Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / March 23, 1961, edition 1 / Page 2
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Peckings By NEALE PATRICK Deacs' Heart Willing, Flesh Weak The flame finally burned out on the Miracle of Wake Forest. The heart was willing, but the fire was out and the flesh was weak as the greatest chapter in Deacon basket ball history ended in the finals of the Eastern NCAA reg ional at Charlotte Coliseum on Saturday night. The 96-86 loss to St. Josephs of Philadelphia ended the Miracle of Wake Forest which flamed first in the ACC tournament two weeks before, and continued through comeback wins over St. Johns and St. Bonaventure. That all proved too much for the Deacons. And no one knew it better than Coach Bones McKinney. "I sensed early that things were not well with us,” said the tall Deacon master of Saturday night’s championship game, “Even in the afternoon, I had a feeling that things would be tougher than others thought . . . Everyone thought we had it, the players thought so, the press thought so, the airlines thought so. “We had beaten three other clubs which thought they were on the way to Kansas Cit>'’, said Bones of the Dea cons consecutive wins over Duke, St. Johns and St. Bona venture, “And everyone thought we were on the way . . . and this is not to say the club was overconfident ... In their minds, the boys thought they could win. “But we were washed out ... we were shot . . . One time Dave Weideman came out of the game and told me that his legs just wouldn’t move ... It was the same with Chappell and Packer and all of them .. . they were shot. . . they wanted to win and thought they could . . . but they couldn’t react physically.” Down by 20 points at the halftime, some of the opti mistic among the Deacon followers still had the bubble of hope that the club could make another of their recently patented comebacks. One optimistic follower reminded: “Wake Forest trail ed St. John’s by ten at halftime, and won by 23. . . that’s a 33-point difference, and they should make-up-a 20-point deficit.” It wasn’t to be, however. St. Joe’s was a basketball smart outfit, with marvelous shooting ability and the ca pacity for avoiding mistakes. Mistakes Cancelled Ticket to KC The Deacons were hot shooters, even in the loss, hit ting 48.6 pei’cent of their shots (33 for 68) compared to the Hawks’ 49.3 percent (36 for 73). And Wake out-rebound ed St. Joe’s 43-to-33, and that usually is the tipoff on the winner. This time, however, mistakes cancelled the Deacons plane tickets to Kansas City. Particularly, during the stretch of the second ten min utes of the fii’st half, the Deacons made errors after errors as they slipped from a 20-18 deficit to the halftime score of 48-28. The Deacs were outscored 28-10 in the last 11 min utes of the half, mainly because Wake Forest lost the ball on bad passes, violations, etc., before getting the chance to shoot. In one stretch, the Deacons lost the ball on errors six consecutive times down the court, and St. Joe convert ed the six mistakes into six straight field goals. In the first half, Wake hit 50-percent of its shots, St. Joe 47.7, but the Deacons trailed by 20 points. One side note on statistics reveals that the Deacons made 30 ball-handling errors in the game, and St. Joseph’s converted them into 28 points. In contrast, the Hawks made 11 ball-loss errors in the game. McKinney told that his club, naturally had hope despite the big halftime deficit and he revealed his halftime stra tegy. “I told the boys not to go back out there and try to wipe out the 20-point lead in the first couple of minutes of the second half ... I told they that if they could cut the St. Joe lead to eight or ten points midway in the second half that we would be back in business . . . Well, we trim med it down to 12 points and I felt we were alright. “But then we got in such a big hurry, we threw the ball away some more, and St. Josephs got a couple of quick snowbirds on our defensive lapses.” St. Joheph's Enthusiasm Erupts For St. Joseph, the NCAA triumph was a happy end ing to a long hard fight for the Hawks in the Charlotte Coliseum. Coach Jack Ramsey’s outfit had lost six straight ga mes in the Big Dome before defeating Princeton and Wake Forest enroute to Kansas City. This was the fourth tourna ment in which the Hawks had participated in Charlotte and the first time they have come out on the winning side of the ledger. St. Joe’s first showed-up in one of the old Carrousel tournaments, winning its first start that season, defeating Davidson. Then they lost the next two in that three-day affair. Then came the NCAA tournament in the past two years, the Hawks losing two straight each time. Thus they came into the 1961 showdown with a one-and-six record in the Coliseum. Ramsey and his happy players couldn’t control their enthusiasm as the game faded into the final seconds. With live seconds to play, the score standing at the tinal count of 96-86, little James Lynum, a dribbling dem on, went to the line for a foul shot. But before he made his attempt, the Hawks on the floor and on the bench went be serk. It looked like New Year’s eve on Times Square. Play ers were leaping in the air, waving their arms and scream ing. The stopper was out of the bottle of enthusiasm. Ramsey removed his sport jacket, holding it by the sleeve waving it above his head — and dipping it very close to mine. He was shouting “yoo-hoo” at the top of his lungs. As usual, restraint was not a part of Ramsev’s bas ketball being. He was rivaling Bones McKinney in puttine on a show. b Cheerleaders Joins Kimmel Household It’s a girl for former Moun taineer athletic great Jimmy Kimmel and Mrs. Cornelia Ware KimmelL The girl, named Marti Ann, was born Tuesday morning in a Greenwood, S. C. hospital. Jimmy is a coach at Red Springs High School, near Greenwood. The ^little girl is the second child for Jimmy and Cornelia, the other being a boy, three and half years of age. SWC Schools Plan League For Jr. Highs Mountaineer mentor John Gam ble is taking the lead in attemp ting to organize a Southwest ju nior high athletic conference for football and basketball. Seven of the eight schools in the circuit have agreed to field teams in the junior high circuit which would play six football games and 12 basketball contests within the league. Those seven schools agreeable to the conference for eighth and ninth' graders are, in addition to Kings Mountain, Oherryville, Bel mont, Lincolnrton, Forest City, R. S. Central, and Chase. Only Shelby dpes not plan to come into the junior high confer ence. Shelby is a member of a junior high league, along with Gastonia and Hickory teams, and prefers to remain in that group Cherryville and iBelmont also have played in the same confer ence, but have agreed'to with draw to set-up the league among Southwest Conference members. “The Conference will solve the problem of scheduling for junior high teams,” pointed out Gamble. “The plans call for the junior high teams to meet the day be fore the varsity teams of the same schools play.” In football, for instance, the. junior high ciuhs from two schools would meet the Thursday prior to the Friday night tussle between the varsity teams. In basketball, the junior high games on Monday would be be tween the schools playing a var sity encounter on Tuesday, and junior high contests on Thurs day before the Friday big broth er games. The schedules would call for | one game each against the oth er members of the Conference in football, and a home and-home agreement in basketball. > Tennis Team Hunts Matches Coach John Gamble is experi encing difficulty in arranging a tennis schedule for his Mourtain eers. Kings Mountain and Shelby are the only two schools in the eight team Southwest Conference with tennis teams this spring, and the two matches with the Lions are the only ones on the card to date. Gamble also has attempted to arrange matches with Gastonia and Charlotte schools, but they have full slates in their own con ferenct. The golfers normally play their matches on the same dates and against the same opponents being met by the golf team, but three teams in the Southwest Conference have only golf teams, and three of the schools do not field either tennis or links out fits. Fisher Slightly Hurt In Accident Don Fisher, a member of the Lenoir-Rhyne College Baseball team, was slightly injured in an automobile accident enroute to a game last week. The farmer Mountaineer star and several other Lenoir Rhyne players were involved in the wreck on the way to the diamond game at Belmont Abbey. Fisher received only slight cuts and bruises. The unhurt Bears play ed the