SPORTS
BRIEFS
®
Football sign-ups
set at City Stadium
All boys and girls ages 7-12
interesting in playing Kings
Mountain Optimist Club foot-
ball and cheerleading are urged
to register Friday, July 24 or
Friday, July 31 from 11 a.m.-2
p-m. at City Stadium.
Youngsters from Kings
Mountain, Bessemer City and
Grover are eligible.
Also, anyone interested in
coaching football or cheerlead-
ing is asked to attend on either
of the above dates.
KM team wins VFW
tourney at Pine Grove
Brad Bowen, Rodney Short,
Jeff Bone and Todd Cloninger
won the recent V.EW. Post 9811
Golf Tournament at Pine Grove.
Sponsors were Timms
Furniture, Bear Den, Barrett's
Floor Covering and Paint,
McGinnis Furniture,
Hometown Hardware Garden
Center, Linwood Produce,
Times Turn Around, York
Amusement, Propst & Son
Lumber and Logs, Amvets Post
995, American Legion Post 155,
Jessie Heath, Eaton, Carrolls
Community Grocery, BDF ;
Construction and Sarola..
Insulation.
Sharks edge YSSF
in swim competition
Sharks Aquatics Club of
Cleveland County defeated ‘the
YMCA Seahorse Swim Team of
Hickory 217-157 last week.
The SAC girls lost by one
point, 91-90, but the boys won
127-66.
iJ
Girls 200 IM - 10-under Chelsey
Ledford third; 13-14, Amanda; .
Bauman 1st; 8-under, A. Miller and
A. Pearson 1st; 200 free relay - C.
Nickles, K. Hendrick, M. Price, J.
Hamrick, G. Stachowize, C.
Burkhead, 2nd.
200 free relay - 10-under. C.
Cater, C. Ledford, E. Tench, J.
Nickles, 1st; 11-12, A. Cummings, |
C. Tatum, A. Winstead, J. Claytor
2nd.
50 free - 8-under, Adrienne
Pearson 1st, / er.2nd,.
Katherine Hi I
Jessiéa- Nickles: 156,C 2 pt
2nd; 11-12, Anna Winstead nd; 15
14, Amanda Bauman 1st; 15-18,
Emily Griffin 1st.
50 breast - 8-8under, Adrienne
Pearson 1st; Hegan Price 2nd,
Alexa Miller 3rd; 10-under, Chelsey
Ledford 2nd;
100 breast - 15-18, Emily Griffin
Ist
50 back - 8-under, Katherine
Hendrick 1st, Alexa Miller 2nd,
Adrienne Pearson 3rd; 10-under,
Jessica Nickles 1st, Claire Carter:
2nd, Erin Tench 3rd; 11-12,/Anna’
SPORTS
Herald/Times
July 1, 1999 Section A, Page 7]
KM wrestler Shon Byers wins World Trials,
ranked #1 heavyweight i in the United States
: By GARY STEWART
Editor of the Herald
With inspiration from his
. grandfather and many friends
i from his high school days in
Kings Mountain, Shon “Bamm
Bamm” Byers took another big
step toward the pinnacle of the
© wrestling world Sunday in
Tampa, FL when he defeated
Olympic Silver Medalist Matt
Ghaffari to win the 1999 Greco-
Roman Wrestling World Team
Trials and solidify his position
as the #1-ranked heavyweight
in the United States.
Byers, who is stationed in
, Colorado Springs, Colorado
with the U.S. Army, will
: represent the United States in
the Pan American Games July
24-25 in Winnipeg, Canada. The
+ victory also qualified him to
represent the U.S. in the World
Games later this year.
Byers’ grandfather, Theodore
Byers, who lives on Belvedere
Circle in Kings Mountain, was
in attendance along with his
high school wrestling coach,
Steve Moffitt, former KMHS
teammates Michael Bell, Cedric
‘Moore, Kenny Bridges, Jody
Putnam and Antoinne Brown,
and former KMHS mat girls
Jennifer LePors and Heather
‘Baker.
Because of his #1 ranking,
which came about because he
won the recent National
Tournament, Byers was able to
sit back and watch as the other
seven wrestlers in the field
went through a mini-tourna-
ment to see who would battle
. Byers in a best-of-three series
: for the championship. Ghaffari,
who lost to Byers in the semifi-
: nals of the National
: Tournament, survived.
Er
ather an
: rs "Byoraie ec oe
was great to see everybody
ome down to support me.
“I went out there and was so
~ pumped up they called me
pastic almost,” he said. “I was
trying two moves at one time
- and was getting ahead of my-
self, and lost the first match.
