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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2004)
Sports Editor: Alex Tam alextam@dailyemerald.com Wednesday, August 18,2004 -Oregon Daily Emerald SPORTS Best bet: U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball vs. Australia 4 a.m. Thursday USA ALEX TAM HOLDING COURT Player's death taints football excitement The much-anticipated football season is already less than a month away. The excitement and joy for the thou sands of us students who park ourselves on the bleachers of Autzen Stadium hours before a home game is edging closer. The Ducks' chance to redeem them selves from the 8-5 record one year ago that ended disappointingly with a 31-30 loss to Minnesota at the Sun Bowl is right around the comer. However, with all of the promise and in trigue of the upcoming season, this sum mer has not been a joyous one for Ore gon's football program. Scandal and tragedy underscore the Ducks' entrance into the season that be gins at home against Indiana Sept. 11. Back in late June, the public was made aware of assistant coach Gary Campbell's recruiting violations dating from January 2003. Campbell allegedly illegally recruit ed running back J.J. Arrington, who now plays for the University of California Berkeley, resulting in a two-year probation for the program. Oregon remains eligible to compete in postseason bowl games. But what is more important than any game or postseason el igibility is the tragedy that transpired this past Thursday night. Just two days before he planned to ar rive in Eugene and begin fall camp on Aug. 18, heralded linebacker Terrance Kelly was shot and killed in his home town of Richmond, Calif., on his way to pick up his stepbrother at a friend's home. Kelly was 18. From everyone who knew him, Kelly was a great person and was deemed a 'sweetheart of a kid," Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said. He also was lcnown to never have drunk or done drugs. Kelly sounds like someone who would have been a great representative of this program and this university and was un fortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time. From his statistics, he was truly a great all-around athlete in football on offense and defense at De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif. His team never lost a game as he rushed for over 1,000 yards his senior season. On defense, he ranked second on the team with 122 tackles last season and also recorded 130 tackles the previous season. He was ranked among the top 12 high school linebackers in the nation by www.Rivals.com and was also ranked as SuperPrep's 15th-best overall football prospect in the state of California. Before making Oregon his new home for the next four years, Kelly said to www.TheInsiders.com that not only was he looking forward to playing football at Autzen Stadium, but also to being a part of * - - • , • * Please see-TAM> page 18 >; HOME STRETCH Craig Volpe Freelance Photographer Eugene outfielder Ernesto Garay looks at the right field scoreboard while the Emeralds come back to score four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning in Thursday’s 9-7 victory over the Yakima Bears at Civic Stadium. Taking a swing The Ems came hack to top Yakima 9-7 in Thursdays game ALEX TAM SPORTS EDITOR The struggles continue to mount for the Eugene Emeralds. Eugene (19-38) still sits in last place of the West Division of the Northwest League after the Emeralds lost 6-0 to Vancouver Monday night. Eugene lost four games in a row. The Emeralds did show a brief glimmer of hope after winning two of the last three games in the five-game home stand against Yakima last week. Eugene combined all facets of the game — pitching, hitting and defense — to notch the two victories at home before their current road trip to face first place Everett. However, getting that consistency day in and day out has proven to be a problem for the team this season. In their 9-7 victory on Thurs day, Eugene came back from a 7-5 deficit and scored four runs in the eighth inning to over come Yakima in front of 3,883 at Civic Stadium. Eugene catcher Colt Morton hit a two-run home run in that eighth inning to tie the score at 7-7. Morton is in a tie with team EUGENE EMERALDS BASEBALL Next game: Eugene at Vancouver, today 7 p.m. KPNW (1120 AM) Next home game: Eugene vs. Vancouver, Friday 7:05 p.m., Civic Stadium KPNW (1120 AM) Tickets: General admission $5 adult, $4 Child/Senior mate Lachlan Dale for the league lead in home runs with 14. Shortstop Sean Kazmar later hit a two-run triple to give Eugene the 9-7 lead to seal the victory. Morton said he was happy to see his team finally win a close ball gam in the