Newspaper Page Text
Sports
.. ■ ", ; ~j, .... .... . ... ' „ ; 1._,. ;/,
Times -Journal Photos by Eric Zellars
Tryout time in Perry
Professional staff members of the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system held tryouts
and evaluations for area residents at Perry High School last week. Several area
youths, along with some from across the state, showed up for the event. Participants
were given an opportunity to display their skills for evaluation by the scouts. This
type or tryout gives professional scouts and opportunity to view several prospects at
one time. Catcher Jessie Harpe (above, left) a senior at Mary Persons High of
Forsyth, visits with Lon Joyce (center) of the Dodges organization and Chris Simmons
of Perry High School. Simmons recored a pitch of /8 mph. He is a sophomore.
Simons (below, right) takes aim at home plate while Harpe reaches to eaten the ball.
Holding a radar gun is Willie Powell, also of the Dodgers organization. About 25
prospects from South Carolina to Florida were on hand for the tryouts.
\JfhL |>,f, .> ICS*; * *, $& s£&
. mßh f t VMUffinL ■MMir. i t sg|gyr ^Bra^iiw ! '^lilP'V
V Jr r w, aaw>§^Pw|^^^^M^|saa^MHHm^ , JmSg
BlfcjY' mm * :• 'A., ® HB| b|B SfiSiS §&&)u&iJmwr
ii if \
I
Times-Journal Photo by Pauline Lewis
STRIKERS, A WINNING TEAM Members of the Mite Girls Strikers Softball Team and their coach,
Robert King, and assistant coach, Craig Smith. Their record so far this season is 8 wins, 1 forfeit, and 1
loss.
Strikers run up 8-1 record in mite league
By PAULINE LEWIS
Times-Journal Staff
The enthusiastic Mite Girls Strikers softball team
has a good record this season: 8 wins, 1 forfeit and 1
loss. They’re a flashy team with their red jerseys with
white lettering. They play at Rozar Park and have a
bunch of fans cheering them on.
Robert King is coach of the Strikers; Craig Smith
2)adg&t Situe!
Page 6A
is assistant coach. Hazel Fairfax and Gloria King are
Team Moms.
The roster of the Strikers is as follows:
Tiffany Baldwin, Amber Davenport, Taneida
Davis, Christie Emerson, Ashley Fairfax, Shakinah
Felder, Ericka Fluellen,, Krystal Grace, Meka Harris.
Victoria Jones, Sabre King, Latonya Riley. Latashia
Sparrow and Tiffany Telles.
Wed., June 25, 1997
College-faculty basketball camp
coming to Houston County
By Jj JOHNSON
Times-Journal Editor
COCHRAN Middle
Georgia College Head Basketball
Coach Dale Hatcher has
announced plans to conduct a bas
ketball camp in Houston County
July 14-18.
Hatcher said this week that he
will offer the camp for both boys
and girls at Bonaire Middle
School. The camp is for youths
ages 8-14.
He plans to offer the camp each
day from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Plans call for an emphasis on
individual instruction and work in
fundamental skills. Hatcher said
campers will play in league games
and participate in various compe
titions such as free throw accura
cy. hot shot, one-on-one. lay-up
and three-on-three tournaments.
Hatcher brings experience to
the camp. He has directed camps
in Albany. Tennessee and
'""""TV "'fcJ" -m
% i
Times-Journal Photo by Eric Zellars
ROUND THE BASES Perry Recreation League Red Sox player Kal
Crowne rounds the bases as he heads for home after hitting a home
run.
" Hj.// life...
‘ r--,.V-- ***£-. I
Times-Journal Photo by Eric Zellars
WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO SLIDE? Perry Recreation
League coach Keith Newberry (right) goes over how to play baseball
with team member Tyler Waldrop.
Ochlehatchee All Star game is June 27
Special to the Times-Journal
Officials associated with Perry
Junior League baseball have
announced plans for the major
boys inter-league all star game to
be played at 7:30 p.m. June 27 at
Ochlahatchee Park.
The two leagues will provide
all stars for the game. From this
pool will be selected the 13 play
ers for the traveling team to com
pete in the Dixie Youth Sub-
District Tournament July 12-19 at
Barnesville.
National League All Stars
include Walter Baxter, Eric-
Booker, John harris, Matt Hunt.
Brandon Jones, James Liipfert.
Charles Padgett. Hunt Sexton.
Chao Van Horn. Lawton Wilson.
Brad Woodard and Zach yelton.
Selected for the American
League All Stars are Bubba
Blalock. Jordan Chandler. Russ
Rcum. Lucas Flournoy, Chris
Frye, J.B. Goodman. Jordan Holt.
Tyler Lawhorn, Kyle McCarty,
David PEake, Nick Shelton and
Billy Warren.
The team members selected for
the traveling team will begin prac
tice July 1.
Houston Tims-Jomol
Virginia. He spent nine years as
an instructor with well-known
basketball games at Indiana
University, the University of
Kentucky, Notre Dame, Purdue
University, the University of
Louisville, the University of
Virginia and the University of
South Florida.
“Our goal is to provide young
sters in the Houston County area a
great basketball camp.” Hatcher
said. “They will have a chance to
learn the game of basketball and
have some fun in a positive envi
ronment," he added.