game and defeated the Abbey. MOUNTAINEER GOLFERS TEE-OFF — Turk Falls, Molding a tro phy he won in a high school tournament at Shelby last spring, leads the Mountaineer golfers into their first match of the season at Lin colnton on Friday afternoon. The meet is the first action for the KMHS sports teams this spring. Mountaineer Giliers Open Spring Sports Card Friday At Uncolnton The golfers are the “first robin ! of spring” for Mountaineer ath | letic teams. They open the schedule for the ! four spring sports teams in Kings .Mountain High School, playing at Lincolnton on Friday after noon. The match between the j pair of Southwest Conference ri vals is scheduled over the Lin 1 coin County Country Club cour l se. The match is the opener on the still-incompleted schedule for the Mountaineer linksmen. Three other matches hate been arran ged with Southwest foes and at least four more meets will be added to the card. Lincolnton will return the gol fing visit, playing here on April 4. The only other matches now on the slate, as arranged by Coach John Gamble, are with Shelby, here on April 11 and there on April 20. iGarrible also will fill in two meets each with Belmont and R. S. Central, the only other two schools in the Southwest Confer ence with golf teams. Mountaineer golfers have been practicing over the Kings Moun tain Country club course for the past few weeks under the guid ance of club pro Percy Card who is giving free golf instruction to the members this spring. Six players will be picked from a squad tournament for the o pening meet at Lincolnton. The group of candidates in clude three lettermen, Turk: Falls, Franklin Dean and Robert Plonk. Others bidding for berths are John Stotereau, Donald Long, Trip Neisler and Donnie Free man. Tiack Team Opens Five-Meet Schedule At Shelby March 29 A schedule of five tri-angular meets has been arranged for the Kings Mountain High School track team. Coach John Gamble completed the slate this week with three of the meets scheduled here. The local meets will be held at the track field on the lower level of the athletic plant at the Deal Street Recreation area. All meets, home and away, are carded for 3:30 p. m. on Thursday after noons. i i The schedule opens in Shelby on March 29 with the Lions, Lin colmton and Hickory the other participants in addition to the Mountaineers. The first meet here is carded for the following Thursday, April 6, with Cherryville and QBelmont as the visitors. An April 13th meet in Gastonia is on the tentative list at the mo ment. The Mountaineers and Shel/by are scheduled to meetj New Coach Wilbur Kiser Counts Vets On Grover's Diamond Club New coaeh Wilbur Kiser as sumes the reigns as coach of the j Grover baseball team this spring with several veterans on hand' from the team which finished third in the South rone race of the old Cleveland County League last spring. This year, Grover moves into the Tri-County Conference with an eight game schedule, four at | home and four away, to be fol lowed by a playoff tournament 'between the top four finishers in the nine-team circuit. Kiser replaces Preston Holt at the helm of the Grover nine, and only three seniors graduated off; last year’s club. However, only a small delega ! tion of some 15 players are seek ing berths on the team and the returning vets have most of the positions wrapped up. C. B. Green, a big junior, will be the catcher for the second straight season and he provides much' of the hitting power for the Grover nine. Lewis Cook is ano ther catching hopeful. All three moundsmen off last year’s club return for the 1961 season. They are right-handers Gene Cash and Jackie Hughes and left-hander Richard Little. The trio handled most of the pit ching last year and Cash is back ; for his senior season.. The other two are sophomores and pitch-; ed impressive ball as freshmen last spring. t A quartet of players who saw! action last season are in line for the infield which lost only Billy j Crocker from its ranks. Butch Moss is in line for first base, with David Melton and Jack Mullinax forming the key- I stone combination. Buddy Rob-; inson is the likely starter at; third, with Jackie Rhaa also! seeking the post. i Several players who were! members ol the squad last year are bidding for outfield posts. They include Gary Collins, Steve Hefner, Gary Hambrigbt, Doyle