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The Panther
MARCH-APRIL, 1968 11
Is Officiating Going Bad (In the Conference)?
by Dwight Ellison
Year after year, the Boston Celtics win at home and on the
road. UCLA wins on their home court and on the road. Why can’t
Clark, or for that matter, many other teams, not including a team
like FAMU, win on the road too?
Everybody, and I really mean everybody, knows that Florida
A&M does not lose basketball games on
its home court. They also have the dis
tinction of being one of the few teams in
this conference (SIAC) that wins at least
40% of their road games. Of course, Flor
ida has this winning tradition in sports,
especially football, and as we all know —
everybody loves a winner. So our officials
lean a bit for them to help them keep their
tradition. What about that other team?
They could have a winner, but they can
only win at home because this is the only
place where they can get fair officiating.
At home, the home team can pin the ball
on the boards, but on the road it is a tech
nical foul. These types of rules are interpreted and reinterpreted
over and over again by partial officials who are aided by partial
fans. In a very recent game in which Clark was engaged and lost
by one point, a home player was called for his fifth foul, and in
his anger, he spat on the official who made the call. Do you think
a technical foul was called? NO. The official turned his back and
walked away smiling with chewing gum stuck on his black and
white striped shirt. I left after that.
I am under the assumption that if you have a good team, you
can win anywhere. Well, in one conference, this is not true. You
do not beat Florida in Tallahassee, Bama State in Montgomery,
Bethune in Daytona, and S.C. State in Orangeburg. Why is this so?
Good teams beat them at home fairly, but on the road they are
annihialated. No good team is going to win one night by 20 points
and lose the next night to the same team on their home court by
the same margin. Providing one team has a miserable night with
numerous turnovers and unusually poor shooting, these things just
do not happen. There is only one other answer — poor officiating.
Either the officials are not ready to officiate, or they are partial
to the home team. The home team already has an advantage, so
why add to the already irrepressible offenses they have? Something
should be done about this prevailing problem before it spreads
farther than it already has. If it is not dealt with, good teams will
continually be deprived of their abilities to win and chances to
bring new colors into the tournaments and headlines.
Let us all hope something is done.
The Negro Athlete
(ACP>—He stands 6-4 and
weighs 200 pounds. He can
either carry a football 100
yards, be timed under ten sec
onds or score 40 points in a
basketball game.
He is a Negro athlete and
while he is giving his show, his
performance, everyone knows
him. Afterwards, even when the
clock reads zero, he remains an
athlete. He’s not an individual
but a commodity because sports
are all he has — it is the only
way he can make it wherever
he goes.
Five Negro athletes at the
University of Pittsburgh gave
their views on the status of the
Negro athlete on campus. Their
comments were reported in a
special supplement—“The Ne
gro on Campus”—in the Pitt
News.
“When a Negro participates
in a sport, he’s accepted,” said
Steve Stevenson, ja part-time
playing guard on the basketball
team. Stevenson has been the
only Negro on the varsity bask
etball team since 1963-64.
Carl Wooten, “a good friend
of Steve, out of necessity,” said
the only close friends he had
were other athletes. “They gotta
look at you as a teammate.
Their job depends on it.”
“As for other students, it’s a
horse of a different color,” said
Wooten, a (trackman. “Their
excuse for knowing me is that
I’m an athlete. But some of
them are friends, some of
them.”
“Negro athletes are treated
differently from the average
Negro student,” said J. D.
Lewis, a three-sport man in
football, track and tennis. “The
reason I was late coming here
is that someone was introduc
ing me to his girl. He intro
duced me as one of the three
fastest guys on the track team.
He didn’t say I was a friend of
his.”
“Everything you do is mea
surable,” Stevenson said. (“If
you run a 9.5 and another guy
runs a 9.8, you’re better. You’re
known for this. The Negro ath
lete fills those stadiums. And
he’s treated as a commodity.”
Wooten, objecting to the
“commodity” tag, said barriers
break down when coach and
athlete see each other so often.
“The coach an dthe teammates
come to appreciate the Negro
more as a man,” he said.
Larry Watkins, freshman full
back, and Dave Garnett, fresh
man tailback, joined the dis
cussion. “Everyone expects you
to run a 9.5 on the football
field, weaving in and out, while
running with a pulled ham
string,” Garnett said. “And if
you don’t do it every time, they
think you’re loafing.”
“Yeah, in high school, I was
a three-sport (man,” Wooten
said. “I felt like a three-man
circus.”
“They all leave after you put
on your show,” Garnett inter
jected.
“If you walk into a depart
ment store with a Pitt blazer
on, they wait on you right
(Continued on Page 12)
Spring Sports
It will be another year before
the fans thrill to the sight of the
roundball on its path through
the hoop and nets. Basketball
season is over and the time for
spikes, bats, rackets, and clubs
is here.
Baseball is Clark’s newest
addition to its athletic program.
Coach Hambrick and a host of
enthusiastic young men will be
battling to bring the bacon
home. Our first game is March
14th against Ft. Valley State.
