?THB GABOUNA TIMES SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 1971

Question Puzzles Team, Foes

ORIOLES TO MISSVET. ROBINSON

MIAMI > There ia notu. Baltimore Orioles

will miss Frank Robinson. Thefnssttoa ia how much?

The question tickles Robin-son's ego when he 's asked

"I hope I will be missed."?ays Robinson. "Something likethat has to make you fed good.But there's no reason theyshouldn't win it again this yearwithout me "

The question brings a smileto Ralph Houk's face when he's

"I think they're really goingto miss Frank," says the man-ager of the New York Yankees."He was the man in the eighthand ninth inning who was thetough out. I think we couldhaw a real good race thisyear."

The question brings puzzlinganswers from the Orioles whenthey're asked.

"J don't think it's going to bethat big a minus." says Gener-al Manager Frank Cashen

"I'll say this?we'd miss eas-ier with Frank here than with-out him," says Manager EarlWeaver.

"I don't think it's going tohurt the club that much," saysshortstop Mark Belanger.

"We have to wait to findout?maybe now we don't needa guy to jump out and leadu#," says catcher Andy Etche-barren.

"I don't think we're going tomiss him very much," sayspitcher Pat Dobson.

"I think we'll miss him?youalways felt be was going to doit. and majority of the time hedid it." says pitcher DaveMcNall.v

And, when you add it all up,it adds up to a mixture of feel-ings?confidence, on one hand,that those who remain canachieve without Robinson whatthey did with Robinson, and. onthe other hand, a lingeringdoubt that is a product of theirreliance on him the last sixyears.

Dodgers lor pitcners uoyle Al-exander and Bob O'Brien, catch-er Sergio Rob lei and out-fielder Boyle Stillman.

out it wa£ calculated."Frank can still play 150

games for the next two yearsand play 'em well," Weaversaid, "lie's not old. But we'd bewasting talent on the bench. Noone is going to say we made agood trade no matter what. Butif we don't get in?that's it,they'll say 'bad trade.'

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"But it was calculated. Ourjob is to wind up on top and wefeel we're still going to win.But this trade keeps us oper-ating until 1980 Football tradesdraft choices and we think wegot ourselves four first and sec-ond round draft choices forFrank."

What about Robinson's lead-ership qualities?

"You ain't going to replace

that," Weaver said without hes-itation.

The hope is that the qualitiesRobinson brought to the Orioleshave' been transmitted to allwho are left.

"Those qualities he's instilledin us," said Dobson, "We're notgoing to forget in one year."

"I would think that afterFrank has taught us so muchabout playing the game ofbaseball maybe now we don'tneed a guy to jump out andlead us," Etchebarren said."We're older now than whenRobinson came. We know howto (May baseball much better.

"I know now to play betterthan when Frank got here be-cause of his attitude, his teach-ing skills, how he showed ushow to play the game hard. Hetaught us even if you don't geta hit maybe you can help win agame another way?break upthe double play, take the extrabase. With him, there was al-ways another way to get a runacross.

FRANK ROBINSON

There is no way to measurethe leadership?and it appearsthat is the question-mark dan-gling above the Orioles' heads.

There is little question thatthe three remaining holdoveroutfielders?Paul Blair, DonBuford and Merv RettenmundPlus the new Robinson, rookieDon Baylor, can pick up theslack.

"If you're talking about tal-ent." Weaver points out, "wehave no one player who's goingto replace Frank by himself.The others have to be them-selves. But if Buford is Butora.Rettenmund is Rettenmund andBlair is Blair, we made a hellof a trade.

"It allows us to bring Bayloralong like we brought Retten-mund along. Our organizationfeels Baylor is another FrankRobinson?a guy who in fiveyears will be what Frank was."

That appraisal is built onBaylor's minor league career,which reached a peak last sea-son when he hit .313 with 20homer* and M runs batted in atRochester In the InternationalLeague. To have retained Rob-inson would have left no roomfor him to break In.

"He showed us if you hadnine guys playing like that youcan win?that it doesn't matterif you don't hit one night; thereare other things you can do toscore a run, and it might be thewinning run."

