Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 26, 1994 TAG: 9405260015
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Doug Doughty
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Pullen said the Panthers, only two years removed from a 19-7 record and the No. 1 ranking in the South Region, could have as many as 12 new faces.
"It looks to be our biggest and our best recruiting class," Pullen said, "and it's probably one of our stronger classes academically. You get tired of pushing kids to get the job done in the classroom."
Nine players have paid deposits, the Division III equivalent of an oral commitment, including Nathan Baker from Parry McCluer, Moe Preston from Patrick Henry and Chad Cobb from Fieldale-Collinsville.
Pullen is awaiting paperwork on two of his most promising recruits, guard Marcus Toney from Magna Vista and Seminole District player of the year Tyrone Hancock from Appomattox.
"I'm concerned about not having a lot of height," said Pullen, whose tallest recruit is 6-foot-4, "but we haven't had a lot of height in the past and we've still been able to compete with Christopher Newport and Emory & Henry and they're two of the best teams in the region."
Pullen said he is pleased with the quality of his returning players, a group that includes seniors Albert Hobbs and John Breedlove, junior Chucky Ellis and Paul Rivera, who was redshirted last season as a freshman.
"I don't know that I'd call it `rebuilding,' because we've got some [returning] kids we think can play," Pullen said. "We've just decided to move in a little different direction. It was just too much of a struggle last year."
\ BROTHER ACT: Verne Canfield's last recruiting class at Washington and Lee includes 6-5 Kelly Dyer. He is the younger brother of the Generals' leading scorer last season, Cam Dyer, who averaged 15 points as a sophomore.
W&L also landed 6-5 Jimmy Schweer, an all-state guard from Texas; and 6-2 Tyler Ratcliffe, who scored 46 points in one game for Pierson High School in Sag Harbor, N.Y.
\ MORE RECRUITING: Roanoke College has received a fifth men's basketball commitment, from 5-11 Mike Henrich of New Kent High School. . . . The first signee for new Old Dominion basketball coach Jeff Capel was 5-9 point guard Duffy Samuels from Hagerstown (Md.) Junior College. . . . The second of William and Mary's two spring signees was 6-4 Chris Horne from Pittsburgh.
\ FAST WORK: Rick Barnes, introduced March 22 as men's basketball coach at Clemson, signed seven players during the period April 13-May 15. The Tigers added three players during the last weekend of the signing period - Anderson (S.C.) Junior College guards Andre McCollum and Raul Haggins and 6-8 Michael Tabb from Philadelphia.
\ HOLLINS HALL: Hollins College established an athletic hall of fame Saturday with the induction of Mary Garber, Leslie Lane, Carol Semple Thompson and the late Grace Chevraux.
Chevraux taught at Hollins for more than 40 years and was chair of the physical education department from 1932-70. Garber, a 1938 Hollins graduate, is best known as one of the pioneers among women sportswriters and remains a contributor to the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal-Sentinel.
Thompson (Class of '70) played field hockey, basketball and lacrosse at Hollins, but made her mark as one of the nation's most celebrated amateur golfers. Lane was a three-time All-American in field hockey before her graduation in 1979 and was a member of several national teams in lacrosse.
\ STAFF STUFF: Rick Hall is likely to return to Roanoke College as an assistant men's basketball coach in place of Ken Tyler, the new restricted-earnings coach at James Madison. Hall spent the 1993-94 season as a full-time assistant at Coastal Carolina, but was not retained when coach Russ Bergman resigned.
Pete Herrmann, the one-time Navy head coach, is receiving strong consideration to become the restricted-earnings coach at Virginia, a position he now holds at Kansas State. . . . Former VMI assistant Dave Manzer has gone from Miami of Ohio to Dayton, where he will be reunited with former Keydets officemate Pete Strickland on Oliver Purnell's staff.
\ EX-KNIGHT IMPRESSIVE: Cave Spring alumnus Todd Doughty, a sophomore at William and Mary, was named All-East after finishing fifth in the decathlon at the IC4A Outdoor Track and Field Championships at George Mason. Doughty, competing in his second decathlon, broke a 13-year-old school record with 6,875 points, but missed the NCAA qualifying standard of 7,100.
\ DISTINGUISHED CAREER: Salem High School graduate Tommy McDonald, co-captain of the tennis team at East Carolina for the past three seasons, was 14-7 in singles and 15-5 in doubles this season as a senior. McDonald, a nominee for the ECU outstanding student-athlete award, recently competed in his first professional tournament.
\ NON-REVENUE: Chris Jones, who entered the week with a 2.92 earned run average for 17-0 William Byrd, has accepted a grant-in-aid from Concord College in Athens, W.Va. . . . Brodie Smith from Radford has started seven games at catcher for Clemson, the nation's top-ranked baseball team. . . . Radford University senior Brian Pardue, selected All-Big South after batting .345, was named to the District III All-Academic team. He had a 4.0 grade-point average in two of his past four semesters.
\ STILL PITCHING: Mike Walsh, Washington and Lee's athletic director, pitched seven innings of long relief in his debut for the Roanoke Stars in the Roanoke adult baseball league. "Most fun I've had in 20 years," said Walsh, who originally thought the league was for players 40 (not 30) and older.
by CNB