The advice I got was that
‘there’s six to nine minutes on
the clock that you can use, why
scored in overtime and Byers
‘won2-0.
Former Kings Mountain High athlete Shon Byers won the 1999
World Games Trials heavyweight wrestling championship over
the weekend in Tampa, FL.
two 3-minute overtimes are
necessary. Neither wrestler
Byers said he saw to it that
Moffitt, his high school coach
that helped him compile a 31-1
onship his senior year of 1993,
was honored with a plaque by
the US Greco-Roman Wrestling
Committee which was signed
by his present coach and
Olympic Gold Medal winner
Steve Fraser.
Moffitt, who won 10 confer-
ence championships and pro-
duced numerous state individu-
al champions in 13 years as
KMHS wrestling coach, said he
Going into the third and de-
ciding match, Byers said he
thought it would be nice to get
ahead quickly. “I hit him with
an arm spin (worth three
points) and right after that I
closed the bank,” Byers said. “I
said, ‘okay, I'm shutting down
now because that (three points)
is all you need to win the match
in regulation.” He caught me in
a head-lock. He was trying to
record and the state 3A: champi-
don’t you use it?" ”
make a comeback but I wasn’t
Winstead 2nd; 13- 14, Amanda- en
Bauman 1st, Rachel Bauman 3rd;
100 back - 15-18, Emily Griffin
Ist. #
50 butterfly - 10-under, Yossica
Nickles 1st .
200 IM - 13-14, Yuuki Nishiyama
2nd; 15-18, Ben Sox 1st, Chris . ~
Costner 2nd;
giving up any more points, and
Iwon 3-2.”
Byers credited the Kings
Mountain contingent for giving
him the incentive to win.
“That was like having a piece
of Kings Mountain come down
there,” he said. “It really
Byers said he took his time in
the second match. Ghafarri got
a 2-point caution against him
and Byers made that stand up
for a 2-0 win in regulation.
However, in Greco-Roman
wrestling the winner must have
was overwhelmed at the talent
in the tournament and seeing
Byers win was one of his
proudest moments.
“We were sitting beside the
best athletes in the whole coun-
try, and to see him perform at
the top of that level was unbe-
lievable,” Moffitt said. “He is
I've ever coached. He's right up
there with Kevin Mack (former
Mountaineer football player
who was AFC Rookie of the
Year with the Cleveland
Browns).”
Moffitt feels Byers’ best days
are still ahead of him.
“Bamm’s only 24 years old,”
Moffitt noted, “and he didn’t
wrestle in college. All of these
other guys wrestled in college
and are older and more experi-
enced. He's maturing and still
* learning. He has so much physi-
cal ability it’s unreal.
“Kings Mountain should be
very proud of Shon Byers,” he
continued. “Winning a state
high school wrestling champi-
onship is great, but this is so far
beyond that it just blows my
mind. It’s just amazing.”
Byers, too, is looking forward
to the future. He said winning
the recent National Tournament
to achieve the #1 ranking was
exciting, but he had to win the
World Games Trials to prove
himself all over again.
“It’s like a checks and bal-
ances system,” he said. “They
figure you could have lucked
up to win the Nationals. I had
to prove again that I'm the man
right now.”
Although he was on the
KMHS wrestling team for three
years, Byers really didn’t com-
pete that much until his senior
year because the other heavy-
_ weight on the Mountaineer
squad was state champion Tony
Young. But Byers worked hard
and waited his turn and became
one of the school’s all-time best.
He signed a college football
scholarship with North
Carolina A&T University, but
dropped out after one year and
joined the Army in 1994. In
1996 he was encouraged to get
into world class wrestling and
his career has steadily pro-
gressed since.
In international competition,
he has a second place finish in
the 1999 Dave Schultz
Memorial International, second
in the 1998 Winter Classic, sec-
ond in the 1998 Devataev
Tournament in Russia, second
in the 1998 Sunkist Kids
International Open, fourth in
the 1998 Concord Cup, fifth in
the 1997 Concord Cup, third in
the 1997 Colorado Open, and
sixth in the 1996 Sunkist
International Open.
In the United States, he was
the 1999 U.S. Nationals champi-
on, and 1997 and 1999 Armed
Forces champion. He was
fourth in the 1998 World Team
University Nationals.
He is now working hard to
prepare for the Pan American
Games, and then will begin
working for either the World
Games in Greece or the World
Military Games in Croatia.
“It’s not decided whether I'll
go to the World Games,” Byers
said, even though he won that
right in Tampa. “I’m going to
have to see what's more impor- |;
tant. The World Military Games
are before the World
Championships, and it would
take 2 1/2 weeks and I would
miss out on some very impor-
tant time that I need to have in
order to make a good showing
in the World Championships.”
