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Sports ■ VetoF. I g£| Roley I Spons editor With sincere apologies to Hornet tennis I need to apologize to Travis Watson, John Shipley, Leslie Davis, Susanna Turner and Jenny Crooms. Crooms is the coach of the Westfield tennis program, while Watson and Shipley played in the G.I.S.A. men's doubles tourna ment, and Turner and Davis played in.the women's double tournament I owe them apologies since I did not get the final results of their sea son in the paper. I managed to put my notes under some papers on my desk—which has in the past been compared to a paper black hole. Crooms had a great first season at Westfield. "The kids really wanted to exceed and do well," she said. "And, they did. I thought the kids did real well." Watson and Shipley made it to the state semifinal round before bowing out of the tournament, fin ishing the season as the number three team in the state. The Westfield men's duo had to overcome adversity in the quarterfi nal round to get to the semifinal round. After losing the first set in the tournament to Pinewood's Will Parker and Cale Blocker 6-2, Wat son and Shipley were down in the second set 4-1. However, Watson and Shipley fought back, winning the next five game sin the second set to take a 6- 4 win. After coming back to win the second set, the duo took the third, and deciding set, 7-5. "The guys wanted it very badly and dug down deep," said Crooms. "There was nothing I could tell them that could help them do bet ter. I had to come from them selves." However, Watson’s and Ship ley's run through the state champi onship round ended on their third match of the day, losing to George Walton's John Stepheson and Roger Griner, who beat them in the region tournament. Although Davis and Turner left after the first round of the day, they put up a fight After losing the first match 6-2 to Brookwood's Whitney Henderson and Kelly Stratford, Turner and Davis came back in the second to even the round at one match each, with a 6-4 win. The third match went to the Brookv/ood team, 7-6, but only after an 18 point tie breaker, which Turner and Davis lost 10-8. Once again, my apologies to the Westfield tennis season. They had a great season, with one team almost going all the way. VV V V Florida State University has been the latest team to have been hit by shady agents. This time, several FSU players went to a shoe store and purchased over $6,000 in merchandise, with the bill being picked up by an agent. Most of the coverage of the inci dent has been focused on the shady agents or the coaching staff. Yes, I agree that better sanctions need to be in place to prevent agents from taking advantage of players. And, I also agree that the coaching staff needs to supervise its players. But, I think that one aspect of the case is being overlooked. That aspect is the fact that players have few sources of legitimate income to meet legitimate needs. NCAA rules strictly limit the amount and types of work a college athlete can perform during the off season. Although the NCAA has limited the amount of time an ath lete can spend in organized practice, the time demand is still such that during the season the athlete has lit tle chance to make money, to meet legitimate needs. By legitimate needs, I'm not talking about a brand new sprats car or an lavish apartment. I am talking about basic transportation, laundry, basic apartment expenses such as electricity, water and the such like, pizza money and date money. It is my firm belief that athletes should be given, as part of the scholarship program, a small stipend to assist with these needs. If schools were allowed to give assis tance to the legitimate needs of their athletes, then we would see a lot of the "cheating" ended, since see Roley, page 9A Fort Valley State to offer summer fun By VETO F. ROLEY BporU Editor Parents interested in keeping their children busy over the summer need to check the Summer National Youth Sports Program at Fort Valley State College. Children between the ages of 10 and 16 are eligible for the program, said Dr. Curtis Martin, of Fort Valley State College. The program will give the children a free physical, teach them at least three sports, teach them how to swim and teach enrichment programs on "drugs and alcohol, proper nutrition, sexuality, careers, first aid and a number of other topics," said Martin. "Seven-and-a-half hours (of the program) must be de voted to drug and alcohol abuse." "Everything is free," said Martin. "We don't charge for any thing." The program is administered through the NCAA, and is paid for by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Sexton makes softball a family sport at Ochlahatchee girls league By JIMMY SIMPSON Staff Writer There’s nothing more rewarding than having the opportunity to play sports as a youth. Jeannie Sexton should know. Hav ing laced up her own cleats to play softball as a youngster, Sexton is on the opposite side of the playing field when the first pitch is thrown these days. “It’s just great,” she said, in reference to her first year as head coach in the Ochla hatchee girls junior softball league. “Seeing the girls’ reactions, seeing them improve and a smile come across their face when they do something g00d... it just makes it all worthwhile,” said Sexton, who has taken the reigns of the Family Footwear-sponsored team. It was on the same field that Sexton now fields her team that she, too, stepped onto when softball season got underway at Ochlahatchee in years past. “Me and my husband, Mayo, always used to play out here (at Ochlahatchee),” she recalled. “It was always so much fun.” So after watching her husband take the reigns of head coach in boys junior league play for the past four years, Jeannie Sexton decided it was time that she, too, got in on the action. “I always volunteered to be scorekeeper, team mother, or work in some volunteer position,” Sexton said, in reference to her husband’s team in which their son, Hunt, is also a member. Already involved in church youth activi ties at First Presbyterian Church here, Jeannie Sexton knew she had the perfect opportunity to make coaching a family af PHS thinclads perform at state meet By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor The Perry High School Panthers saw their track season come to an end in the GHSA AAA state meet in Jefferson. Although the Panthers sent eight performers to the meet, they were unable to capture any points. Tereya Williams came the closest PHS plays young players By VETO F. ROLEY Sport* Editor Three years ago, the Perry Pan thers, with a wealth of senior and junior talent, won the 1991 AA state baseball championship. Only one player, Dallas Waldrip, from that team played in 1994 as Panther coach Bob Jones put a team with only three upperclassmen on the field. The young Panthers started the 1994 season off with disastrous 10- 0 loss, a loss in which Perry batters were unable to get a hit and struck Hornet offensive numbers Name H-AB-HR-RBI PACT 28-38-TB S% 88-HPB-S OBP K SB Matt Shepley 21-73-0- 7 .288 5-0 26 .356 72-0-0 .388 915 Thad Hawk 13-49-7-7 .265 5-0 21 .429 11-0-3 .429 7 3 TroyNuss 21-54-3-20 .389 7-1 39.722 19-7-1 .593 7 3 Lon Talton 79-64-0-79 .297 2-0 21 .328 72-0-2 .246 9 2 Jake Walls 17-69-7-14 .246 1-0 21 .304 7-0-0 .342 9 3 Clay Smith 14-62-0- 6 .225 2-0 16 .258 3-1-0 .273 14 0 Sheldon Shelton 7-41-0- 3 .171 i-0 8 -195 6-3-1 .352 T 4 0 Greg Adams 4-20-0- 1 .200 0-0 4 .200 5-0-0 .360 10 0 Billy Kitchens 10-44-0-7 .227 3-0 13 .295 (2-2-0 .414 11 3 Brian Staines 5-35-0- 1 .143 2-0 7 .200 7-1-0 .302 18 4 Michael Davis 2-11-0- 2 .182 1-0 3 .273 1-0-0 .250 6 4 Lee Talton 0- 3-0- 1 .000 0-0 0 .000 3-0-0 .500 1 2 Jeff Dehem 1-29-0- 5 .241 1-0 8 .276 7-0-0 .389 4 1 Lance Watson 4-26-0- 1 .154 i-0 5 .192 6-0-1 .333 4 1 Weston Ekey 0-4-0- 0 .000 00 0 -000 0-0-0 .000 4 0 Keith Waites 0- 1-0- 0 .000 0-0 0 .000 0-0-0 .000 0 0 TEAM STATS 143-581-5-95 -246 30-1 190 .327 115-14-8 .390 137 42 fair when her daughter, Lee Anne, signed up to play her first season. So, taking the advice of another volun teer parent, assistant coach Steve Gray, Sexton turned a sport of years’ past into one of immediate involvement. “My only hobbies up until this year were tennis and reading,” the mother tumed-coach said with a laugh. “But now, softball is definitely in that group.” While some may argue that the compet itiveness in youth sports doesn’t begin un til youths reach the senior league level, Sexton said she is now more convinced than ever that that theory doesn’t hold true. “I used to hear how competitive the girls’ junior softball league was before I started coaching, but I just didn’t believe it; I do now,” she said, without any hesita tion. Yet aside from the excitement that competition seems to bring out, Sexton said the most rewarding part of volunteer ing has to fall back on the participants themselves. “I really have enjoyed getting to know all of the girls and their parents,” she said. “It’s just like one big happy family.” For an example, just take the four addi tional volunteers- Kim McKinney, field ing coach; Pam Pierce, dugout coach; Ann Brannen, scorekeeper, and Jennifer Dawson, team mother— who work to assist the team on a weekly basis. “Parents are always more than eager to do anything you ask of them,” Sexton said. “These parents are just part of what makes it all worthwhile...” of any of the Panthers with an eighth place finish in the pole vault. Max Vickers, coach of the Pan ther’s men’s team, said the state meet capped an up-and-down year that saw his thinclads hampered by a late start, injuries and key players being ineligible for grades. "It was a satisfying season," said out 10 of 15 trips to the plate. However, the Panthers rallied, win ning nine of 20 games. Late in the season with a chance to go to the playoffs on the line, the Panthers won two region road games, including a 13 inning affair at Appling County. However, the Panthers would be denied the chance to go for post-season play, with a loss at Gray to Jones County. "From that point on (the open ing game of the season), things got progressively a little better," said Jones. "It (the first loss of the sea- Last year, said Martin, a record 693 children participated in the program. The program accepts children from six local counties, including Houston. Martin said the only requirement for the program was that 90 percent of the students come from homes in the lower in come bracket. He said there was no limit on the numbers of children that could participate in the