Newspaper Page Text
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WEDNESDAY,
JULY 28, 2004
ON TAP
Professional baseball
Today
■ Atlanta at Pittsburgh, 7:05
p.m., TSS
Thursday
■ Atlanta at Pittsburgh, 12:35
p.m., TBS
Friday
■ New York at Atlanta, 7:35 p.m.,
TS
IN BRIEF
WR rec sets signups
for fall softball league
The Warner Robins Recreation
Department will begin team regis
tration for the Fall softball league
Aug. 9-10 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., at
the center.
The first 28 co-ed and first 21
men’s teams only will be signed
up. Participants must be 16 or
older by Sept. 1 to play. For more
information, call 929-1914 or 1916.
CGSA to hold open
registration Saturday
The Central Georgia Soccer
Association will hold its open regis
tration Saturday at the Galleria Mall
between 1 and 5 p.m.
Football, cheerleading
signups continue
The Warner Robins Recreation
Department is continuing to regis
ter for youth football and cheer
leading.
Parents can register their chil
dren throughout the week,
Monday through Friday from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. until leagues are
filled. The programs are open for
boys and girls ages 5 to 12.
The age control date is Aug. 31,
and a birth certificate is required at
registration if not already on file.
Participants must also have the
required fee at the time of registra
tion. The football fee for children
living in the city is SSO, $l3O in
county and $177 for out of county.
The cheerleading city resident
fee is $75, SIOO for county and
$l2O for out of county. For more
information, call 929-1916.
Volleyball registration
to start in August
The Warner Robins Recreation
Department will begin registration
for volleyball beginning Aug. 16.
Players must be between the ages
of 13 and 18 to participate.
Applications for coaches are also
being accepted. Call the depart
ment at 929-1916 for more informa
tion.
Federation to hold
annual Buckarama
The Georgia Wildlife Federation
will hold its annual Buckarama Aug.
20-22 at the Georgia National
Fairgrounds and Agricenter. The
event includes taxidermy displays,
seminars and dog shows.
The cost is $7 for adults, $4 for
seniors and $4 for children ages
6-12. Anyone younger gets in
free. There is also no charge for
parking.
TRIVIAL TRIVIAL
Quick quiz...
In what year did Pete Rose pass
Ty Cobb's record for most singles
in a career when he got his
3,503 rd base hit?
On this date...
1992 - Boston Celtics star
Reggie Lewis died after collapsing
on a Brandeis University basket
ball court during practice. He was
27 years old.
Born 0n...
1943, Bill Bradley - A Rhodes
Scholar and U.S. Senator, he wrote
his name in the basketball record
book for Princeton University and
later with the New York Knicks. He
was a three-time All-America,
paced the U.S. Olympic team to a
gold medal in 1964 and helped the
Knicks win two NBA titles.
'tireless' efforts pay off for Reid, Taylor
By Don Moncrief
HHJ Sports Editor
WARNER ROBINS - It wasn’t
exactly the reward Willie Reid
wanted to hear from his most
recent mentor.
Not after working all summer on
Warner Robins head track and
field coach Mark Taylor’s condi
tioning program - a breakfast of
champions regimen that included
at its worst, sprinting all-out while
wearing a harness and with first a
tractor-sized tire in tow and then a
normal one.
Their goal was to get the Florida
State University receiver/back’s
time in the 40 away from its slow -
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Westfield’s football bleachers, made of wood, are a rarity and have welcomed fans for almost 20 years.
Westfield’s bleachers show their mettle
By Nick Campbell
HHJ Student Writer
PERRY -
As one walks onto
the grounds of
Marvin Arrington
Field - the home field of
the Westfield Hornets -
one feature stands out
above the rest: the wooden
bleachers.
In a time when nearly
every football field in the
state boasts some sort of
metal seating arrange
ment, Westfield’s stands
are truly in a class of their
own.
The project was started
more than 30 years ago,
Local campus is Northside’s nest egg
By Joe Sersey
HHJ Sports Writer
WARNER ROBINS - It’s
mid afternoon on Monday,
the first day of the
Northside Eagles’ football
camp.
It is between practices
and immediately after
lunch, so the Eagles are
waiting before they head
out into the late afternoon
heat.
A coach tells the players
to get off of their feet and
rest, and it is well that they
should, because for the
next four days their lives
will be limited to football,
football and more football.