Now, however, Robinson isgone?and In his place is thatlittle question-mark.

"I don't think we have any-one who can stand out person-ality-wise to take charge like hedid," Etchebarren said. "Andthat's what we have to wait tofind out?what affect it willhave on us."

That is the state the Oriolesappear to be in as they preparefor the start of the 1972 season,minus Robinson, his bat and hisleadership.

The bat produced a .281 aver-age with 28 homers and 96 runsbatted in last season bekre itwas traded to the Los Angeles

But Weaver also acknowledg-es what he gave up, pointing

North Carolina Central Eagleshep First Baseball Team

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Faced with the task ofbuilding a baseball team at

North Carolina Central Univer-sith which traditionally has not

participated in the sport hasposed problems for Coach PaulSwann. Dispite the absence ofscholarships and student bodyenthusiasm there have been

some pleasant surprises. Aninitial turnout of between 55-60 players for tryouts is onereason that the upcoming sea-son is looked upon with opti-mism.

After practicing about amonth, the squad has beentrimmed to 25 potentialplayers. At this time no cuts

have been made with the pre-sent squad simply outlastingothers who voluntarily drop-ped because of talent superiorto theirs. Of the present hope-fuls about 22 will be selected

tion of those left before a final

cut, it will be bard to decidewho will be left out.

At this stage of the seasonpractice sessions are becomingmore intensified with emphasison offensive aspects of thegame. Working without anyassistants has made it extreme-

ly difficult for the CentralCoach to drill all the funda-mentals he's like to. This week

scrimmages will concentrate on

establishing a defensive game.Several preseason practicegames are tentatively scheduledwith Shaw University duringthe first week of March. Con-ference opponent DelawareState which has usually fieldedfine teams will furnish the op-position in the March 17thopener.

ball season. Fred White, Wil-liam Witherspoon, and RonMcClaln are the other right-

handers vying for positions be-hind Simpson. SouthpawsCharles Ellis and Donald Cradlemay find relief on the pitchersmound if Mahion Williamscan play while participating in

spring football practice.Having its first team has

presented problems for Centralbut Coach Swann says he willhave everyone next year in

terms of eligibility. CatcherAlien Edwards is the only non-freshman on the squad. In thehitting department Louis Ro-

senboro has stood out as hav-ing the most potential alongwith Alexander Jonea. But theEagle mentor cautioned thatthe pitchers haven't had achance to bear down yet. Theirthrowing arms are becomingstronger everyday in getting

Personnel for most positionshave been secured althoughnone guaranteed. Leading thestring of pitchers is Daryl

as a quarterback during foot-

for a 18 man traveling squad.With the spirit and determine-Simpson who also doubled

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John Ural Cfcveton Arthur. .

. two All-East sharpshooters

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ROOKIE OF THE YEAR John Brockington of the Green BayPackers picks up a new Dodge Charger as a result of hisbeing awarded the Ntional Football League Conference"rookie" title in a poll. R. D. Loomis, Los Angeles RegionalSales Manger, makes the presentation to the former OhioState running back from Brooklyn, N. Y.

Coach Melvin GroomesAggieland Baseball Legead

GREENSBORO Men canaccomplish a lot in life justby picking up the pieces andputting them together. For 16years North Carolina A&TState University's Head Base-ball Coach Melvin H. Groomeshas put up with pieces ofglass while others played ondiamonds.

And some say Black highereducational institutions aredying out and with them Blackcoaches, but Groomes' 1/5century as coach at A&Tandhis nine conference champion-ships make him college base-ball's grand slam personagedeserving recognition for hisuphill sports battle.

After breaking the Detroitprofessional football club'scolor bar in 1948 and puttingin two years as a first stringdefensive back, Groomes did astretch in service and latercoached football at BoilingsAir Force Base in Washington,D.C.

Behind the sterling moundperformances of James Baten,probably the best pitcher inCIAA history, the Aggies won

42 consecutive contest. In the

course of these events Baten

never lost a CIAA endeavorand posted a collegiate earnrun average of 0.57.

