THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 11, 1995 TAG: 9504110450
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
T.J. Morgan Jr. plans to hook local football fans, and he's using the Hampton Roads Sharks as his bait.
Morgan, 29, is the new owner of the Sharks, the area's semipro football team, which has a long and storied area tradition, including a championship in the Mason-Dixon Football League in 1990 and a Southeastern Division title last year.
But it's a past that Morgan, himself a former standout at Kempsville High and the University of Richmond, would prefer that the local folks forget.
``To compare the past and present is no comparison,'' says Morgan, a Virginia Beach chiropractor who refers to football and the old Minnesota Vikings as his first passion. ``We are an entirely different corporation. We use the Sharks only in name.''
And even that has changed - Tidewater has been replaced by Hampton Roads. Morgan spoke about his passion underneath a team banner that reads ``The Sharks play for Hampton Roads.''
On both sides of him sat the Sharks' smartly dressed board of directors, which includes director of player relations D.J. Dozier, the Kempsville High graduate who went on to college stardom and a fling in the NFL. Down in front is team mascot Sharkey, sporting a red bow tie that matches his tongue, white gloves and a toothy grin.
They took media day questions in an elegant conference room at a Virginia Beach Holiday Inn. Morgan admits, the very idea of a media day is a brand new concept for the Sharks.
``We won the (division) championship last year, but we won it on talent,'' says second-year coach Red Stickney, also an assistant coach at Kempsville High. ``We never had anything else. They were never honest with the players; they were never fair. The players were treated like a poor stepchild.''
Stickney, a former fullback and linebacker at the University of Alabama, says he was ready to disassociate himself with the Sharks until Morgan, formerly the team's chiropractor, bought the team in November from Tom Overstreet, who is now the marketing director of the Mason-Dixon League.
Stickney had grown tired of fights in the stands and trouble among the players, including bad language and sideline altercations. He says he invited only 23 of the 61 players on last year's winning Sharks roster back.
``We made the playoffs last year, and then nobody showed at practice the week before the game,'' Stickney says. ``So we got beat.''
Overstreet, who started the Sharks in 1989, had only good things to say about his experience with the team.
``Watching them, it's like seeing your child grow up,'' he says. ``I'm looking forward to seeing the Hampton Roads Sharks.''
Morgan has drafted a two-paragraph mission statement that stresses that the team will ``provide a quality football experience that is family oriented and based on Judeo-Christian principles.''
He's not pushing religion on anybody, he stresses, but this year's home games, the first on Aug. 5 against the Culpeper Minutemen, will be a family experiences. Game tickets will cost $5, and season tickets are $25, lower than the cheapest seat for individual games at most NFL stadiums.
``We're committed to youth and to the community,'' Morgan explains.
No alcohol will be served at Sharks home games at Union-Kempsville Stadium, which is on the campus of the Center for Effective Learning in Virginia Beach. A high school marching band will be featured at halftime, and Morgan plans to involve student government.
Semipro players are not paid and they are allowed to maintain their college eligibility. Unlike prior years, players will not be charged a tryout fee on May 6, when the Sharks hold open tryouts. Morgan is also working toward hiring an academic advisor to work with the players to help them with the SATs and the college admission process.
``We have somebody who really cares; it's like a family,'' says ex-Booker T. Washington defensive end Rodney Baylor, who will play his third year with the Sharks.
``The perception of the Sharks has been a rag doll operation,'' says assistant coach John Brown. ``Now we're going to be the class of the Mason-Dixon League.'' MEMO: Ticket outlets for the Sharks are Va. Beach Sports and the Burgh Place.
Season tickets are on sale at the Sharks offices, 332 Lynn Shores Drive
in Virginia Beach. Call 463-6741.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
T.J. Morgan Jr., owner of the Hampton Roads Sharks, says his team
will ``provide a quality football experience that is family oriented
and based on Judeo-Christian principles.''
by CNB