THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512130133
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Bill Leffler
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Notes on a frayed white cuff. . . .
Mayor Gloria Webb proclaimed Dec. 8 as J. Herbert Simpson Day in Portsmouth in honor of the former executive director of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.
Cox Cable will show a taped televised segment of the VSHF banquet held that day at the Ambassador Club.
``Herb Simpson has scrapbooks older than me,'' said Eddie Webb, who has succeeded Simpson as the VSHF director.
``If you want to see a history of the city of Portsmouth, just visit Herb Simpson's den,'' said Portsmouth Sports Club president Bill Kline, one of several speakers on the program.
Six former inductees into the state sports shrine, including Portsmouth's Ace Parker, Chandler Harper and Doris Leigh, were present at the testimonial.
The Fish Bowl lost one of its most ardent supporters with the death of John ``Bubba'' Arrington last week.
Arrington was one of its founders back in the late 1940s. He was a past potentate of Arabia Temple No. 12, the group of Shriners who stage this charity football game. Through the years the Fish Bowl has been a major contributor to the National Shrine Cancer Fund.
The Fish Bowl itself has been played in and out of Portsmouth but most of the festivities connected with the game are held in the city. The Fish Bowl parade is one of the largest in Portsmouth and has drawn as many as 165 participating units.
Arrington was one of several who have been called ``Mr. Fish Bowl'' for their continued support of the game.
For the third year in a row, the Portsmouth Athletic Club boxing team finished in second place in the Virginia State Amateur Boxing Championships.
All six boxers from PAC won medals in the three-day competition recently at Fort Monroe. In the Open Division, super heavyweight Al Lassiter and bantamweight Norcom Johnson won gold medals. Light heavyweight Rich Moore won a silver medal and lightweight Andre Carter earned a bronze medal.
In the Novice Division middleweight Maurice Barber and junior middleweight Jimmy Resolute won gold medals.
Lassiter and Johnson will advance to the Regional Championships, scheduled in Salisbury, Md., on Jan 5-7.
Not many schools can match the football record compiled through the years by Hampton High School.
The Crabbers' Division 5 state championship victory Saturday was the school's 605th win. Current coach Mike Smith has been at the helm of 257 of those victories.
Four players on the 1995 Western Branch High School girls softball team are playing college softball.
Sarah Wolf has made the Virginia Tech team. Evie Benson is on the Elon squad. Angie Albertson made the team at Radford but is academically ineligible at present. Katie Proffitt will be red-shirted at East Carolina.
A caller asks if Alonzo Mourning scored 2,000 points in his high school basketball career at Indian River.
He did. In four seasons Mourning totaled 2,105 points.
Portsmouth has had a pair of 2,000-point scorers. Frankie Peralta scored 2,567 at Portsmouth Catholic and Barry Wright racked up 2,080 at Norcom. Cradock's Petey Sessoms barely missed 2,000.
The Dual Team state wrestling tournament will be held Feb. 9-10 in the Richmond area and this will be the final one. The Virginia High School League AAA board has voted to discontinue it.
The '96 State Tournament again will be held in the new Oscar Smith High School gym on March 1-2. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
``Herb Simpson has scrapbooks older than me,'' said Eddie Webb, who
has succeeded Herbert Simpson, left, as director of the Virginia
Sports Hall of Fame.
by CNB