Trouble spot for Heels
Saturday, October 23, 1976 The Daily Tar Heel 5
ECU now first-class for recruits
( " "N
will wilson
East Carolina has become quite a nemesis for North Carolina in the past few
years. In the last two meetings, the Pirates narrowly missed a win, 28-27, and put a
whipping on UNC, 38-17.
But ECU, especially with a victory today, could become a nemesis in another
way on the recruiting front. For many eastern and central North Carolina and
southeastern Virginia high school football players, Greenville is becoming a place to
go to school and play football not just after being rejected by other schools, but as a
first choice instead.
Most of the players currently on the Pirate roster, such as quarterback Mike
Weaver and runningbacks Willie Hawkins and Eddie Hicks, played prep football
within 150 miles of Greenville, and were not recruited by such schools as UNC and
N.C. State. These players have adopted the motto "those skinny-legged kids" in
reference to what the "big" colleges told them when they handed them their rejection
slips.
But several of the best from the area were recruited by others, and did go to other
schools, including past standouts as Michigan State's Jimmy Ray, UNC's Danny
Talbott and Paul Miller and N.C. State's Freddie Combs, Willie Burden and
Charley Young, and current stars Al Hunter of Notre Dame, Mike Voight of UNC,
and A. W. Jenkins of N.C. State.
For many years, East Carolina was not even considered when athletic or
academic prestige was spoken of. People that graduated from "ECTC" (East
Carolina Teachers College) were not like those from the "better" schools that
displayed bumper stickers and the like telling the world where their loyalties lie.
But now, there is a bumper sticker which can be seen in numerous places around
Greenville and eastern North Carolina. It reads, "ECU 38, UNC 17." Yes, the
alumni have come out of the closet to tell anyone who will listen where they went to
school.
A benefactory of all this enthusiasm is certain to be the school's athletic fund
raising organization, the Pirates Club. With more money for scholarships, the
Football in the sunlight:
here to stay at Kenan
recruiting program, both in football and in all other sports, will get bigger and better
organized.
East Carolina's physical facilities are being improved in a hurry. Last year, a
lighting and electrical system that many technicians have called the best in the state
was installed. Before next season begins, Ficklen Stadium is scheduled to be
expanded from the present 20,000 seats to 40,000, thus enabling the scheduling of
teams like UNC and State at Greenville.
With continued wins over in-state opponents, East Carolina will pick up more
and more of the outstanding high school players in the area, maybe even the best
ones. Those loyal alumni will start using their influence such as those of other
schools have done for years. Those widespread bumper stickers will have their
effect, also. The improved facilities will play a major role.
Some of these factors have already come into play, witness the selection of players
for the East-West All-Star game this past summer in Greensboro. More of the
players chose to go to East Carolina than any other school.
It would seem then that East Carolina will only get better as the years go by, with
fewer of the best area players going elsewhere. With the cutting off of that part of the
state from UNC's recruiting area just as the western part of the state is being
affected by the rise of Appalachian State and Western Carolina, Tar Heel coaches
will be forced to go to their Virginia sources even more heavily than they have done
in the past.
The best hope for North Carolina is that Virginia never gets rolling as ECU has.
because the Cavaliers would certainly start to pick up more of their state's players.
Because, in the eyes of this year's high schoolers, East Carolina is in the big time to
stay.
by Skip Foreman
Staff Writer
Editor's note: This article was
prepared in response to the question
raised recently by several students about
the possibility of playing night games in
Kenan Stadium.
On November 24, 1927, Kenan
Stadium was opened for its first football
game ever. It was set in a natural bowl
surrounded by a green backdrop of pine
trees. The dedicatory program said the
stadium was designed "to adapt the
structure to the natural forest and
stream beauty of the location."
Not much has changed. The beauty
and the pageantry are still there, an
upper deck has been added, and a lot of
water-base paint has brightened the
decor of Kenan. However, unlike most
modern sports stadia in the nation,
Kenan has not made the conversion to
nighttime football by artificial lighting.
Chances are, there won't be any lighting
in our, or anyone else's, lifetime.
Carolina football has been a daytime
tradition for 49 years. The stadium was
a gift from the late industrialist William
Rand Kenan on Nov. 13, 1926. Kenan
donated the sum of $275,000 for the
construction of the stadium as a
memorial to his mother and father. The
football team went on almost exactly
one year after the donation, to defeat
Davidson, 27-0, on opening day.
No one knows for sure where the
provision for no lights occurs, whether
in the will of Mr. Kenan, or from the
wishes of the family, but most anyone in
the athletic department will tell you that
there are no lights in Kenan's future.
"The stadium is so beautiful and
natural that it would be a sin to put
anything artificial there," said Rick
Brewer, Carolina sports information
director.
"There is no stadium more beautiful
than Kenan in the fall. The stadium
would lose all effects if lights were
installed," Brewer said.
Whi the late Mr. Kenan did mandate
in his will is that there will be nothing to
obliterate thcpines standing behind the
stadium, which is why the upper deck
addition wasn't made until the trees had
reached such a height so that they could
be seen over the upper deck. The natural
effect of the area would have to be
sacrificed in order for lights to be
installed.
Unless the NCAA passes legislation
to make college football a nighttime
event, it will remain primarily a daytime
event. And as far as Carolina is
concerned, daytime is fine.
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