The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page C2

2C SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2014 CAMP NOTICES Roll call: Send your information toTNSportsOTennessean to be included in our Wednesday listing. The Tennessean ALUMNI REPORT BlackmanVanderbilt: Did you see that former Midstate standout David Price agreed to a one-year, $14 million contract with the Rays last week? PREDATORS Twitter: Get Josh Cooper's insights during the upcoming road trip OJoshuaCooper. TREVECCA Honors: The Great Midwest Athletic Conference has named Ben Moroney and Anna Hoffman its indoor track athletes of the week. i Follow us online: Tennessean and Facebook.comTennessean ON THE AIR TODAY'S SCHEDULE FIGURE SKATING First Sounds owner struck out with Greer Stadium financing European Championships 3 p.m. WSMV-4 GOLF PGA Humana Challenge 2 p.m.

GOLF Champions Mitsubishi 6 p.m. GOLF MEN'S BASKETBALL Rutgers at Houston Noon CBS SN Minnesota at Iowa Noon Big Ten Va.Tech at Notre Dame 5 p.m. ESPNU Oregon at Oregon State 7 p.m. ESPNU NFL PLAYOFFS New England at Denver 2 p.m. WTVF-5, 102.5-FM San Francisco at Seattle 5:30 p.m.

WZTV-17, 102.5-FM NHL Boston at Chicago 11:30 a.m. WSMV-4 Washington at Rangers 6:30 p.m. NBCSN TENNIS Australian Open 8 p.m. ESPN2 WINTER SPORTS Snowboarding Grand Prix 2 p.m. WSMV-4 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Duke at Virginia Tech 11a.m.

FoxTN Georgia at Florida Noon CSS Louisville at SMU 12:30 p.m. ESPNU LSU at Vanderbilt 1p.m. SportSouth, 560-AM Kentucky at Auburn 1 p.m. WUXP-30 UConn at Rutgers 2 p.m. ESPN2 Iowa at Ohio State 2 p.m.

Big Ten Penn State at Michigan St. 4 p.m. ESPN2 MONDAY'S SCHEDULE MEN'S BASKETBALL North Carolina at Virginia 6 p.m. ESPN Creighton at Villanova 6 p.m. Fox Sports 1 VolCalls 7 p.m.

104.5-FM Kevin Stallings Show 7 p.m. 1510-AM Kermit Davis Live 7 p.m. 94.9-FM Baylor at Kansas 8 p.m. ESPN, 94.9-FM Maryland at N.C. State 8 p.m.

ESPNU Marquette at Georgetown 8 p.m. Fox Sports 1 NBA Brooklyn at New York 1 :30 p.m. ESPN New Orleans at Memphis 4 p.m. SportSouth Lakers at Chicago 7 p.m. TNT Indiana at Golden State 9:30 p.m.

TNT NHL Dallas at Nashville 7 p.m. FoxTN, 102.5-FM TENNIS Australian Open 2 a.m. ESPN2 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Notre Dame at Tennessee 6 p.m. ESPN2 Rick Insell Live 6 p.m. 89.5-FM Wide receiver Dontel Watkins, who played at Antioch and signed as a free agent with the Titans, has joined the Nashville Venom, submitted SPORTS ON NASHVILLE TV The top-five television ratings for local sporting events for Jan.

6-12. 1. NFL Playoffs: Chargers-Broncos 26.8 rating 2. BCS Championship: Florida St. vs.

Auburn 23.5 rating 3. NFL Playoffs: Colts-Patriots 22.1 rating 4. NFL Playoffs: 49ers-Pan-thers 19.6 rating 5. NFL Playoffs: Saints-Sea-hawks 18.9 rating Each rating point is equal to 10,434 Nashville homes. Source: Mark Binda, WTVF-5 program research director CALENDAR PREDATORS midstate chatter Mike Organ morganOtennessean An announcement came earlier this week that the Sounds will break ground on a new baseball stadium Jan.

27, which served as a reminder that Greer Stadium is in its final days. A new stadium located in Sulphur Dell is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2015 season. Greer has been the home for the minor league club since 1978, and Larry Schmittou, the Sounds' original owner, is still coming to terms with its closure. "If a new stadium is what they want, then I'm happy they got it; I'm more happy that baseball is staying in town," said Schmittou, 73. "I haven't kept up with it enough to know whether it's a good decision for the ownership or not.