program. "We can take as many as we can transport, or as many as we can get to the program," said Martin. "We don’t turn any body away.” For families that are unable to transport their children to Fort Valley to participate in the program, Martin said the school offered limited transportation. In Perry, the program's bus will stop at Perry Middle School, Oldfield Church, New Hope Baptist Church, Creekwood and Five Points. Martin said children would be offered instruction in a vari ety of sports including softball, basketball, volleyball, tennis, Vickers. "It could've been worse." The team's highpoint, said Vick ers, came after meets at Dodge and Northside where the Panthers fin ished second. "A lot of kids ran well (at those meets)," said Vickers. "It looked like we were going to have a good season." Vickers said his team's won-loss record also reflected a tough sched ule. "We could've easily scheduled one or two meets were we would've won," he said, noting, however, that he chose meets where the com petition was tougher. "We had a good year," said Vick ers. "We had a lot of good accom plishments. Some of (the runners) peaked; but, we all didn't peak at the same time." While Vickers is losing around eight seniors from this year's thin clad squad, he said next year looks good, especially if some of the run ners ineligible this year can regain their eligibility. "We had a lot of ninth graders to run real well," said Vickers. How ever, he added that he needed more Please see Thinclads, page 9A Houston Times-Journal Wednesday, May 18, 1994 Houston Times -Journal- * „ .'tf" 1 liSi WHL % | i Bf 2 • ♦ Coach Jeannie Sexton and player Lee Anne Sexton Hornets finish strona in '94 By VETO F. ROLEY Sport* Editor Replacing seven starters from last year's Westfield team that finished with a region championship was tough for head coach Bert Brown. The Hornets lost six position players and their DH. Although 10 seniors would start the season, only two would have significant playing experience, pitcher/infielder Lon Talton and pitcher/outfielder Troy Nuss. Nuss would lead the Hornets at the plate, hitting just under .400 with three dingers and 20 RBIs. Nuss, hampered all year by a weak lineup behind him, would also lead the team in on-base percentage with .593, walking 19 times and getting aerobics and weightlifting. "One of the mandatory activities," he said, "is that the students learn to swim." Instruction in the various sports will be provided by various high school teachers in the area. Martin said that each instruc tor would have a college degree. In addition to instruction in various sports and lifestyle is sues, participants will also be given a free meal. "The program is very important considering counnes arouno us arc mostly rural and don’t offer a lot of existing activities for this age group," said Martin. "Once kids are out of school, what arc they going to do?" Martin said the program tried to offer children something positive to do besides hanging around the streets. "It is a very structured program," he said. For more information on the program, call the Fort Valley State College athletic department at 825-6208. -mm ;| C :*vfl|’ ? l| *S§fl: hMTITTi '\ J| - j® 4 ■•^A c ' % v m ■ w w < %^ Natalie Taylor and Rlckevla Jackson represented the PHS women thinclads at the state meet Saturday. Page 2A Westfield sports honors Lon Talton was named Male Athlete of the Year, and Jennifer Smith was named Female Athlete of the Year at the Westfield Spring sports banquet held Tuesday night, May 17th. Other awards were not available as of press time Tuesday afternoon. A more complete report on the ban quet will appear in Saturday's paper. Physicals set for Sat. Physicals for all area high school and middle school athletes will be give May 21 at Perry High School. The cost of the physical is $5. Chip McCarty, head trainer for! Perry High School and Westfield, said that anyone wanting to partici pate in sports at Perry Middle School, Houston County High School, Westfield or Perry High School must get a physical. He said that there would be no makeup day. j The physicals will start at 6:30 a.m., and will be given by doctors at Perry Hospital. McCarty said there would be no makeup physi cals. McCarty said that players were to go to their schools first. The school will transport the players to Perry High School for the physi cals. Physicals will be given to Perry High School students starting at 6:30 a.m. Starting at 7:30 a.m., physicals will be given to Houston County High School students. Westfield players will receive their physicals starting at 8:30 a.m. Students at Perry Middle School will start receiving physicals at 9:30 a.m. i hit by a pitch seven times. Talton would also respond with a .297 average, finishing second to Nuss in the RBI category with 19. He would record five of Westfield's eight win; on the mound, and three of the team's four complete games. Even though the two returning seniors had good seasons, the Hornets finished the season with a disappointing 8-15 mark. However, the Hornets would capture second in the region, with a 7-3 record. Westfield lost-all 11 regular season non-region games they played. However, the 1994 season could've been worse for Brown and his baseball team. Please see Hom»t s. oaae 9A