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THE PANTHER
December 18, 1979
Aggressive and Determined
Giddens’ A Grave Guard
“Team ball is the key. Without good team
work . . no team can make it.”
BY VEVERLY Y BYRD
Panther Sports Editor
Being 6’ 4 W’ and weighing
210 pounds behind a computer
means very little to the
average man. But when you
take these same characteris
tics and add a basketball, a
court, four teammates and an
oppositiep , then the picture
takes on a different meaning.
Such is the case of Harvey
Giddens, Computer Science
major and one of the Panthers’
starting guards for this
season.
“Weighing 210 and having a
good outside jumper, I feel that
I have a strong advantage over
most of the guards in this
division,” Giddens said.
He feels that his weight
allows him to play aggressive
defense which is one of his
strongest points on the court.
Giddens scored 19 points in
his debut against Paine
College and 16 points in an
exhibition game against
Morris Brown College to take a
slightly early lead in the Pan
ther individual scoring.
He can shoot, dribble, block
shots and play an impressive
defensive game. When asked if
he had any weak points he sim
ply said that they were all turn
ing into strong points.
“By practicing and working
hard, I feel that I can improve
my shooting and passing.
Hard work just pays off,”
Giddens said.
Giddens is one of three sons
of Ms. Juanita Giddens of
Atlanta. He has one sister who
resides in Los Angeles and
spent the first 11 years of his
life in Birmingham, Ala.
Photography, going to profes
sional athletic events, and
recreation are his favorite pas
times.
However, basketball is noth
ing new to Giddens. He also
excels in other facets of
athletics. Along with his 3
years of varsity basketball at
George High School in Atlan
ta, Ga., he played football and
ran track. Giddens also played
one year of basketball at
Hawamba Junior College in
Fulton, Miss.
He recalls the best game of
his basketball career at
Hawamba.
“It was really self satisfying
to me because I held the op
ponents’ leading scorer, whose
average game total was 30
points, to a mere 20 points.
Besides playing good defense,
I shot 90% from the field,”
Giddens said.
Holding George High
School’s record for blocked
shots in 1976 is only one of
many Giddens achievements.
He also held the school record
for triple jump, was 6th in the
State for triple jump and “Best
Offensive Basketball Player”
to name a few.
“But athletic honors weren’t
the only honors I received in
high school,” Giddens said. “I
was on the honor roll and
voted Outstanding Student in
Algebra my junior year.”
Following Coach Leonidas
Epps’ winning history with
basketball at Clark and the
Giddens (24) shoots over Fisk University Bulldogs.
Giddens scored the winning basket with two seconds
left to add excitement to the 64-62 victory over Fisk.
(Photo by Jerome Gwinn.)
desire to play at home, seem to
have played an important role
in Giddens coming to Clark.
“I felt that after getting
away from Atlanta for a while,
I really wanted to play at
home,” Giddens said. “Clark
has a good academic program
and it is simply at home.”
As far as the overall team,
Giddens feels that as the team
matures to the Panthers’
system of running, it will be
successful.
“We found out what we
needed to do and work on while
playing Paine and Morris
Brown College,” Giddens said.
“Now that we have looked over
our mistakes and corrected
them, we know we will find
success.”
Giddens credits the
dynamite coaching and con
sistent team ball along with
his determination to make it in
helping him to adjust to Clark
basketball.
“Team ball is the key.
Without good teamwork, as we
have, no team can make it,” he
said.
If given the opportunity,
Giddens would like to play
professional ball some day. If
not, you might find him at IBM
as a Computer Specialist.
Giddens
Harvey Giddens, transfer from Hawamba Junior
College in Fulton, Miss., is one of Clark’s starting
guards.
Famed Hurdler Dissatisfied
Moses Still Underrated
BY ROZELL CLARK
Entertainment Editor
Edwin Moses happens to
jump hurdles faster and better
than anyone else in the world.
This is not just a statement
off the top of this reporter’s
head, it is a fact, and Moses
has a gold medal and a world
record to prove his abilities.
One would think that ac
quiring such credible creden
tials would set Moses “400”
meters ahead of everyone else
with the sports world bec
koning at his very “fast” feet.
Well, it hasn’t been that way
for Moses, not quite.
However, before venturing
into a detailed story, let’s take
our minds back exactly four
years ago to the 1976 Montreal
Olympics in Canada.
There he came around the
stretch. A young unknown
black Morehouse student lead
ing the’field of world class
hurdlers. He was fast. His feet
seem only to brush the ground
as he strided effortless over the
final 400 meter hurdle in world
record time.
Everybody wanted to know
“who is he”? “Where did he
come from?” “Where has he
been all this time?” Yes, Moses
was the talk of the day. ABC
sports announcer Jim McKay
interviewed Moses extensively
that night at Olympic Village.
He was a world hero.
Moses came back to Atlanta
and Morehouse College, a
hero. There were parades, lun
cheons, the works.
During the four years since
the ’76 Olympics, Moses has
seen both good and bad
moments in his newly found
fame. Moses contends that he
has never received the kind of
publicity worthy of a world
class athlete.
“Nothing that I have done
has been put on a level, say of a
Bruce Jenner or someone like
that,” he said. The Dayton,
Ohio native gained attention
shortly after the Olympics for
stating that he felt he was not
getting enough coverage for a
person “dominating my field
as I do.”
“It is still the same,” he said.
“But there’s no sense keeping
the issue going. I’m the only
top athlete in the United States
who hasn’t been in the cover of
“Track and Field” magazine.
“I’ve talked to them
(reporters) and all they do is
write me nasty letters and
print them in their magazines
trying to rationalize why I
don’t get coverage.”
Moses, however, was
featured in a recent issue of
Sports Illustrated where he
elaborated his years since
gaining the world record in the
400 meter hurdles.
He also hit the pages of
sports media around the
Atlanta area and the country
as one of many athletes being
investigated for allegedly tak
ing kickbacks from European
promoters.
As it currently stands, the
AAU (Amateur Athletic
Union) does notallow amateur
athletes to receive money for
their performances. Only after
an athlete becomes a profes
sional is he able to benefit
financially from his hard
work.
It just happens however,
that there is no such thing as a
professional track athlete. Ac
cording to Moses the “people
who run the track business
think you should get out there
and do it (running) for free,
then they don’t even ap
preciate it.”
“You go somewhere where
the people are poor and don’t
have much anyway, they
really appreciate what you are
trying to do,” he added. “Just
being there where they can see
it, the people will freak out.
They don’t get to see track and
field everyday.”
Moses, who has since left the
Morehouse College campus for
the sunny life of California,
does not really see much
competition for his second try
at winning the gold medal in
the 400 meter hurdles.
All the experts say that he
dominates the hurdler field.
One reporter commented that
“Moses is all alone in the 400
meter hurdlers with no one
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