Tuition for the week-long
camp is SIOO. This includes a
camp T-shirt, all instruction and
guest speakers, the competition
and awards.
Brochures are available
through local banks and busi
nesses. For more information,
contact Hatcher at (912) 934-
3083.
Ochlahatchee spokesman
Johnny McCarty also announced
standings for Major Boys, ages 11-
12, through June 21.
Team Won Lost Tie
Crossroads 12 6 0
Baxters II 7 0
Kiwanis II 8 0
Brantley 9 9 0
Tolleson 6 12 1
Northrop 5 12 1
Ochlahatchee spokesman John K.
James released final statistics for
Ponytails girls ball
Barristers 11 5 0
All State 10 6 0
Crossroads 8 7 1
Wayne Morris 6 10 0
Hamby 4 11 1
June 3 Crossroads 7. B arristers 6;
Hamby 7. All State 5
June 7 Crossroads 13. Wayne Morris
8.
June 10 Barristers 10, Crossroads 9,
Hamby 17, Wayne Morris 0.
June 11 Wayne Morris 7, All Stale 3;
Barristers 15, Hamby 7.
June 13 Wayne Morris 10, All State
5, Crossroads 5, Hamby 5 (Tie)
June 14 All State 13, Hamby 5.
June 16 Barristers 16, All State 7
June 17 Barristers 12, Hamby 11;
Crossroads 14, Wayne Morris 10.
June 19 All State 16, Hamby 7;
Barristers 11, Wayne Morris 0.
Phil
Clark
Times-Journal
Sports
Too young to die
At age 49, my friend Buddy
Wheeler just seemed too young to
die. For die past several years, he had
battled a series of major health prob
lems, and around 9:00 p.m. on June
16, Buddy finally lost the batde.
Or did he? Those who were
close to him in the final days
sensed that he had reconcilled the
fact that his health was extremely
bad, and his activities would be
limited. He had made his peace.
He was ready to go.
During his eulogy at the June
18 services, the Rev. Bill Simpson
emotionally told friends and fami
ly of Buddy's last few years, of
how he had devoted his life to
Christ and worked countless hours
for his Church.
Rev.. Simpson mentioned that
Buddy, an avid NASCAR fan,
would rather be remembered for
his work with the church than for
his NASCAR expertise.
If I may, though, I’d like to
remember Buddy Wheeler, the
NASCAR fan. He was the most
knowledgalbe person I ever met
on the subject of auto racing, par
ticularly of the Busch Grand
National and Winston Cup variety.
He could tell you anything you
wanted to know sbout every rac
ing team on the NASCAR circuit,
from team owners, sponsors, crew
chiefs, drivers.
If a driver had changed teams
from one year to the next, Buddy
knew where he came from, and
who replaced him on his old team.
He simply knew his auto racing.
There is a web site for NASCAR
at www.nascar.com, but I pre
ferred to ask Buddy Wheeler if I
had a racing question I needed an
answer for.
Often Buddy would come by
my office at WPGA radio when he
had a day off from his job in the
mass communications department
at Fort Valley State University. I
keep NASCAR yearbooks in my
office. That’s a pretty detailed
summary of just about everything
that happened the previous year in
racing. Track locations, crowd
capacity, length of the tracks, the
shape, degree of banking in the
turns.
Budy knew it all. He would
thumb through the yearbook
briefly, then lay it aside as if to
say, ‘they have everything pretty
much accurate.’ Ironically, Buddy
did not like other sports.
We first became acquainted
when Buddy came to work at
WPGA as an announcer and engi
neer. Part of his responsibilities
including running the control
board during sporting'events, and
inserting local commercials. That
included Atlanta Braves baseball,
college and high school football,
and for a time, Atlanta Hawks bas
ketball. But he absolutely hated
the sports. He could ‘run the
board’ without actually listening
to the games.
He never missed local breaks,
but he couldn’t tell you the score
of the game, or who was winning.
He simply had no interest. But
when a stock car race was on dur
ing his shift, he was all ears. He
knew where every car was, whose
pit crew was doing the best job,
which car was getting the best gas
mileage.
He liked Bill Elliot. That’s
probably why I became an Elliot
fan. He was not a Dale Earnhardt
fan, though he did respect
Earnhardt’s enormous talent as a
driver. He wasn’t a Jeff Gordon
fan, either.
“He’s winning too much to be
so young” Buddy would often say.
But he also respected Gordon’s tal
ent. Buddy had a way of tagging
drivers with nicknames. He was a
fan of Ernie Irvan, and when Irvan
was just getting into the top eche
lon of drivers, he would drive
rather daringly, darting in and out
of traffic with reckless abandon.
So Buddy nicknamed him
“Swervin’ Irvan.”
His good friend Ken Ragan of
Unadilla didn’t escape the nick
naming, either. Ragan, who drove
primarily on the Busch circuit
with an occasional Winston Cup
ride, was affectionately called
‘Ricochet Ragan’ for his tendency
to crash into the wall, even in
practice sessions when he was
alone on the track.
I want you to honor Buddy
Wheeler, and remember him as an
avid church worker who believed
in the Lord. If it’s alright, I’d like
to also remember his as the most
knoledgable NASCAR fan I’ve
ever met. So long, old pal.