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SPORTS A The Kings Mountain Herald | www.kmherald.net A Wednosiay, May 8, 2013 Harold Dean Pearson to be inducted fato the Kings Mountain Sports Hall of Fame (ED. NOTE - Fourth of a four-part series on the 2013 inductees into the Kings Mountain Sports Hall of Fame. The dinner and induction ceremony will be Saturday, May 11 at 6 p.m. at Central United Methodist Church. Tickets are $15 and can be pur- chased at the door.) Like most kids growing up in a small mill town in the 1940s and 1950s, Harold Dean Pearson dreamed of one day becoming a major league baseball player. He was quite good at Kings Mountain High from 1948-1952 and at Gardner Webb Junior College in 1954. In fact, he was an All- State pitcher at GW, posting a 5-1 record and leading the team in strikeouts. He also enjoyed success in" fast-pitch softball in Cleveland County and dur- ing his time in the military, pitching his Army teams to numerous championships. But, Pearson knew all along he was not going to be a major leaguer, and after a brief stint as a teacher in Rei- dsville he turned to doing the next best thing to playing sports - writing about them. He always loved his hometown and began his journalism career here with the Kings Mountain Herald. He later moved on to the Gastonia Gazette. He en- joyed covering all sports - al- beit mostly high school - for those papers but he still yearned for bigger pastures. He found what would be the job he really wanted in 1965 when he joined the staff of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Over a 30- year career with that paper he became a national award- winning writer covering col- lege sports, NASCAR and the PGA. Pearson developed a rap- port with his subjects, some- thing that is rare today. He not only had kind things to say about their accomplish- ments on the court, course and track but he gained their trust. He rubbed shoulders with some of the greats such as the late Dale Earnhardt of NASCAR fame and golfing greats like the late Sam Snead, who still holds the record for most PGA tourna- ment victories. Pearson did it, not with a cell phone or email that far too many journalists today use for communication, but with personal contact. “He had -a list of the personal telephone numbers for all the (NASCAR) drivers,” said his former co-worker at the Times-Dispatch, Arthur Utley in a letter recommend- ing Pearson for induction into the Kings Mountain Sports Hall of Fame. “No cell phones or public rela- tions people then, If Harold wanted to talk to Richard Petty or Cale Yarborough or David Pearson, he called them.” The same was true for others he covered in sports. They weren’t just his sub- jects, they were his friends. Jim Hunter, Vice Presi- dent of Corporate Communi- cations for NASCAR, also highly recommended Pear- son via letter. “I can think of no journalist who had a big- ger impact on NASCAR rac- ing than Harold Pearson.” Pearson wasn’t just a sports reporter, he was a sports promoter. During his tenure at Richmond, he served as President of the Southern Conference of Sports Reporters Association for two years and President § of the National Motorsports Press Association for five years. After retiring in 1995 he edited the Virginia State Golf Association magazine, “The Virginia Golfer.” Pearson won first place in the Sports News Writing Press Association for his coverage of the PGA and won nine different awards from the National Motor- sports Press Association, in- cluding the prestigious “Joe Littlejohn Award” for his contributions to the sport of NASCAR. While he rubbed shoul- ders with the greats of the game, Pearson never forgot his roots. He came home as often as possible to visit his parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. Olland Pearson; his sis- ‘ter Shirley Mayes, and friends around town and at the Kings Mountain Herald. He was an ambassador for Kings Mountain as well as the sports he covered. One - of his favorite sayings, al- ways with a chuckle, was “I always wanted to be a sports writer...from the time I found out I wasn’t going to make the big leagues.” Harold Dean Pearson, Snead.Pearson will be inducted into the Kings Mountain Sports Hall of Fame at its 26th annual ceremony Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Central United Methodist Church Christian Ac- tiviies Center. right, with golfing great Sam 3 KMHS tracksters qualify for state Kings Mountain qualified three track and field athletes for the state championship at last Saturday’s 3A West Re- gional at Western Carolina University. Sophomore Graham Keeter advanced to this week’s state meet by finish- ing third in the shot put with a throw of 44.0.5 feet. Adrienne Green and Cassie Morton qualified for the girls state championship. Green came from behind in the 400 meter dash to fin- ish third in the Region. She was ranked 12th going into the meet. This marks her sec- ond trip to the state. She qualified last year as a leg of the 4x400 meter relay team. Morton qualified in the 3200 meter run by finishing fourth in the Region. The ladies of KMHS per- formed well in all their events last Saturday, includ- ing many personal records. Notable mentions included: -Emily Harris who placed fifth in the discus for the sec- ond year in a row. -4x100 m relay etam of Tyquassia Mackey, Adrienne Green, Betzaira Saenz and Tynesha Merriman, who placed fifth. -4x800m relay team of Mackenzie Smith, Mariah Roberts, Radhika Patael and McKay Williamson, who placed fifth. -Shakiyah Stephens who placed fifth in the shot