Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 29, 1994 TAG: 9401290110
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
With part of the west side of Lane Stadium undergoing repairs, Virginia Tech officials could see it coming.
"We don't want to lose Maurice [DeShazo] to a bulldozer," said Danny Monk, Tech's associate athletic director.
That's why the Hokies will move their 1994 spring game up Interstate 81 to Salem Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff on April 16. Tech had to get a waiver from the NCAA, which disallows off-campus scrimmages, to play in Salem. In 1991, Tech's plan to hold a fall scrimmage at Victory Stadium in Roanoke was scrubbed because of that NCAA rule.
Monk said the west-side stands usually are closed for the spring game anyway, so fans would not be affected. But, he said, the field could be covered with equipment or slabs of cement by April as workers replace defective cement.
Once Tech officials realized they couldn't play at home, they called Salem officials.
"They said fine," Monk said. "That's as good a place as we could move it to."
It also puts Tech's spring game in the back yard of its Roanoke Valley alumni. And, Salem Stadium's capacity of 8,000 is "certainly adequate to accommodate the crowd," Monk said.
\ TECH-UVA ON TUBE: The Virginia Tech-Virginia basketball game will be shown live on regional cable television at 7:30 p.m. March 2 from the Roanoke Civic Center.
Home Team Sports, SportSouth and the Sunshine Network are scheduled to show the game, which was to have been played in Landover, Md. Tech moved the game back to Roanoke in December.
The game will not be available on over-the-air television. HTS is available to some Cox Cable Roanoke subscribers and is available on several other cable systems in the area, including Blacksburg.
"It's just one of those beautiful regional matchups that interest us greatly," said Scott Broyles, an HTS spokesman.
by CNB