ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 22, 1996 TAG: 9601230016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS AND STAFF REPORTS
H. Macauley ``Mac'' McEver, known to many Virginia Tech fans as ``Coach Mac,'' died Sunday morning at Richfield Retirement Community in Salem. He was 89.
McEver played and coached football, basketball and baseball and served as the executive secretary of The Student Aid Association during his 48 years of service to the university.
McEver enrolled as a student at Virginia Tech in 1925, and except for a five-year period when he coached at North Carolina and in Richmond, he remained until his retirement in 1979.
A Birmingham, Ala., native, McEver was a member of the ``Pony Express'' backfield on football teams in 1926, '27 and '29. He served as head football coach for one year in 1945.
McEver helped found The Student Aid Foundation, now known as the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund, and worked as the head of that organization from 1961 until his retirement.
McEver was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by McCoy Funeral Home in Blacksburg.
In other news in the region:
A 13-year-old boy collapsed and died at basketball practice in Hurricane, W.Va.
Matt Higginbotham of Hurricane Middle School collapsed Friday after a light practice for a game the following day.
Coach Skip Cremeans said toward the end of the workout, Higginbotham came up to him and said, ``Coach, I feel dizzy.''
Cremeans said he told the boy to rest. A teammate soon rushed to tell the coach that Higginbotham had collapsed.
Dr. Irvin Sopher, the state medical examiner, said Higginbotham appeared to die of natural causes, but he refused to elaborate.
``He was a coach's dream,'' Cremeans said. ``He was a straight-A student. He never complained about anything. ... He took a lot of pride in being on the team.''
Hurricane Middle School called off games scheduled for Saturday, today and Wednesday.
Roanoke native K.J. Hippensteel knocked off top-seeded Andrew Bu 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the final of the Mid-Atlantic Boys' 16 Tournament held in Newport News.
Hippensteel, the No.3 seed, defeated Michael Duqette of Virginia Beach to advance to the semifinal where he downed Bu. Hippensteel advances to the final today against eighth-seeded Ramez Qamer of Fairfax.
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