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Page 6 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 Cont on page 7