end. "It was huge and it's some thing we've been looking for the whole season pretty much," said Morton, who is batting .283. "I looked up at the scoreboard and saw we had 13 hits and only five runs (through seven innings). I was thinking, 'Man, we keep leaving runners on base.' "But we finally came through and finally made those key hits and drove in those runs. We made it happen." Morton said he cannot stress how important it is for his team to get key hits and score with runners on base. The Emeralds have the league's worst team batting aver age that, as of Sunday, sits at .249. "Those are what wins us ball games," Morton said. "It feels good to get those hits and it feels good to win close games like this because the crowd gets into it. They go wild and they go nuts. These are the fun games to win right here." Two days earlier, Eugene blew out Yakima 14-6 in front of 3,205 at Civic Stadium. The hero for that game was Dale, who slammed two home runs and had six RBIs the victory. "It was a pretty good night," Please see EMS, page 24 Oregon volleyball team prepares for 2004 season The Ducks are a young team returning with optimism ALEX TAM SPORTS EDITOR After experiencing little success last season, the Oregon volleyball team should be feeling quite optimistic about the upcoming year. The Ducks finished the 2003 season with a 3-24 overall record, which included a 0-18 record in the Pacific-10 Conference. Oregon, led by head coach Carl Ferreira, can look toward last season as a humbling experience. • Ferreira, who is in his fifth season as head coach, said high goals remain for his squad with aspirations of a winning record this year. 'My goals and vision have never changed," Fer reira said. "We're building a successful winning program that is focused on qualifying for the NCAA Tournament." The Ducks open the 2004 season at McArthur Court when they host Southern Oregon Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. Oregon will have another young team consist ing of only two seniors and one junior. Seniors Lauren Westendorf and Katie O'Neil will be looked upon to provide leadership and show commitment to Ferreira's goals of reaching the i? * V » ' * > • .Pfe*i*9e*VOLLEYBMJ,,.p«« *8* ** * » Jr * m *• % • > * * % t • % ft I * I f % Oregon football recruit shot dead Terrance Kelly was killed days before he was to begin practice with the Ducks ALEX TAM SPORTS EDITOR Oregon football recruit Terrance Kelly was shot and killed in his hometown of Richmond, Calif., shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday night. Kelly had planned to come to Eugene Saturday in time for fall football camp be ginning this week. Oregon's first football game of the season is at home against In diana on Sept. 11. Kelly, an incoming freshman who was a star football player at De La Salle High School, had been playing basketball Thursday and went to pick up his 16-year old stepbrother, Brandon Young, who was at a friend's house. When Kelly pulled up to the house to pick up Young, Kelly was shot four times in the chest and was found lying the street with his legs still in the car. He was pro nounced dead at the scene. Kelly was 18. "We all mourn and send best wishes to his family, friends and teammates," Oregon football head coach Mike Terrance Kelly Bellotti said. "Cer- Murder victim tainly, it's very diffi cult to begin the season with this type of thing, but the most important people are Terrance's family, friends and his grand mother, who is in the hospital. Our prayers go out to them in this time of loss." Richmond (Calif.) police have arrested one suspect and are searching for a second suspect. The motive is still not known. On Saturday, police arrested 18-year old Larry Pratcher at home. He is being held on $2 million bond and is being charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Police are looking for Pratcher's younger brother, 15-year-old Darren Ray Pratcher, the second suspect. Officials are asking for help from the community in finding the younger Pratcher. According to The Oregonian, Sgt. Enos Johnson of the Richmond police depart ment said that the community was the main source in helping police track down the first arrest in the case. Kelly's 28-year-old cousin, Malik Carr, told the Contra Costa Times that he blamed the Richmond area for the shoot ing and the death of his cousin. "Richmond killed my cousin," Carr said. "He never got a chance. He was the best person to come out of here ever. I never would have thought Terrance would go this way." Kelly was one of four incoming recruits from De La Salle coming to Oregon, in cluding receiver Cameron Colvin and defensive backs Jackie Bates and Willie t (# t ‘^leBse^KEfcll^ge^e i9>
