What's Your Name

There is no doubt that we live in a different world today over just twenty years ago. I think it was maybe 1990 before I had ever heard the word cellular. Today your phone will take a picture, record an event as it happens, pull up the World Wide Web, text messages, send you e-mails. Everyone is now a media voice with twitter. I am hearing from those who twit that Montrezl Harrell the junior power forward/center from North Edgecombe has verbally committed to Virginia Tech. Harrell is only a junior so he will be back in Leggett next season.

Thinking of Montrezl brings back a story to me about what they call you at home over what the news media’s pronunciation becomes. During my radio days in Ahoskie we had a lineman named Sam Harrell. Daryl Allen who was coaching Ahoskie back then was a master at changing a player from a position. He moved Harrell as a senior to quarterback. Now can you see this, a pulling guard all through high school moves to quarterback his senior season and Ahoskie proceeds to go all the way to the state championship game undefeated. Sam couldn’t pass a lick but he sure could run.

ECU comes calling and Sam becomes part of the Pat Dye's triple option running backs for ECU. His greatest day on the field for ECU was an 80 yard touchdown against N C State at Carter Stadium in the late 70’s. You ECU fans may remember the day ECU put 60 on Virginia, Sam had a big day that day too.

Sam played for the Houston Gamblers of the World Football League where as a rookie lead the league in rushing until a broken leg happened late in the season. He would later spend five years with the Minnesota Vikings where he became Sam HA-Rell. The first time I heard his name on TV I didn’t realize it was the Sam I knew.

The next off season the first time I saw Sam I ask him about his new name. He told me that he was a rookie and not playing much. He hadn’t at that point done enough to get the media to even talk to him so no one had ever asked how to pronounce his name.

Closer to home, Kinston High school basketball star Reggie Bullock who has just been sidelined for the year by Roy Williams with a knee injury is known now as Reggie Bull Lock. I wonder how long it took the folks in Kinston to know who he was the first time he played on TV.

There have been examples of where players changed their pronunciation for their own benefit. The best example of that was former Notre Dame Quarterback Joe Theisman. The rumor has it that when it got to Notre Dame it was pronounced Theeseman but in order to promote Joe for the Heisman Trophy they started using Theisman to rhythm with Heisman. Unfortunately for Joe he didn’t win the trophy.

Then there of course people who have simple English names like Doughtie. A very simple name which looks like Dough Tie. I have a cousin who is into family trees and she told me that the Doughtie’s came over to Jamestown Virginia in 1609. We were part of the second bunch to arrive in Virginia but instead of staying in Jamestown crossed the river and settle in Gates County North Carolina.

I laugh every time a bill collected calls on the phone because I have been called Doody, Daughtry, Doug tie, Those of you that don’t know how to pronounce it either it is Dowdy. There is one good thing when you have a name that no one knows how to pronounce, when the bill collectors call and ask for Mr. Daughtry I tell them he’s not home.