Author: Dsp9048sjasdf

The guest speaker for our next meeting will be Luke DeCock, Sports Columnist for the News and Observer. DeCock has been with the News and Observer since 2000, serving as a beat reporter for the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL until 2008, at which time he became a columnist. He has earned multiple awards for sports columns, feature writing and coverage from the North Carolina Press Association, and multiple awards for game stories and news stories from the Professional Hockey Writers Association. DeCock has also been in the national top-10 for sports columns and feature writing by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

Prior to joining the News & Observer, DeCock was the Colorado College hockey beat writer, General-assignment sports writer, and sports copy editor/page designer for The Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

He also served as a General-assignment sports writer for the Appeal-Democrat newspaper in Yuba City, California, where he won first place for sports stories by the California Newspaper Publishers Association in 1996, and his story “A Matter of Heart” was listed in The Best American Sports Writing in 1997.
DeCock is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mark Your Calendar

3/2/16 – Special Guest Speaker
3/16/16 – Dave Odom, NCAA Basketball Expert
4/6/16 – Special Guest Speaker

The guest speaker for our next meeting will be Elliott Avent, Head Baseball Coach at North Carolina State University. In 18 years as head baseball coach at NC State, Avent has molded the Wolfpack into one of the nation’s best and most consistent programs. Starting with his hiring in 1996, he has taken the Wolfpack to the NCAA Tournament in 13 of the last 18 seasons, and 10 of the last 12. Avent captured both ACC and National Coach of the Year honors in 2003.

The 2014 NC State baseball squad saw seven players taken in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, tied for the third-most all-time at NC State. Carlos Rodon and Trea Turner became the Wolfpack’s first-ever three-time All-Americans and gave State a pair of first round picks for the first time in program history. Andrew Knizner earned Freshman All-America honors and a spot on the All-ACC third team. Brett Austin joined Turner and Rodon on the All-ACC first team.

In 2013, the Wolfpack returned to Omaha for the College World Series for the first time since 1968, and the second time in program history. Avent was named the 2013 ABCA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year for his efforts.

In his NC State career, Avent has amassed 681 career victories, produced 21 All-Americans, and six of the eight first-team All-Americans in NC State’s 107-year baseball tradition.

Mark Your Calendar

2/17/16 – Special Guest Speaker
3/2/16 – Special Guest Speaker
3/16/16 – Dave Odom, NCAA Basketball Expert

The guest speaker for our next meeting will be Lee Pace, sideline reporter for UNC football games and a golf historian who has written numerous books about golf. He has written 10 books and hundreds of articles about golf. Four of the books focus on Pinehurst.

Pace, who has been a writer since 1987, decided early in his career that he wanted to write about one of his loves – golf. That desire led him to Pinehurst, where he wrote his first book just as it was reassuming a prominent spot in the world of golf.
Pat Corso, then president and CEO of Pinehurst Resort, knew Pinehurst needed to tell its story before it hosted the PGA Tour Championship in 1991. He called on Pace, who wrote a 320-page coffee table book called “Pinehurst Stories.”

Pace wrote “Pinehurst Stories, Vol. II” in 1999, the year Pinehurst hosted the U.S. Open for the first time. In 2004, just before the resort was host to its second U.S. Open, Pace wrote “The Spirit of Pinehurst.”

Pace’s latest book, “The Golden Age of Pinehurst – The Story of the Rebirth of No. 2,” focuses on the 2010-12 restoration project of Pinehurst’s No. 2 Course.

Pace also has written a book about Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club and Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club and a biography of former Pinehurst Director of Golf and PGA President Don Padgett.

Mark Your Calendar

2/3/16 – Elliott Avent, Head Baseball Coach, North Carolina State University
2/17/16 – Special Guest Speaker
3/2/16 – Special Guest Speaker

The guest speaker for our next meeting will be Dr. Frank Bonner, President of Gardner-Webb University located in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. Bonner also serves as President of the “Big South” Conference, which includes schools like Campbell University, High Point University, UNC-Asheville, Coastal Carolina University, Gardner-Webb, and others.

