Newspaper Page Text
Dragons look strong at camp
PHS opens season against rival Gilmer August 20
Members of the Pickens
football team recently partic
ipated in a padded camp at
Kennesaw Mountain High
School. The Dragons com
peted against Kennesaw
Mountain, Campbell, Wood
land-Henry, Paulding County
and Tucker.
The guys had a strong
showing and are preparing
hard for the fall schedule
which will kick off with a
scrimmage game at West
Hall on August 12th leading
up to the official season
opener on August 20th
against rival Gilmer County.
The PHS football team at a padded camp at Kennesaw Mountain High School.
Shooting the Breeze
Body-builder, coach and gym owner
Mike McClure talks positive thinking
BY CTNeiLL WILLIAMS
O'NEILL
OUTDOORS
On the
Southern
Breakfast
[O’Neill’s column ap
pears the first week and
third week of each month.]
Coffee black, eggs over
light or scrambled, biscuits
covered in gravy, Swag-
gerty’s Sausage patties, and
grits swimming in butter.
Sounds like a great breakfast
doesn’t it? I was in Montana
trying for Mule Deer and An
telope a few years ago. That
went fine.
I enjoyed the adventure.
Trouble was I couldn’t get
any grits up there. They
served potatoes. That’s a
valiant effort, but it wasn’t
grits and I missed them. I
tried to encourage the little
restaurant’s owner and cook
combination to get with the
program, but he talked with a
bit of a flat accent and could
n’t understand my proper
English from a guy from
Georgia. They all thought I
talked funny.
As a side note, have you
hunted or fished in Montana?
One thing you might want to
remember, the air is free but
there’s not much of it. It’s
tough to get enough of it to
feel good.
Be sure and take a gener
ous supply of Goody’s
headache powders. If you
get one of those altitude
headaches, you’ll need the
powders.
Back to the grits.
Grits has become a fash
ion statement, of sorts. Is
that proper grammar? Is
‘grits’ singular or plural?
Anyway, I had grits with
shrimp at a very upscale
coastal restaurant on St Si
mons Island. The grits were
(there’s that singular/plural
problem again) fried in a lit
tle square cake with the
grilled shrimp on the side.
Outstanding! Gail cooks up
grits with boiled com, bacon
and little bits of venison
sausage. WOW! What we
don’t eat, I store in a little
soft plastic bowl for a snack.
I had breakfast with
friends in Jonesboro, Geor
gia, I do have a few friends,
contrary to popular belief,
and the restaurant served lit-
Continued on Page 2B
June 27 -
July 3
June 27th:
On this day in 1980, Los
Angeles Dodgers pitcher,
Jerry Ruess, no-hit the San
Francisco Giants in an 8-0
win at Candlestick Park.
Ruess did not allow a
baseranner and was one
throwing error away from a
perfect game. He also be
came the first Dodgers
pitcher to have a no-hitter
against the Giants since
Sandy Koufax in 1963.
June 28th:
On this day in 2007,
Houston Astros second base-
man, Craig Biggio, collected
the 3,000th hit of his major
league career against the Col
orado Rockies. Biggio went
five for six with an RBl-sin-
gle and ran scored. The game
took 11 innings before the
Astros won, 8-5, on Carlos
Lee’s walk-off grand slam.
June 29th:
On this day in 1962, Los
Angeles Dodgers right
fielder, Frank Howard, hit the
franchise’s 5,000th home ran
against the New York Mets.
Howard cleared the left field
fence for two runs in the bot
tom of the eighth, but his
heroics were not nearly
enough. The Mets scored six
first inning runs and never
looked back in handing the
Continued on Page 2B
By Jennifer Paire
Contributing Writer
A fusion of faith, positive
thinking and hard work pow
ered Mike McClure’s quest
to achieve two lifelong
dreams over the past three
years: the Jasper resident be
came an award-winning
bodybuilder and owner of
Southern Muscle Company
(SMC) Powerhouse Gym at
268 Old Federal Road.
An Ellijay native, Mc
Clure has lived in Jasper
since 1994. By day he is a
sales professional for Shot-
tenkirk Cherokee Jeep
Chrysler Ram in Canton, and
his regimented life supports
his bodybuilding goals and
the growth at SMC, an old-
school, down-to-earth gym
attracting men and women
alike. Built on the “the foun
dation of Christ, Family,
Hard Work and Helping Oth
ers,” McClure shared: “I
want people to know no mat
ter what it is they want to ac
complish they can achieve
anything in life with God.
This is the path God put me
on.”
