THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502250366
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
``Mr. CIAA'' has left the building.
Been asked to leave, actually.
Abraham ``Ham'' Mitchell, the dandy darling of CIAA crowds for more than a decade, was not at Lawrence Joel Coliseum Friday night and apparently won't be returning.
The sartorial Suffolkian, known for his impeccably put together outfits, all in electric colors, was asked to leave by CIAA commissioner Leon Kerry.
Kerry told the Associated Press said Mitchell was asked to leave because he was changing clothes in a coliseum bathroom, after being asked not to do so.
Mitchell's nightly promenades required him to change as often as a runway model, and at last year's tournament the conference allowed him to use a room in the stadium.
Denied those accommodations this year, Mitchell was forced to use a restroom located behind the media work area.
``I gave him a visitor's pass and asked him not to dress in the building,'' Kerry said. ``You have people in the restrooms. You can't change clothes in there.''
Several sources said Kerry was not a fan of Mitchell's, and didn't like the image of the conference he projected.
But Mitchell, in his late 50s, was a fan favorite. When introduced Thursday, wearing a red and yellow suit, Mitchell received a warm greeting from the crowd.
Women seemed especially fond of the dapper gentleman, and many had pictures taken with him.
Fans were disappointed when they learned that Mitchell wouldn't be presenting the league colors in his own way.
``Is he crazy?'' Geneva Branch of Rich Square, N.C., said of Kerry's decision.
When Mitchell was escorted from the arena, ``he made a disturbance as he left,'' Kerry said.
TV TIME: The CIAA tournament has long been the best-attended Division II tournament in the nation. It's quickly becoming the most widely-televised as well.
Tonight's men's championship game at Lawrence Joel Coliseum will be available to 54 million households across the nation, the most ever for a CIAA final, according to Micah Fuller, programming account manager for Sun Belt Video Sports, of Charlotte, N.C.
``It's been a great relationship,'' CIAA commissioner Leon Kerry said. ``We want it to continue.''
Sun Belt took over the CIAA's televsion package from Black Entertainment Television two years ago, and has turned it into the largest in Division II, Fuller said.
Tonight's game will be televised live on Home Team Sports, as well as on Prime Network, Sports Channel Philadelphia, Sports Channel Cincinnati and Home Sports Entertainment in Texas. Twenty other regional sports channels across the nation will carry the game on tape delay.
In addition, the game will also be shown live on over-the-air stations such as WVBT, a low-power station owned by WAVY.
``That's something the ACC would never do,'' Fuller said. ``It's because of the demographics we're targeting.''
MISMATCH CITY: When it comes to dominating its rival conference in championship play, the National Football Conference has nothing on the CIAA North.
A Northern Division team has won the last 17 CIAA tournaments, and a couple of Northern powers, Virginia Union and Norfolk State, are in tonight's championship game. Why the dominance?
``I don't want to say anything to make the south rise again,'' Virginia Union coach Dave Robbins told the Winston-Salem Journal. ``I just think over the last few years the North has been stronger.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Abraham Mitchell
by CNB