Class Reunion

My wife Pat had her 40Th high school reunion Saturday night and we ventured back home to Ahoskie to see the gang. I married an older woman so I need for you to understand that this was her 40th. Mine's next year. haha.....

Life leads us down many paths in our life and my biggest disappointment is now for me 39 years later I have very little contact with those who I grew up with, who looking back now meant so much in my life.

Even though this was my wife's class I knew all these people in school and played ball with many of them. So, it was a reunion for me too. There was a tape playing over in the corner of all the football games for the class of 1970 which at the time had me mostly sitting on the bench. I am making arrangements today to get a copy made for myself. Football was king in Ahoskie back in the 40's,50's and 60's and film is still available all the way back to 1946.

Among the many I talked with was "Skeeter" Bryant who played guard on the football team. I was his backup. Yes, all 135 pounds of me played line when I got in the game. "Skeeter" who now lives in Alamance County tells me that he goggled my name and up popped "From The Pressbox".

That day I had done a story about Spencer Barrow a former Ahoskie player who went to Carolina on scholarship only to meet Chris Hanburger in a one on one drill and broke his leg never to play for Carolina. That day I mention that as an eight year old, Spencer had been my favorite player when he played for AHS and even as he became a big city lawyer in Raleigh I had kept track of him.

I hope whenever I write any thing in this column that I never take myself serious. I try to give you information but the day I think that your life will not be worth living until you have read this column then I have lost my purpose.

I try to say what I feel from my heart and I know sometimes I leave off a coma, say ain't when I shouldn't. One of the teachers there Saturday night was Dot Powell . One of her sons Whit was one of my great friends in school. I never had a class in English in high school with her. My first year at Roanoke Chowan C C I had her in english. Our first day we had to write a paper on what we wanted to do in life. I said that I wanted to write a book. Her reply to me was that as much as I liked to talk and with the passion I had I could do it. Only after I wrote it let her check my grammar!

The ride home Saturday night Pat and I were convinced that if there is going to be a 40th reunion for my class of 1971 we will be there. It was a ball of fun seeing everybody!!!!

Gryphon Baseball Has Found A Groove

Parker Helms got the call to the mound Saturday and he responded with a four inning one hit performance and sparked the Gryphons to their seventh win of the season. The 11-0 five inning game with Tarboro combined with the 19-0 white wash of Roanoke Rapids and a 7-1 win over Rose, the Gryphons dispensed these opponents by a 36-1 score.

Matthew Berry went 3-3 with two doubles, three runs scored and two rbi's. Benton Moss was 2-2 with a booming three run homer and he scored twice. Michael Whitehead was 2-3 and his first hit was a perfect hit and run play where he hit a shot to the short stop who had vacated the area to cover second base.

Spencer Bell and Thomas Berry each had a hit for the Gryphons. Jeremy Trevathan pitched the fifth inning by striking out the side. Helm's victory today makes the fourth starter to win a game on the season and if the Gryphons continue to get pitching effort from Helms and Trevathan as #3 and 4 in the pitching rotation this team can go far.

Everyone knows about Hobbs Johnson and Benton Moss and their pitching but each when not pitching plays the field. Johnson in center and Moss in right. Yesterday Moss caught a screaming line drive which I don't care how good a defensive player you are, it was one of those that you take a deep breath after you catch it. Johnson hit one of those line drives to the Viking left fielder to had to go to the wall to pick it up. Each stole a base during the game I thought to myself boy the best two athletes on this team might be our two division one pitchers.

Tuesday the Gryphons travel to Webb High in Oxford and they return home Wednesday for their last warmup game with Roanoke Rapids until conference play starts the first week in April.

I hope this is not going to jinks this team but I believe they are better this year than last year. Time will tell us that answer.

I don't know about you but the Kansas loss in the NCAA tournament officially eliminated me from any thought of winning any pools this year. Good job Carolina winning at Mississippi State in the NIT. I didn't think they could do it. I thought both State and Carolina were going down yesterday. There is a rumor going around that Wake played last night. Who were those guys in black and gold?

A Little Bit of This And A Lot Of That

Gryphon Baseball plays at home today at 1.00pm. The Tarboro Vikings are in town. Girls soccer puts their undefeated season on the line at the Brittany in Wilson. They will meet Burlington Williams also Saturday afternoon. Tennis beat Hunt Thursday 8-1 to go to 2-0 in conference play. Softball is still winless.

Wake Forest is the only ACC team playing a second round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday. They meet Kentucky at 8.15pm. The ACC is 4-2 after the first round with Maryland, Duke and Georgia Tech winning Friday.

Carolina plays in the second round of the NIT at high noon against Mississippi State. I think it is on ESPN 2. State plays on ESPNU in Birmingham Al at 5.00pm in round two against Alabama Birmingham. Should both State and Carolina win they meet next week in round three of the NIT.

I haven't given you much update lately on our local players playing college baseball. The last couple of weeks I have had basketball on the brain.

Brian Goodwin: Carolina -Had an eleven game hitting streak stopped on Wednesday but started a new one Friday night against Florida State. Brian has a hit in all four of Carolina's conference games. He is hitting 362 after Friday Night.

Xavier Macklin: NC A&T- The X man is following up his sensational freshman year right where he left off last year. Heading into this weekend X is hitting 371 with four homers and sixteen RBI's.

Brian Braswell: Campbell- hitting 400 in this his senior season for the 13-6 Fighting Camels.

Ben Fish: Campbell- Braswell's backup catcher at Campbell. Has been to bat nine times getting two hits but like he did at RMHS he has four rbi's with those two hits.

Alex Pearce: UNC Pembroke- has won the starting catchers job as a sophomore. Batting 238 right now and Pembroke is 18-4. rated 16th in their division. Big series this weekend at USC-Aiken rated #6.

Zack Woodley: Pitt C C- Has pitched four inning without allowing a run in two appearances.

Jim Leggett: Pitt C C- Has not allowed a run in two inning of pitching.

Mike Williams: Pitt C C- Has been converted to a pitcher and in three games pitched three innings.

Daniel Moore: NC Wesleyan- batting 294 for Charlie Long.

Tyler Clark: C Wesleyan- freshman hitting is up to 288.

Brian Allen: NC Wesleyan- batting 264 for the Battling Bishops.

Andrew Webb: NC Wesleyan- Webby is doing double duty. 2-1 as a pitcher and hitting 156 when he plays the field.

Chad Womble: NC Wesleyan- Pitched 15 inning to date. ERA at 4.80.

Heading back to Ahoskie tonight. My wife Pat is having her 40th class reunion. Boy she sure is getting old.

A Week Later

We have all had a chance to really let the State championship sink in, and here are just a few thoughts and reflections.

1. I like walking in and asking for a media pass that lets me walk all the way out on the North Carolina outline on the floor. Then it has my name on the pass.

2. I really like bringing the teams out and taking a team picture before the game. Everyone still thinks they can win, after the game not much for taking pictures if I was on the losing end.

3. I like one teams color guard presenting the colors and the other singing the National Anthem.

4. Sitting on the sidelines of any big arena like the Dean Dome is a completely different game from being in the stands.

5. I like giving the referees a plaque. It is an honor for them just like the teams playing. Every game, refs make weird calls but I don't think either side could complain about the officials in this one.

6. The supporters for the Gryphons were not all Rocky Mount High folks. You know you can fight with your brother but when someone else fights him, you are going to be on his side. There were a lot of Nash County folks there pulling for Rocky Mount regardless of the school loyalty.

7. Mike Gainey said he got a tear when he was able to put T J Walker in the game. Didn't we all.

8. I like the NCHSAA official who put every one's gold metal around each winning member personally, regardless of whether it was a player, coach or manager.

9. The walk down the hill to the parking lot was easier than the walk up to the Dean Dome.

10. Loved honking our horn when we passed the cheer leaders on the way home.

11. The line of red tail lights on 64 coming home, just like in the movie "Hoosiers".

12. Got a thrill seeing the Rocky Mount Police Department waiting for the team at the Nash CC on ramp. Escorting them home as CHAMPS.

13. Cutting the nets down in Rocky Mount.

14. "Sleepless In Rocky Mount" on a Saturday night during daylight savings time.

15. Being with the team Sunday night on TV.

16. The feeling that I still have a week later.

Gryphon Girls Soccer "Off And Running"

Soccer added another victim last night and girls soccer is off to a 6-0 start on the season. Six games into the season the girls have scored 20 goals which gives them a 3.66 goals per game average. That total doesn't seem all that impressive until you see that they have given up a total of three goals in six games. That's .5 goals against average per game. If you relate that to football they would be winning every game 24-3 and that is impressive. Keep it up girls!

When you have two division one pitchers on your roster like Rocky Mount's baseball team has, expectations can be unrealistic. So far reality is living up to the optimism. Today Rocky Mount beat Rose 7-1. The Gryphons have swept Rose for the second year in a row. Four of the Gryphon wins have been against 4-A baseball. Now 6-1 baseball is home Saturday at 1.00 pm as the Tarboro Vikings come calling. That lone lost was to the defending 4-A champs so this is a great start for first year coach Kent Cox.

Collins Cuthrell provided enough power hitting a three run homer and Benton Moss beat Rose for the second time this year. This stat is provided by Charles Alston. Benton Becomes the first Gryphon pitcher since 1998 to beat Rose twice in a season. The Junior is now 17-1 pitching for the Gryphons in his career.

Boys tennis has had a hard time with the weather so far this spring. It is hard to play tennis with a wet ball and going into tonight's match at Hunt the tennis team is 2-1. One of those victories was a conference win against Nash Central.

The Gryphons were leading the Wachovia Cup after the fall sports and winter sports did not slack up on bit. The way the spring sports have started the Gryphons may very well win the Big East Wachovia cup and possibly be in the top ten in the state.

