Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993 TAG: 9309020049
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Mason was among five Maryland players reinstated Wednesday by the NCAA after they were suspended by the school.
"I was more anxious than anybody because, when you turn something loose, you lose control over it," said Maryland athletic director Andy Geiger, who had suspended the players pending a review of their summer employment.
The Washington Post reported that Mason and four other players, including projected starters Sharrod Mack and Gene Green, were credited by campus maintenance for hours worked when they were in class.
Geiger said it was a clerical error and the money was deducted from the players' final paychecks.
"The kids never got paid more than they were owed," Geiger said Wednesday. "The Washington Post received an anonymous letter, as did the Baltimore Sun. The Baltimore Sun chose not to run the story, but it was blown up by the Post.
"If you look at The NCAA News, there are endless cases like this that are detailed in agate [small] type. You may have seen where three Washington players were reinstated this week and what happened there was much more extensive than this."
The reinstatement of the players does not mean Maryland will be found innocent of wrongdoing. "Technically, it could be viewed as a secondary violation," Geiger said, "but I'm not even sure of that."
Mason was the Atlantic Coast Conference leader in all-purpose yardage until he suffered season-ending injuries in the fifth game of each of the past two seasons. All five of the Maryland players continued to practice while they were suspended.
\ EX-BUCKEYE PROMOTED: Duke quarterback Spence Fischer, second in total offense among returning ACC players, has lost his starting job. Joe Pickens, who began his college career at Ohio State, will make his Blue Devils debut Saturday against top-ranked Florida State. Pickens is a sophomore.
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said he will continue a move started in a 42-0 victory over Kansas, when he used his second-team offense on the first play of each series after the first one. "That's 10 or 12 plays that the other team's [first-team] defense will be on the field," he explained. "We'll be fresher at the end."
\ AT THE LAST MOMENT: North Carolina State freshman Trot Nixon attended summer school, reported for preseason practice and went through more than two weeks of drills before signing a baseball contract with the Boston Red Sox, who selected him in the first round of the June draft.
Contract negotiations were at an impasse until Aug. 24, when the Red Sox agreed to Nixon's original demands, although part of the agreement was that Nixon not play college football. If Nixon, a quarterback, had begun classes Aug. 25, he would have been ineligible to sign with the Red Sox.
\ NO RETURNS: West Virginia receiver Daymeian Gallimore, second in the Big East Conference in kickoff returns last year, has been suspended for four games by the university for "student policy violations." WVU's fourth game is against Virginia Tech.
\ CLARIFICATION: Salem's Curtis Taliaferro, an eighth-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons in 1986, was the last player from the Roanoke Valley to be drafted by an NFL team before David Ware from William Fleming and UVa was taken by the New York Jets in the fourth round this year. Taliaferro played at Virginia Tech.
\ RECRUITING: Hampton's Allen Iverson, who has been rated the No. 1 basketball prospect in the country, may spend his final year of high school at Maine Central Institute, pending results of his Sept. 8 sentencing on three felony counts from a bowling-alley brawl. Iverson already has decided not to play football if he returns to Bethel High School.
A late addition to Virginia Commonwealth's basketball roster was Sherman Hamilton, a transfer from Division II Florida Tech. The 6-foot-1 guard from Toronto was chosen as freshman of the year in the Sunshine State Conference after averaging 14.8 points and 5.8 rebounds.
\ HALL GOES DIVISION I: Rick Hall, who last year gave up a position in sales to devote his full attention to working as an assistant basketball coach at Roanoke College, has been hired as a full-time assistant for Big South champion Coastal Carolina. Hall, a former standout athlete at Cave Spring High School in Roanoke, played wide receiver on the football team at Virginia Tech.
\ MORE MAROONS MOVES: Mel Hankinson, the Maroons' head basketball coach in the 1970s, is the new restricted-earnings coach at West Virginia. Hankinson most recently was the basketball coach and athletic director at Master's College in Santa Clarita, Calif. . . . Colin McGahren, a two-time lacrosse All-American at Roanoke College, will be an assistant in that sport at Colgate. . . . Ed McMichael, coach of the boys' soccer team at Patrick Henry High School since 1987, will be an assistant at Roanoke College this fall. McMichael was head coach at Huntingdon (Ala.) College from 1985-87.
\ HALL OF FAMERS: Al Holland from Roanoke and Dwaine "Pee Wee" Board from Franklin County have been inducted into the North Carolina A & T Hall of Fame. Holland, a former major-league pitcher, played football and baseball at A & T. Board played for - and now is in his second year as a full-time assistant with - the San Francisco 49ers.
by CNB