Black and Gerald McDaniel. The latter also was a member of the Kings Mountain Legion juniors early last summer. The extra pitchers and catch ers on the club also a^e outfield candidates and some of' them will see action in the garden. “As you can see, we are short on material,’’ says Coach Kiser, “We have only about 15 out for the clulb. Several of the boys who probably could help us ride the bus or have to work and can’t play baseball.” , Grover won four games and lost six in the south zone of the Cleveland • County Conference last spring, with the freshmen and sophomores at that time put ' ting in most of the playing time.' Hughes, the freshman right hander who started many of the big games last spring, is a bro ther of foi-mer Grover and Kings; Mountain Legion pitching star, David. Jackie was the ace pitch er for the flag-winning Margra ee team of the Kin^Js Mountain i Pony League last summer, All games in the new Tri County Conference this spring' are carded for Monday and 1 Thursday afternoons. The Grover schedule: | APRIL 10—EUeriboro. 13—at Fallston. ! i | j - 17—Crest 30—at .Polkville. 24 at Union. 27—No. Three. \ t SCAT 1—at Nbrth Brook. 4—Bethwe. Coach Shu Carlton’s Ashley High cinder club on that date. (Local trackmen will partici pate in the Southwest Conferen ce rrteet to be held at Shelby at the close of the scheduled season. The Conference meet, in turn, qualifies participants to the Wes tern and WNCHSAA track meets to be held in May. Ten letter-men head the Moun taineer track delegation. They are: Arthur Allen, Alton Stewart, Don Champion, Mike Dixon, Steve Brown, Chester Clontz, Buddy Kircus, Robert Whisnant, Wayne Goforth, and Steve Har mon. Allen, Stewart and Harmon were among the leading point getters last spring, and the first two were among the three Moun taineers qualifying for-the Asso ciation event at Davidson Col lege. The schedule of itri- angular meets involving Kings Mountain follow: March 29—Shelby, Hickory and Linoolreton at Shelby. April 6—Cherryville and Bel mont, here. April 13—Gastonia and Shelby at Gastonia. April 20—Cherryville and York here. April 27—iBelmbnt and Forest City, here. Foothills Loop Elects Officers Mrs. Margie McDaniel has been elected president of the Kings Mountain club of the Foothills Golf League. She and other officers were elected at a meeting of the lo cal members who participate in a local tournament each Tues day and participate in events with other clubs in the Foothills League in western North Caro lina. Other officers are: Mrs. Ann Withers, treasurer; Mrs. Pat Smathers, tournament chairman; and Mrs. Grace Page and Mrs. Kitty Grimes, publicity chair- j men. Rain cancelled the local tourn- j ament this week, and plans were made for next Tuesday’s meet. The members will play a round of golf in the morning, then fol-j lowing a luncheon will view a! golf film featuring Gary Middle-; eoff and Sam Snead. The Kings Mountain club will! be hostess to the Foothills Lea gue at Blowing Rock in Septem-j bar. Mrs. Smathers is planning the tournament. All women who are members of the Kings Mountain country <dub are urged to Joan the Foot hills club. Pro Percy Card is giv ing golf instruction to members. Newcomers In Mountaineer Diamond Lineup For ’61 Several new faces will show up in the Mountaineer lineup when they open their Southwest Conference baseball schedule here next Thursday afternoon a gainst defending champion Cher ryville. The new hands will be taking their places instead of the host of departees, including _two pit chers, the regular catcher, and three-fourths of the infield on die Mlountaineer club which finished in second place in the circuit, one game behind the Ironmen. i (Finding fill-ins for the vacan cies has been the key problem for Coach Fred Withers and aide Bill Bates this spring. Replacements are being sought for the hill where Jerry Wtrtght and Don Fisher posted seven wins against two losses between them last year and the other half of the battery, catcher Don Smith. The infield also was de pleted with the loss of the team’s twcf leading hitters, first base man Chip Thorbum and second sacker Paul Hendricks, along with third 'baseman Mike Ware. Thorburn and Hendricks paced the club with the stick last year with identical .333 averages. Withers hopes to fill the catch ing vacancy with the