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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 1977)
SIX The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Ore., Thursday, March 10, 1977 ComMim wants Six returning lettermen and 13 others have responded to Dale Conklin's call to the cinders this spring, but if the coach has his druthers, another handful of upperclass men will be called again. Conklin is eyeing a potential group of about 20 thinclads as the first week of conditioning workouts begins at Heppner High School. Track began Monday in preparation for an eleven meet schedule that starts Apr. 2 with the Willam ette Relays in Salem. Conklin, in an interview Ki nil Golf is 90 concentration A treat for every English teacher in America. We present, with much hesitation and idle stupidity, the first and hopefully last uncensored edition of the Wil Phinney golf dictionary. It is very possible that only my golfing audience will appreciate and enjoy this bit of links humor. It is also very possible that even my own partisan players will not enjoy it. So first, let's be serious. Golf is a fascinating game, even to many who think they may not . enjoy "hitting a little white ball around till you get to the hole." A "sissy sport"? It's been called that. But I've never looked at Jack Nicklaus or Lee Trevino or Charles Moody or even Johnny Miller as a "sissy." That foursome could whip about anyone and could be seen at the bank for hours after the match. Myself, golfing all through high school, I find golf challenging and a competitive sport. Those golfers who say they walk onto the course just for the exercise are dealing with the man who carries the shovel. I've yet to play with a person who does not have some competition in mind as he plays; whether he is trying to beat his partner or trying to beat himself. Golf is a unique game. You can play alone or with a group. You do gain exercise and walking is considered one of the best exercises known to man. And you are able to test yourself. Playing against himself is probably what most golfers would like to do. A player must play his own game, in any situation, match play or medal. When he begins to play his opponent's game, he rattles, loses concentration. And that is the whole key. Concentration. It has been said that golf is 10 per cent physical and 90 per cent mental. You don't have to be King Kong or Charles Atlas to hit a golf ball 250 yards at a poke. You do not have to jump in astounding bounds or lift hundreds of pounds over your head. You don't have to run fast or be quick. But you have to have willpower and concentration power. It's a good sport that all can enjoy, young and old. Like track and even baseball, golf has its record book. And if you think about these records, they are pretty phenomenal. When Jack Nicklaus was 23 in 1963, he hit a golf ball 341 yards, but the record long ball is owned by Tommie Campbell, an Irish golfer who smacked the little white sphere 392 yards. The greatest recorded drive is 515 yards. Michael Hoke hit it on a par five, 450 yard hole. Aided by 35 mile per hour winds, Hoke's shot landed about a yard in front of the green and rolled 65 yards past the green. The greatest amount ever won in official golf prizes is $3,548,394 by Nicklaus to Dec. 31, 1975. Not bad for a "sissy sport." The longest putt on record in a major tourney is 86 feet by Cary Middlecoff in the 1955 Masters. Norman Manley holed out on back-to-back par fours, 330 and 290 yard holes, in 1964. The longest ace is 444 yards by Robert Mitera, who stood 5-6 at the time and weighed 165 pounds! To prove a point, the youngest ace hitter was six and the oldest on record is 93, a span of 87 years. The dictionary must go on. So, here we go. ACE. From tee to green, taking just one shot on any given hole. One of many Bicycle cards that lie waiting on card tables in clubhouses. BABY IT. Opposite of ram it. To barely touch the ball with the putter head, many times on downhill lies. Also can happen with a wedge, which sometimes results in fried eggs. (See fried eggs.) BANANA BALL. Describes one of many wierd shots. To most clubbers, this shot appears with the basic inside-out swing. The ball goes left with a pull and then right with a bend like a banana, sometimes traveling further sideways than front. BIRDIE. Such fun. A birdie is one less stroke than a par. A birdie always makes up for a bogey but comes never so often. BOGEY. Too bad. Not as nice as a birdie or a par. One stroke more than the allotted par, putting a person one over par. Bogeys occur more than not with a hole having at least one bad shot. (See banana ball.) DOUBLE BOGEY. Describes a person's inner feelings on Sunday morning after a Saturday night at the clubhouse. (Continued on page 7) Monday, said a small group of upperclass at '?tes had not yet turned out. :'e would not make public th names, but said he would work to per suade them to compete. With them, Conklin said, "we could have a district championship team." As far as numbers, Conklin said the group was the best turnout he's ever had. Four of his tracksters will don the Blue and Gold during