Early next year, Byers will be-
gin working for the U.S.
Olympic Trials, which will be
= mmm emo) Non
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held in Dallas, TX. His #1 rating |}
won't mean anything then.
“It will be the same process
all over again,” he said.
“Whoever wins the Nationals
will be ranked number one.”
While Byers loves the Army
and wrestling, he says he’s be-
ginning to feel like he lost out
on a lot by not finishing college
and he’s not ruling out ending
his military career and going
back to school. And, he'd also
love to give professional foot-
ball a shot.
“A lot of people have been
talking to me about college,” he :
said. “A lot of wrestling coaches :
are saying, ‘hey, you come to
my school and we could get
you a scholarship playing foot-
ball and wrestling.” “
At age 24, and with his physi-
cal prowess, there's no doubt in :
Moffitt’s mind that Byers could :
make it big in pro football.
If he does, you can bet he
»
>
won't forget his hometown and !
the many coaches, family and
friends who influenced his ca-
reer.
“I'm trying to work it out to
come to Kings Mountain the
first or second week of
in
*
re
"g
August,” Byers said. “I'm a lit- :
tle homesick right now. After
seeing everybody last week I re- ;
alize how important itis to
come home.”
Born on the
Moons Ago...
Happy
4th of July Many|
200 free relay - 8under, Tayor at least three points or up to
Zeller, Turner Almond, Justin’ _¥ °
Winn, William Rucker 1st; R.
Hunter, S. Stachowicz, B. McGinnis,
A. Riggs 2nd. 11-12 - A. Leung, J..
Beaver, T. Champion, M. Allen. 1st;
on & Sai, 5 Sox, N.” . ° The Professional Wrestling
ishiyama, B. Sox 1st. 70% Federation will be at the Kings
50 free - 8-under, William Parker: . 3
1st, Turner Almond 3rd; 10-under, in Sempey Friday for an
Michael Allen 1st, Andy Leung 3rd; p:m. carck
11-12, Taylor Champion 2nd, Josh
Beaver 3rd;
100 free - 13-14, Clay Griffin ist,
Yuuki Nishiyama 2nd, Andrew
Tatum 3rd; 15-18, Naoki Nishiyaiia
1st, Ben Sox 2nd, Chris Costner 3rd.
50 breast - 8-under, William ..;;,
Parker 1st;
100 breast - 13-14, Clay Griffin.
1st, Andrew Tatum 2nd; 15-18, Ben
Sox 1st, Chris Costner 2n.
"50 back - 8-under, William Parker
1st, Justin Winn 2nd, Taylor Zeller:
3rd. 11-12, Taylor Champion 3rd; «+
10-under, ‘Michael Allen 1st, Andy.
Leun 3rd;
106 back - 10-under Michael _
Allen 1st.
50 fly - 13-14, Yuuki Ngai
2nd; 15-18, Noaki Nishiyama 1st.
200 medley relay - 11-12, J...
Beaver, H. Allen, A. Leek
Champion 1st; 15-18,C riffin, N
Nishiyama, B. Sox, C. Costner Tst.
Hunting course set
July 17 near Shelby
The Kings Mountain Chapter |
of the National Wild Turkey
Federation will host an alse
tional turkey shoot lifelike
hunting course July 17 from 7
a.m.-12 noon on Johnson Road
behind Copeland on Highway
.74, Shelby (look for signs).
There will be limited, unlim-
ited and smooth bore classes.
Take shells for unlimited class.
For more information call
Mike Beam at 445-8233, Duane
Collins at 734-4809, or Brian
3
"CORDELL Scot, II, D.M. D.
GENERAL DENTISTRY
106 N. MOUNTAIN STREET, CHERRYVILLE, NC 28021
y TELEPHONE: 435-9696
Dedicated to Excellence
Now accepting new Exam Patients
Office Hours by Appointment
L.V. sedation available for apprehensive patients
Crown & Bridge
Dentures
i Insurance processed
Mastercard / Visa
touched me. That was great.” undoubtedly the best athlete
Pro wrestling Friday at KM Armory
Featured match will be a 10- or $10 at the door.
man bunkhouse stampede. For more information call the
Tickets are $8 at The Armory ~~ PWF office at 904-1794.
‘What was
a thinking
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Trials, fourth in the 1998 U.S.
Nationals, third in the 1998
University Nationals, fifth in
the 1997 World Team Trials,
a
fifth in the 1997 U.S. Nationals,
and second in the 1996-97
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