They're getting $66 million more than the (Metro) Council gave me, so that's good for them. We had to build our own stadium with our own money. But it's a different time now, and I understand that." The Metro Sports Authority approved the sale of $66 million worth of municipal revenue bonds to pay for the project, which includes a $38 million stadium, $23 million to acquire land at the Sulphur Dell site, and $5 million for capitalized interest during construction. When Schmittou, a Cohn High graduate, left his position as Vanderbilt's baseball coach in 1979 to bring pro baseball back to town, he paid for the project by forming a group of local investors, which forked out more than $1 million, and asking several companies to donate labor and materials. Even with help from country music stars Conway Twitty, Jerry Reed, Larry Gatlin and Richard Sturban of the Oak Ridge Boys, Schmittou had to mortgage his own home to finance the project.

The only help he received from the city was a $200,000 loan, which was paid back with interest. Lynn Greer, the son of the late Herschel Greer, a Nashville businessman and the driving force behind the revival of the Nashville Vols minor league team in the 1960s, gave $50,000, a gift Schmittou repaid by naming the stadium in Her-schel's honor. "I'm proud of what we did," Schmittou said. "That stadium's held up for 37 years, and it's still a great place to watch a ballgame. There's not many stadiums that last that long anymore." While Greer Stadium, with its signature guitar-shaped scoreboard, is no longer the showpiece of the minor league circuit, it remains functional, and Schmittou is naturally interested in its future.

He said he would like to see the venue he built to revive pro baseball in Nashville transformed into a facility used to help revive youth baseball. "I would hope they would turn Greer into an amateur ballfield," Schmittou said. "Twitty City (Baseball Club) could use it, Mickey Hiter and the Nashville Old Timers Baseball Association, which maintains the fields at Shelby Park, could use it and I'm sure Reggie Whittemore with RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cit- appearances and was runner-up twice. In 1996, Birdwell recorded his career win as a coach. He stepped down as coach at White House Heritage High at the end of the 2013 season.

Pitcher John Hellweg will be honored as the Sounds Player of the Year and Harry King as the Sounds Fan of the Year at the banquet. Former Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson, an eight-time All-Star, will be the speaker at the banquet, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets ($50) are available at Hit After Hit, 705 Airpark Center the Sounds or by calling Rip Ry-man at 615-859-0409. From diamond to the ring Former Trevecca baseball player Stipe Miocic has gone from swinging a bat to swinging his fists. Miocic is the UFC's eighth-ranked heavyweight and will be on the main card next Saturday on "Fox UFC Saturday" at the United Center in Chicago.

Stipe, with a record of 10-1-0, will fight No. 12 Gabriel Gonza-ga (16-7-0). Stipe was an All-Tran-South Conference third baseman at Trevecca in 2005. He helped the Trojans win the TranSouth regular season and tournament championships. Wilson moved to hospice care Longtime Metro high school football and baseball coach Jim Wilson, who has cancer, is in Alive Hospice on the Madison campus of Skyline Hospital.

Wilson, 64, coached at Goodpasture, Glencliff and East Literature. Wilson was first diagnosed with cancer in 2011. Hometown star returns to court 57 years later The Tennessee Shooting Stars, a women's 70-over basketball team, will perform during halftime of the DeKalb County at Cannon County girls high school game Friday night. The team's captain, Mary Jones Kelly, played high school basketball in Cannon County (1954-57). Not only was Kelly an outstanding basketball player, but she also was a top track and field athlete at old Auburn High.

Kelly helped the Stars win the National Senior Games in 2013 and 2011. If you have an item for Midstate Chatter, contact Mike Organ at 615-259-8022 or morgan tennessean. com. ies) would like to play some games there. You could have high school tournaments play there along with Babe Ruth ball.

The field's in good shape; the rest-rooms, concession stands and ticket booths are already there." The city, which owns the ballpark, has no firm plans, but transforming it into a youth facility has been discussed by some Metro officials. They've also listened to suggestions to turn it into a place for Civil War re-enactments because of its proximity to Fort Negley. "There's a severe shortage of full-size baseball fields in Nashville and Davidson County," said Hiter, who also is the president of Sandlott Sports. "There were more city-owned fields 30 years ago than there are now, and there are two or three times the number of teams. It would be a shame to see Greer become something other than a baseball field with the need that exists." Local golfer has worldwide game Chris Maynord, an avid golfer from Goodlettsville, recently met his goal to play 500 courses.

Maynord, 67, has documented playing a total of 507 courses over the past 41 years. Along with playing courses in 30 states Maynord, a 7-handicap and member of Bluegrass Country Club in Hender-sonville, has teed off in five foreign countries China, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia and Scotland. His work in agribusiness has taken him around the globe. Because he plays about 150 rounds of golf each year, he naturally has the opportunity to try out a lot of courses. His favorites? Pine Valley (New Jersey), Augusta National and Moscow Country Club in Russia.

