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The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 9

Publication:
The Tennesseani
Location:
Nashville, Tennessee
Issue Date:
Page:
9
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

5 SECTION Scoreboard2 Pro Baseball 4 Classified6 DXO. Wednesday, May 30, 1984 WW a srsM 11 A So ympie Eskew McGavock ill Carver Beech IOC Seeks Reversal, Meets Soviets Today i By ASSOCIATED PRESS Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, said yesterday he would immediately extend Saturday's deadline for Olympic entries if his talks in Moscow show any sign of Soviet willingness to reverse the boycott. And in a pep talk to American athletes vying for a spot in the Summer Games at Los Angeles, President Reagan denounced the boycott as the "political machinations of powerbrokers in less-than-f ree countries." i A TOP-LEVEL Olympic delegation prepared to travel to Moscow today to deliver a letter to Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernen-ko containing "proposals, suggestions and comments" in a plea for a reversal of the Soviet boycott decision, officials of the IOC said. "I am not very optimistic," Samaranch said.

"I'm a realist. Of course, if they make some new proposals to overcome the impediment to their full participation, and if the June.2 deadline poses a problem, I will postpone the deadline immediately." Marat Gramov, Soviet Olympics Committee chairman, already has declared the boycott final and "irrevocable," on several occasions. "IF WE postpone the deadline, it will be a good sign. But I do not think they will ask for it," Samaranch said. The delegation will include Samaranch, Monique Berlioux, director of the International Olympic Committee, Primo Nebiolo of Italy, president of the Association of Summer Sports Federations, and Mario Vazquez Rana of Mexico, president of the Association of National Olympic Committees.

According to one Olympic official, even if Samaranch is not received by Chernenko, he almost certainly will be received by Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko whom he knows well from his term as Spanish ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1977 to 1980. The delegation was scheduled to return to Paris Friday, where Samaranch will hold a news conference, Berlioux said. Randolph Wood McGoveck Whites Creek imi jyiuui' Hazen Brown McGavock I McGavock in nut' ii mtj ii in 'jaiifc PETER UEBERROTH, president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, told the same news conference in Lausanne, Switzerlan "We take our instructions from the IOC. If the IOC asks us to extend the deadline, we will do it." Ueberroth was willing to attend the Moscow meeting, but he said he was not invited.

Jn East Berlin, a senior Eastern German sports official said a factor in his nation's decision to join the boycott was the lack of response from the LAOOC regarding requested written assurances about its athletes' safety. Siegfried Geilsdorf, vice president of East Germany's leading sports organization, made the remarks to a group of foreign journal- (Turn to Page 2, Column 1) 3 1 Morris 1 McGqyock is Abner McGoYOck igyy MS) it Johnson FRA Woodard FRA Carder Kemp FRA Goodlettsville 7T1 Dickens Goodlettsville iams Lipscomb MOUUXUIIJI! Dugan Lipscomb Forehand Northcutt Goodpasture Madison Pigg Madison Whitehurst Brentwood High i fit riDDie Eiell-Hording Nichol BGA Richardson NCS St i if 1.: 'i I Will fvjumxi w.wkjmhii i Harvey Lipscomb IIWUIiIW'Ulj is yjy-. lillliPllllil "'tm mil Alexander Brentwood Acad '--(- 4 Paper Pinpoints Metro's Finest By CINDY SMITH Considering their first exposure to competitive baseball, it's a wonder that Dan Eskew or Steve Johnson ever turned out to be top prep players. Eskew spent his entire first game on the bench while Johnson got in the game only to be hit by a pitch. Both were six years old at the time.

DESPITE THE negative beginnings, Eskew went on to play for McGavock High and Johnson for Franklin Road Academy. Not only did the twosome put their fears and frustrations behind them, they went on to be two of the best of the preps, leading their respective teams to state titles this season. They have brought honor upon themselves as well as their teams. Eskew is the The Tennessean's 1984 All-Metro Area Class AAA Player of the Year. Johnson earned the award in the combined Class A-AA division.

Eskew, a senior righthander who was undefeated this year with a 13-0 record, heads a 16-team All-Metro Area Class AAA team. Johnson, a senior righthander with only one loss this season (11-1), stands atop a 16-man squad of players from Class A and AA. THE TEAM is selected by the writer with suggestions from Metro Area coaches. Eskew's McGavock team is well-represented as a AAA state champion should be. While the University of Kentucky-bound Eskew was awesome on the mound, several other Raiders compiled impressive statistics during the season.

Catcher Cam Hazen, who has signed with Vander-bilt University, is the AAA batting champion with .542 batting average. He hit 10 home runs, including the 400-foot shot, which sealed the state championship for the Raiders. McGavock third baseman Jeff Abner, a sophomore, hit .450 while junior teammates Dwayne Morris and Carman Brown had .490 and .480 averages, respectively. TOMMY RANDOLPH, the Raider junior lefthander, batted .505 and had a 9-2 record. The non-McGavock members of the AAA team turned in some impressive stats as well.

Antioch's Dejuan Buford, the Metro Area's finest relief pitcher, had a 3-0 record with eight saves and also batted .423. His teammate, dependable shortstop Tommy Wims, batted .330, and the third All-Metro Area Bear, Ritchie Taylor, batted .388 and set a new school record for runs batted in with 34. TWO BEECH High players earned a spot on the team with Billy Paul Carver batting .439, and pitcher Randy Cook coming up with a 7-2 record and a .379 batting average. From Dupont High are infielder John Sanders a senior, and Jim Waggoner a junior. Two Montgomery Bell Academy seniors, John Morrissey (.358) and Jeff Gaw and Whites Creek pitcher Reggie Woods, 3-0 with one no-hitter, round out the AAA squad.

Two of Johnson's teammates from the Class A state champion FRA Rebels are on the first team, fellow pitcher John Woodard (6-2, .353) and infielder Shawn Carder Three David Lipscomb players are honored, sophomore pitcher Raymond Harvey (7-1), junior catcher Mike Dugan (.369) and junior pitcher Jon Williams (5-2). Both Harvey and Williams are lefties. TWO PLAYERS each from Madison and Goodlettsville found a spot on the team, the Rams' John Northcutt (4-4, .290) and Clint Pigg and the Trojans' Todd Kemp (9-1 with one no-hitter) and Tracey Dickens, whose .545 batting average gave him the A-AA batting title. Rounding out the team are Nashville Christian pitcher David Richardson (6-5), Goodpasture infielder Jeff Forehand, Brentwood Academy infielder Buddy Alexander Ezell-Harding infielder Mike Gribble Battle Ground Academy outfielder Patrick Nichol and Brentwood High outfielder Clay Whitehurst Of Whitehurst, who'll play football for the University of Alabama next fall, it must be noted that he tried to steal 28 bases this year and stole 28. AS FOR Eskew and Johnson, the highlight of their seasons was watching the final outs in their respective state championship games.

"My sophomore year we lost in the state Class A semifinals in football to Memphis Catholic in Memphis," said Johnson. "When we went back to Memphis this year to play Skyview in the baseball finals, I was very superstitious. We stayed at the same hotel, but I made sure that I didn't get the same room. I didn't want to jinx winning." Johnson credits FRA coach Jerry Link, Bill Carder, father of All-Metro Area teammates, Shawn Carder, and Cooper Wood, now at BGA, with his development as a baseball player. Eskew gives a tremendous amount of credit to McGavock head coach Mel Brown.

"Coach Brown turns out good baseball players," said Eskew. THE McGAVOCK ace is leery of praising himself, explaining that blowing your own horn leads to getting blown away on the mound. But several others on the All-Metro team are willing to give Eskew his due. "Dan's ball comes in real hard, he has a fluid motion that kind of fools you," said Antioch's Buford. "At first, you think all he has is a fastball but he's got a mean slider, too." "He's a very smart pitcher," said Whites Creek's Woods.

"He throws hard but as soon as you start looking for the hard stuff, here comes a changeup." "I've caught John Mitchell (ex-Overton star now with the Red Sox organization) and Dan," said Hazen. "They both have the same speed and the same pitches. They're both very, very good." Sports Ipf Scope Lll F.M. WILLIAMS i Morrissey MBA -J Gaw MBA Sit Back, Enjoy Olympics ALONG TIME AGO, someone told me not to worry about hings I could not control, and it's a piece of wisdom I'd like to pass on to Americans who keep moaning about the Soviet boycott of the Olympic Games. It's something that nobody can control outside of Russia, and it's final.

The reasons aren't even important anymore and the press should stop its negative pronouncements that come almost daily. It's time to realize it's the only Olympics we'll have for four more years. According to Peter Ueberroth, president of the Los Angeles Organizing Committee, there are 132 countries committed to attend the games, and that's 10 more than have ever come to any other Olympiad. The deadline for entering doesn't even come until Saturday. It's a record to boast about.

EFFORTS BY Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, to get the Russians to change their HiHWWInijJULlilll1 iUji LJiUL A mm i Buford Antioch iBIllS Mr i Titiriri Wims Antioch minds is also a waste or time, aiinougn it's understandable that he make the effort to avoid more criticism. But it's time to stop begging. What the IOC should do, either now or immediately after the games close, is to set up rules that would punish boycotting countries by expelling them from future Olympiads, no matter what might be the reason. Permanent expulsion should be considered, but certainly a nation boycotting should not be allowed in the next one. Two straight boycotts would mean never again.

I doubt if the IOC has the courage to 1 SAMARANCH do that, but they'd better do something drastic if they want to continue the games. -I i Waggoner Taylor r't A Dupont Antioch THERE IS ALSO great need to quit talking about ridding the Olympics of politics. It's impossible, and anyway, sports have been taking bows for 25 years for positive roles it has played in aiding in political situations. Sports might not've brought on integration in the United States, (but it sure hastened it, particularly in the South. Sports helped thaw United States-China relations a decade ago.

The first cultural exchange was a table tennis team's visit to China, quickly followed by a men's and women's track team, of which Tennessee State's Ed Temple was the women's coach. It was no coincidence that the Chinese were the best ping pong players in the world, and they walloped the Americans. The United States had superior track stars, and they walloped the Chinese. That's how international friends are made. It should also be remembered, that sports played a key role some 20 years ago in bringing about improved relations with Russia.

Temple carried a women's track team to Moscow at that time, too. Those of us in sports were proud of those achievements. I DETECT THAT people are beginning to react positively to Russia's obvious attempt to destroy the Los Angeles games. nswn a Pqo-a Column J- A Sanders Dupont Cook Beech.

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