Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140025
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
Let's just say they look bigger. And that makes it harder than ever for the modern mother to allow her little (read, "anything under 6-foot-7, 275 pounds) darling to go out there on a football field to be mauled by those ruffians.
Maybe that's why it seems like the smaller players, the ball-of-fire chip-on-their-shoulder guys who'd just as soon put somebody's lights out as go to a burger joint, are slowly being frozen out of the game.
But there are still a few of them left. One is Radford High School senior Tremond Hale, who never let his 5-7, 130-pound package of knots body get in the way of a good time on the football field.
Evidently, Bobcats coach Norman Lineburg thought Hale could take some wearing and tearing or else he wouldn't have given him double duties this year. Not only is Hale lining up as a defensive back, a position he manned with aplomb last year, but he's also running Lineburg's offense as the quarterback.
"Tre is tough,'' said Lineburg, "just like me. Maybe I ought to hire him as my bodyguard.''
Any coach who puts a quarterback that size in who can't play is going to need a bodyguard.
It doesn't look as though Lineburg is going to have that problem. His guy Tre is doing fine.
Which brings us to the pronunciation of "Tre,'' as in "Tree,'' which is an inappropriate nickname for anybody but an NBA pivotman, employment for which Radford's Tre will not qualify.
But in Radford, they're saying Hale is the chief. He has conducted himself as such for the first two games of Radford's season.
You'd expect leadership out of a policeman's son. That, and good citizenship.
"I don't have any choice, man,'' Tremond Hale said.
Gurney Hale is a big enough guy himself, but apparently he never feared for the football safety of little tyke Tremond.
"He knew what to expect,'' Tremond Hale said. "He played for [Pulaski County coach] Joel Hicks when he was coaching up at Big Creek in West Virginia.''
Tremond never gave a thought to playing for Hicks himself, though.
"Once a Bobcat, always a Bobcat,'' he said. "You don't ever want to trade.''
Nor would Radford like to trade him.
"I don't care how big he is, he's the toughest player we've got,'' said one long-time observer of Radford football.
Hale is a clever and shifty quarterback whose particular gifts forced Lineburg to switch to an offense that he doesn't particularly like - the option.
Hale has an accurate arm but he's at his best when he's carrying the football or threatening the foe with same.
"He might not throw as deep as some of the other quarterbacks we've had here, but there's always that threat that he'll run,'' Radford quarterbacks coach Wayne Fry said. "There's no doubt in my mind that he could be our tailback if we needed him to be.''
Hale has another attribute that suits a quarterback well - patience. You see it in the way he runs the option - waiting until absolutely the last second to unload the ball to the trailing running back on the pitch - and you see it in his grooming.
No, we're not talking about his grooming as a Bobcat, but the intricate series of braids that he wears in his hair.
"The dude with the dreads,'' was how he was referred to in the headquarters of last week's opponent, Powell Valley. "Dreads'' being short for "dreadlocks,'' the name for a style of unkempt locks that began in Jamaica.
"These aren't really dreads, though,'' Hale pointed out. "Dreads are wild, like, and these are braided.''
That's where the patience comes in. Hale must sit for close to four hours as his girlfriend, Farrah Claytor, works on his hair.
"Gotta watch a lot of TV,'' he said by way of explaining how he manages to sit still for that long.
Hale didn't sit still much in last week's 28-7 loss to Powell Valley, completing seven passes in 13 attempts for 93 yards, running eight times for 48 yards, and returning four kickoffs for 78 yards.
Hale has 220 all-purpose yards and a touchdown scored in two games this year.
In the loss to the defending state Group A Division 2 champions last week, Hale also played a pretty mean defensive back. That's the position at which he started last year along with wingback.
"Defense is when it gets fun,'' he said.
Hale has fun the whole game through, but there are aspects of his job that he treats most seriously.
"It surprised me when Coach Lineburg told me last year that he wanted me to be the quarterback, but it also pleased me,'' Hale said. "I thought I could step in and take the leadership role that this team needed out of a quarterback.''
Before he even started this season, Hale had a clear picture of the style of leadership he'd employ.
"I'm a motivator,'' he said. "I never jump on somebody on offense for mistakes. I encourage them.
"It's different on defense. I don't think you can jump on somebody on offense. On defense, I'll argue with them and tell them exactly what I think. If they're playing sorry, I'll tell them. It gets their heads back into the game.''
Not much chance of Hale's head getting too far out of the game. In fact, he may get too into some games.
In the process of making a tackle last year, his hand got caught between his facemask and his target and the wrist was broken.
Hale didn't notice.
"I stayed in there until [teammate] Marlin Wesley went to coach [David] Morris and told him that my hand was just hanging there and I was favoring it.''
Morris took Hale out and kept him out.
"I wasn't going to tell them,'' Hale said. "I wanted to play.''
That was just a scrimmage, too.
Hale was in a cast and in the starting lineup the next week in the season opener against Parry McCluer.
"The cast affected the way I played,'' he said. "I had to carry the football with my left hand. But I played.''
Small body, big courage. It underscores something country people have said for years:
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the size of the fight in the dog.''
by CNB