Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 13, 1994 TAG: 9404130067
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ HOOPS AHEAD: Don't be surprised if Virginia reaches the Madison Square Garden semifinals of the preseason NIT in November. The 16-team field is solid, but there are no top five teams, either. UVa replaced Clemson as the ACC entry.
Joining the Cavaliers are Old Dominion, Coppin State, Southwestern Louisiana, Syracuse, New Mexico, New Mexico State, George Washington, Kansas State, Penn, Alabama, Southern Cal, Ohio State, Canisius, Idaho and Memphis - the school is dropping "State" from its name.
The most impressive holiday tournament field next season will be difficult for former UVa assistant coach Dennis Wolff, named the Boston University coach last week. Wolff's Terriers will play in Honolulu's Rainbow Classic with Arkansas, Duke, Georgia Tech, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Iowa and Hawaii.
\ MORE GUTS: The committee that established a Roanoke College scholarship to honor late Roanoke World-News sports editor and longtime sandlot coach Bob "Guts" McLelland still is soliciting contributions.
The scholarship fund has $80,000 of the $100,000 needed to endow the grant. Contributions may be made to the Bob "Guts" McLelland Scholarship at the college in Salem.
\ HARVESTING BUCKS: At the end of the 1989 baseball season, no baseball player had a base salary of $3 million. Then, Minnesota star Kirby Puckett signed a three-year, $9 million deal in October 1989. This season, 119 major-leaguers will make at least $3 million, with 43 of those at $4 million or higher.
The average player salary on Opening Day was $1,188,679, up 6 percent from 1993. Of the 746 players on Opening Day rosters and the disabled list, 35.5 percent (265) were to be paid $1 million or more. The New York Yankees have the highest average salary, $1.761 million.
\ MELTING POT: The Chicago Bulls may not win the NBA title this season, but the defending champs sure do bring an international flavor to the Windy City. They have players born in six countries.
JoJo English was born in Germany, Luc Longley in Australia, Toni Kukoc in Croatia, Bill Wennington in Canada, Steve Kerr in Lebanon and the other Bulls in the United States.
\ PARENT TRAP: Considering the trend continued by the departure of Rick Crotts as Cave Spring High School's basketball coach, do applications for coaching jobs at the Roanoke County school include the phrase "parental discretion advised"?
\ COURT CASE: VMI considered West Virginia lawyer Gay Elmore for its basketball coaching job. You'd think the school would have had enough dealing with lawyers in its unending battle against women on the post.
\ FRED AWARD: In Tallahassee, Fla., where they know college football success, the Quarterback Club has established a national award in the name of a Florida State alumnus.
No, not Burt Reynolds. Quarterbacks have the Unitas Award, linemen the Outland and Lombardi, linebackers the Butkus and defensive backs the Thorpe Award. Now, the nation's top receiver will get the Fred Biletnikoff Award.
\ BY DEGREE: The graduation rates for NBA and NFL players are much more stunning than the NCAA Graduation Rates report figures. Fewer than 25 percent of NBA players have a degree. The NFL is slightly better, a little less than 28 percent.
\ NOW CATCHING: Art Monk is history in Washington. Ricky Sanders is a free agent. Tim McGee has returned to Cincinnati. So, that leaves Desmond Howard and two former VMI players, Mark Stock and Greg Clifton, as the Redskins' receiving corps. Virginia Tech and Virginia are as good and as deep.
\ NEW PARK: Salem doesn't expect to get any financial support from Roanoke city or county on a proposed $5 million ballpark, but it should. According to surveys taken during the past five Carolina League seasons, 55 percent of the spectators at Municipal Field have been Roanoke or Roanoke County residents. Salem residents made up 21 percent of the crowds. Montgomery County was next, at 9 percent.
by CNB