McClure credits his wife
and business partner, Alexis,
and his bodybuilding mentor
Jay Warren of Fort Worth,
Texas, with making his suc
cess possible. Warren is an
International Federation of
Bodybuilding and Fitness
professional, champion and
personal trainer. McClure is
qualified for professional
bodybuilding status and
plans to make it official at the
Alexis McClure / Photo
Mike McClure poses at the 2020 NPC Southwest USA
Championships last August placing third in Men's True
Novice and fifth in Men's Heavyweight Bodybuilding. This
earned him the opportunity to compete nationally and go
professional. Last September, McClure competed in the
2020 Roman Classic Championships in Rome, Ga. and
earned first in Masters over 35 Bodybuilding and Overall,
and second in Open Bodybuilding.
Southern Muscle Showdown
in Dalton in September. In
June McClure coached three
bodybuilders from Jasper
who placed at the Roman
Classic Championships XV
in Rome. Mike and Alexis
McClure are youth pastors at
Living Word Church in
Jasper and have a blended
family that includes Krista,
16; Carter, 17; Kara, 20; and
Tristan, 21.
work. In 2019, Jay Warren,
an IFBB professional in
Texas, was willing to take me
on as a client and he’s
coached and drilled and de
veloped me. I went from 260
pounds to 194 pounds in the
first six months. The disci
pline required is something
99% of people can’t do and
that pushes me to be that one
percent who is disciplined to
do it.
This week in
Sports History
By Ethan Swiech
Bodybuilder Mike Mc
Clure owner of Southern
Muscle Company (SMC)
Powerhouse Gym.
How did you get into body
building?
I’ve always been a fan of
the sport. I’m actually not
gifted genetically to be a
bodybuilder but I had not met
the right people. I was the
skinny, scrawny kid who got
picked on in high school but
I was the type of guy who
would show up and do the
What is a bodybuilder’s life
like?
It is physically, mentally
and spiritually challenging, a
perfect trifecta. I eat six
meals a day, get up at 4:45 in
the morning to train, then
work a 10- to 12-hour day. It
makes me a better employee,
Continued on Page 7B
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Dream
Remembered
It may seem odd but it is an
Olympic Games year. Re
member that Covid forced
the 2020 games to be post
poned. Those games open
on July 23 rd in Tokyo
Japan. Recently, a friend
asked my thoughts on pro
fessional basketball players
competing in the Olympics.
The timing seems fit
tingly ironic because 29
years ago on June 28, 1992,
the world saw the original
and unmatched Dream
Team play for the first time
in the Tournament of the
Americas which was an
Olympic qualifying event.
The 1992 US Olympic
basketball team remains the
greatest assembly of talent
at its peak in the entire his
tory of sports.
The long saga leading up
to the formation of that
team which included eleven
legendary hall of fame play
ers and one college kid who
had no damn business on
that roster (perhaps a topic
for some future column) is
a fascinating story.
FIBA (association of na
tional organization which
governs basketball world
wide) rales specifically pre
vented NBA players from
participating in Olympic
tournaments, and only am
ateurs were eligible for the
U.S. Olympic teams and
primarily college players.
Other countries used their
best players from their do
mestic professional leagues
though. In many cases,
those foreign professionals
were much older and more
seasoned than 19-20 college
kids.
In 1989, FIBA voted
(56-13) in favor of chang
ing its rale thereby allowing
professionals from every
league including the NBA
to participate.
USA Basketball asked
the NBA to supply the play
ers for the 1992 roster. Ini
tially, the league was
reluctant because no one
could have envisioned the
phenomenon which it be
came. In early 1991, Sports
Illustrated dubbed the as yet
unknown roster “The
Dream Team” and it cer
tainly was.
Ultimately by the au
tumn of ‘91, the first 10
names were revealed:
Charles Barkley, Larry
Bird, Patrick Ewing,
“Magic” Johnson, Michael
Jordan, Karl Malone, Chris
Mullin, Scottie Pippen,
David Robinson, and John
Stockton. Clyde Drexler
and Christian Laettner were
added in the following
spring.
The group captured the
hearts of this country during
their dominating ran to the
gold. Truly, the attention
given them worldwide rev
olutionized basketball. In
the years since, more inter
national stars joined the
NBA and became house
hold names such as German
bom Dirk Nowitski and Yao
Ming the seven foot, six
inch Chinese superstar.
With the lines between
amateur and professional
sports continually evolving,
recalling the 1992 Dream
Team remains one of my fa
vorite Olympic memories.