Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 27

(Mtt Birmineham NitPX SATURDAY Birmingham Port-Herald Hfaruory 39 1991 D5 Sports Rreflote After a detour Henton is ready to come home Trade brings offensive lineman to Fire The Birmingham Fire made its second trade of the week yesterday acquiring offensive tackle Carl Bax from the Barcelona Dragons for future considerations Barcelona found itself well stocked with offensive linemen and offered Bax who spent parts of three seasons (1989-91) with the Tampa Bay Buccanears The Dragons selected Bax in the 1992 draft and will receive either a player or draft pick at a later date Two offensive linemen have quit since the beginning of training camp and another never reported Bax now gives the Fire 1 1 offensive linemen and five tackles One of those tackles Buddy King has missed the last three days with a strained arch While King sits Joe Valerio continues to improve Valerio an NFL enhancement player from the Kansas City Chiefs holds the starting position at right tackle at this point Valerio has also established himself as the snapper for punts anyplace kicks He was considered the top snapper in the 1991 NFL The Fire plans to keep three tackles and seven offensive linemen on its final roster After two weeks of training camp and two controlled scrimmages the Fire will have to reduce its roster from 60 to 48 tomorrow The deadline comes one week after the Fire received eight NFL enhancement players The Fire has added three players outside linebacker Autbouy Heatoa running back Tony Alford and Bax in the last four days That causes a problem for Fire Coach Chau Gailey going to be very Gailey said hard to evaluate -somebody on four time what having to do with a few of these guys evaluating them somewhat on their potential you think they may have because they know the system One of the cuts will be at quarterback where the Fire has four players and needs only three Returning starter Eric Jones has been limited by a sore arm the last two days but the quarterback most likely to be cut is Greg Jones an NFL enhancement player from Detroit who has been with the team a week Two other injured players inside linebacker John Brantley (knee) and outside linebacker Maurice Oliver (shoulder) are expected to return Monday Noseguard Darrell Phillips (groin) and defensive end LeAndre Anderson (ankle) will miss scrimmage but wide receiver Eddie Britton has returned The other cuts might not be as obvious and Gailey expect 120-play controlled scrimmage with Montreal to provide all the answers scrimmage has something do with Gailey said I think go out and make a complete turnaround on a guy by one Bandits get fans victory By Cary Estes Post-Her i Id Reporter The Birmingham Bandits opened last night's game against the Cblum-btii Horizon by sowing 40 points in the first quarter It took the Bandits nearly two more quarters to equal that total As a result what started out as a Birmingham blowout turned into a nail biter that was not decided until the final minuto But with Skeeter Henry slicing through the lane for layups and Jim Farmer nailing shots from three-range the Bandits overcame mid-game slump and held off Oolumbus 116-100 before a noisy record crowd of 2037 at State Fair Arena Farmer came back in style from an ankle injury that forced him to sit out the past two games He sank three three-pointers in the first 2W minutes as Birmingham bolted to a 15-4 lead vi know how I was going to Farmer said then I came out there and hit the first few shots and I felt So did the Bandits as they built their advantage to 40-22 at the end of the first quarter and appeared in complete control against the last-place Horizon But Oolumbus battled back in the second and third quarters outscoring Birmingham 61-42 in the two quarters to take an 83-82 lead have a tendency to lose our Bandits Coach Mo McHone said a problem had all season the reason we really beat anybody But Birmingham beat the Horizon bad in the final quarter especially after leading-scorer Tony Farmer was ejected from the game with 4:32 remaining when he was get there but th may not If they weSre got at least some good competition with Anthony in Whether he ends up as a starter or a backup Birmingham is where Henton wanted to be all along It just took a year and a trade to make it work After three seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and a training camp with the Seattle Seahawks Henton sat out the 1990 NFL season When the World League came around Henton was placed in the World supplemental draft by Gailey who had been coach at Troy State Gailey called me about about a week before the draft and said got good news and bad Henton said to put your name in the news Tbe bad news is we might not have a chance to get you because somebody might get you Because quarterback Stan Gel-baugh had been placed in the draft by Sacramento which had the first pick Henton figured he was safe for at lout one spot If only it had been that simple Sacramento passed on Gelbaugh who went to London and became the World most valuable offensive player and chose Henton already had my ticket all made out to go to he said had told my wife be back in a couple of days The next thing I knew I was on a plane to California I know just part of playing football Whoever gets you you