Good luck Panthers.
In Track, we are fortunate
enough to have six runners from
last year’s squad. However,
what these men do will prob
ably reflect how well Clark
does. It will be easier for them
to compete because they are
used to the pressue of the stiff
competition. Several freshmen
have good promise and hope to
break a few hearts. With our
young mile hopeful, this might
happen yet. This team could be
aa good as it wants to be. Every
thing rests on their desire. They
will have to work hard.
The Tennis Team is loaded
with one-year men. That is,
they all have at least one year
of conference competition. They
should do much better this
spring on the courts.
If we have golfers, Good
Luck!
Support The Panthers
Clark Loses To
Then Stomps MBC
On successive nights, the red
& black Panthers showed of
fense, defense, and good sports
manship in winning one game,
losing one game, and being elim
inated from the SIAC Tourna
ment for the first time in 13
years. Who said 13 isn’t un
lucky?
In a hard fought and disputed
game that Friday, Clark scram
bled off to an eleven point lead
and nine point half-time lead to
MBC’s surprise. At the inter
mission, C.C. lead in every de-
mission, C.C. led in every de
partment. Sippy and Sonny were
firing away while “Suicide” and
Hurley manned the boards.
Brown didn’t stand a chance
until the supposedly two neutral
figures dressed in black and
white stripes began picking at
Clark’s waistline. Before we
knew it we were trailing by 6
points. This was pathetic. I have
never seen a Clark team lose a
lead like that. History was truly
made that night as the Eppsmen
lost the game 91-90, lost the
City Championship, and lost the
bid to make the SIAC Tourna
ment. Remember MBC, pay
back is Feb. 17!
On Saturday night MBC had
nothing to lose with a defeat,
but they had much to gain with
a victory. Clark could have lost
its pride. As always, Coach Epps
and company were ready for
this one. Clark slashed Brown
102-68. This marked the first
time this year Clark has shot
100 points or more. Nothing
went wrong as both coaches
emptied their benches. Basket
ball season ended on that cold,
cold night; the Eppsmen were
finished but said we haven’t
begun to fight; Payback will be
every year, just wait, you’ll see.
Next year, Conference Champs,
after slaughtering MBC.
Be A Loyal Clarkite
—D. Ellison
"A FINE SPECIMEN OF A MAN"
A tall statue stands 6'8",
weighs 239 lbs., has dark brown
skin, black hair, tranquilizing
deep brown eyes and a smile,
oh that smile! Have you ever
walked in the morning dew and
watched it fall upon a flower?
Like a baby who opens his
mouth for a bottle, the flower
opens up for the dew. This is
how I feel about this statute of
a man. The statue is Leoindas
Epps, better known as Sonny.
Sonny is presently a senior maj
oring in Business Administra
tion. He is a former graduate of
Turner High in Atlanta, Georgia
and the son of our coach, Mr.
Leoindas Epps, Sr.
If this was an ordinary tri
bute to someone leaving his na
tive land to come to another, I
could easily place it in words.
But how do you thank someone
who has given so much of his
time to help in promoting the
basketball team to its height.
This is why I find it difficult to
begin an article on a specimen
of a man such as Sonny Epps.
It’s like saying good-bye to
your best friend or someone you
have loved forever or someone
you have known all through
high school. Since Sonny has
been here four years, it’s going
to be very strange not to see his
masculine statue strolling across
the campus, not to see him walk
in the dining hall, and especially
not to see him dump balls in the
goal for Clark and add two
points to the scoreboard. I’ve
only known him for a short time
but during this time I’ve found
one among many of Sonny’s re
markable traits. This trait is—
Sonny is considerate. He thinks
of others’ feelings and tries ex
ceedingly hard to be at his best.
A specimen of man such as
Sonny cannot be easily forgot
ten.
Sonny has made tremendous
progress since the latter part of
the season. He played sensa
tional in the SIAC tourney and
was voted most valuable player.
He was a member of the United
States summer collegiate tour
ing team to Africa. He was can
didate for all SIAC and Little
All-American. Statistics for the
year of 1967-68 reveals Sonny
played in 25 games this season,
had 346 field goal attempts,
made 168 field goals, field goal
percent 48.5, free throw at
tempts were 182, free throws
143, free throw percent was 78,
rebounds were 323, games were
13.3, total points 479 and game
average was 19.1. These statis
tics are just one among many
that can prove Sonny’s ability.
Sonny, we are all giong to
miss you. It’s going to be a
tedious task to sit and watch a
basketball game and not see the
6'8" statute of Sonny Epps not
play. I can’t speak for every
one but having you in my pres
ence has meant so much to me.
I know a man when I see one
and you are, “A FINE SPECI-
MAN OF A MAN.” Good-bye
from the sports department. It
has really been grand. No mat
ter where you go or how far you
go, I am confident you can
handle your own. Good luck!!!!
Clark in action with Morehouse.
CLARK PANTHERS