basket ball, too. Youth and inexperience will dominate the spring with the things jJj around 1- y u - WIL PHINNEY so Mustangs, Conklin said. There are just two seniors and a lone junior on the squad, but for Conklin, optimism abounds. "One has to be optimistic," Conklin explained. "First we are getting a new facility and secondly, the interest shown by freshmen and sophomores. That has got to enhance our program." Heppner's silk laden run ners and field event personnel will have the benefits of a 400 meter track this season, due to volunteer labor and time headed up by the Heppner Lions Club. The new track facility will turn the old 330 yard oval into a granite-sand track. Conklin's roster is dotted with talent. Steve McLaughlin and Dave Allstott (both play ing baseball as their first choice), are the seniors on the group. McLaughlin competed with the 440 relay team at the state meet last year and is also a hurdler. Allstott was clearing the bar at six feet last year when a baseball injury thwarted his spring slate. As a sophomore the year before, he established the school record in the triple Begins Holland looks for century mark at HHS "Defense keeps you in the ball game and offense will win it for you." So goes the basic philosophy of Dale Holland, Heppner High School's diamond nine mentor who will look for his 100th win at Heppner in their first clash on Mar. 18. Holland, who has compiled a 99-86 record at HHS and a 17 year mark of 208-129, is in his 18th year of high school coaching and his 11th year at Heppner. Holland's background in the sport is im pressive. A graduate of Linfield College, Holland played four years of collegiate baseball. Following that, he was head baseball coach at Huntington for three years, a team that the Mustangs face in early April. After three years at Huntington, Holland returned to his high school alma mater at Crow and took over the head tasks in baseball there. While at Crow, Holland won a state championship in 1963. During a three year stint at Crow, his record was an inspiring 58-12. His championship squad of '63 had a 19-2 mark and defeated Wasco County for the title, 9-1. ..Holland has been coaching at Heppner for he last 11 years and has come up with a eague champ one time, in 1973, when his John 'oyer-led Mustangs earned a 16-4 mark. They Unm&rred Eckmsm wins Sands Jim Lankford and Dave McLachlan combined for 28 points Sunday night to lead Eckman's city league team to the first annual, city league tournament championship. Eckman bounced Forest Ser vice in a rowdy, see-saw battle, 58-48. Pilot Vernonia's boys and Knap pa's girls earned state cham pionship honors last week in the state "A" basketball tour nament in Pendleton. Columbia Basin Conference representatives fared well, also. Sherman County's boys fell to Chiloquin, 83-78, in their bid for the consolation title and Pilot Rock girls bounced Elgin, 59-57, for third place. Vernonia won the title with a 52-50 overtime victory over wpperclassmem turnout jump. The only junior on the team is Marty Smith, who placed third in district in the shot and fifth in discus last year. His put of 46-10' in the shot was the best sophomore toss among "A" competitions in the state. Great things are expected of two sophomores, David Piper and Bryan Marlin. Both prov ed effective as quick and speedy roundballers in the winter. Piper high jumped 5-10 last year for a third in district and ranks high in the state among X 11th year at Heppner escapes wit remaining to escape with a 67-66 win for third place over Ball. In the title tilt, Jim Lank ford poured in 16 points, many on put up shots under the bucket. The lanky scorer also jerked down plenty of re bounds. McLachlan, a stand out at Heppner High School last year, had 12 points and Rock Jefferson. Crow took third place with a 59-58 overtime triumph over Western Men nonite. In the girls' bracket, Knap pa took Mapleton to the clean ers, 40-39, for first place. Pilot Rock bested Elgin, 59-57, for third, and St. Paul beat Bo nanza, 54-36, for the consola tion title. Cindy Hamilton hit a jump er in overtime to put Pilot Rock ahead for good Saturday Sophomore Mark Jr y Piper works on bar I during early workout V I Tuesday. . 1 (G-T Photo) yjj ) fell to Weston-McEwen in the district title tilt, 8-7, in eight innings. Long-time Mustang baseball fans probably have noticed Holland's aggressive, offensive attitude as the most noticeable of his traits. Holland's teams have a history of running, "doing a lot of things with the bat." He calls his offense an "aggressive" and an "attack ing" system. Along with offense, a team must have defense and Holland realizes that. In a practice Monday, the first for players who aren't batteries, Holland was hitting flies and grounders to a group of about ten, while assistant coach George Koffler was working the pitching machine. Holland is in love with baseball and he doesn't deny it. It's a fact he's proud of. "Baseball is the best sport for combining individual sport and team sport," Holland said. "There is nobody out there to help you ground a ball or hit it.. .it combines the two better than any other sport as far