have to play Henton made the most of his situation After a slow start he started in the last six games and finished with 34 tackles ami four sacks Henton was set to spend another By Richard Scott Foat-Hcnld Reporter ALTAMONTE SPRINGS Fla -When Anthony Henton got the news from Sacramento Surge Coach Kay Stephenson on Wednesday he had to hide his true feelings called me into his office and said This is something we hate to do but this will probably be a good situation for you too going to Henton recalled said but I want to show it too much I tried to give it the droopy-face look but actually I was really happy to be going Henton have to hide anymore wife is real excited and so is my said Henton who still owns a home in Bessemer get a chance to come home and play in front of my dad and my family This is really great back As a native of Bessemer and a graduate of Jess Lanier High School and Troy State University Henton be more excited about his trade to the Birmingham Fire Fire Coach Chan Gailey is as happy as Henton about the move partly because he has some concerns about the outside linebacker situation Maurice Oliver is the only returning starter at outside linebacker and he has missed most of this week with a shoulder injury That leaves Henton in competition with 1992 draft picks Ricky Shaw Craig Ogletree and Todd Woulard for one of the two remaining spots at this time Ricky and Craig met total expectations or reached the high place where we thought we would be right Gailey said still hoping ready feels like he belongs coaches and players hare been really great about helping me Henton said susprising because you come in and everybody makes you feel right at home I'nj feeling really good" Centennial celebration coming to town i Celtics come close but suffer road loss BanditssummaryHB SCORE Birmingham 116 Columbus 100 QUARTERS WON: Birmingham 2 Columbus 2 STAR: Birmingham guard Jim Fanner scored game-high 28 points including sbe-of-eight throo pointers KEY STAT: Columbus sank QO 4 000 percent or its snots NOTE The Bandts are now 8-0 at home against Eastern Division teams this season QUOTE "I know how I was going to feel" said Farmer who has been nursing an inured ankle "But then I came out there and hit the first few shots and I felt fine" NEXT: 3:35 pm CST tomorrow at La Crosse Cary Estes called for his second flagrant foul of the contest He scared 27 points The Bandits led 100-94 at that point and coasted from there Nobody could pick up the scoring punch far Columbus after Tony Farmer was ejected Byron Dinkins was nine of 28 from the field and Byron Irvin was eight of 22 got some really good help inside on McHone said had been driving by us but we shut that down at the Henry added 21 points and Irving Thomas recently reinstated after a 10-day stint in Italy where he was tying out for a club team had 19 i picked it up a notch when we had McHone said was a good game for As pleased as McHone was with the victory which kept Birmingham in the hunt for the Eastern Division title he was even happier with the record crowd was McHone said is the way it should be It just goes to show how this can work if given a chance Our people did a good job marketing the last two games and the people And on this night so did the Bandits NBAwrapup 71 advantage Bulls 106 Bucks 101 MILWAUKEE Scottie Pip-pen scored a season-high 41 points and Chicago rallied in the final four minutes to beat Milwaukee two free throws with 38 seconds to go gave the Bulls a 104-101 lead After Dale Ellis missed a three-pointer for the Bucks Michael Jordan dropped in two more free throws with 239 seconds left Mavs 115 Suns 107 DALLAS Rookies Doug Smith and Mike Iuzzolino combined for first 21 points of the fourth quarter lifting the Mavericks over Phoenix Smith scored 11 consecutive Mavericks points as Dallas charged to a 95-91 lead with 7:11 to play Iuzzolino who scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter started the period with a three-pointer then scored 11 more points after hot streak Rockets 84 Nuggets 8T DENVER Former Alabama star Buck Johnson hit a 29-footer breaking a tie with 31 seconds left and breaking the nine-game road losing streak RAVIN 25 AShoU 3 THI OUN WWW CIS 1 HUE RIDE On Alabama's largest Go-Kart Track! season at Sacramento but the team surprised him again exchanging him for linebacker Kyle Freeman and sending him home Even though he be back in Birmingham until March 8 when the Fire close its training camp he al football tradition will also be on display in the form of memorabilia The historical items will include: the victory cup won by Auburn after its first game a victory over Georgia in 1892 the victory cup won by Auburn after its game against Alabama a 32-22 victory in 1983 the Heisman TVophy awards won by Pat Sullivan and Bo Jackson national and Southeastern Conference championship trophies and the gold-tipped walking cain presented by the first team to first coach Dr George Petrie think the game will hare any problem selling out not interested in retorting what's been said in said Alan Martin the president of the Birmingham Football Foundation the group putting on the game was competition for the game and we approached it one way I think very important to note that revenue was extremely important going into a new venture and ticket