Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9408120043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Allison, 30, will be playing in the U.S. Amateur for the first time after finishing fourth at the Tuckahoe River Course of the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond. Only six spots were available for a field of 103.
Allison had a 2-over-par 146 for 36 holes, but that required playing the last 10 holes in 3 under par ``all while not being able to breathe,'' he said.
Allison, a Northside High graduate, is an internal audit manager for Norfolk Southern in Roanoke. He tries to play or practice three evenings a week at Roanoke Country Club and play once on weekends.
``This is pretty huge for me,'' said Allison, who follows in the footstep of fellow club member and Virginia Tech graduate Mike Smith, who tied for ninth in qualifying this year. ``My goal was to make [the U.S. Amateur] once before I turned 40.''
The U.S. Amateur will be played at the Stadium Course at the Tournament Players Club, site of the Tournament Players Championship.
``I hope it's not as brutal as it looks on TV,'' he said. ``I anticipate it will be pretty challenging.''
CRADLE OF COACHES: George ``Tic'' Price, named acting men's basketball coach at New Orleans following the death of Tommy Joe Eagles, joins Page Moir at Roanoke College and Ron Everhart at McNeese as college head coaches who played at Virginia Tech.
A fourth head coach, Mack McCarthy, is a Virginia Tech graduate but did not play for the Hokies. All but Everhart coached at Tech, as did head coaches Don DeVoe (Navy), Frankie Allen (Tennessee State), Ron Carr (Longwood) and Jim Baker (Catawba).
nJeff Schneider, a Tech guard in the early 1980s, has joined the staff of new Washington State coach Kevin Eastman. Schneider, previously on the staff at Tulsa, has developed a reputation as a tireless recruiter and has interviewed for several head-coaching positions.
HOKIE IN CFL: Virginia Tech graduate Melendez Byrd, a starting linebacker for the Hokies from 1990-92, is playing for the new Baltimore franchise in the Canadian Football League. Byrd originally signed with Saskatchewan, which moved to Baltimore and is now known as the CFLs pending a court ruling on the nickname ``Colts.''
EX-SPARTAN UPDATE: Tra Wilson, quarterback of the Salem High team that reached the Group AA Division 4 championship game, left Concord (W.Va.) College after his first year and will enroll at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro.
Wilson will sit out the 1994 season as a transfer and then have three seasons of eligibility. He was a first-team all-state quarterback at Salem, where he passed for 1,146 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior, but plans to play free safety for the Aggies.
Wilson, ineligible to play at Concord as a freshman, originally planned to transfer to Virginia Tech but lacked the credits to make that move at that time. He sought a more urban environment and made visits on his own to A&T, Hampton and Howard.
Jomo Nelson, who rushed for 1,077 yards last year while averaging 7.1 yards per carry, has joined former Salem High teammate Marcus Parker at Virginia Tech. Nelson, a walk-on, did much of the ball-carrying last year for the Spartans while Parker was recovering from knee surgery.
RECRUIT LEAVES: Virginia football signee Tyrone McGill, the Class 4A player of the year in South Carolina last year, has enrolled at Western Carolina. McGill was told not to return by Transition Program coordinator Valdrie Walker when he became homesick and went home to Gaffney, S.C.
``I called that woman and almost begged her to let him back in school,'' McGill's mother, Sarah Jeffries, said. ``Tyrone was really shook up about it. He laid in his bedroom and cried every day because he couldn't go back there.''
ACC FOOTBALL: New Clemson coach Tommy West was so unimpressed with the Tigers' running game that he moved wide receiver Antuarn Wyatt to tailback for the spring game, whereupon Wyatt rushed for 107 yards in 14 carries. The Tigers are listing Wyatt as a wide receiver this spring, knowing he can return if several touted tailback prospects don't produce.
NON-REVENUE: Bobby Willner, rated the No. 1 baseball prospect in the state by Baseball America, has signed with College World Series runner-up Georgia Tech. Willner, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, was 13-2 and had 171 strikeouts in 105 innings for West Potomac.
The new volleyball coach at Roanoke College is Dennis Mundy, a past Maroons' assistant who has been coach of the Roanoke Junior Olympics volleyball team for the last two years. Mundy played at Tennessee from 1988-91.
Roanoke College soccer standout Dustin Fonder, the Division III national player of the year in 1993, has joined the men's soccer staff at Radford as an assistant coach.
by CNB