Pat’s Peckings By NEALE PATRICK Mountaineers Met Toughest First As in baseball where three strikes are ouft, let’s take our three swings at a trio of sports items: Coach Don Parker of the Mountaineers wonders who is responsible for making-out the schedule sequence for his basketball team ... Don knows, of course, that South west teams usually follow the same order each year, but he would like to know why it had to happen that way this year. He’s referring to the fact that his young and untested team was forced to open its league card against the top four teams In the Standings, Liftcolnton, Central, Belmont and Shelby, that being, roughly, the reverse order of the four leading clubs in the circuit . . . The Mountaineers learned their lessons the hard way, early. “How does the schedule maker expect our Sophomores and youngsters to gain the right kind of experience being tossed against the veteran teams the first thing?” Don wants to know. If it be any consolation to the Mountaineer mentor, the order of appearances for the foes probably will chan ge drastically next year When Chase High School comes in to the SWC, replacing Tri-High and ClifMde . . . The new school, you know, already has revised the sequence of opponents for the Mountaineer football team. Then, too, next year figures to find things a bit diff erent, with Shelby and Belmont losing their senior teams and due to be weaker . . . And unless we miss our guess, the Mountaineers will a tougher aggregation when the present sohps and juniors mature into veteran perform ers. Coach Bill Bates team also faced moSt-of-the-best first, the opening league games against perennial power Lincolnton and Central, teams running two-three in the SWC . . . Pace Setter Tri-High came last on the list for the first round . . . And, too, the Mountaineers had their bap tism on the season against Beth ware, merely the best girls team in Cleveland County. Shelby Get Jr. Baseball Jump Shelby, first in the 'State in Legion junior baseball for the past two summers, comes up as the first in this area, at least, to name its coach for this season . . . And who else but Pop Simmons . . . And who handed out the report last summer that the Lattimore school master was planning to retire from the Legion baseball coaching ranks? Pop not only returns, but has his same helper from last year, Bill Metcalfe from Caroleen Tri-High, Who pro bably will be accompanied to Shelby again this summer by his ace southpaw pitcher, Buddy Phillips . . . The big hurler and Junior Green, you recall, were the centers of controversy last season when they accompanied their high school mentor to Shelby, instead of playing with their home county entry. Will this turn out to be another summer of hassles and bickerings over ball players sought by two or more Legion posts? ... Or Will it be a nice, quiet season with the action on the field instead of behind closed doors? . .. Shelby Legion officials, in fact, already have cast their bread upon the waters that “Releases” of players from one team to another are all well-and-good in keeping the boys satisfied ... Well, that’s a new twist. Shelby also plans to seek a national rule change re garding teams “picking-up” players for playoff games . . . This, obviously traces back to the Regional tournament last summer when Shelby shuttered when it learned that Memphis had added bona-fide ball players after the Mem phis city Legion race . . . Shelby folks had the mistaken idea that their boys were playing against a Memphis all star team. Back to the area coaching business, Ken Alexander reports in the Gastonia Gazette that Bill Wilhelm, the Clemson College coach, definitely will not be back at the helm of the Gastonia juniors. Be brave through this winter weather . . . summer can’t be far away when Legion baseball begins creeping into the sports talk. Last Second Heroics In Big 4 If you know your rule book, you know that college basketball games are scheduled for 40 minutes duration . . . But the teams could dispense with the first 39 minutes and 50 seconds and come out with the same results around the Big Four of the Ole North State this winter. No less than five games