a_i,
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Page 4A-THE KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday, June 21, 1990
Gary
Stewart
Cll 20
IN N
A ROSS
It Will Be Like A
Carolina Reunion
Leftovers from the recent Kings Mountain Hall of
_Fame Sports Banquet:
It'll be like a big Carolina reunion June 23 in Mars
Hill when former Tar Heel guard Buzz Peterson ties
the knot. Several former Tar Heel athletes will be in
the ceremony, including Peterson's college roommate,
: Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. Others involved
‘will be Brad Daugherty of the Cleveland Cavaliers,
former Tar Heel golfer Davis Love III and ex-Tar Heel
gridder Tyrone Anthony.
Peterson, who recently accepted an assistant basket-
_ ball position at N.C. State, said he was advised by Tar
Heel Coach Dean Smith to move with Les Robinson to
Raleigh. He said Robinson hopes to build the same
type of "family atmosphere" at State that has been so
- successful for Smith at Chapel Hill.
"We're going to try to clean up the image and get
good student athletes,” Peterson said. "It will take a
while."
kkk
The Wolfpack's new basketball staff would do well
to copy the formula of success of State football coach
Dick Sheridan. Sheridan recruits quality athletes who
are also good people.
Wolfpack assistant Ken Pettus had nothing but
praise for Sheridan, whose program has as high a grad-
uation rate as any in the country.
"Coach Sheridan always conducts himself as a gen-
tleman and expects his players to do the same," he
said. "We think we can become champions and do it in
the right manner. We daily do things that are wrong but
we do our best to influence the kids positively, not only
in football but academically, socially and spiritually.”
kkk
Former Kings Mountain Mayor John Henry Moss,
who saw many outstanding baseball players come and
go during many years as a minor league general man-
ager and president of the Western Carolinas and South
Atlantic leagues, said KM's Charlie Ballard had the po-
tential to be a "major league superstar” had a military
injury not ended his pitching career. Ballard had just
+= gone through a brilliant high school career at KMHS
and had pitched one year of college baseball at Lenoir
Rhyne before being drafted into the Army. He fell off
the back of a truck and injured his pitching arm. After
World War II, he returned to Lenoir-Rhyne as a first
baseman and also had several good years in the
‘+ Western Carolinas League, compiling a .348 lifetime
"batting average.
Hk k
- Former KMHS football coach Bill Bates praised
Don Parker for his 24 years as a coach, but said one of
© 7 his fondest memories of Parker was when he was di-
rector of the Exceptional Children's Program at old
: «Compact School.
= "That was back in the sixties and it was very trying
“+ times for young black children,” Bates said. "I still re-
-member seeing Coach Parker pick those little children
' “up and set them on his knee and tell them stories. He
gave disadvantaged children an advantage."
kk
Former KMHS football coach Shu Carlton still likes
to talk about "the play” in 1955 when quarterback
George Harris faked out everybody in the stadium, in-
cluding the referees.
KM was playing Lincolnton in a game which would
decide the conference championship and the score was
0-0. Harris, known for his passing and bootleg running
ability, faked a handoff to fullback Ken Baity but kept
the ball on a bootleg and rolled around end for an ap-
parent 60-yard touchdown. But Harris had done such a
-remarkable job of faking that when Baity was tackled,
¢ “the officials blew their whistles and called the play
“back.
“= "The referees brought the ball back and charged us
with a down,” Carlton recalled. "But it must have fired
as up because we went on to win 27-7. One referee
told me after the game that they huddled and said
‘whenever Harris runs, don't blow the whistle.' Another
referee told me he put his whistle in his back pocket
and didn't take it out again the rest of the night."
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Opinion
hoe n,n" " Ri
S82IAI8S [BLIONPT Wd ‘06610
Jim
Heafner
My dream started with sand castles. In the distance I
saw a boat with its sails colored red by the setting sun.
And I saw the ocean. And I thought what a beautiful
world it was.
"dream on." j
And so I did. And I was suddenly transported to ‘a
huge! building with monuments and baseball memora-
bilia.
And I heard the same voice, as if to beckon me, say,
“recapture your youth."
And I looked in a mirror and saw a 12-year-old boy
wearing overalls. He wore no shoes because it was
summertime. It was his favorite time of the year. He
had an oversized glove on his left hand. In his right
hand he held a cottonseed baseball. But the baseball
was new and looked like the real thing.
There was no mistaking the fact that the 12-year-old
was me. And the voice almost whispered in my ear,
"Talk To Them."
And the statues and pictures came alive. Ty Cobb
was wearing a Detroit Tiger uniform. He looked at me,
smiled, and said, "Hiya kid."
"Hello, Mr. Cobb," I said in awe. "Do you think
you'll hit .400 this year?"
"No sweat," he replied. "I'm at my peak here in the
Baseball Hall of Fame."
And I saw my true idol, Stan Musial, sitting beside a
water cooler. "Mr. Musial," I said, "you were always a
credit to the game. You were my all-time favorite play-
er and my Dad loved you too."
"You're mighty kind," said Stan The Man. "The next
one I hit out of the park will be just for you." And I
was thrilled. And I knew that Stan The Man was a man
of his word.
And I saw Walter Johnson warming up down in the
bullpen. I waved at him and he waved back. Then Bob
Feller, who was sitting next to Ted Williams, said as I
passed by, "In my prime, kid, I could throw 'em harder
than the Big Train." And I didn't dare doubt Mr.
Feller's word.
SIDEWALK SURVEY
Eut then I heard a voice, almost a whisper, say,’
And I saw Jackie Robinson playing a game of pep-
per with Willie Mays. "Say hey, kid," said Willie as he
caught one behind his back.
