THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408140165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
Shawn Knight is back from his summer fling in professional baseball, and he has shed his bat and glove for shoulder pads and a football.
Knight, a senior quarterback from Norfolk, began summer practice with the William and Mary football team Friday, just days after returning from Spokane, Wash., where he played second base and shortstop for San Diego's Class A affiliate.
Knight hit .280 in 16 games for the Spokane Indians. He had an on-base percentage of .419, stole four bases and committed six errors.
``It took me some time to adjust to the pitching, but I was pleased with the way I developed,'' he said. ``From the feedback I got, I gather the organization is pleased.''
Todd Doolittle, spokesman for Spokane, says the Indians were indeed pleased.
``He was one of our stars,'' Doolittle said.
Knight said he was surprised by the camaraderie he experienced in Spokane.
``I kind of expected that players would be out for themselves,'' he said. ``There was a lot of unity there, a feeling of togetherness I hadn't expected.
``I had to leave the team before the season ended to return here for practice. It was kind of tough to do. I'd gotten close with my teammates.''
Did he find the ribald lifestyle depicted in the movie Bull Durham to be true to life?
``There are a lot of parallels,'' he said with a laugh. ``I met many of the same type of people. The movie was a little bit of an exaggeration, but there were a lot of parallels.''
Including long bus rides - to places such as Boise, Bend, Bellingham and Yakima.
``That's such a beautiful part of the country. I'd never been there. People here don't realize how much open country there is out West.
``But the bus rides were long. The movie was right about that. You spend a lot of time on a bus.''
Tribe coach Jimmye Laycock says he's not worried about his quarterback getting fatigued in spite of all of those long bus rides.
``Hey, he could have had a real summer job,'' Laycock said. ``We had guys work construction 8 to 10 hours during the day. I don't think playing second baseman and shortstop is going to bother him.''
Laycock says it won't take long for Knight, who set the NCAA Division I-AA pass efficiency record last season, to get back into football shape.
``He may be a little slower coming around than he's been in the past,'' Laycock said. ``But he's got such a solid foundation that he'll catch on soon. We just want him to be careful with his arm. He won't throw a lot early.''
NEW SCOREBOARD: Good news for those weary of seeing the scoreboard at Scope blow a fuse - the scoreboard is being replaced.
John Rhamstine, assistant director of Scope, says the new scoreboard is scheduled to be in place by Oct. 1. That's well ahead of ODU's basketball opener Nov. 26 against Towson State, but only days prior to the Hampton Roads Admirals first exhibition game Oct. 13 against Johnstown.
``So far everything is on schedule,'' he said. ``And the scoreboard will be state of the art.''
It will feature full-color message centers and a modern-looking facade.
The old scoreboard, installed when Scope opened in 1971, has a painful history of embarrassing breakdowns, the most prominent of which came in 1983 during the NCAA women's Final Four. NCAA officials held up signs to indicate the score during that game, which was broadcast nationally by CBS.
Last season the Admirals had scoreboard problems at several games. Two years ago the scoreboard broke during a regionally televised game between ODU and Virginia Tech.
``Hopefully, those days are behind us,'' ODU athletic director Jim Jarrett said.
A welcome feature for hockey and basketball players is that the scoreboard will come with two smaller scoreboards that will be placed over each end zone. Both basketball and hockey players have had to crane their necks to see the time or the score on the old board, which is suspended over the center of Scope's playing surface.
Rhamstine said the new scoreboard will be paid for by scoreboard advertising sold by Scope.
ODU HOOPS: Old Dominion's 1994-95 basketball schedule, touted by the Monarchs as the toughest in school history, could be just as formidable the following season.
Washington, Southern Illinois, St. Joseph's, Tulane, South Florida and UNC-Charlotte are already scheduled to come to Scope in 1995-96. Moreover, coach Jeff Capel says he's trying to add Duke, Georgetown and Maryland to the list.
``This schedule is not a one-year deal,'' Capel said of the 1994-95 slate, which includes North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. ``Dr. Jarrett and I have discussed this at length and this is the kind of schedule we want to play from this point on.''
Capel says players with local connections have helped get his foot in the door of Maryland, Duke and Georgetown. His son, Jeff Jr., plays at Duke, Norfolk's Joe Smith plays at Maryland and Hampton's Allen Iverson has enrolled at Georgetown.
`I'm confident (Duke coach) Mike (Krzyzewski) will give me the opportunity to coach against my son,'' he said.
``A lot of coaches like to bring their kids home. We hope (Maryland and Georgetown) will bring them home at some point.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Shawn Knight
by CNB