Gryphon Bats Explode

Need to get with Charles Alston Mr. Gryphon sports encyclopedia but it is believed that today's home run out burst by by Gryphon baseball is a record just set last year. Rocky Mount used five home runs to swat the Yellow Jackets of Roanoke Rapids 19-0.

Spencer Bell hit a two run shot and Collins Cuthrell, Parker Helms, Jeremy Trevathan, and Matthew Berry all hit solo shots as the Gryphons acted like Hot Shot insect spray in clobbering Roanoke Rapids. Hobbs Johnson picked up his second win of the year going three innings in the five inning game.

Barring injury and the early results from the pitching this years Gryphon fortunes will hinge on how the bats do. This is the first time this year that the Gryphon bats have been blazing. Today's win brings the season to 5-1.

Rose will be at Gryphon Stadium Thursday at 4.00pm to make up the snow out the first day of the season, and Saturday Tarboro is here for a 1.00pm first pitch.

Softball is finding life hard. Today they lost 17-4 at Beddingfield.

Tashawn Mabrey and Darius McKnight make the all Big East first team. Danita Whitaker and Timishia Walker make first team for the girls. Danita shares the player of the year honor but I don't know how to explain why Tashawn who made all state this week is not Big East player of the year.

I just want to put to rest the rumor that the reason North Carolina played their NIT game last night in the old Carmichael Arena instead of the Dean Dome was not because they thought Rocky Mount was too hard of an act to follow at the Dean Dome. Even though the Gryphons are the best team to play there this year.

The Triangle area is buzzing this morning after both North Carolina and N C State won their NIT openers last night. If they win their second round games they will be paired up for round three. I hope Carolina fans don't think what they saw last night was improvement. They hustled last night something they have not shown all year. let's don't kid ourselves William and Mary would have buried Carolina in Willamsburg.

I hope when Carolina loses to Mississippi State it goes to the wire. I want Carolina to win but I don't see it happening. State travels to UAB and you can expect another 60-58 game which means they could win or they could lose. there is a good chance neither wins their next round game.

All The Pieces Must Fit

The 2009-2010 basketball season at Rocky Mount High soared to the pinnacle of success, a state championship. Despite the end result, not many had thoughts that a state championship was on the horizon.

There was talk of transfers coming into the program, but there was also a transfer who left and moved back to New York. The tallest on the team, the stud in the middle at six feet nine had gone. The Gryphons had Tashawn Mabry returning, but that hadn't proved to get us past the sectionals.

All you have to do is look to the college that plays in the house that brought the Gryphons their state title, Carolina and see that promises and hype don't add up to a gallon of gas.

A loss to 2-A Beddingfield rather early on the road would dampen any talk that this team had championship potential. Way back in 1983, N. C. State won a national championship but it didn't jell until Derrick Whittenburg went down with a broken foot. Six weeks without him and those off the bench stepped up and found roles on that team, including Rocky Mount's very own George McClain.

The same thing happened for the Gryphons. T.J. Walker's season-ending knee injury and Mabry's three-game absence gave players an opportunity to play bigger roles instead of watching from the sidelines or in the case most of the time on the court passing Tashawn the ball and being a spectator on the court.

In the rout of Northern Nash in Rocky Mount in mid-January, there was a sense that this team was coming together. Tevin Taylor, Darius McKnight and Billy Young were becoming a reliable point guard combination. Then there was the exam week, followed by snow that closed school for four days and it looked like big MO left and hid.

The second cycle in conference play the Gryphons were average, disgruntle players. A loss the first night back from the snow at Fike and then a tournament semifinal lost to Nash Central. This team will win their first game in the playoffs at home, but hit the road and then pack up the equipment until next year was the thought of many.

All the squabbles were mending and by the second-round playoff, the Gryphons caught a break. An upset and instead of hitting the road in the second round, it's another home game. Detrail Jenkins was becoming a double-double man every night. Kenyatta Bullock was dependable hitting big threes. Terrell Hilliard and Tecoby Hines were playing like starters from off the bench.

The tranformation took over Mabry. He became the greatest scorer in Gryphon history, but still hadn't won much in the playoffs. Tashawn found the level that people predicted back in the eighth grade. Mabry's career he had been a scorer but the last month he became a great player. In the regional and state championships, Tashawn averaged 29 points and 10 rebounds plus five blocks a game. All of the pieces fell in place.

When all was said and done, Mike Gainey became a state championship coach. This is probably the hardest year in his life and somehow, the most rewarding. All you have to do is look toward Roy Williams this year and see that you just don't put five on the court and say bring me a title. The captain of the U.S.S. Gryphon was Gainey and the captain maneuvered this ship through many mine fields.

I said this on the radio Saturday night. The Nash County area has some of the highest unemployment in the state. People are struggling to pay their light bills. This team put a little pep in everyone's step to make us proud.

The Rocky Mount Gryphons: STATE CHAMPIONS!!!!!