THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411010074
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Heard any bald jokes lately?
If not, you can ask Mark Munford to tell you a couple. He's heard them all.
Oh, Munford once had a healthy crop of hair. In fact, it was beginning to curl down around his shirt collar, and now he can recall how he loved to run his fingers through it.
But whoops - hair be gone.
The term has nothing to do with a new depilatory that's just come on the market. The term is exactly what happened.
It happened on the night of Oct. 18 at halftime of an Isle of Wight Academy girls' basketball game.
Munford, athletic director at the academy, had made a deal with his undersized, inexperienced junior varsity football team, you see.
``If you guys go undefeated this year, I'll shave my head,'' Munford made the mistake of saying one day when the kids were showing off at practice.
Then, he said, ``chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.''
Joke's on you, coach. They did it.
``The most I ever hoped for was maybe 3 and 3,'' Munford said, smiling sheepishly.
He never dreamed that the youngsters - all seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders - would actually pull it off.
And if you missed the shearing, you can see it all on video.
``There must have been 50 cameras around,'' he said. ``My mother even brought one.''
For the last couple of weeks, the coach and athletic director walking around minus his hair has sort of been the talk of the school. Munford has such firm connections to the school.
He attended Isle of Wight Academy for 12 years, graduating in 1983. While there, Munford said, he was sort of a utility football player. He also played basketball and baseball for a while, but saw his main action in football.
``I remember one game I played five different positions,'' he said, grinning. ``People kept getting banged up, so the coach would just throw me in. I was on the small side compared to everybody else. I was just a player, one of those who showed up at practice and played. They stuck me in where they needed me and prayed.''
From the academy, Munford went off to James Madison University with the idea of studying to be a lawyer. But somebody or something took hold of him sometime around his junior year. He decided he wanted to teach, he said, because he was motivated by a history professor he had at JMU who seemed to enjoy his job so.
``My mom told me I was silly,'' he recalled. ``She said I didn't want to teach because I'd never be happy with the money. But she always supported me in everything else I did, so she supported me in this, too.''
The money?
``Well, it could be better,'' he said. ``But I enjoy messing with the kids.''
In addition to his JV football and athletic director duties, Munford also is assistant varsity football coach, assistant varsity basketball and baseball coach and head JV baseball coach.
He really does like messing with kids, but could be he messed with the wrong kids this year.
In the beginning of the season, Munford didn't hold a whole lot of hope for his junior varsity team. Most of them were small. He had only one player returning from the previous year. He only had 17 players to begin with, and a starting tackle broke his arm before the season ever began.
He thought he was making a safe bet. He was wrong.
The JV team played six games this season. The highlight of the season was a game with Fuqua School, which used to be Prince Edward Academy.
``As long as I can remember, we've never beaten them,'' Munford said. ``Never come close.''
How about 22 to 20 this year? The other five games were shutouts.
``We had our final game last Monday,'' he said last week. ``I was hoping they had forgotten.''
No way.
Munford said it was Jack Reynolds, girls' basketball coach, who suggested the halftime show. They wheeled a barber's chair center floor, and Munford got his head shaved, in front of everybody.
``At the basketball game, we doubled the gate,'' Munford said, running the palm of his hand across the stubble on his head. ``I liked my hair. It's been a big adjustment.''
Despite his chagrin, the coach asked me to run the names of his players. Here they are: seventh grade - William Doggett, Brandon Spady, Justin West, Jeffery Scott, Griffin Williams; eighth grade - Paul Creason, Chris Spady, Brad Barrett, Carson Hines, Michael Hargrave, Bill Lattimore, Michael Teague; ninth grade - Brandon Munford, Wesley Whitmore, Justin Harrington, Van Williams, Lane McKee.
Watch out for these kids.
Better yet, don't make any bets with them. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Mark Munford had hoped his players had forgotten his challenge.
by CNB