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Sports Perry High School in violation of Title IX f9| |B H WKHt am Several violations of Title IX were found In a compliance review at Perry High School. PHS was chosen because of complaints from parents of softball team members. Panthers have 53 come out for football By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor Last year, the Panthers were in deep trouble, losing their four of their first five games. However, Coach John Stephens and his staff turned the program around, starting with a 17-13 win over Ware County. Including the win over the Gators, the Panthers won four of the next seven games, making it to the region final. The Panther team that overcame a disastrous start lost over 20 players to graduation last year. Lady Hornets start season By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor Donna Campbell was the head coach of the Hornets for nine years. Last year she resigned to pursue a masters degree that would allow her to coach on the college level. Campbell led her final team to a surprise semifinal showing in the state playoffs in 1993. Bill Sellers was hired in June to take the place of Campbell. Sellers was the head baseball coach for Miller County High School last year. "Having (coach) Jenny Crooms is a great asset," said Sellers. "There will be some adjustment for these girls coming from coach Campbell all these years. There may be a difference in philosophy." Although Sellers is not familiar with the players, only three starters were lost to graduation last year. The Hornets must replace third baseman Marla Massey, shortstop Laura Thompson and outfielder Jenna Bishop. Westfield Hornets 1994 varsity softball schedule Date Opponent Place Time Aug. 20 Westfield Invitational Perry AD Westfield, Southland, Brookwood and Flint River Aug. 30 Windsoi" Macon 6:30 Sept. 1 Stratford® Perry 4:15 Sept. 8 Southland® Americus 4:15 Sept. 13 First Presbyterian Day® Perry 4:15 Sept. 15 Windsor® Perry 4:15 Sept. 20 Stratford® Macon 4:15 Sept. 22 Deerfield Perry 4:15 Sept. 27 Southland® Perry 4:15 Sept. 28 First Presbyterian Day® Macon 4:15 Sept. 29 Monroe Forsyth 4:15 Oct. 1 Ist round state tournament Statesboro AD Oct. 5 Final four-state tournament Tifton AD 1994 "B" team softball schedule Aug. 31 First Presbyterian Day Macon 4:15 Sept. 6 Mt. dc Sales Perry 4:15 Sept. 7 Windsor Macon 4:15 Sept. 12 Stratford Macon 4:15 Sept. 14 Southland Perry 4:15 Sept. 19 Southland Americus 4:15 Sept. 21 Windsor Perry 4:15 AD=AII day tournaments All home games will be played °=Rcgion opponents at Hornet field on campus. —-fr "Losing as many kids as we lost last year is pretty tough," said Stephens. Still, 53 players came out Monday, Aug. 1, as Stephens held the first practice of the season. "It was very good,” he said, "especially for the first day." While the Panthers will work on conditioning the next few days, Stephens said that he was happy with the condition his team started practice. "Conditioning is extremely important to us as small Please see PHS, page 7A Sellers and Crooms welcomed 25 players to the first practice Monday, Aug. 1. Sellers said that he was expecting a few more play ers to join the team after they came back from family vacations. The Hornets will open their sea son on Aug. 20 with the Westfield High School Invitational in Perry. Southland, Brookwood and Flint River will make the trip to Perry to participate in the tournament. After the tournament, Sellers will be able to assess his team, having 10 days to the first regular season game, a region matchup with Windsor in Macon. "We've got 15 more days after today to be ready to play on Aug. 20," said Sellers, who added that the Hornets would practice 19 more times before they open. "There is not enough time to get everything done that you want to get done. "I'm looking forward to the chal lenge," said Sellers of the coming season. By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor The report is back into alleged violations of Title IX in the Perry High School athletic program, and investigators with the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) found violations in the program. Problems in the Perry High School athletic program surfaced with the parents of coaches in the Panthers' softball team. When parents went to Atlanta to discuss their problems with the federal board of education office there, they were told that Houston County was due for a routine compliance review, and that they would do the review at Perry High School. The investigation of Perry High School started in Feb., 1994. The final report was issued by the board of Education on the afternoon of Tuesday, Aug. 2. Title IX investigations are gender equity investigations, with federal law requiring equal opportunity in sports programs to both male and female athletes. Specifically, the report alleges that Perry High School violated Title IX in three of five areas: effective accommodation of student interests and abilities, scheduling of games and practice time and opportunity to receive coaching, assignment and compensation of coaches. In two areas, provision of equipment and supplies and provision of locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities, the federal board found that Perry High School was not violating the law. However, the report did say that there were problems with the softball team's equipment at the start of the 1993 season. "Although the re quired equipment for the softball team was determined to be inadequate at the start of the if BLmt • - -.Mu mi M Perry High School coach John Stephens watches his players perform stretching drills on the first day of practice. Hornets welcome 42 players By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor The Westfield Hornets created huge expectations for 1994 when they finished as state runnerups in football. However, graduation left gapping holes in the Hornet pro gram, as 13 of the 24 players used by Ronnie Jones were lost to grad uation. But winning has brought out the numbers for the Hornets, as Jones welcomed 42 players back to camp. And those 42 players, said Jones, would get to compete for a lot of jobs with the 1994 Hornets. The offense only returns a starting half back, tightend and guard. On the de fensive side, only a linebacker and defensive end return for the Hornets. "We didn't expect that many kids to come out," said Jones, who said that he was having to order equip ment for the the team. "It (lack of equipment) is a good problem to have." Some notes —iignaniHMMHMSHM I Journeyman pitcher Kenny Rogers pitched the first perfect game by a lefty