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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1979

Rick Hannon Homecoming

The City of Philadelphia, at leait the Palestra of the University of Pennsylvania, was invaded .last Wednesday by a horde of Cape May County invaders who came by bus, private car and maybe a few came by commuter, to see their boy Ricky Harmon, who was at the Palestra with the Orangemen of Syracuse University; come to do battle with the Cherry and White of Temple. And not even a bolt of lightning which struck the TV truck was able to dim their enthusiasm for the game, which must have been one of the

mo.t citing, tention-flUcd pmei ^ Klected by .hi. an.l*nt .ran. h.iU. .k. Coich, Jim Bochcim, where Kg

2°V forth^c

The big city sports writers have detailed the game, how it was tied at 62, 64, 66, and 68 points and endfd in the regulation time at a stalemate. And how in the S minute overtime the' icy-veined Hal Cohen sank two free throws to put the Orange ahead and they fought furiously to protect their slim lead. And who was in the thick of this battle? None other than Rick Harmon playing in

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lacking in the sharp-shooting duo of Hal Cohen and Marty Headd, who at ti’lO” tall and 6’2” look like midgets compared with big 6’-n H Roosevelt Bowie, wearing an Afro at another 6” high, Dale Shackleford 6 , -6 ,, and Louis On . at 6’8”. And Rick whom we always considered a big man, when he led M.T.H.S. to a CAL Championship and runner-up in South Jersey was also dwarfed by his big teammates. Playing about 6 minutes, Rick did what he was put in the game to do. Protect the narrow lead. The coach had * enough confidence in him to have him on the floor ,at the crucial times wh?n a turnover would give Temple a chance to tie up the

game.

The loyal Cape May Countiana came aw^y satisfied that Rick can hold his own in the big-time competition of Eastern Basketball. Reached by phohe on Thursday morning at the Hilton where he was having breakfast, Rick was just as modest and unassuming as he always was a a home-town idol. He says college life is “OK” and he is kept busy with his studies. He devotes 2 hours;a day to baaketball and asked \f he is happy, his answer ' wai_“most of the time.” Then he returned to his breakfast. This reporter detects a touch of disappointment in Ricky's disposition. It’s a definite fact that had he attended one of the Philadelphia colleges he would have been starting as a Freshman, but at Syracuse^ with their load of talent, he has to put in his apprenticeship before becoming a journeyman basketball star. And this must be eating away at the high school , star who was rated as the Sth best guard in the country and mentioned on several high school all-American teams. Everyone agrees that Ricky Harmon has a future in basketball but the impetuousness of youth makes him wonder “why not now?" It

can hurt a guy.

Now the Cape May Country .

'troops are hoarding their strength in preparation for another invasion - this time to the “Big Apple" r when the gladiators from upper fllew York State come into Madison Square Garden to do battle on the boards again. Maybe this time the invasion of New York

City will be by helicopter. Local people observed at the

Palestra were: Norm Van Meter, the local Postmaster; Bin

Balliette, noted

Baker, Chairman Recreation Committee;

Mrs. Richard Harmon; Coach Chick and Barbara Ludman of M.TJH.S.; Alden Richards and Lorraine; Bob Merry man of the High School Faculty; Bfll Zeiss of Avalon Furniture; Mr. A Mrs. DiGiacomo; George Seabrook. High school athletes on hand were Dave Spauld-ng, Jaybird Watkins, Rewi Thompson, Kevin Jaudon, Mitch Hand, Neal Chase and Tom Simpson, trumpeter and Drum Major of the Panther

Marching Band.