involving the Big Four teams have been settled in the last ten seconds of the game . . . And to show the further futility of playing the first nine tenths of the games, two overtime battles also have seen last second heroics. State and Duke have been making a habit of settling the issues in the final seconds . . . The Wblfpack beat Maryland, 55-53, on Lou Pucillo’s Shot in the last two sec onds, and beat Clemson, 56-54, on Dan Englehardt’s bucket in the final eight seconds. The Blue Devils have won two games and lost one with the grand total of 11 seconds remaining on the clock . . . Duke lost to Clemson, 56-55, on a goal by Walt Gibbons with seven seconds to play . . . And the Blue Devils rever sed the proseedure, beating Wake Forest, 58-57, on a goal by John Frye with three seconds remaining .. . And How ard Hurt scored three foul Shots (two personals and one technical) in the final second as Duke beat Louisville, 67 64 in the Dixie Classic. As if overtimes were not strain enough, Big Four rivals have stretched the victory tighter with more last second business . . . State beat Wake Forest in a double overtime after Pucillo tied it with three seconds to play in the first extra period .. . And Lee Shaffer sank a goal in the last 20 seconds and Harvey Salz hit two foul tosses with a second left in Carolina’s 72-68 battle with State K.M. With Late Rany Student-Faculty Cage Tilts Set Friday Students and faculty at Cen tral High School will swap the "Three R’s” for two-podnt field goals in the annual varsity - (teachers basketball game at Centred High Gym Friday night at 7 o’clock. The Mountaineer varsity boys wiU play the men teach ers to be coached by W. F. Powell, and the Junior High School girls will meet the wo men teachers coached by Mrs. Betty Gamble. The annual student-faculty cage game Which always is one of the highlights for local basketball fans is sponsored by the local unit of the NCEA, with all proceeds from the game going to that unit Ad mission will be 50 cents for a dults and 30 cents for stu dents. Varsity teams oopped both the games with the teachers last year, the boys l)y 43-40 and the girls 29-24. Mr. Powell has rounded up the coaches and teachers for his men’s team, which will in clude Don Parker, Fred With ers, John Gamble, Bill Bates, Lawson Brown, Bill George, Ben Goforth, Bob Kennedy, Carl McWhirter, William Cleere, Tom Poston and John Lutz. Mrs. Gamble also has a len gthy list of teachers planning to play against the junior high lassies. They include: Mrs. Wanza Davis, Mrs. Ann Withers, Mrs. GayneUe Ladl, Mrs. J. Patterson, Mrs. Bill Ba tes, Miss Elizabeth Collette, Miss Patricia Hayes, Miss Mar garet Mclver, Mrs. Juanita Lo gan, Mrs. Doris Eaker, Miss Jackie Blanton, Mrs. Marjorie Hall, and Miss Sara Biggers. Five teachers also will lead the faculty cheering section, the cheer leaders being Miss Marie Lineberger, Miss Jean ette Scoggins, Mrs. Josephine Weir, Miss Kitty Lou Sutton, and Mrs. Margaret PowelL Fred Plonk, chairman of the school board, and Bruce Thor bum, president of the Central PTA, will officiate the games. Bethware Scores Two Wins Over Grover Gagers Beth ware nabbed a couple of victories over Grover Tuesday might, the league-leading girls winning by a 57-35 score and the Buccaneers scoring, a 58-43 win. The win was the 12th straight in the Cleveland County Confer - encve for Mrs. Ellen Powell’s pace-setters which were led Tuesday night by Barbara Gam ble with 23 points and Paye Bo lin with 20. Gloria Huffstetler tallied 24 for Grover. Four of the five starters hit in the double-digits for the Beth ware boys, led by Jerry Wright’s 15 and Dean Burton’s 14. Wen dell White led Grover with 12. Bethware will be host to Falls ton Friday and will go to Polk ville next Tuesday. Grover plays at Kings Moun tain Thursday night and travels to Waco next Tuesday. Bathware (57) F F. Bolin 20 F N. Hamrick 14 F Gamble 23 G Cranford G S. Falls G J. Hamrick GIRLS Grover (35) Huffstetler 24 Batchelor 7 Goforth 4 Stewart Mayhew Wilson Subs: Bethware — M. Hamrick, Herr don, R. Falls, Panther. P. Bolin, Smitt McSwain. Grover — Wright. Halftime score: Bethware 30, Grover Z BOYS Grover (43) Huffstetler 4 White 12 Neal 8 Wattersdn S Crocker 8 Carroll, Biddix 4, Dto Bethware (58) F Wright 15 F Edwards 12 C Anthony 11 G Webster 2 G Burton 14 Subs: Bethware ver. Grover — C. Green 8, Mullinax 1. Halftime score: Bethware 21, Grover 20, Reporter: Kim Cashion. Gun Club Defeats Guard With Rifle The Universal Gun Club won its second straight match from the Kings Mountain National Guard in 22-calibre indoor rifle competition here last Wednes day night. The Gun Club posted a score of 485 and team average of 97, while the Guard had a 475 sco re and a 95 team average. Frank Sikes and Jesse Price fired scores of 98 for the Gun Club, with T. W. Bryant scoring 97, and Floyd Willis and Fain Hambilght 96 each for the win ners. M/Sgt. Preston Holt andM/Sgt. Willis Clark posted scores of 97 each to lead the Guard. Oapt. Humes Houston and Cpl. Bill Morgan shot scores of 94 each, and Cpl. Floyd Peterson a 93. Gamble And Wright Pace Bethware Wins Bethware basketball teams put two more victories on their victory chart Friday night, de feating Bel wood in two games, the girls by 58-47 and the boys by 47-32. Barbara Gamble led the Beth ware girls with 27 points, with Norma Hamrick adding 15 and Faye Bolin 14. Julia Beam paced Bel wood with 29. Jerry Wright with 15 and Dean Burton’s 12 led the Buccaneers, and Ken Willis tallied 11 for Belwood. MOUNTAINEER NEWCOMERS — Two newcomers to Kings Moun tain are lending a hand to the Mountaineer basketball team this winter, Tammy Watson and Bobby Goodson, left to right. Watson moved here from Maiden and Goodson from Belmont. The rangy Goodson has been a regular all season for the Mountaineers, but missed a recent game due to a badly sprained ankle. Watson also was a starter in one game this season. (Herald Photo by Pennington Studio) Four Of Mountaineer Iron Men' Score In Double-Digits In Loss The Mountaineers found their offense up and their defenses down in the 59-49 loss to Forest City here last Friday night The 49 points was the top fig ure by the Mountaineers in the first ten games of the season, but it proved in vain as Forest City matched the biggest score again. 1 st Kings Mountain this year, Bel. mont also hitting 59. Thus, the Mountaineers counted their six th league loss in seven starts. Forest City’s defending SWC champion girls made it a clean sweep with a 47-39 win in the opener. Five “iron men” went all the way for the Mountaineers in'the loss, and four hit in the double digits in scoring for the best-bal anced and top scoring attack of the season for Coach Don Park er’s outfit. Soph Chip Thorbum led with 16 points, trailed by Jimmy Blanton with 11, and Don Fisher and James Robbs with 10 each. Making a battle of it all the way, the Mountaineers led on two different occasions and tied the score three times during the second half. The Mountaineers never trailed by more than four or five points throughout the game with the ten-point spread at the end being the biggest margin between the teams for the contest. Tailing by 33-28 at halftime, the Mountaineers rallied for sev en straight points to take the lead at 35-33 on Fisher’s shot, and regained the lead again mo K. M. Cagers Meet Grover Tonight, Resume SWC Action Next Tuesday Mountaineer basketball teams take a mid-season break from Southwest Conference action Thursday night, meeting county rival Grover here, then pitch-into the last half of the league chase next Tuesday at Ldncolnton. The game with Grover has been carded for Thursday night so ithat the anuual student-fac ulty game can be played on Fri day. The varsity boys team will meet the men teachers and coa ches and the junior higli girls will play the women teachers in the always-poplar affair at Cen tral ■ High Gym. Kings Mountain's pair of clubs completed the first half of their Southwest Conference season here Tuesday night against Car oleen Tri-high, and will face the same eight loop foes following Thursday’s tussle with Grover. The Mountaineers split their first double-header with Coach Preston Holt’s Grover teams in December, the K. M. girls losing by 31-28, with the local boys winning their first of the season in that one, 30-27. A brother-sister team o