The roughest competitionduring that run of victoriescame from Maryland StateCollege and Shaw University,two consistently strong base-ball colleges. And some ofGroomes' worst experiences

occurred at many of the con-ference's schools.

In one road game Groomesparticipated in an argumentwith an umpire while the pointof a 32 calibre revolver sil-houtted the official's insidecoat pocket.

"I had to take up for my

boys who were playing their

hearts out," Groomes sail

Charlie Scott became the lat-est member of pro basketball'sgrowing list of "jumpers"Tuesday, signing with the Phoe-nix Suns of the National Bas-ketball Association.

The 6-foot-6 forward, who be-gan the season with Virginia ofthe rival American BasketballAssociation, quit the Squireslate last week, accusing theteam of breach of contract.

Squires owner Earl Foreman,

a corporation lawyer who hasbeen involved in this kind ofthing before, says he will sueScott for damages in excess of$1 million and seek an in-junction barring him from "anyother act or deed in breach ofcontract."

Scott contends Foremanfailed to live up to an agree-ment to pay off a $26,000 bankloan, causing him to be listedas delinquent and a poo* risk.

The jumping act began backin June 1968 with Connie Hawk-ins, who quit the ABA's Min-nesota Pipers and joined theSuns. Oddly enough, it was theNBA which, eight years earlier,had barred Hawkins after heallegedly introduced a gamblerto a college teammate at lowa.

After Hawkins opened thedoor with his switch, the trafficboth ways began in earnestwith Zelmo Beaty, Rick Barry,Joe Caldwell, Spencer Haywoodand Jim McDaniels followinghis route.

Beaty made the move the op-posite way, jumping from theNBA's Atlanta Hawks to the

"but when the ump said he'dgive me two minutes to 'getlost' before using his 'back up,'I utilized about one minuteand forty-flw seconds beforewalking away."

Not only have his teamsplayed on cow pastures withmakeshift bases, but almostevery team in the league used

to design their field to suittheir best hitters.

"If they had strong hitters

to left field they would havea short left field fence and

Then be journeyed to A&Tin 1955.

"Baseball was very goodhere when I arrived," Groomesnoted. "The Aggies had wonfive championships under Fe-lix Harris and at the time theywere recruiting 18 scholarshipplayers."

Today the scholarships have

been chopped and total two

as football drains the budgetsof most Black college athleticmonies. But even though thefinancial means for successfulteams decreased, the winningwent on as A&T, underGroomes, won five Central In-tercollegiate AssociationChampionships (CIAA) in asmany seasons (1958-62) andA&T became known as "TheHome Of The ConferenceChampions."

Squires To Sue In Excess Of $1 Million

PHOENIX SIGNSCHARLIE SCOTT

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CHARLIE SCOTT

ABA's Los Angeles Stars, whosince have moved to Utah.

Barry followed suit by quit-ting the NBA's San FranciscoWarriors to sign with. theABA's Oakland Oaks. Then theentire team jumped, first toWashington, D.C.. then to Vir-ginia and, when Barry becamedisenchanted with the South,the Squires traded him to NewYork.

The NBA's Hawks lost anoth-er star in Caldwell who went tothe Carolina Cougars. But theolder league returned to theplus side of the ledger with theacquisition by the Seattle Su-

twice the distance in rightfield."

And some of the officialswere hard to stomach. Notonly did one occaaionallypack a gun, but they wensometimes inebriated andcalled games while puffing acigarette.

On the field and off Blackschools had a hard go of things,not only in scholarships andplaying surfaces, but even ingetting a decent set of uni-forms. , i.

per Monies of Haywood, whojumped from Denver, andMcDaniels. who a few weeksago quit Carolina.

In all cases, each shift hasbeen followed immediately bydamage suits, injunctions, pub-lic outcrys by owners, playersand their representatives and

Wrestling Results

When the temperature goes dowivyour electric bill goes up.