wunaaicr, due barrister; Carl tan of| t‘ e imittee; Mr. at

/PORT/ Sideline Shots By The Old Sport

Memory Lane: "I am with you, wandering through Memory Lane Living the years, laughter and tears Over Again” Thus goes the refrain of an old ballad popular in the 20%, (ycai see the Old Sport is really ancient) and it came back to this reporter is he walked through the corridor of the Univ. of Penna’s ancient shrine to basketball, the Palestra. The name comes from the Greek word for a public place for training and practice in wrestling and other athletics. Of course Perm, an Ivy League college could not have a mundane word like Arena for its Basketball Emporium. But back to nostalgia, The Old Sport recalled the time he came here to play for hia Alma Mater against Penn. Not as a young eager ex-high school AD-Americair like our Rick Harmon anxious to show his mettle, but as a sophistiocated senior who just came i n under ^.the team quota of ten players. He knew he would get only a few mintites of playing time if the starting five rolled up the score. 6ut it was not to be. It was a close game and Old Sport stayed on the v bench j well-covered by his warm-up suit. Nevertheless, it was a thrill to be out ori the floor wanning up, and sneaking looks at the | crowd of 8,000 people. Although not getting paid to coach Syracuse, The Old Sport can't resist making a suggestion to Jim Boeheim of the Orangemen. You have two sharp-shooting guards in Cohen and Headd, but they leave a lot to be desired on defense. In thy fin half they gave Temple several easy lay-ups and nearly let the game get out of reach. And on the bench sits a 6*-4” guard named Harmon. He has proved that he can play defenae with the big boys, shown by the fact that the coach used him in critical spots, when Syracuse had a slim two point lead. And Ricky came through like a veteran, being guilty of no defensive bonere. So it comes down to a simple matter of arithmetic. Syracuae's gunners scored 40 points together, but they gave Temple at least 20 points while on defense, so their net point production becomes 20. Now, who needs two gunners when there is only one ball on the floor. The Old S^ort would play Ricky Harmon at guard and be stronger on defense. Being a self-sacrificing type of player, he would get the ball to the gunner and cover up for him On defenae. So the shooter could got his 20 points plus and Syracuse would not be giving up an easy 20 Q.E.D. ••• Although it is February at Middle Township High School, one would never think so to see the activities going on. "Phil the Flex” Exley and Brian “The

Team Man" Tetley are bvsy deep in the pits of the Athletic Equipment Room, sorting out football uniforms,, while they discuss what kind of an offenae to install this faO. And then iq the “C” Gym, Chuck Daugherty, at no little expense to himself has installed an indoor batting cage for Iris potential Pete Roses. But this observer feels that he’s got to com* up with a pitcher thi* year, as well as hitters. ' *** Also at Memorial Field, stands a new baseball backstop, stream-lined and beautiful, waiting anxiously for the baseball season. Chief Daugherty has smoked the peace pipe with Gregg Arnold of the Recreation Dept., and it ik hoped there will be no more lack of communication between them. Things have to be handled diplomatically, when toie Township owns the Field where the High School plays. ••• Coach Ray “Forfeit" Batz informs thb column that he will be holding an indoor soccer program this winter. More details will be forthcoming when he makes up his mind what he wantsto do. Will you have any female assistants Ray? Some of the fair sex tell me they know more soccer than either you or Phil Heck. ••• Chuck “Little Caesar” remember Edward G; Robinson - Daugherty will be holding s baseball clinic at the Middle Township Gym for Little League, Babe Ruth League, high school coaches and managers and anyone interested in baseball like Danny Lynch. And who will be lecturing on batting but “Gutch Hitter” Dap gherty himself. And he’ll be giving out free coffee and doughnuts too. More details will be given in a press release later. * The Old Sport would like to apologize to Coach Phil Exley for an apparent “Faux Pas” (French fof mistake) in last weeks column. It seems that some people failed to realize that The Old Sport had his t ongue in cheek (only, kidding folks) when he said Exley was disappointed in not getting his picture in the other papers. Phil is. far from a publicity hound and the column did not intend to imply that he is. Some thoughts should be kept off the record. But how would you folks ever know how sweet he is unless The Old Sport told you?

Among his other talents, Benjamin Franklin was an accomplished performer on the guitar and harp.

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