"Not many people have played all three of those courses," Maynord said. "The course in Moscow is by far the most exotic I've ever played. Pine Valley is one of the greatest golf trips a person can take and an extraordinary place. And everyone knows about Augusta National." Venom attracts local players Former Antioch High wide receiver Dontel Wat-kins, who signed a free-agent contract with the Titans last May, and Hunters Lane defensive end LaMark Armour, who signed with the Cowboys in 2012, have joined the Nashville Venom, a new franchise in the Professional Indoor Football League. Watkins stuck with the Titans through the preseason.

He was cut Sept. 1, the week before the first regular-season game. Armour didn't make it to the regular season with the Cowboys, either. "We are trying to build a team here in Nashville that NFL scouts will want to see," Venom coach Billy Back said. "Some players on our roster have been to that level with a shot to make it back.

Others have a great chance to make it with the right exposure and training." Watkins spent two years in junior college before transferring to Utah State and then Murray State. In his senior season at Murray State, he had 39 catches for 561 yards and five touchdowns. Armour, who recorded 11 sacks in his senior season at Hunters Lane, played at Ole Miss, where he saw action at defensive tackle and end and made a total of 35 tackles in his junior and senior seasons. The Venom, who will play at Municipal Auditorium, kick off their season March 22. Old Timers give annual awards Gerald Montgomery, who began his baseball career at old Central High and played for the Boston Red Sox, has been elected to the NOTBA Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame.

Longtime youth baseball coach Dennis Birdwell is the 2014 Mr. Baseball honor-ee. Both will be honored at the Old Timers 76th annual banquet Thursday at Millennium Maxwell House. Montgomery, 68, signed with the Red Sox in 1965 and spent 10 years with the organization as a pitcher. Birdwell started coaching youth baseball in Goodlettsville in 1971 when he was only 19.

In his 43-year coaching career he won 13 Dixie Youth state championships, made 12 Dixie Youth World Series Mon. vs. Dallas 7 p.m., FoxTN Thurs. at Vancouver 9 p.m., FoxTN Fri. at Calgary 8 p.m., FoxTN Jan.

26 at Edmonton 7 p.m., FoxTN Jan. 28 at Winnipeg 7 p.m., FoxTN Radio: 102.5-FM Tickets: 61 5-770-7800 VANDERBILT Sun. WBB vs. LSU 1 p.m., SportSouth Wed. MBB vs.

Ole Miss 8 p.m., CSS Jan. 25 MBB at Texas Noon, ESPNU Jan. 26 WBB vs. South Carolina 1 p.m., ESPN2 Jan. 29 MBB at Georgia 6 p.m., CSS Radio: 1510-AM, 560-AM, 95.9-FM Tickets: 61 5-322-GOLD TENNESSEE Mon.

WBB vs. Notre Dame 6 p.m., ESPN2 Wed. MBB vs. Arkansas 8 p.m., WUXP-30 Thurs. WBB vs.

Florida 5:30 p.m., SportSouth Jan. 25 MBB at Florida 3 p.m., ESPN Jan. 26 WBB at Texas 3 p.m., ESPN2 Radio: 104.5-FM Tickets: 865-656-1200 MTSU Wed. WBB vs. UTSA 7 p.m.

Thurs. MBB at Tulsa 8 p.m., Fox Sports 1 Jan. 25 WBB vs. Old Dominion 2 p.m. Jan.

25 MBB at North Texas 7 p.m. Jan. 29 WBB at Southern Miss 7 p.m. Radio: 102.5-FM (men), 1450-AM, 89.5-FM Tickets: 1-888-937-6878 TSU Mon. WBB at Jacksonville St.

7 p.m. Thurs. MBB vs. Ea. Kentucky 7 p.m.

Jan. 25 WBB vs. Morehead St. 5:30 p.m. Jan.

25 MBB vs. Morehead St. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27 WBB vs.

Ea. Kentucky 6 p.m. Radio: 102.1-FM (men) Tickets: 615-963-5841 BELMONT Mon. MBB vs. Fairfield 2:30 p.m.

Thurs. MBB vs. Morehead St. 7 p.m. Jan.

25 WBB vs. Ea. Kentucky 5 p.m. Jan. 25 MBB vs.

Ea. Kentucky 7 p.m. Jan. 27 WBB vs. Morehead St.

6 p.m. Radio: 104.5-FM (men) Tickets: 615-460-2255 LIPSCOMB Fri. MBB at No. Kentucky 6 p.m., CSS Jan. 25 WBB at No.

Kentucky 6 p.m. Jan. 30 WBBvs.Fla. Gulf Coast 6 p.m. Jan.

30 MBB at Jacksonville 6:15 p.m. Feb. 1 WBB vs. Stetson 4 p.m. Radio: 94.9-FM (men) Tickets: 61 5-966-HERD (4373).