Last spring I decided to do something I had never really even considered before: Attend a college spring football game. It was a nice day -- almost summerlike -- so I thought, "why not?" I figured it might be interesting to see the result of spring workouts for the Elon University football team. In all … Continue reading A new era of glory for Elon football
About sports
From the archive: Remembering the tragedy and miracle of Bill Gentry
This would have to be among the last columns I produced in my long newspaper career and it tells the sad and oddly inspiring story of one of the best athletes in Alamance County history whose life was altered by cruel fate. I wrote this on the occasion of the death of Bill Gentry in … Continue reading From the archive: Remembering the tragedy and miracle of Bill Gentry
Are the days numbered for football?
High school football in North Carolina starts tonight -- that's Friday Aug. 17, 2018 (for historical purposes). A dozen or so teams in the area in and around Alamance County will take the field. Some will do so against traditional rivals. Williams travels across Burlington to face Cummings in a game that once ended the … Continue reading Are the days numbered for football?
Growing up with football and growing concerned about football
This is a column I wrote nearly five years ago -- February 2013 -- about my youth football days -- fun but tough -- and what I believed then and now to be the future for American football. It probably doesn't have one in its current form. A few high school teams in North Carolina … Continue reading Growing up with football and growing concerned about football
The perfect birthday gift in the perfect summer of 1968
First published as a column in the Jacksonville Daily News in August of 1997. He was just about to turn nine. This, in and of itself, was no epic event. There would be bigger birthdays. And there were more important events going on in the world. But in the days before his birthday -- August … Continue reading The perfect birthday gift in the perfect summer of 1968
That time Susan Sarandon visited Graham
I wrote this at about the time the film "Bull Durham" celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1998. The baseball film comedy just turned 30 in June so it's time to share it again. A big chunk of the popular movie starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon was filmed at minor league ballparks and other locations … Continue reading That time Susan Sarandon visited Graham
The summer of 1968 and my first Major League baseball game
The summer of 1968 was a pivotal and contentious year around the world, and especially so in America. The country was at war in a place few had ever heard of. The Tet Offensive in January signaled a problem there in Vietnam far greater than U.S. leaders would admit and an increasingly embattled incumbent president … Continue reading The summer of 1968 and my first Major League baseball game
Throwback Thursday: Remembering Dean Smith, the extraordinary man
I wrote this in September of 2012, well before legendary college basketball coach Dean Smith died on February 7, 2015 at age 83. I saw an old book (written in 1980) about Smith at the annual Friends of the Library Book Sale. I saw, bought and read it as problems in the UNC athletics programs … Continue reading Throwback Thursday: Remembering Dean Smith, the extraordinary man
Inside Elon’s Schar Center: It’s ‘unreal’
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Photo gallery at the end. "Unreal," Don Bolden said. "This is just . . . unreal." I had to agree. Don, my longtime friend and former boss, was getting his first look inside the massive (160,000 square feet!) Schar Center. He's a longtime Elon supporter and basketball fan who also spent more than … Continue reading Inside Elon’s Schar Center: It’s ‘unreal’
Baseball’s latest record achievement is hardly a hit (updated)
I haven't seen the final figures but unless something weird happened Monday, April 30 the month will make history for hitting futility in Major League Baseball. For the first time in modern history, baseball players on the Major League level will strike out more times than they recorded a hit during a month. See the … Continue reading Baseball’s latest record achievement is hardly a hit (updated)
Madison's Avenue 