revenue is extremely important When you consider that television revenue and concessions are the property at the SEC the ticket revenue was the way to distinguish between the bids" Martin also points out the premi-mum package deals with only 45 percent of the available tickets He also said the plan devised was quite similar to the season-ticket packages used in the SEC such as the Tide Pride plan at Alabama where the more you donate the better your Set the table for several hundred guests Centennial football celebration is coining to dinner Auburn fans will come together at 6:30 pm on March 16 for a dinner to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of its football program at the Civic Center Ballroom The event will provide Auburn fan with their first opportunity meet incoming university president Dr William Muse Auburn Coach Pat Dye and several former Auburn football players who hare not been announced will also attend the dinner Finebaum From page D1 The 500 Presidential Patrons ticket puts you in the 306-seat sky box as opposed to the 2 8-sea ter for 3750 You also get the hors and everything else down to the decal for your car What do you get for the $75 blue patron ticket? You get seats on the goal line as well as free MAX transportation to the game I know about you but is that really a perk? The bad news for the blue patron: No hors d'oeuvres In other words plan on cold hot dogs and warm soft drinks and stale popcorn (and maybe even some turkey sandwiches) left over from the Iron Bowl really is going to be a nice said David Housel director of sports information should be a fun and festive This will be the first of four centennial dinners The others will take place at Mobile March 26 Huntsville April 14 and Montgomery April 20 The dimers will lead up to an Auburn Football Family Reunion at A-Day on April 25 One of the highlights at the Birmingham dinner is the expected announcement of All-Century team Under the plan 36301 tickets go to the aforementioned patron plan In addition thaw will be 13142 tickets going to the general public 21000 to be divided among the participating schools 5000 to the other SEC schools and 5148 to Stadium Gub members In the Atlanta article Tony Barnhart the newspaper's college editor quoted Paul Martin a Georgia season ticket holder from Atlanta: it comes to is that the Birmingham Organizing committee outbid Atlanta for the game by submitting a ridiculous bid Now they are gouging everybody in the SEC to pay the freight They are really sticking it to the fan and not fair" Apparently soy of the fans taking it as hard as Martin The most expensive tickets the ones going for 3780 hare already sold out And local organizers donl centennial celebratioq began last week in Atlanta the site of its first game It will culminate oh Nov 14 with home game against Georgia Cost for the dinner is $20 per person Reservations need to be made aj least one week before the event or until the limited supply of tickets runs out Ticket orders may be sent to PO Box 38186 Birmingham 35236 Far information call Jim Beckham at 979-1647 Lynn Seales at 979-0047 or Sara Waid at 254-7172 seats becomes distorted is that the first two levels represent about one-half of one-percent of all the tickets in the Martin said Interestingly deep inside the Atlanta Constitution on page 5 was an article about the cost of tickets to the ACC basketball toumement Basically the article points out it costs a fan of the University of North Carolina about 348000 to get two tickets to the tournament That is the minimum contribution to the athletic fund to be eligible that price you could buy 60 of our top said Martin game is good for the SEC and for 12 schools We're not embarrassed by the pricing structure We feel outstanding for Birmingham for the community and our image The market place will determine whether it works or not And I have every reason to believe it will" RANGE ROVER Anociitsd Ptm ATLANTA Kevin Willis had 22 points and 22 rebounds and Ru- meal Robinson scared 23 points last night as Atlanta handed Bos-" ton its fifth consecutive road loss 102-90 Willis now has had 20 or more points and rebounds in a game 11 times this season for the Hawks who broke open a close game by outscoring the Celtics 21-13 in the fourth quarter It was the third victory in a row far Atlanta and its sixth In succes- sion over the Celtics who have lost eight of their last 11 games Pacers 114 Magic 109 INDIANAPOLIS Detlef Schrempf scored 34 points including two clinching free throws with 17 seconds left leading Indiana over Orlando The Pacers blocked 13 shots a season high en route to their sixth victory in eight outings Trail Blazers 117 Bullets 96 LANDOVER Md Clyde Drexler scored 18 of his 36 points in the decisive third quarter and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the struggling Washington Bullets Drexler had 10 points in the first half on 3-for-9 shooting but he made fire of six shots and seven free throws in the third per- iod to help the Trail Blazers turn a 50-48 halftime deficit into an 86- Rrad FOOD Wfdncsdajs Is Birmingham IW-lleraW rAlWILUAjytSTlMpORTS UN SPORTS 0 AMUSEMENT PARK OPEN DAILY Present this coupon a for 1 FREE BATTING CAGE GAME Baseball or Softball 1 2 balls FREE PARKING FREE ADMISSION ALABAMA STATE FAIRGROUNDS 787-8806 i.