put. -Sarah Scism who placed sixth in the triple jump with a jump of 31°10” The Lady Mountaineers finished eighth out of 22 teams at the meet. KM kickers open playoffs tonight at Burns The Kings Mountain High women’s soccer team will travel to Burns tonight at 7 p.m. for a first round game in the state 3A tourna- ment. The Lady Mountaineers go into the playoffs as the #3 seed from the Big South 3A. Admission to the game is $6. % Mike Ware with his 2013 SCAAA Hall of Fame award. KM native Ware inducted into SCAAA Hall of Fame Coach Mike Ware was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Administrators As- sociation Hall of Fame on March 9, 2013. The SCAAA members inducted Coach Ware for this honor along with eight other recipi- Among those honored were Keith Richardson from Clinton, John McKissick from Summerville, and Willie Varner from ents. Woodruff. Coach Ware attended Kings Mountain High School in North Carolina where he was a three sport athlete all four years. He at- tended Catawba College and graduated from Appalachian State Teachers College. He began his teaching and coaching ca- reer at Fort Mill High School in South Car- olina. Within the framework of his coaching career, he was head coach in seven different Coach Ware served Newberry High sports. rector. Under Coach Ware’s leadership, Newberry High School teams won 41 region championships in 13 sports, with five State Runner- Up victories and one State Champi- onship. He then became the Athletic Direc- tor at Keenan High School for three years before retiring. Among his many accomplishments, Coach Ware was an active board member of School as head football coach and athletic di- the SCAAA, received the State Award of Merit from the National Interscholastic Ath- letic Administrators Association, and earned two awards from the SC Coaches Associa- tion - Athletic Director of the year and the Charles B. Stuart Administrator award. Since 1990, Coach Ware has served as sec- retary/treasurer of the South Carolina Foot- ball Coaches Association. Coach Ware graduated from Kings Moun- See Ware, 2B At Hickory Friday at 7 p.m. Mountaineers blank Forestview to make state 3A playoffs for first time since 2009 Kings Mountain’s Moun- taineers shutout Forestview 2-0 Friday night in Gastonia to nail down fourth place in the Big South 3A Confer- ence and gain their first state 3A playoff berth since 2009. The Mountaineers won the Southwestern 2A/3A Conference in ‘09 but fin- ished fifth in the Big South each of the past three sea- sons. Two years ago they - tied North Gaston for fourth place in the regular season but lost a special playoff game to the Wildcats to de- termine the #4 playoff berth. The Mountaineers, 6-8 in the BSC and 11-10 overall, will travel to Hickory High School Friday at 7 p.m. for an opening round 3A playoff’ game. The winner of that game will advance to the second round on Tuesday, May 14 against the winner of the R-S Central-Asheville game. Hickory, 12-10 overall, finished fourth in the split Northwestern 3A/4A Con- ference but was the #1 3A team: in that league. Asheville is the #2 seed from the Mountain Athletic Con- ference and R-S Central is the #2 seed from the 2/3A South Mountain Athletic Conference. Kings Mountain’s only senior starter, Wil Sellers, pitched his second shutout over the Jaguars Friday night, a feat no other Moun- taineer pitcher has experi- enced in recent seasons. He and his teammates shutout the Jaguars 1-0 in an earlier game at KM’s Lancaster Field. Sellers gave up only for hits, walked only one and struck out six. Forestview had runners in scoring posi- tion a couple of times but the Mountaineers gave a great defensive effort. Forestview also got a great pitching effort from its ace, Trey Stallings. He gave up seven hits, including two by Daniel Barrett. Kings Mountain scored both of its runs in the top of the seventh inning. Landon Bolin and Cameron Bullock led off with singles and Bolin scored the winning run on a single by Colby Crisp. The Mountaineers got an in- surance run when Crisp scored on a wild pitch. The Mountaineers had to win against Forestview after dropping a tough-1-0 game to Crest the previous Tues- day night. KM went into the final week of the season with a one-game lead over the Jaguars, but the loss to Crest coupled with Forestview’s win over Hunter Huss forced a tie and set up a winner- take-all situation for the playoff berth. Junior southpaw Alex Grooms did a good job on ~ the mound for the Moun- % taineers, but the Chargers nailed down second place when they scored on a bases- loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh. With one out and a runner on third, the Mountaineers intentionally walked two batters to load Joseph (0) 704-739-1644 GRAY SURVEYING COMPANY Professional Land Surveyor Kings Mountain, NC 28086 jagraysurvey@gmail.com A. Gray (C) 704-692-7036 the bases and set up a force situation. Crest led 1-0 going into the top of the seventh when KM tied the game on Grooms’ fielders choice. Alex Reynolds and Brandon Bell singled to set up the score. KM Coach Matt Bridges said Sellers, who will be pitching for the Gardner- Webb Bulldogs next spring, will get the starting assign- ment again Friday night at Hickory. Kings Mountain Mountaineers Athlete of the Week Molly Short Softball 105 York Rd., Kings Mountain [ALE YE y 6" Breakfast . Sandwich” & Drink Only $300 *select | a)
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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May 8, 2013, edition 1
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