Page 6A—MIRROR-HERALD—Thursday, November 10, 1077
Tim Riddle Ranked
Second In Tar Heelia
Tim Riddle, Kings
Mountain’s sensational
18-year-old tennis
player, has been ranked
the number two singles
player in North Carolina
In his age division.
ITie rankings came
out Sunday with Riddle
right behind Mark
Dillon of Charlotte.
Third place belongs to
David Spach of Durham
and Henderson’s Nick
Petrou Is fourth.
Riddle brought home
an armful of cham-
pionship and runner-up
trophies last summer,
and that strengthened
his bid to gain a high
ranking.
/i
The Mountaineer
standout will have an
opportunity to do some
thing no other tennis
player In North Carolina
has done next spring.
And that is, to win the
North Carolina High
School Athletic Associa
tion title in addition to
the Western N. C. High
Schools Activities
Association crown he
w(Hi as a Junior.
Riddle won the singles
title and led the Moun
taineers to the team
championship last
spring In the final sea
son of the WNCHSAA.
Winning the NCHSAA
will be much tougher,
because there are 353
schools and over 70,000
athletes In that
organization. But It’s a
challenge and Riddle
likes challenges.
'm
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LEAOUK CHAMPS — Here’s the Kings Mountain pee
wee football team which won the Qaston League title
this fall with a 6-0-2 record. Team members Include
front row, left to right, Jeff Whlsnant, Neal Seism,
Tommy Putnam, Jsunle Black, Casey Roberts, Anthony
Petty, Todd donlnger, Shane Absher, and Casey
Durham. Second row, Lariy Logan, Tony Wade, Prank
Whlttlngtan, Dsde Putnam, Chris Boheler, Kenny
Wilson, Derek Jordan Sidney Brown, Quinton Rlkard
and Eric Spicer. Third row, Todd Reed, Charles Hern
don, Jeff Brown, Edward ShSrer, Dennis Hope, Phillip
Ramsey, Scott Brown, Ronnie Frazier and Denorls
Wilson. Back row, coaches Danny Bagwell, Jimmy
Uttlejohn and Rick Sutherland.
Since the SWC Is now a member of the North
Carolina High Schools Athletic Association,
coaches cmd players of the year will no longer be
Included on all-conference teams.
But It’s only fitting that before we put the wraps
on another season, that we pause a second and
recognize some of the top performances of ’77.
As far as I’m concerned, only two people could
qualify as coaches of the year this season. ’Those
sure Jerry Adams of East Gaston and Sid Bryson
of Crest. Their programs were the only ones that
took any big strides this fall.
East Gaston, which hadn’t enjoyed a winning
year since coming Into the SWC In ’72 went 7-3 and
that represents a four-victory Improvement over
their 3-7 mark of last year.
Crest, although the Chargers didn’t have a win
ning season, finished 4-6, a three-victory Improve
ment over their 1-8-1 marie In ’76.
’The only other schools to Improve their records
were Shelby, which went from 6-1 to 10-0, and
South Point, which went from 8-2 to 0-1. Both of
those schools were supposed to do what they did.
Of the other six schools, five of them had worst
records than a year ago, and the other stayed the
same.
Pee Wees Are Oiamps
The biggest declines were at Kings Mountain
and East Rutherford. The Moimtalneers dropped
from 8-2 to 0-0 In a year In which they were
mentioned as a serious title threat. The Cavaliers
were rebuilding and dropped from 7-3 to 4-6.
R-S Central went from 0-0 to 2-8, Chase from 9-1
to 7-3 and Bums from 2-7-1 to O-IO. North Gaston
stayed the same at 2-8.
Frank Howard, the ex-Clemson coach, once said
that anybody can play exciting football If they
stay within their own league and not bite off more
than they can chew in n(Hi-conference play.
’Two good examples are Cherryvllle and
Bessemer City high schools.
For years, they were playing out of their league
as members of the Southwestern S-A Conference.
Following last season, both dropped out of the 8-A
ranks and Joined the District Seven 2-A Con
ference.
Cherryvllle, you may recall, went 6-6 in the SWC
last year and that was a good season for the Iron-
men. This year, competing against schools more
their own size, the Ironmen compiled their best
record In 26 years, 7-8.
Bessemer City, you’ll recall, had gone 0-10 last
year and carried a 88-game losing streak Into this
season. The Yellow Jackets didn’t exactly set the
woods on fire this fall but they did manage a 8-7
record and that’s quite an Improvement.
Several years ago, Llnoolnton got fed up with
competing against other schools, namely Shelby,
that were much bigger. Their program was
suffering and their crowds were dwindling, so the
Wolves Joined a new 8-A conference and Im
mediately regained their winning ways. This
sesMon they went 8-2 and tied Newton-Conover and
Statesville for the Western Piedmont title.
From the looks of the crowds at some of the
SWC schools this fall, maybe It’s time for others to
consider playing In their own league.
As far as player of the year, any number of
people could have won that honor. Including
Anthony Webber of Shelby Richard Dill and Grant
Hoffman of East Gaston, Steve Davis and Joe
Shepherd of South Point, Keith Crenshaw and
Alan Stroud of Chase and Kenny Bell of the
Mountaineers.
I’d lean toward Dill, even though he’s Just a
Junior. He has Incredible speed and balance and Is
the best running back I’ve seen In this conference
since Lester Reinhardt, who led Llncolnton to a
couple of titles back In the middle 60’s.
Kings Mountain’s pee
wee footballers, with some
help from Groves Thread,
are the undisputed cham
pions of the Gaston
League.
The Mountaineers, who
ended their regular season i
last week with a 13-6 vic
tory over Groves, were
awarded the championship
troidiy Tuesday night after
Groves upset Mt. Holly 21-7
In their regular season fi
nale.
Mt. Holly went Into the
game with a 6-0-2 record
and could have clinched a
tie with KM by defeating
Groves. KM finished with a
6-0-2 record, having tied
Mt. Holly twice by 6-6
score. Had Mt. Holly beat
en Groves, the Hawks and
KM would have had to
playoff the Ue.
The Groves victory gives
KM Its first Gaston League
title ever. This Is the first
year KM has won over one ^
game In the pee wee dtvl-.
Sion.
The Utle was also the
second straight for KM
coach Jimmy Littlejohn,
who coached the junior
midgets to the league title
last wdnter.
Kings Mountain now Is
preparing for the annual
John Moss Classic which
will be played here on Sat.,
Nov. 10. KM will meet un-
FootbaU
Banquet
Cancelled
(’Turn To Page 7A)
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I I ^ I \ Downtown Kings Mountain
For the first time In 38
years, there will be no
Lions Club football
banquet this year for the
Kings Mountain High grld-
ders.
Instead, the civic clubs
of Kings Mountain that
have been sponsoring fetes
for the Individual sports
teams will join together
and sponsor one big all
sports banquet at the
conclusion of the KMH8
sports year.
Assistant Schools
Superintendent Bill Bates
said he presented the Idea
to the civic clubs at the re
quest of KMHS Principal
Forrest Wheeler and the
coaching staff. Wheeler
was out of town at the time
of this writing and could
not be reached for com
ment.
In the past, the Lions
Club has sponsored the
grid banquet, the Klwanls
Club the basketball and
wrestling banquet and the
Rotary Club the baseball
and tennis fates.
Awards for minor sports,
such as golf, softball and
track In the past have been
given at the annual KMHS
Awards Day.
The grid fete, which was
an annual attraction In
December, was begun In
IMS and attracted some of
the top after-dinner
speakers In the South,
WADE HAS
MURDERED PRICES
ON NEW TRUCKS.
There^ no better time than now to talk turkey.
(’Turn To Pago 7A)
After October’s fabulous sales, Wade
went out on his storage lot to take In
ventory, The new 77’s were cleaned
out. ’There were two Fairmont Sedans
and three Fairmont Wagons that
looked good. There were way too many
new trucks on hand. F-lOO’s, F’lSO’s,
even an F-600 and a van to add Insult to
injury.
a
So Wade made the same brilliant
decision he always makes In cases like
this. He ordered a cut In truck prices
and told his men to take any
reasonable offer.
So now’s the best time to talk turkey
with Wade. While he’s up to his rear
axle In trucks.
Highway 74. Kings Ml.. N.C.
Moi