And I saw all of the greats, including an infielder
with huge hands. It was Honus Wagner, the great
shortstop. "My Dad thought you were a great hitter," T
said to Mr. Wagner."
"I know," said Mr. Wagner. "He comes to the day
games and sits in the box seats." And I peered into the
distance, searching for Dad's familiar face, but I could-
n't find him.
Then I saw someone wearing a modern day uni-
form. He was signing baseballs and baseball bats and
collecting money. He signed an 8-by-10 picture of
himself and got $20 from some kid my age. Some
grownup handed him $40 when he signed a bat.
"Who is that?" I asked Christy Mathewson.
"That's Pete Rose," said the New York Giant immor-
tal.
"Wasn't he banned from baseball for gambling," I
asked.
"Yeah, and now he makes a living at selling his
name," Mathewson said. "At least 1,200 fools have
gone by his locker today."
And the familiar voice said, "listen to him." And I
heard Mr. Rose say, "I used to give my autographs
away and baseballs and bats, too. But I wasn't very
smart back then. I made the Hall of Fame despite my
problems. I deserved it because I was one of the
greats. They couldn't keep me out."
And I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I told Mr.
Mathewson I couldn't pay for it, but I would love for
him to autograph my cottonseed baseball.
And Mr. Mathewson did. And he had his friend, Mr.
John McGraw, autograph my glove. They didn't charge
acent.
The voice whispered, "time to go." And I woke up
to find that I was growing old and my back hurt. In my
right hand I clutched a cottonseed baseball.
Mr. Mathewson had also written, above his auto-
graphed name, "The best things in life are free."
A String Bean Catcher
Who Was A Prankster
As I have stated many times before, I love baseball.
I also am drawn to unusual stories of any type. With
that in mind, here is an unusual baseball story--and it's
absolutely true.
Odell Barbary was a string bean country boy from
South Carolina. He was a catcher for the old Charlotte
Hornets of the Piedmont League, who was known for
an outstanding throwing arm and an offbeat sense of
humor. Barbary had a reputation around the league as
an expert needler. He could dish it out, but he could al-
so take it. Consequently, everybody liked Odell.
The prankster didn't reserve his barbs for the oppo-
sition. His teammates came in for their fair share as
well, especially the pitchers.
"Why, I could pitch better than that when I was in
High school," he'd say, with an impish gleam in his
eye.
The pitching staff, handled by Barbary so expertly,
would tell him, "Oh yeah, big shot, then why aren't
you in the big leagues?"
"I will be, " he'd say. And he was. He played in one
game with the Washington Senators.
As it happened, for the last game of the 1942 sea-
son, the Charlotte manager decided, as a lark, to let his
players choose their position. Asheville was the oppo-
nent this night. :
Barbary took the mound at Griffith Park in
Charlotte, saying, "OK, you guys are going to see a re-
al pitcher tonight."
"You won't last an inning," they told him, and they
all settled back to watch Odell get his comeuppance.
But the catcher-turned-pitcher fooled them. He got
' out of the first inning without any trouble, probably
because his form was so terrible. Asheville scored
three runs in the second inning.
Barbary wasn't fazed. He marched confidently to the
mound and shut them out for the next two innings. His
teammates tied the score in the fourth, then a strange
thing happened. Odell Barbary's pitching form started
to improve.
In the tenth, it appeared the game was over.
Asheville got a runner to third with one out, but he
was gunned down by the centerfielder trying to score
on a fly ball.
Four more innings went by the boards, and Barbary
was still pitching, only now he was beginning to look
as though he had pitched all his life. He seemed
stronger as each frame rolled by. = gi fry
Finally, in the bottom of the twenty-second inning,
the Charlotte shortstop, Charlie Roberts doubled off
the left-field wall. Then third baseman, Smut Aderholt,
who had been to the plate nine times without a hit,
drove him in with another double, and Odell Barbary
was a winning pitcher.
The Charlotte catcher had pitched the longest game
in Piedmont League history. He gave up eleven hits
and struck out two, the only two strikeouts of the
game. Unfortunately, Barbary ruined his good throw-
ing arm and a budding career.
Odell had been told before the game that he would
report to the Senators in 1943. He did, and as previ-
ously mentioned, got into just a single major league
game.
After his pitching gem, Barbary sheepishly told his
teammates, "boys, I'll have to be honest with you.
Before tonight, I'd never pitched a game in my life."
Odell Barbary still lives in lower South Carolina,
Anderson I think. He continues to follow baseball and
attends several Atlanta Braves games each year.
I think most of you will agree this is an unusual
baseball story. iy
COMMON SENSE
If you haven’t grace, the Lord
can give it to you. If you haven’t
learning, I'll help you to get it. But
if you haven’t common sense,
neither I, nor the Lord can give it
to you.
John Brown (of Haddington)
EE ——————————————————————————————
LINDA BELL
"I feel the flag is sacred. It's
part of our heritage and the
younger people of today
don't have the respect for it
and for the people who
fought for it."
OTIS FALLS
"I don't think the flag
should be burned without
someone going to jail. I am
strong about the flag."
LINDA WARD
"Well, if they bought it
themselves it should be okay.
If it is their personal
property."
DO YOU AGREE WITH THE SUPREME COURT RULING THAT PERMITS FLAG BURNING?
BILL GRISSOM DIANE BUSH
"I think it's terrible. I feel "I don't like it. I think it
we shouldn't be able to Should be stopped.”
burn our own flag. It takes
away from our freedom."