ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 8, 1996 TAG: 9609090144
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The 26th night game in Scott Stadium history was an iffy proposition eight hours before kickoff Saturday.
The remnants of Hurricane Fran knocked out power to a considerable part of Charlottesville and the UVa campus on Friday.
Electricity was not restored to the stadium and its surrounding facilities until 11:30 a.m. Saturday, said Mark Fletcher, UVa's associate director of athletics for facilities.
``It was getting to the point where I was asking myself the question, `When is the appropriate time to cancel a football game with 40,000 people coming,''' Fletcher said during the Cavaliers' victory over Central Michigan.
About 11 a.m. Saturday, UVa's team managers and equipment staff hung the players' game uniforms in their Bryant Hall lockers - by flashlight.
``Virginia Power did a great job in getting the lights on here,'' said Fletcher, one of many Charlottesville residents who doesn't expect to get power in his home until today. ``The crews were here all night, and considering everything else they had to do, what they did here was remarkable.''
Fletcher said that although the pumps beneath David A. Harrison Field at the stadium weren't working, ``the field was playable. It was fine. We were on it Friday and it was OK.''
The lights were a different matter. Fletcher said there had been no consideration he knew of to move up the kickoff to late afternoon.
``I guess we could have moved the game back [later], if we had to,'' Fletcher said. ``Certainly, there are games that start later, and have started later here, for television.''
As for a possible postponement of the game until today, Fletcher was just thrilled that didn't have to become an issue.
``How close we came to not playing, I don't know,'' he said. ``I'm just glad it didn't get to that.''
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB