Medlin 'Round in Sports
BY CHARLES E. MEDLIN
How An Athlete Finishes First
There is a lack of sportsmanship among the many
people who enjoy sporting activities as spectators and
participants. Sportsmanship is playing hard to win a
game, but losing graciously if you should lose. Good
sportsmanship involves such matters as fair play, ac
ceptance of the rules that govern the game, courtesy
and respecting your opponent.
Perhaps you have read where spectators at college
and high school basketball games attack referees, where
coaches complain publicly that their teams lost because
of the officiating, where hometown or college crowds
stone visiting team’s buses. These people give their
teams and their towns a reputation of being bad sports!
Basketball, an exciting game, tends to build hysteria
that makes people forget that sportsmanship is still part
of the game. If one is unable to discipline himself prop
erly he should refrain from attending the games.
Once a referee was chased by an enraged mob fol
lowing a game. After the referee had reached the street,
the pursuing mob accidently trampled a three-year-old
girl who was an innocent bystander. She will remain a
cripple for the rest of her life. Sports has no place for
mob violence of this nature. Play to win, but lose
graciously.
Two small town high school teams were playing a
championship game. The game was very close. Prior to
the final whistle, with the score tied, the referee called
a foul on the home team. The opposing player stepped to
the foul line to take his foul shot that would decide the
game. He made it! The local fans made a rush for the
referee. Suddenly the star of the home team stepped in
front of the ensuing mob. The mob stopped when the star
told them, “the kids of this team are ashamed of you.”
They stood there for a few seconds and dispersed.
These incidents made certain people stop and think
about their conduct at sporting events. Maybe we should
instigate a program to award “good sportsmanship med
als.” More important, make sure you conduct yoursf If
at all sporting events, whether as a participant or a
spectator, in a manner that will reflect favorably upon
your school and your family.
Gymnastics Should be at Chowan
Chowan College should have a supervised gymnastic
program. Since a number of students do not participate
in any kind of athletics there is possibly a lack of proper
physical conditioning among many of our students and
our faculty.
Gymnastics is a rigorous sport requiring both phy
sical dexterity and mental alertness. Once one be
comes proficient in gymnastics he probably is better
conditioned and more alert than most athletes.
There are some 700 students at Chowan College and
the majority of them take physical education. The stu
dents that can say that they participate in the competi
tive sports are approximately 45 students in football,
approximately 20 in basketeball, approximately 20 in
baseball, approximately 30 on the track team and 8 on
the tennis team. So, if you total these up you will
come out with approximately 125 students. Then to add
to this we can keep in mind that there are some of
these students participating in more than one sport and
this will cut the overall number down. After this has been
done there are approximately 500 students left that need
to have some physical exertion in their physical educa
tion program.
Coach Garrison has said that the main reason for
Chowan not having a gymnastic program was because
of the lack of facilities. He said that the physical educa
tion department had only two instructors and they were
both coaches and this caused many conflicts which
would prevent proper instruction for gymnastics at Cho
wan. We feel that there should be a gymnastic program
set up, which would permit students that don’t take part
in a competitive sport to have physical evertion in their
physical education program. This we feel will make the
individual student feel he is a part of the athletic pro
grams that are carried on at Chowan. We could also say
that a gymnastic program would expand the physical
education department at Chowan and would possibly en
courage students to enter Chowan College in the future.
CHOWAN TRACK TEAM—The Chowan team finished the season at a tri-anguiar track meet in
second place. Members of the team from left to right are: Pete Britton, Paul Haskins, John Irby,
Jerry Martin, Buddy Horton, David Holey, Lee Boise, Ed Hale, and Bobby Jones. From left to right
on the back row are Bernard Murden, Calvin Deemer, Ed Harper, Barry Horner, Dale Smith, Hank
Marriot, Gilbert Willie and Ronnie Jones.
Track Season Ends Successfully
The Chowan track team
closed out their season Friday
May 4, by placing 2nd to the
Newport News Apprentice
School in a triangular meet
which also involved Fredrick
College of Portsmouth.
John Irby, who was undefeat
ed in the mile and 880 yard run
this season, was the top Brave
scorer in the meet winning
both of his specialities.
In the high jump Buddy Hor
ton placed first with a jump of
5’ 9” followed by Hank Mar
riott, who took second, and
Pete Britton who finished in
a three way tie for third.
In the relay Chowan was first
with the team of Britton, Bobby
Jones, Jerry Martin, and
Bernard Murden.
Other first place winners
from Chowan were Bobby
Jones in the broad jump and
Eddie Harper who won the hun
dred yard dash in 10.5 and
placed second in the 220.
After losing their opening
meet to William and Mary
Freshmen in Williamsburg the
Braves opened their home
track season by trouncing the
Ferrum Panthers by a score
of 96-35.
Del Smith and John Irby
were the only double winners
in the meet, Smith winning the
shot put with a heave of 40’ 5”
and the discus at 113’ 9”. Irby
won the mile in 4 minutes 55
seconds and the 880 in 2 min
utes and 6 seconds.
Pete Brtton won the javelin
with a throw of 154’ 11” and
placed in a three way tie in
the high jump with Buddy
Horton of Chowan and Brown
of Ferrum.
Other first place finishes for
the Braves in this one-sided
meet were: Gilbert Willy
(Broad jump), Ronnie Jones
(440), Jerry Martin (100), Ber
nard Murden (220) and the re
lay team of Bucky Wise, Mur
den, Irby and Ronnie Jones.
The Braves track team
traveled to Fetzer Field in
Chapel Hill April 17, where
they lost to U.N.C. Freshmen
by a score of 85-52.
The Braves could only man
age to win 4 events against the
Baby Tar Heels, one of those a
tie in the high jump between
Buddy Horton and Hank
Marriott.
The home team proved to
be stronger in the long run
distances by sweeping the mile
and two mile runs.
Gilbert Willy and Lee Boyce
finished 1-2 in the high hurdles
and John Irby won the 880 in
a fine time of 2:01.4. The only
other first place finish for the
Braves was in the pole vault
in which Ed Hale won at 9 feet.
In a Triangular meet at Ra
leigh April 28, the Braves fin
ished third behind N.C. State
and Wake Forest Freshman
teams.
The only Brave victory was in
the 880 yard run where Irby
ran a second breaking time
of 1:58.
The Relay team of Murden,
Harper, Willie and Martin fin
ished second and fourth in the
low and high hurdles
respectively.
HIGH JUMP—Buddy Horton clears the high jump bar at 5 ft. 8 in.
for the Chowan track team. The team was competing against
Ferrum Junior College.
MURDEN FINISHES FIRST—Chowan takes first and second place
with Bernard Murden and Jerry Martin in a thrilling race against
Ferrum.
THE CHOWANIAN