THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509070218
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 50 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Ronald L. Speer
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Barry Hamler is a committed man - maybe even a driven man.
The new basketball coach of Elizabeth City State University believes that everyone owes something to his neighbors.
``Helping other people is what we all are here to do,'' says the 36-year-old native of the coal-mine country of Virginia. ``God gives us all some talent, and it is up to us to share it.''
And right now, Hamler says, his role is to help get people interested in the university and its athletic programs.
The 6-foot-3 dynamo - hired last spring after a successful run as a high school coach - is knocking on doors, speaking at breakfasts, lunches and dinners and calling people all over the country.
He's trying to get everyone he meets to join him in a campaign called ``Building a Winning Tradition'' for Viking teams.
He talks to waitresses and CEOs of big businesses. He makes his pitch to blacks and to whites. To the elderly and the young. To the learned and to the illiterate.
And he says his efforts are paying off.
``People are signing up, and we're getting people to help others in other ways, too.''
Hamler, who favors dark suits and a tie for his working uniform ``because that seems to help open doors,'' is particularly proud that several doctors have agreed to help staff medical facilities in the area on Saturday mornings and provide free treatment to high school football players banged up in Friday night games.
And he's excited, too, about the fact that a dozen Elizabeth City men have agreed to become mentors for his basketball players.
He's counting on them to provide support, advice and companionship when times are trying for young men trying to cope with college challenges on and off the court.
``It can be hard for the players who have never been away from home before,'' Hamler says.
His particular goal in the athletic department drive is to attract sponsors who will provide funds for the athletic department in return for recognition on campus, tickets to games, VIP treatment and a variety of other perks.
``We're trying to elevate the interest in the university,'' Hamler says. ``And the best way I can do that is getting to know people.
``I want to meet as many people as I can, and convince them that we're all in this together. The more people I talk to, the more people get interested.''
Hamler counted on community support for his basketball teams when he was the coach at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk. He coached there for eight years, and his teams regularly made it to the state playoffs.
But he was perhaps best known at Booker T. for the trip he took his team on a few years back.
They went to Alaska for a Christmas holiday tournament. It was a blast for kids who had rarely been out of Norfolk. They rode in dogsleds, had snowball fights and watched moose in the wild. And played a little basketball.
The trip was paid for by well-wishers contacted by Barry Hamler.
He's trying to pull in support now for all Viking teams, while he faces perhaps his biggest professional challenge - getting the ECSU basketball team back on track.
The team plays its first game under Hamler in about six weeks, and the new coach promises only that ``we'll play exciting basketball.''
He hopes that the 6,500 seats at the basketball court will someday be hard to get.
In his spare time, he'll be trying to enlist everyone he can in the Vikings' program.
If you'd like to help, the coach would love to hear from you. And if you don't call him, don't be surprised if he calls you.
Barry Hamler doesn't look like a man who gives up easily. by CNB