Bonner was born in Durham, and grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. He earned a BA degree from Furman, then a MA degree from the University of Georgia, and then a Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill. He has been President of Gardner-Webb since 2005, following service in many capacities at the University since 1987.

Bonner and his wife, Flossie, have two children and six great-grandchildren.

Mark Your Calendar

12/16/15 – Christmas Party with Jeff Gravely, WRAL
1/4/16 – NO MEETING!!!!
1/18/16 – Special Guest Speaker

The guest speaker for our next meeting will be Brick Oettinger, College Basketball Recruiting Expert. Oettinger has been the basketball recruiting analyst/columnist and talent evaluator for the ACC Sports Journal since its inception in 1977, and nationally for the Prep Stars Recruiter’s Handbook from 1990 to 2012. Since 1995 he has been a member of the prestigious McDonald’s High School All-American Game Selection Committee. As a community volunteer, Oettinger coached the basketball team at Orange Correctional Center in Hillsborough (NC) for 13 years, winning seven state championships in the North Carolina Prison League (which was discontinued after 1991) and earning seven North Central Area Coach of the Year awards.

Mark Your Calendar

12/2/15 – Dr. Frank Bonner,President,Gardner-Webb University and Board of Director Elections
12/16/15 – Christmas Party with Jeff Gravely, WRAL
1/4/16 – NO MEETING!!!!

The guest speaker for our next meeting will be Scott Riggs, NASCAR driver from Bahama. Riggs began his racing career at the age of fourteen in the American Motorcycle Association, where he won the State Championship in North Carolina two years in a row. He moved to the NASCAR mini-stock division at age 17, and won 12 races in 3 seasons.

In 1999, Riggs made his major-league NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck Series at Indianapolis Raceway Park, driving the #84 for Long Brothers Racing. He started seventh and finished nineteenth.

In 2002, Riggs moved to the Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) to drive the #10 Nestlé Nesquik Ford Taurus for ppc Racing. He won his first race at Nashville Superspeedway, then won again two weeks later at California. He finished tenth in points at the end of the season, earning him Rookie of the Year honors.

In 2004, he joined the Sprint Cup Series, to drive the Valvoline Chevrolet Monte Carlo for MB2 Motorsports. Qualifying for all but one race that season, he had a fifth-place finish at Dover International Speedway and finished 29th in points, fifth in the Rookie of the Year standings. In 2005, he won his first pole at Martinsville, and went on to have a second-place finish at Michigan International Speedway.

Mark Your Calendar

11/18/15 – Brick Oettinger, ACC Basketball Recruiting Expert
12/2/15 – Dr. Frank Bonner, President, Gardner-Webb University
12/16/15 – Durham Sports Club Holiday Meeting (for members and their guests only).

The guest speaker for our next meeting will be Mike Krzyzewski, Head Basketball Coach of Duke and Team USA. Krzyzewski led his 2015 Duke team to the NCAA National Championship.   On the court, Coach K has averaged more than 25 wins a season during his career at Duke and posted 14 30-win seasons (the most by any coach in college basketball history), including 30 or more victories in 11 of the past 18 years.

He has directed his teams to 12 Final Fours, tied for the most in NCAA History. Since 1985, Krzyzewski has an NCAA-record 88 Tournament victories, 23 more than the next closest active coach. From 1986 to 2015, every Duke class except four has played in at least one Final Four. 70 of 80 players who have completed four years of eligibility at Duke since 1986 have played in the Final Four, with 65 having played in at least one NCAA Championship game.

Since 1979, Krzysewski has been a member of 20 USA Basketball coaching staffs, and teams with Coach K on the coaching staff have compiled a 129-7 overall mark for an 94.9 winning percentage. In the 14 international competitions Krzyzewski has been involved in as a USA coach, those teams have captured 10 gold medals, two silver medals and two bronze medals.

Mark Your Calendar

11/4/15 – Scott Riggs, NASCAR Driver
11/18/15 – Brick Oettinger, ACC Basketball Recruiting Expert
12/2/15 – Special Guest Speaker
12/16/15 – Durham Sports Club Holiday Meeting (for members and their guests only).

