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6 • The Red and Black • Thursday, March 1, 1990
Home boys
By DAVID PACE
Sports Writer
Sunday’s thrilling battle be
tween Georgia and LSU provided
Dog fans with one of the greatest
victories ever in the Coliseum. It
also marked the last home game
for seniors Alec Kessler and Mike
Harron.
In 1986 Coach Hugh Durham
gnve Harron a chance to walk-on
the hnsketball team. After working
his tiul off to make the team, he
found himself a big part of the
1986 1987 “miracle workers” that
went to the NCAA tournament. He
also became best friends with red-
shirted freshman Kessler.
“We hit it oft from day one,”
Kessler said. “Although we’ve actu
ary known each other since high
school."
Kessler played his prep ball at
Roswell High and Harron for
Marist in Atlanta. They competed
against one another four times in
high school, with Harron’s teams
taking three of the four.
Harron laughs at the memory
and gave Kessler a jab in the arm
to help rub it in.
Kessler came right back with:
Hut we won the big one. We won
the sub region.”
no more
While Kessler grabs most of the
headlines, Harron, known as ‘The
Hammer”, does his best work be
hind the scenes. Although he
hasn’t seen much action in games
this year, he is a driving force on
the team. He’s the one pushing his
teammates in practice to better
themselves and slapping backs and
shouting encouragements during
the games.
Together, the two have come a
long way since that “miracle
worker” season of 1986-1987. For
their efforts, Kessler and Harron
were honored before Sunday’s
game and presented their parents
with roses to commemorate the
event.
Following victories, Harron and
Kessler like to perform a post
game ritual of sorts. They ran into
a problem though after snuffing
out the Tigers on Sunday.
"After a big victory we find each
other and one of us tackles the
other,” Kessler said.
But when the horn sounded
Sunday signaling a victory for the
Dogs over LSU, They had other
things on their minds.
“We couldn’t celebrate with
other team members because of the
crowd,” Harron said.
“Mike and I were just holding on
Mike Harron: Senior’s last
home game was Sunday.
for denr life,” Kessler added. “One
dude was trying to rip my jersey
off.”
For both, Sunday’s game was
bittersweet. Beating LSU for first
place in the SEC was a nice top
ping to their college careers but
they’ll miss playing at the Col
iseum and tne warm reception
they’ve recieved from the fans.
Now they look forward to the
tournament season. They’re the
only remaining members from the
“miracle worker” team, and will be
counted on for their tournament
experience and leadership.
“It’s going to be fun,” Kessler
said. “We sure had a lot of fun the
first time we went.”
SUPERMAN
From page 1
said. “I figured it would be good to
work on my game, lift weights, and
gain weight so that I could come in
and play.”
Kessler needed to get bigger to
make an impact, according to
Durham. He arrived as a freshman
weighing 185 pounds. He currently
tops the scales at 230 pounds.
“It has had a tremendous impact
on his development," Durham said.
He started to gain strength, and
with strength comes confidence.
With his height (6-foot-11), he
needed to be stronger.”
When asking Alec who his hero
was while growing up, he re
sponded that "the closest thing
that I can come up with is my
brother.”
Chad, who got to play his senior
year at Georgia with Alec, pre
dicted that he would say that.
"It has always seemed like his
mtyor goal in life was to come out
on top of me,” Chad said. “Every
thing I could do, even though he
was two years younger, he thought
he could do it just ns well.”
Alec was suprised that Chad
would say that.
‘That’s funny,” Alec said. “Be
cause I’ve never said that before.
But he probably was in my mind,
because I wanted to do as well as
he did.”
Durham attributes Alec
Kessler’s success to his unparal
leled sacrifice to working hard.
“Alec Kessler is smart,” Durham
said. ‘There are a lot who probably
scored higher on the SAT then he
did. But, there are probably not
many that have been willing to sac
rifice to get as much out of their
ability as Alec does. He has gone
out there and made a 4.0 the last
eight auarters in a row, and we’re
not talking about P.E.”
To understand the true sacri
fices Kessler has made, go on a
road trip with the Bulldogs.
“We’re flying to Lexington on
Friday night — he’s studying,”
Durham said.“We get back on the
plane after the game, and even
though we had a disappointing loss
— he’s studying. We get grounded
in Macon, because we are fogged
out of the Athens Airport, and they
get a bus to come pick us up. Some
people are listening to Walkmans,
some are playing cards, some are
sleeping — he’s studying.”
Kessler feels he has to study to
get over basketball’s hardships.
"Studying is a great outlet for
me when things go bad for basket
ball, because to get over a loss you
must quit thinking about it,”
Kessler said.
Kessler needs 65 points to pass
former Olympian Vern Fleming
atop the Georgia career scoring list
with 1,779 points.
“It’s neat to have a shot to be
Georgia’s all-time lending scorer,”
Kessler said. “It has become kind of
a goal in the back of my mind to
reach that mark.”
It seems when he sets goals, ac
complishing them isn’t far behind.
Jay Kessler said, “Probably the
biggest factor in what success he
has realized, is the fact that he has
been able to discipline himself to
drill and drill. Otherwise, he would
not be the player he is.”
Kessler explains being the last
one on the court taking extra
shooting practice and the late-
night study sessions in the science
library by saying he wants to work
to be the best that he can.
“I always work hard at whatever
I am doing,” Kessler said. “Just to
see how good you can be, and make
sure you’ve done everything you
can to be as good as you can be.”
All his hard work seems to have
paid off Although he is undecided
as to his area of specialization, the
two-time Academic All-American
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Alec Kessler
country’s top medical schools —
Johns Hopkins, Emory, and Van
derbilt.
‘Tm leaning towards orthope
dics, because I see it so much,”
Kessler said.
There is one thing that he is pos
itive about — his next goal.
“Without a doubt it would be
making the NBA,” Kessler said. “I
would like to play as long as I can,
because if it’s going good, it will be
financially uplifting.”
Many people expect Kessler to
be drafted high and make an im
pact in the NBA.
‘The only thing you can go on is
what he has done at each level,”
Durham said. “He worked hard be
tween his junior and senior year in
high school, and developed his
game. He came to college and did
what it takes. I think he will do the
same thing at the professional
level.”
New Jersey Net Vice-President
and former NBA MVP Willis Reed
said, “I think he will be in the first
half of the draft. He’s agile, aggres
sive, and can shoot the ball well.”
Still, all the recognition the fifth-
year senior from Roswell, Ga. has
received has not gone to his head.
“If it did, I would quit working as
hard, and I need to look forward to
each thing,” Kessler said.
Durham said, “You'll find a lot of
individuals who receive awards,
get a lot of publicity, and their tea
mmates get jealous. But in Alec’s
case, I think all his teammates are
happy for him when he gets an
award.”
Everyone loves a superhero.
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