ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 15, 1996 TAG: 9603150054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: DIVISION III NOTES
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
Mike Mehaffey, senior center on the Franklin & Marshall men's basketball team, has lived his life in reverse.
Perhaps that's why, at age 29, he doesn't feel a day older than the freshmen on the Diplomats' roster, some of whom were born seven years before Mehaffey's 1984 graduation from Conestoga Valley High School.
``Age is such a state of mind,'' Mehaffey said Thursday before F&M's practice at the Salem Civic Center. ``I don't feel 29. Some people are 40 going on 22 and some are 22 going on 50. I'm a young 29.''
Young, but not inexperienced. Immediately after his high school graduation, Mehaffey started his own business, M&M Construction. ``It started small, a van and some ladders,'' he said. It got big enough to help him pay for four years of private school at Franklin & Marshall.
At 6-6 with a pro wrestler's body and surfer's golden hair, Mehaffey is a two-time first-team all-Centennial Conference selection who is second among the Diplomats in scoring (14.0), rebounding (6.0), field-goal percentage (58.7) and blocked shots (12).
Mehaffey will turn 30 in April and graduate in May. His plans are to let someone else run the construction business while he pursues a graduate degree in physical therapy at the University of Delaware.
Before that, though, he'd like to get physical at the civic center and enjoy the experience of winning a Division III national championship.
TICKET TALK: The Salem Civic Center likely will be the site of the best-attended Division III Final Four since 1981, when Augustana lost in its hometown of Rock Island, Ill. That year, 4,237 saw Augustana fall to Potsdam (N.Y.) State 67-65 in overtime.
There were 3,825 tickets for this weekend's Final Four sold at midday Thursday. Approximately 600 still were available. Attendance at last year's national championship in Buffalo, N.Y., was 3,000.
BIG BOS MAN: Jim VanderHill, profiled in Thursday's edition of The Roanoke Times, isn't the only former Hope College great living in the area. It turns out a man he passed on the way up the school's all-time scoring list, Dr. Ron Bos, lives in Blacksburg.
Bos, class of 1953, moved to Blacksburg 16 years ago to be the director of Virginia Tech's department of health and physical education. He was an All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association selection in his senior year with the Flying Dutchmen. ``I'm mainly pleased they're coming here,'' he said Thursday.
In October, Bos went back to his old school and hometown of Holland, Mich., to be honored with fellow 1950s Hope greats in homecoming ceremonies. He hopes to renew more friendships this weekend in Salem.
TITANS IN A SMALL WORLD: Illinois Wesleyan's Bryan Crabtree and Jon Litwiller are second-generation teammates. Crabtree's uncle, Jerry Crabtree, played with Litwiller's father, Myron, on the 1969-70 Illinois State basketball team. Illinois State is Illinois Wesleyan's Division I neighbor in Bloomington, Ill.
FINAL FACTS: Each of the Final Four participants was ranked in the last National Association of Basketball Coaches' poll. Franklin & Marshall was No.1, Rowan No.6, Illinois Wesleyan No.11 and Hope No.17. Roanoke College was No.9. ... Rowan coach John Giannini's daughter, Brianna, turns 3 on Sunday. In 1993, Giannini was late arriving for the Final Four in Buffalo, N.Y., because of her birth. ... Franklin & Marshall was partially named for Benjamin Franklin, whose original gift of 200 pounds still is part of the college's endowment.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB