Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 21, 1994                   TAG: 9401210158
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TECH PLAYERS, COACH HONORED

Beamer was chosen Virginia's Division I Coach of the Year, quarterback Maurice DeShazo of Bassett was voted top back and Jim Pyne was selected top lineman in the division.

DeShazo passed for a school-record 22 touchdowns during the 1993 regular season and threw for two more in the Independence Bowl. Pyne, an All-America center, gave up one sack while playing more than 2,700 snaps in his Tech career.

In other area sports news:

Roanoke's Tuan Reynolds, a redshirt freshman cornerback at Marshall University, underwent 5 1/2 hours of surgery Thursday night for a neck injury suffered Monday during a pickup football game in Huntington, W.Va.

Dr. Panos Ignatiadis fused the fifth and sixth vertebra in the neck of the former Patrick Henry High School player, the school announced.

"We are encouraged by the results of the surgery," said Jim Donnan, Marshall's coach. "All of us in the Marshall family appreciate the genuine concern shown by so many of our fans."

Further details will be made available in the next few days, a school spokesman said.

Bill Stewart, VMI's new head football coach, will announce today the names of the assistants he hopes will help him rebuild the Southern Conference program.

Mike Clark, Donnie Ross, Tom Throckmorton, Dan Hammerschmidt, Bill Legg and Bobby Solderitch will join Stewart, a former Air Force assistant who was appointed VMI's head coach Dec. 30.

Clark, the only full-time assistant retained from the staff of Jim Shuck, will coach the offense and quarterbacks. Clark was the defensive coordinator last season. Before coming to VMI, he was defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech for five seasons.

Ross, a 1974 graduate of VMI, will coach the running backs. Ross is the younger brother of San Diego Chargers coach Bobby Ross and has coached for the past four seasons at J.R. Tucker High School in Richmond.

Hammerschmidt, who will coach the defensive secondary, comes to VMI from Duke, where he coached the secondary and kickoff team.

Legg will coach the offensive line. He has coached at Eastern Illinois the past five seasons and played at West Virginia.

Solderitch, who has spent the past three seasons as offensive coordinator at Newport News Apprentice, will coach VMI's defensive line. Solderitch played for Stewart at William and Mary and also coached at the school.

Throckmorton, who will be Stewart's defensive coordinator, also was an assistant at VMI under Bob Thalman from 1980-82. Throckmorton has coached at East Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

Stewart also will retain Shuck's restricted-earnings coaches: Brian Hill, Allan Gerber and Kevin Sherman.

Andriy Shapowal, a Virginia signee, has been chosen the Gatorade Circle of Champions National Soccer Player of the Year. Shapowal, a 6-foot, 155-pound midfielder from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, had 14 goals and seven assists as a senior at Kenston High School.