Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 5, 1992 TAG: 9203050033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Henson, who played on Virginia Tech basketball teams that won 81 games between 1976-80, had been playing in pick-up games at Tech's War Memorial from 4 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday when he returned to his Blacksburg home.
"I started to feel bad," Henson, 34, said. "I drank some soda and that just made me feel worse. Then, I took a shower and I felt extremely bad. But I just thought it was like when I was at the [Boston] Celtics camp and my body cramped up because I hadn't had enough fluids."
Henson was so light-headed that he called an ambulance, but it didn't occur to him he had suffered a heart attack until 1:30 or 2 a.m., when test results were revealed. He will be in Roanoke for the next couple of days to learn the extent of the damage.
"My brother, Linwood was here [Tuesday] and he said these are all symptoms - light-headedness, your chest hurting, your arms hurting - that you feel all the time playing basketball," Henson said. "Even today, I feel like I could walk out of here tomorrow and play ball. I feel like a million dollars."
Henson is a salesman in Western Virginia and West Virginia for Chemstar, a cleaning-supply company. He has been told he may be bedridden for six to eight weeks.
"I can't believe I will be out that long," he said, "but I will play basketball again. I've just got to get in shape. I was trying to run with the young bucks and hadn't played in a long time."
Henson, best known for an 89-foot, 3-inch shot in 1980 that was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records, said he weighed 242 pounds when admitted to the hospital. That's considerably more than he weighed as a player, but not obese for somebody who stands 6 feet 6.
"That's why they're up in the air," Henson said of the doctors. "They want to know why a 34-year-old man is getting a heart attack. It couldn't be for nothing. I'm treating it as a warning."
\ In its last year as a member of the Metro Conference, Florida State was 2-5 in conference road games, compared with 7-0 at home. In their first year in the ACC, the Seminoles are 7-1 in conference road games - one reason they have clinched second place in the regular season.
Florida State coach Pat Kennedy will be a landslide choice as coach of the year, an honor he did not receive in five years in the Metro, although the Seminoles won the regular season in 1988-89 and the tournament in 1990-91.
| Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons rated 17 ACC signees ahead of Florida State guard Bob Sura, who has been selected ACC rookie of the week three times and is one of the leading candidates for ACC rookie of the year.
Sura, rated the No. 189 prospect in the country by Gibbons, is averaging 12.6 points per game. Teammate Ray Donald, No. 45 on Gibbons' final list, is averaging 1.4. Cherokee Parks of Duke and North Carolina's Donald Williams, both ranked among the nation's top 20 prospects, aren't close to double figures.
\ Radford junior Doug Day, fourth in Division I last year with 3.7 3-pointers per game, has moved up to second this year with 3.9 per game. Leader Mark Alberts of Akron, who wasn't in the top 30 last year, averages 4.0 per game.
Day has 269 3-pointers in his career, 15th on the all-time Division I list. If he makes more than 100 3-pointers as a senior, which he has done the past two seasons, Day will pass former Loyola Marymount guard Jeff Fryer, who heads the career list with 363.
| One-time VMI basketball coach Marty Fletcher, in his sixth year at Southwestern Louisiana, was selected coach of the year in the Sun Belt Conference after taking the Ragin' Cajuns to a 17-10 record, 12-4 in the conference.
Southwestern Louisiana finished the regular season in a tie with Lousiana Tech; however, New Orleans forfeited a victory over Louisiana Tech after learning it had an ineligible player. The situation is under review.
USL started the year 1-5 - not a good sign for Fletcher, who is in the last year of his contract. He still has not received an extension, partly because the school's president has undergone quadruple bypass surgery.
\ No school has provided as many contributors for other basketball programs as Old Dominion. Mississippi State point guard Chuck Evans, third in Division I in assists, started his career at ODU. So did the leading scorers at American University (Donald Grant), Towson State (Terrance Jacobs) and Maryland-Baltimore County (Sonique Nixon). Maryland starting center Chris Kerwin is another ex-Monarch.
\ Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham will be the site of a tournament Friday and Saturday pitting four of the nation's top postgraduate teams: Hargrave, Fork Union, Laurinburg (N.C.) Institute and Milford (Conn.) Academy. On display will be almost a dozen Division I signees, including Milford's 7-foot-1 Yinka Dare.
\ Jim Reid, who resigned after six seasons as head football coach at Massachusetts, has agreed to become assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Richmond. Reid had a 36-29-1 record at UMass, which has eliminated athletic scholarships for football.
\ Washington and Lee freshman outfielder Duane Van Arsdale went 6-for-10, with three home runs and 10 RBI in the Generals' first three baseball games. Van Arsdale, also a back-up quarterback on the Generals' football game, had never hit a home run before belting two in his second game against West Virginia Tech.
\ Dennis Womack, in his 12th year as Virginia baseball coach, set a school record with his 283rd career victory when UVa swept Maryland-Eastern Shore in a doubleheader Saturday. Womack, who has an overall record of 283-259-5, passed associate athletic director Jim West.
The Cavaliers (7-1) have added fifth-year senior Brian Satola, previously a wide receiver for the football team. In his only appearance, Satola threw four wild pitches in one inning.
by CNB