THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050522
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
One of the best high school football players in South Hampton Roads plays with puppets.
He also belongs to something called the Granby High Gentlemen and Ladies Club.
Go ahead and laugh. Anthony King won't care.
``I don't worry about what other people think of me,'' King said. ``I'm just having fun. You never know. Because I'm doing this someone might want to do the same thing.''
Count King among the dwindling group of athletes who don't mind being role models.
``I didn't set out to become one,'' he said. ``But if I happen to be a role model, I don't think people will be disappointed. I don't think I'm going to get in trouble.''
King, a 17-year-old senior, starts at quarterback and cornerback for the eighth-ranked Comets. He leads South Hampton Roads in total offense with 879 yards and in August gave an oral commitment to Penn State.
But football is just a slice of King's sumptuous life.
He is a tithing Christian who credits his success to his parents, Alphonso and Linda, for hustling him off to church every Sunday.
``I try to stay real close to the Lord,'' King said.
King combines his religion with a strong social conscience. He is a member of two service organizations at Granby, Youth Against Drugs and Alcohol (YADAA) and the previously mentioned Gentlemen and Ladies Club.
YADAA puts on puppet shows at Norfolk elementary schools. King's puppet is a farmer named Arnold Applebee.
``We speak out against drugs and try to instill respect and self confidence in the kids,'' King said.
The Gentlemen and Ladies Club tutors elementary students and later this month will participate in a Halloween Carnival.
``I've always told him if there's a need to be filled, he should fill it if he can,'' Alphonso King said. ``And the only way to know if you can is to try.''
That advice struck home in the spring of King's sophomore year when Granby coach Dave Hudak approached him about playing quarterback.
``We didn't have a whole lot of choice,'' Hudak said. ``We didn't have anything coming up from the junior varsity, so we took the best athlete.''
King, who started at defensive back and was a reserve running back as a sophomore, was reluctant to change positions. But he signed up with the quarterbacks at Penn State's summer football camp and returned to lead Granby to an undefeated record in Norfolk's summer passing league.
He hasn't regretted the switch.
King, who is listed at 5-foot-9, 165 pounds, has continued a recent tradition of small but nimble quarterbacks with major college athletic ability at Granby. He is often compared to Pete Allen, who quarterbacked the Comets from 1989-91 and is now a wide receiver at the University of Virginia.
Allen, who was the All-Tidewater quarterback in 1991, gained 2,669 yards of total offense. King passed Allen last week and has 2,710 yards with five games to go.
This season he is third in the area in passing with 470 yards and seventh in rushing with 409 yards.
``This kid is just as good as Pete,'' Booker T. Washington coach Larry Stepney said of King. ``In fact, his feet are quicker. He has the quickest feet I've seen.''
King passed for 166 yards and three TDs in a 36-26 loss to the Bookers last year. The teams meet again tonight at Harbor Park with at least a share of the Eastern District lead at stake.
Booker T. (3-1 overall) is tied with Norview at 1-0 in the district. This is Granby's district opener.
The Comets are 3-2 overall with losses to No. 1 Deep Creek and No. 4 Western Branch.
Conventional wisdom says the Comets need a huge game from their quarterback to win. Typical of King, he says just the opposite.
``We'll be OK,'' he said, ``if everyone does their part and no one tries to be the hero.''
It's easy to say that when you are a hero every day. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by PAUL AIKEN, Staff
Granby High quarterback and cornerback Anthony King isn't concerned
about other people calling him a role model: ``I don't worry about
what other people think of me.''
by CNB