THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505060457
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Dave Twardzik had never heard of Old Dominion University and had never flown in a plane the day then-coach Sonny Allen visited him in Pennsylvania and asked whether he'd be interested in playing basketball for him.
Friday, the man who may be the university's greatest ambassador few [flew] back into town to accept induction in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.
``Back then, if anyone had told me I'd one day be inducted into the Virginia Hall of Fame, I'd have laughed at them,'' he said. ``I've been lucky all my life, but one of the luckiest things that ever happened to me was going to ODU.''
Allen offered Twardzik a weekend trip - Friday through Monday - to see Norfolk and the school.
``I wasn't the most motivated student in the world in high school,'' he joked. ``The thought of getting two days off from school, and an airplane flight, was enough for me to say I'd come.
``Then my father found out that he wouldn't have to pay a penny for me to attend ODU. That sealed it. I told him I wanted to think about it. He told me, `Sign and sign now.' ''
Twardzik didn't come to town completely unburdened. The Charlotte Hornets, for whom he is player personnel director, were eliminated from the NBA playoffs Thursday by the Chicago Bulls. ``We have always been looking for someone bigger in our backcourt, whether it be to play in front of Muggsy, or to back him up,'' said Twardzik, a former guard with the Virginia Squires and Portland TrailBlazers. ``The problem is finding someone that good. He had a great season and is excellent in a fast-break offense.
``The problem is that playoff basketball is general half-court, slow-down. And that doesn't meet his strengths.''
POSTHUMOUS INDUCTEES: Lily Harper Martin was one of two deceased athletes inducted in the Hall of Fame.
Martin, who was a native of Portsmouth, began her tournament career at age 16 and quickly moved to the top of women's golf in the state.
The other posthumous inductee was Albert E. ``Rasty'' Doran, for 32 years a coach and administrator at George Washington High School in Alexandria.
HAVENS HEAVENLY: Inductee Frank Havens, an Arlington native, won gold medals in four Olympic games. Havens won the gold medal in the 10,000-meter, single-blade canoeing competition in the 1952 Games in Helsinki. He also competed in the '48 Games in London, the '56 Games in Melbourne and the '60 Games in Rome, winning silver and bronze medals. by CNB