in the American League, hurling his no-no against the California Angels. Impress your friends with these notes about perfect games. Mike Witt of the Angels was the last pitcher in the American League to throw a perfect game. His victim, the Texas Rangers of Rogers. Houston Times-Journaß Page 6A softball season, the (Houston County School) District has ordered and/or purchased the appropriate equipment for the team to being the 1994-95 season," states the report. "We determined, therefore, that equivalent equipment and supplies are being provided to female athletes at PHS as required by the regulation implementing Title IX.” The report found the Perry High School offers seven sports for male athletes (baseball, basketball, football, wrestling, track, cross country and tennis), five sports for female athletes (softball, basketball, track, cross country and tennis) and two co-ed sports (golf and soccer). The report found that 168 of the 448 male students at Perry High School participated in sports, while only 83 of the 421 female students participated in sports at the school. The study also found that many of the female students "indicated that they were interested in volleyball," and that the Panthers did not have a volleyball program. "OCR determined, therefore, that the interests and abilities of female students are not being fully and effectively accommodated at PHS," reads the report "Although the equivalent competitive opportunities are available to female students, we found that interscholastic participation oppor tunities are not provided to female students in proportion to their respective enrollments, the school could not demonstrate a history and/or practice of expansion which is responsive to the interests and abilities of female students, and the school has not fully and effectively accommodated the interests and abilities of female students. "In order to correct the violation, the District I r 4 Sf-* A* 'T : ?\ Mm kwL Awn k 99L mH j^pnl Members of the Westfield offensive line walk through blocking assignments, while assistant coach Jim Massey observes. Although the Hornets are start ing over, they have to get ready in a hurry, as they play their first game before the end of the month, open ing the season in Macon against Mt. de Sales. The start of school also poses about past pitching perfection Only pitcher nas thrown a per fect game and won over 300 games. Cy Young, who leads the victory chart with 511 wins, threw his on May 5, 1904, against the Philadel phia A's. Counting Young, only three pitchers with 200 or more wins have thrown perfect games. They were Jim Bunning and Catfish Hunter. Bunning and Hunter won 224 games each. Six perfect games belong to pitchers who won less than 100 games in their career. Charlie Robertson, who played in 1919, 1922-28, won only 49 games over his career, and is the perfect game pitcher with the fewest major league wins. j -Wednesday,August3,l994, "Houston Times- Journal some problems for Jones and his staff, with schools starting on Aug. 18. When school starts, the team will be limited to one practice time a day. Jones said that there was not enough time to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish, but that Harvey Haddix is the only pitcher to lose a perfect game. Pitching against the Milwaukee Braves for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Haddix was perfect through 12 in- Kennedy takes pitching champ By PAUL FELTY Special to the HTJ The Perry Horseshoe Pitchers Club concluded the spring/summer league competition recently with a tournament at the Georgia National Fair and Agricenter. Joanne Kennedy pitched her way into first place in the tournament. Jerome Kennedy finished second, and Pat Kovak placed third in the has agreed to conduct a survey of interests and abilities at PHS by Sept. 15, 1994. Where in terest is expressed by a sufficient number of female students, a team for female students will be added at PHS.” The report also found problems in the numbers of games scheduled for female athletes, primarily in the softball and cross country events. In 1993, the report found that the baseball team played 18 games, while the softball team played only 10 games. The men's cross country team ran in eight events, while the women's team ran in five events. "We determined, therefore, that the number of competitive events for males and females were not equivalent," said the report. "In order to correct the above violation, the District agreed to increase the number of competitive events for the female softball and cross country teams to ensure that these teams have comparable competitive events." In coaches, the report found no significant difference in the head coaches and supplements of the men's and women's programs. However, the study did find problems with the availability of assistant coaches. "During interviews," reads the report, "we found that the availability of coaching personnel for practices and the availability of assistant coaches not comparable for female athletes." One of the problems the report found was the tennis coach having no assistant coach. As a result, he had his wife helping with the latter part of the women's team's practice, while he attended the men's team's practice. The women's team practiced from 4-6 p.m., while the men’s team Please see Title IX, page 7A Young to appear at Lake Sinclair yacht club Nationally known sailing expert Claiborne Young will be at the Oconee Sailing and Yacht Club on Lake Sinclair Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. He will speak on "Cruising on the Western Florida Coast. Young is a native of North Carolina, and is the author of five cruising guides, including Cruising Guide to Costal South Carolina and Georgia. "If I don’t personally see it," said Young, "I don't write about it." Young's talk at Lake Sinclair is being sponsored in part by the Lake Juliette Sailing Club of Warner Robins. "you take what you got.” The Hornets will be making up some time next week when they go into a football camp on campus. During the camp, Westfield will practice three times a day to get ready for the opening day. nings. However, his team was un able to get on the scoreboard. In the 13th, things fell apart for the Kitten. Felix Mantilla reached Please see Roley, page 7A day long event, said Perkins Jenk ins, director of the league. Jenkins said that preliminary competition was divided into three classes. Those advancing to the fi nals were "A" Class winner Kovak and Jenkins. "B” Class winner was Joanne Kennedy and Jerome Kennedy finished second. Mathew Felty won "C” Class, and Davis Cosey finished second.