shift of Ronnie Pearson from the out field. Pearson has caught on oc casions in the past two years. Wally Harris is another receiver. Jerry Adams and Mike Huff stickler also are catching possi bilities, although both probably will put their time in the out field. First base is. a toss-up between Jimmy Leigh, regular for the ju niors last summer, and Charlie Goodson. Leigh carries the best glove, Charlie the biggest bat. Randall Haynes sets the pace to take over second base, with competition from Henry Hilliard. Both w’ere squadmen last year. The third base vacancy figur' es to be filled by a pair of dia mond newcomers, Henry Raines or Wayne Laughter. James Robbs at shortstop pro vides the lone experienced hand in the infield. He has been a reg ular for three years and was one of the top hitters on the Legion junior club last summer. Warren Goforth ranks behind Robbs at the post. With the shift of Ron Pearson to mask duties, a vacancy arises in the outfield, and will be a toss-up between a host of play ers joining returning regulars Punch Parker and Larry Pear son'. Adams and Huffstiekler are nossibilities, along with Bryant McDaniel, the latter a member of the diamond squad last spring. iKenny Wilson heads the pitch ing delegation, following a 4-1 mark in high school and an un defeated season for the juniors. Perry Champion and Barry Gib son, moundsmen for the Moun taineers and the Juniors last year, return, bidding for more pitching duty. Punch Parker also is in line to take a turn on the mound. Weather hampered the Moun taineers’ drills this week with pitchers and catchers working out at Central High Gym. Bowl leaden Post Victories The loop leaders boosted their margins with three straight vic tories each in the ladies duckpin bowling league at the Mountain Lane Center on Tuesday night. Pace-setting Lib Bolin team won three straight from the Jen ny Oates outfit. Lib led her club wih scares of 122 and 311 and Jenny was best for the losers with a 104 line and 290 set. Second-place Barbara Goins team copped three straight from the Medical Pharmacy club. Betty Fite rolled a 109 game and 289 series to pace the winners. Ora Mae Bennett led the losers with scores of 105 and 278. THE STANDING Teams W L Lib Bolin 32 7 Barbara Goins 21 18 Jenny Oates 17 22 Medical Pharmacy 8 31 Pet .821 .583 .436 .205 BID FOR BASEBALL BERTHS — These bat swingers are making their bid for posts on the Mountaineer nine this spring, seeking to move into vacancies created by departure of last year’s regulars. Charles Good son, left, is a first base candidate and Jerry Adams is seeking a starting role in the outfield or as a catcher. The Moun taineer diamonds open their season against Cherryville here on Thursday afternoon of next week. _;___ Bethware Counts On Jeixy Moms' Big Bat Again, But Biddix Gone Bethware’s Bucaneers, the lea gue's most successful team in the final three seasons of the old Cleveland County baseball con ference will try its hand at suc cess in the new Tri-County cir cuit this spring. And as Coach Bill Powell puts it, the Bucs will have to “ride a new horse” on the pitching mound following the graduation of ace pitcher Bobby Biddix. Now a promising freshman pitcher at Woke Forest College, Biddix hurled Bethware to one county tournament title and two south zone crowns in the last three years. “We rode Bobby for four years,” remarks Coach Powell, “And we haven’t been able to come up with a pitcher like him as replacement. We are very in experienced on the mound, and pitching is our problem now. • “We should have good hitting and good speed, a fair defense and inexperienced pitching." The Buccaneers are playing in the new Tri-County Conference this year and will play an eight game league schedule, starting on April 10. The nine teams in the circuit are playing ithe other eight members one game each. Games have been carded for this sason on Monday and Thursday afternoons. The top four teams in the circuit will participate in a playoffs at the end of the sea son. Thirty-four candidates turned out for the Buccaneer team, with a host of newcomers seeking to replace the four big graduation losses of Biddix, Don Horn, Char les Bolin and Jerry Patterson. The squad includes nine lettermen. The bright note for the Bucs will be catching, with big Jerry Morris returning for his fourth season. He