as I'm concerned." Holland called baseball his "first love" as he remembered a time when he faced a 16-year-old Micky Lolich when the Detroit star was playing semi-pro baseball. "Nothing else compares with baseball in my opinion," Holland said. worked the board convincing ly. Mike Schwartz was the game's leading scorer. The floor general for the Forest Service hit from the outside and drove the key for 24 points. Rdger Henry added 14. Forest Service broke out with a lead early in the game and increased a couple buck girls take third in Pendleton. It was Janis Weinke who paced the Rock ets, producing 20 points in the contest. Other Pilot Rock scorers wereTeri Connor 10, Hamilton 11, and Cathy Ward 10. Elgin's Shellie Bechtel had 23. In the Rockets' loss in consolation, Dave Simantel poured in 34 points, garnering 22 in the first half. That total topped all single game scoring for the tourney. " Ml 1 freshmen jumpers. He was a member of the 440 relay team to., that competed at state, too. ets to a six point edge in the early going. But by halftime, Eckman, the only undefeated team in the six team league, had erased the margin and hung onto a 22-22 intermission knot. Eckman, working the inside with McLachlan and Berg strom, slowly pulled away in the second half. Simantel was a second team all tourney pick, the only CBC star. In the girls' division, Teri Connor and Janis Weinke made the first team. Awards went to Sherman for their rally squad and to Oregon Trail cheerleaders for their popular halftime rou tines. Pilot Rock's rally squad in the girls' division was tops. Scoring leaders in the boys' division listed Simantel num ber six with a 19.3 average. h third. Marlin's 40-8 leap in the triple jump earned him a bronze in district last year and was the second best jump in the state among freshmen. It is also a school record. Marlin ran on the 440 relay squad and also threw the javelin and long jumped. The remaining letterman is sophomore Bryce Powell. He is a hurdler who excelled last season in the 120 yard highs. This year, he and McLaughlin will be making a transition to the 330 yard intermediate hurdles, a new event for "A" schools. The 120 yard highs will stay, but the 180 yard lows will be replaced by the IMs. Distance runners turned out in force this year, too. From the 880 yard run to the two mile, running in the blue and gold will be sophomore Jeff Fortenbury and freshmen Danny Nix, Dale Holland, Lerry Palmer, Garth Powell and Troy Borst. The real strength of the Mustangs will lie in the field events. Adding depth to the returningnucleus will be Mike Jones, Richard Schmidt, Jim Parker, Steve Marlatt and Eric Gow. A California trans fer, Alan Terpening could v'- tourney. 67-66 The game was marred by a few incidents that left men laying on the ground, one with an injury. One of the Eckman players wrenched a knee in a board clash. The battle for third was the more exciting of the two. con tests. With less than a minute to go, Ball's Laverne Van Marter Doug Kalista was number four in rebounding with a 12 carom average and Skiles and Col quitt were listed nine and ten with 8 and 7.7 averages. In the girls' class, Weinke was second in scoring with a 16 point average while Connor was fourth with a 14.3 mark. In rebounds, Doherty, Withers and Ward were listed number five, six and seven with 11.7, 11.7 and 11.3 carom averages, respectively. prove beneficial. All will be competing in jumping events and also will participate in other events. Jones and Schmidt are po tential sprinters; Parker and Marlatt will throw and Clow will hurdle. Terpening lists his specialty as pole vaulter. Last, but not least, is Reid Miller, a transfer who will eye the quarter mile as his favor ite. "The apparent weakness now is lack of sprinters and especially experienced sprint ers," Conklin said. "We'll compete in the sprint relay, but what happens in the dashes is a guess." Conklin said "there are a couple of guys in high school right now that could be good sprinters who haven't turned out. I certainly would like to have them." Conklin listed upperclass men who would be district contenders in the pole vault, sprints and distance races, but who have failed to turn out for the squad yet. "They would really add to overall team strength," Conk lin said, "but that's their decision." Sands used two Gary Wat kins' free throws with no time hit four of four free throws to give Ball a three point edge. George Koffler hit one of his seven buckets to pull Sands to within one. Gary Watkins drew a foul and went to the line for Sands with about seven seconds remaining. Watkins missed both shots. Sands' players grabbed the rebound and put up three shots under the cylinder that wouldn't go. Van Marter jerked down the re bound, but a foul was called under the bucket and Watkins went to the line with no time left on the clock. " Watkins sunk both ends of a one-for-one situation and gave the win for third to Sands. John McCabe was the win ner's leader with 22 points. Watkins followed with 16, Koffler had 14 and Jamie Sands 11. For Ball, Van Marter topped all scorers for the night with 27. Mike Rowell popped 25.