Monday was the first day
of full pads for GHSA
member schools. At
Northside, that meant the
first day of camp and four
days of two-a-days.
See CAMPUS, page 3B
Answer: 1984
Sports
by modern standards - 4.75 and
closer to a more respectable level,
ti,
REID
He was timed electronically at
4.35 and hand timed at 4.28.
That now makes him the second
Wooden soldiers
when the school was put
ting together its inaugural
football team.
What could have been a
meager set of metal risers
put on each side of the field
turned out instead to be
two very nice sets of
bleachers.
The school, however, did
not have the funds to hire
contractors to construct
these stands.
It relied instead on an
enormous amount of vol
unteer work from parents
and the community, as well
as donation of the materi
als.
The project gave both
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Northside offensive linemen attack a blocking sled during camp currently being
held at the school this week.
like the 4.4 he ran
while a star run
ning back for
Warner Robins.
Both already
knew progress
was being made -
Reid was down to
4.39 by the end of
June - but the
final report card
came Tuesday at
the college.
the players and the fans a
football complex of which
they could be proud.
For almost 20 years, the
bleachers have served as
some of the best of their
time.
However, in the early
’9os, the stands began
showing the obvious wear
and-tear that comes with
aging.
It was obvious that
something would have to
be done. Once again, the
option was there to discard
the wooden bleachers and
join the majority of the
high school football fields
in the state by installing
'He said, 'Coach, you
waved your magic wand
and made it happen. I
said, 'No, I didn't. You
put in all the hard work.
You did this/
Warner Robins track and field
coach Mark Taylor
fastest man on the team, slower
than wide receiver Craphonso
Thorpe, but just barely. The latter
metal ones.
Once again, the idea was
put down. Jon Pierce, who
played for the Hornets in
1970 s during the early
days of the bleachers, and
Buddy Roper helped spear
head the effort to rebuild
the aging stands with the
help of a large number of
volunteers.
The project called for the
replacing of the current
wood with treated lumber,
as well as other “touching
up” projects.
Pierce’s wife Pam recalls
the time: “Those men
spent nearly every waking
See BLEACHERS, page 2B
runs the distance electronically in
4.3.
“He (Reid) said, ‘Coach, you
waved your magic wand and made
it happen,” said Taylor. “I said,
‘No, I didn’t. You put in all the
hard work. You did this.’”
The good news for Reid - who
also caught the eye of the
Seminoles’ track and field coach,
who in turn asked him to come out
for indoor track in the winter - is
he still has a chance to be even
faster, Taylor said.
In fact Taylor said he would be
working with him here Friday and
Saturday and then traveling down
See TIRELESS, page 2B
Bears opt
for stay at
home camp
By Joe Sersey
HHJ Sports Writer
WARNER ROBINS -
Houston County High
School head football
coach Doug Johnson
takes advantage of the
last week before school
starts to put his players
through two-a-days.
“We call it camp,”
Johnson said, “but I took
this after coaching at
Lowndes County.”
Johnson doesn’t have
his players campout at
the high school for a
week. He sends them
home to their own beds.
“We have gone off to
camp,” Johnson said.
“Years ago, camps used to
be really important
because we had only
three weeks to get ready
for the season. Now it’s
not as vital.”
Now, teams start prac
ticing six weeks before
their first game.
Johnson said that at
camps, they had three
practice sessions a day:
morning, midday and
evening.
The midday practice
focused on special teams.
Johnson’s philosophy
has changed with the
rules.
See BEARS, page 3B
'Years ago,
camps used to be
really important
because we had
only three weeks
to get ready for
the season. Now
it's not as vital/
Houston County head
football coach
Doug Johnson
Perry squad
prepares for
World Series
By Dana Collier
HHJ Sports Writer
PERRY - The Perry
Junior League girls soft
ball team will be repre
senting Georgia at the
World Series.
The team will be trav
eling to Bay St. Louis,
Miss., to play.
An opening ceremony
will be held Friday to see
the girls off with the first
game slated for Saturday.
The Perry Junior League
is part of the Dixie Youth
League at Ochlahatchee
Park in Perry.
Coach Ira Hughes,
Susan Walker and man
ager Terri Hammerle
have been busy for the
See PREPARES, page 3B
SECTION
B