The guest speaker for our upcoming meeting will be Howie Freiling, Special Assignment Scout for the Philadelphia Phillies. Following a college career at UNC, where he set UNC’s single-season record for runs batted in (RBIs) as a junior in 1987, Freiling was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the eighth round. He spent 4 years as a player in the minor leagues with the Dodgers’ and New York Mets’ organizations, then turned to Managing in the Mets’ system for eight years.

His minor league career began with just two games in Great Falls, Montana before being bumped up to Vero Beach, where he held down the first base job for the Dodgers’ Single A team. After a solid start in 1988, he fell into a slump and later broke his arm when he was hit by a pitch. He caught on with the Mets organization, and played two years as the AA level. The next year, he went to spring training as a Triple-A player and left it as a coach, as the Mets needed a minor league coach in Columbia, S.C. Freiling jumped at the opportunity to stay in baseball. Soon, he was climbing through the minors again, this time as a managerial prospect.

After a number of years, he took a job in the Mets’ scouting department. Freiling left the Mets to join the Phillies, where childhood friend Ruben Amaro was the general manager. Amaro added some scouting duties with the Durham Bulls and Carolina Mudcats, so Freiling could spend more time at home with his wife and three children. He can often be seen at Durham Bulls’ games.

Mark Your Calendar

10/21/15 – Mike Krzyzewski, Head Basketball Coach, Duke & Team USA
11/4/15 – Scott Riggs, NASCAR Driver
11/18/15 – Brick Oettinger, ACC Basketball Recruiting Expert

Our meeting this week will feature Marissa Young, Head Women’s Softball Coach at Duke University. Young will lead Duke’s softball program when it begins play in 2017-18. In taking over Duke’s newest athletic program, Young will be tasked with making the Blue Devils competitive in the ACC, which already has 11 softball teams.

A three-time All-American during her playing days at Michigan, Young was named Big Ten Player of the Year in 2003. Young tied the single-season record for home runs and is Michigan’s all-time leader in strikeouts. She played professionally for two years before beginning her coaching career.

At the top of the list for Young is recruiting, and she took her first recruiting trip to California for the Premiere Girls Fastpitch national championships. It will be her first chance to build a list of potential recruits. Duke plans on using all 12 scholarships the NCAA allots for softball, and Young will have some flexibility in how she initially distributes them.

Young previously held coaching positions at Concordia—where she was head coach—and Eastern Michigan before joining the Tar Heel coaching staff for two years. Young coached the pitchers and catchers during the 2015 campaign, in which North Carolina went 37-16 and its pitching staff posted a 3.35 earned run average and 234 strikeouts.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
10/7/15 – Special Guest Speaker
10/21/15 – Special Guest Speaker
11/4/15 – Special Guest Speaker

Our meeting this week will feature Eric Montross, former UNC Basketball great, NBA star, and now Color Commentator for UNC Basketball broadcasts. Montross was part of the UNC team that won the NCAA Championship against Michigan in 1993 and was named an All-American as a junior and senior. In 4 seasons at UNC, Montross appeared in 139 games, averaging 11.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. Montross was selected by the Boston Celtics with the ninth overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft. During his first year in the NBA, he averaged 10 points per game, and was selected to the 1995 Rookie All-Star Game and named to the NBA All-Rookie 2nd Team. During his career in the NBA, Montross played with the Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, and the Toronto Raptors.

Montross is now color commentator on UNC’s basketball broadcasts, working alongside play-by-play man Jones Angell. With the Pan-American Health Organization, Montross co-founded an organization called Vaccine Ambassadors, which aims to distribute vaccines all over the world, especially to developing countries, and help children.

In 1994, he started the Eric Montross Fathers Day Basketball Camp. The camp helped raise thousands of dollars for UNC hospitals and still does.

A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Eric and his wife Laura currently reside in Chapel Hill.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
9/16/15 – Marissa Young, Head Softball Coach, Duke
10/7/15 – Special Guest Speaker
10/21/15 – Special Guest Speaker