THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 1996 TAG: 9604240074
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 30 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON'S tennis players were devastated upon returning from spring break and learning that coach William Johnson's right leg had been amputated after an April 2 car accident.
Johnson, who also suffered burns and damage to his right hip, is still being treated at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, although he's been moved out of the intensive care unit.
``I just couldn't believe it,'' said the Bookers' No. 2 player, Andre Washington. ``Coach Johnson was never hurt, never sick. I thought he was invincible.''
So distraught were the players that school officials considered having a counselor help them work through their grief. But the Bookers began coping better after a visit to Johnson's hospital room.
``I didn't know how I was going to react when I got in there,'' Washington said. ``But Coach was in good spirits. He talked about tennis the whole time we were in there.''
Nathaniel Baxa, who coached the Bookers girls team in the fall and occasionally assisted Johnson and softball coach Paul Palombo in the spring, was the players' choice to assume Johnson's duties.
``I think there was some other guy (the school) was considering, too, but for us, it was basically Coach Baxa or no one at all,'' Washington said. ``He was the only one who'd come out and work with us.''
The players have also made it clear that Johnson's influence will continue to be acknowledged. In their first match after the accident, the players wrote the words ``Coach J'' on their shorts, then gave one of their most inspired efforts in a 5-4 loss to Granby.
``We've basically dedicated our season to him,'' Washington said. ``I know he helped me a lot. He helped everybody on the team. No way we're going to forget him.''
GOODWILL AMBASSADOR: April Megginson's game is about as sharp as a bowling ball these days, but the Norfolk Christian senior says it's hard to stay in the swing of things when you've spent most of the month concentrating on spreading God's word in a foreign country.
``It was so wonderful,'' said Megginson, the Ambassadors No. 1 player, who returned to Norfolk April 14 after a 2 1/2-week missionary trip to Sevastpol, Ukraine. ``We went around the city teaching in schools. We did a lot of singing, and we even did pantomime. But I played no tennis. I didn't even take a racket.
``My first match back (against Walsingham), I could barely hit the ball. It was sad.''
Megginson, a senior, was one of 12 Norfolk Christian students who visited Sevastpol, a port city for the Russian fleet and one of the last pockets of communism in what was formerly the Soviet Union.
``It was a completely closed city until last year,'' said Megginson, who last visited Sevastpol in 1994 and has an aunt who has been a missionary in a school there for three years. ``You used to have to go through the Mafia and the KGB to get entrance.''
Megginson said she's still recovering from the trip from Sevastpol to Norfolk, which took three days and included a 21-hour train ride to the Ukraine's capital, Kiev, and plane stops in Germany and Washington. But the experience, she said, was well worth it.
``It changed my life,'' Megginson said. ``God really works. A lot of people became Christians. And their hospitality was just amazing. The people there, they don't have much, but it was like they wanted to give us whatever they had. The hardest thing any of us ever did was leave those people. We all cried for about three hours on the train ride back.''
CAKE WALK: Maury is used to winning tennis matches, but on April 16, after a 9-0 rout of Booker T. Washington, the Commodores finally took the cake.
Make that cakes.
The victory - which came on the same day the Chicago Bulls won an NBA-record 70th regular-season game - was Maury's 50th in a row against Eastern Region opponents, a streak that has included three regional titles and a perfect record against Hampton Roads public school opponents since 1993.
The school marked the accomplishment by presenting the players a cake. And from the parents of the players - another cake.
``I guess one group didn't know what the other was doing,'' Maury coach John Brinkman said.
The players also celebrated during a post-match pizza party at a local restaurant. But that's about all the hoopla one should expect from these Commodores, who are reluctant to claim much credit for a streak that began before some of them were even in high school.
``It's hard for us to put in perspective because we're such a young team,'' Maury No. 2 player Ross Hoffman said. ``When I got on the team, the streak was already in the mid-30s.''
Hoffman is one of three second-year starters, along with No. 1 Rob Brown and No. 3 Ryan Bose. Norfolk Academy transfer J.R. Lockery, freshman Alex Luc, Todd Warman and Todd Scholsohn are all making their debuts.
The streak was at 51 when the week began, and the Commodores will be heavy favorites in their final five regular-season matches. Their next real test figures to come in the first round of the Eastern Region tournament against likely Beach runner-up Tallwood. The Lions are ranked fourth in the South Hampton Roads poll, one spot behind the Commodores.
TOUGH TITAN: The longer the match, the better the performance of Lake Taylor sophomore Jeremy Baylon. The Titans No. 2 player has been extended to three sets in four of his six matches but is 4-0 when going the distance.
``I always try my best, but when it goes three sets, it seems like I concentrate more,'' Baylon said. ``I'm thinking, `What can I do to make myself play better, to make my opponent do worse?' ''
According to coach Paul Barrera, all Titans have done well in close matches, a large reason why the team began the week with a 5-1 record (4-1 in the Eastern District). Lake Taylor has already beaten third-place Norview twice and can clinch a tie for second place in the district with a victory Thursday over Booker T. Washington.
The top two teams in each district qualify for the Eastern Region tournament. The Titans would likely begin region play against Cox, the area's top-ranked team. by CNB