has paced the club in hitting every year and also was the big gun for Kings Mountain Legion juniors for three cam paigns. Arnie Horn, Don’s brother, is a promising junior catching pros pect He is another husky, six feet tall and 180 pounds. Powell intends to use Arnie to aid with the receiving, or in the outfield. A freshman, Norman Blanton, is another mask prospect. Morris and Horn are lettermen. First base is wide open follow ing the graduation of three-year vet Don Horn. Sophomore Rick Independents He Foi Loop Lead; Brackett Bowls Leading Scores < Independents moved into a tie for the loop lead and Albert Bra ckett set the circuit’s scoring pace to highlight Monday night’s action in the men’s duckpin bowling league at the Mountain Lane Center. Independents copped four straight games from Cunning ham TV to deadlock Nehi Bot tling for the top berth in the loop. Tom Gamble paced Inde pendents with a 123 line and 340 set Richard Bridges with a 118 game and Robert Van Dyke with a 304 series were best for the los ers. Brackett rolled the league’s high line of 132 and top set of 372 for leading individual lion ore of the week. His big scores helped his Lem aster Auto and Homo Supply Co. topple Pages Mens Store three games to one. The losses knocked Pages out of a tie for second place in the cir cuit. Furman Wilson was best for the losers with scares of 118 line and 338 series. Nehi Bottling defeated Dilling Heating three games to one to hold a tie for finst place. Bob Hayes rolled a 122 line and Cat Houser a 308 set to lead Nehi. Paul Ware’s 130 game and 347 series paced Dilling. THE STANDINGS Team W L Pet Nehi Bottling 28 20 .583 Independents 28 20 .583 Pages Mens Store 25 23 .521 Lemastar Supply 23 25 .479 Dilling Heating 21 27 .438 Cunningham TV 19 29 .396 Goforth and junior Eddie Hern don set the pace, and both let tered last year in the outfield. The one who does not land the first base post will return to the outfield. Freshman Gene Gra ham also has been looking good at first. Tommy Barrett, letterman and regular last year, and also a KM junior star, returns to second base. Jerry Stacey is a sophomore with promise who will play sec ond when Barrett, a junior, is pitching. Junior Bruce Seism is another keystone hopeful. Larry Boyes, a letterman ,also is giv ing second base a whirl, and al so will be available for the out field. Letterman Ken Cash, a junior, returns to shortstop, with his brother, Paul, giving him compe tition. Another letterman and junior player Lawrence Bolin will be at third base again. Assistance co mes from junior Dean Bowen and frosh Roger Wylie. A host of newcomers are seek ing outfield posts, along with some Of the extra infielders. The new fly chasers are Jack Blan ton, Bill Moss, Glenn Lovelace. Richard Queen, Steve Lovelace, Paul Seism, Butch Yarborough, and Keith Anthony. Mitchell Oobb, a junior right hander, is the only letterman pit cher returning and he saw little action last spring. Barrett, in fact, is the only player with much experience on the hill and he will move in from second base to take a turn this year. Bolin, Cash and even Morris are trying their hand at pitching this spring and Powell may call on any or all of them. Powell plans a pair of exhi bition games before the confer AnMiTd Siarts’ ““Wns °ne for wK? 3®™* has one lined up with Crest for April 6. The Conference schedule: APRIL v : 10—Fallston 13—at Crest , i l"*—«t Polkville 20—Union i 24—at No. Three. t 27—North Brook MAY 1—.Bye I 4—at Grover 8—Ellenbooo. i Putt-Putt Course Hc*s Grand Opening The new Putt-Putt golf course °n Highway 74 west will hold its Sunda/^11^8 °n Sa,turday and Managed by Pireaton Holt, for mer coach at Grover High School and now principal at Elizabeth elementary school in Shelby, the Putt-Putt course is located across ^thwa, ,„m to, Bridges PHizfs and free games will be awarded lucky golfers in the grand opening this weekend. The putt-putt course is an 18 nole affair, with a par 36. It has hazards on nearly every hole, in cluding a water hole, a loop-the loop, and spinning wheel. The course is laid on concrete and carpet and is one of 250 of simi lar design in the Country. Char les Bridges of Winston-Salem is the owner.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 23, 1961, edition 1
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