Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 5, 1994 TAG: 9404050121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
The award goes annually to a basketball personality who has displayed exceptional courage on and off the court. Last year's winner was the late Jim Valvano.
Antigua played his first two college seasons with a bullet lodged in his head, the result of a street shooting in which he was an innocent bystander. He was shot on Halloween night 1989, in his native Bronx, N.Y. He was a sophomore at St. Raymond's High School then.
Doctors initially ruled out removing the slug, which left a wound less than one inch from his left eye. They said surgery would be too risky. After Antigua began to have severe headaches, the bullet was removed last summer.
In 1990, Antigua and his family endured a public episode of homelessness. As the oldest of three brothers, he was credited with keeping his family together while housing was secured.
Antigua, 20, averaged 10.7 points and 4.4 rebounds as a Panthers starter this season.
The USBWA also selected St. Louis coach Charlie Spoonhour its coach of the year and inducted three new members into the Basketball Writers Hall of Fame - Charlotte Observer columnist Ron Green, Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan and the late Larry Boeck, who wrote for the Louisville Courier-Journal.
\ WIN, YOU LOSE: Two weeks ago, Win Case coached Oklahoma City to the NAIA basketball championship. Now, he's on a one-year probation at the school.
Case was arrested in Charlotte on Friday and charged with trying to sell three all-session Final Four tickets to an undercover policeman. He asked $7,000 for the tickets, which had a combined face value of $195.
Oklahoma City athletic director Joe Sahmaunt announced that any further embarrassment to the university by Case will result in the coach's dismissal.
\ MAKING MUSIC: The interesting stories among the Final Four players are numerous. For instance, Duke star Grant Hill may be headed for the NBA, but fellow senior Marty Clark wants to be in a band.
Clark has played the piano for years. Now, he's trying guitar, and he's already learned to play Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" from one of his six sisters.
"I guess if you're going to play the guitar, you have to play that song," Clark said. "It's like a required course."
\ CANDIDATE: There's a new candidate in the Auburn coaching search. It's former VMI coach Marty Fletcher, who has been very successful in eight seasons at Southwestern Louisiana. Fletcher joins former Clemson coach Cliff Ellis as the top candidates for a job Duke assistant Mike Brey turned down over the weekend.
\ HOLLAND DAYS: Terry Holland, who guided Virginia to two Final Fours, continues to add to his basketball stature.
Besides being the Davidson college athletic director, a TV analyst and a member of the prestigious NCAA Men's Basketball Committee that selects and seeds the 64-team field, Holland has joined the Senior National Team Committee of USA Basketball.
He's the only NCAA representative on an NBA-driven committee that picks teams for international play, such as "Dream Team II," which will compete in the 1994 World Championships in Toronto in August.
Others on the committee include Magic Johnson, Willis Reed, Dave Gavitt, Billy Cunningham and Duke assistant coach Tommy Amaker, who is the athlete representative on the group.
\ BROYLES ILL: Conspicuous by his absence at the Final Four is Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles, who was hospitalized last week after doctors detected an irregular heartbeat during Broyles' annual physical.
Broyles was not permitted to watch Arkansas' semifinal victory over Arizona on Saturday, and he was advised by doctors not to fly to Charlotte to attend Monday night's NCAA championship game.
Broyles, 69, had another doctor's appointment Monday afternoon, at which time he was to learn whether he could watch the Duke-Arkansas telecast live.
\ HOG WILD: Arkansas rented two 15-by-20 foot screens and showed free a telecast of Monday night's game for Razorback fans at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.
To add to the festive atmosphere, more than 50 members of the Hog Wild pep band were going to play at Bud Walton. They didn't travel to Charlotte because the NCAA allows only 30-member pep bands at tournament sites.
\ BLASPHEMY: Duke All-American Grant Hill is the son of former Yale and NFL running back Calvin Hill. Guess which sport he grew up with?
"The first word I ever said was `football,' " Hill said. "Now, I can't stand it."
\ USED CAR: At Sunday's individual player news conferences, Duke forward Tony Lang grinned and fessed up about his car, which coach Mike Krzyzewski says is the worst driven by a Blue Devil.
It's a 1980 Pontiac Grand Prix. It's blue. "Carolina blue," Lang said. "I don't want to say anything bad about it because it will break down on me."
\ RAT BALL: One of the strangest diversions at this Final Four is at Discovery Place, a science museum in downtown Charlotte.
On a court 18 inches wide, 28 inches long and 18 inches high, live rats play one-on-one basketball.
The basket is about five to six inches off the floor. The ball? One of those roll-on balls from a deodorant bottle.
On Monday, it appeared that one rodent playing defense was running a rat trap.
by CNB