 100 in 10.94 and 200
in 22.49, as well as a couple of
relays. 'The Charlotte Coimtry
Day sophomore anchored the 400
relay team that finished first in
42.79 seconds and 1600 relay at 3
minutes, 32.22 seconds.
Specializing in Special Occasions
Individualized
attention to detail
Accommodate
rehearsal dinners
for 30 to
full receptions
for 100
Rooms available
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Facilities
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Personally
designed menus