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i liliiIV jfaOfiAS \AHntns B Inffnr For small meals, (oaster ovens, fry"\u25a0U'W I lUUIUr pans and similar small appliances oreyou can Save. Don t set the water

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. heater thermostat I oven -Your electric bill is higher at this time higher than I When boiling water is used, set theof year. This is partly because of the re- necessary Repair /"TtTTN elementonhightocometooquickboil.cent rate increases?but mainly be- leaking faucets {ll J ) Then, use the lowest setting that willcause you use more electricity during Even a small drip continue the boil. Boiling border doesthe winter months. ping wastes water 'v | I not make the water any hotter, it justHere are some helpful suggestions on and can make your 11 \l?l wastes electricity.how to use electricity more efficiently water heater U J p(an me(j|s }Q uJ# fh# Qven }w |#vcr .

in your home-ond reduce your elec- work overtime. a | foo ds at the same time. Never usetrie bill. particularly when the your oven to heat your kitchen.

#water supply is much colder in

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Use only enough hot water for the size actually* I and type of load. It costs less to wash needed.

Set your thermostat at the lowest com- and dr* ? ne ,uM load ,hon ,wo smoM T"rn '?l , ? I L°P? I! i?? cw ?? *?°n . °»

fortable temperature. Each degree youones, and saves you time. too. you re through with ,h*m-

reduce the temperature con reduce Clean lint filter after each load. Don t ' ' y |SWOS °by carelessness.yourheotingcostby 5V overdry clothes; overdrying wastes These hints can help you get the most

Check for air leaks, and caulk or weoth- ?'?ctricity and damages fabrics from .lectricity and reduce your elec-erstrip as needed. Open draperies in / Vthe daytime to let in the sun's heat; IwelO® rv A- -Tclose them at night to keep out cold,

Clean re-usable filters or reploce oth- ***** DUhP PntVA/OTers often in furnaces. (Remember ?it %/wwwltakes quite a bit of electricity to oper- \#Wllate oil and gas furr -ces, too.)

UP kl Making life.a little better

Use flat-bottomed utensils that matchthe size of your surface units. Coverutensils when possible.

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And, in a related moveprompted by the two leagues'bitter battle to get the jump oneach other, they have begunsigning players with collegeeligibility still remaining, anaction legalized when a federaljudge struck down the NBA'srule prohibiting a team fromsigning a player until fouryears after his high schoolgraduation, whether or sot hewas attending college.

Among the players to go thisroute were Haywood, who be-gan it by quitting the Univer-sity of Detroit to sign with Den-ver of the ABA, Julius Ervingof Virginia, Ralph Simpson ofDenver, Johnny Neumann ofMemphis, McDaniels, HowardPorter of the NBA's ChicagoBulls, and, most recently, JimChones of the Nets.

Prep Net ResultsHillside 4, Plnecrest 1 (at Pluetrest)

SINGLES?Lucas (H) d. Dean, 4-1, *\u25a0!;Umsteadter (P) d. McKinnle, 4-1, 61;Gadd (P) d. O'Foohludha, 1-4, 4-3; C.Page (H) d. Kuimlnskl, 7-5. 4-3; Barnes(H) d. Dicker**!, 4-3. 6-3.

DOUBLES Lucas-McKlnnje (H) d.Dean-Urmteadter, S-3; O'Foahludha-(H) d. Johnson-Cadell, 1-3; Holder-Lara-bee (H> d. Gadd-Kuminskl, callad be-cauM of darkness.

Danville, Va. », Durham Hl«h ISlNGLES?Williams d. Muse, 4-3, 6-J>

Browning d Corcketl, 6-1, 4-4; Newnand. Rlchlar, 4-4. 6-4, 4-3; Turner d. Arnold,4-1. 6-0; Bakor d. Evans, 4-4, 6-11 Ben-gali d. Fischer, 4-4, 61. 6-0.

DOUBLES?Wlliiams-Newnan d. Mute-Richter, 4-0; Browning-Smoral d. Cor-ekett-Andrewi, Hi Baker-Turner d.Davls-Undirwood, 61.

RALElGH?Tuesday night'swrestling results from DortonArena: David Finley d. NickRusso; Rudy Kaye d. BobbyPaul; Vicki Williams d. ToniRose; Art Nelson d. JohnnyHeidman: main event, PaulJones, Nelson Royal and BigBoy Brown vs. Playboy GaryHart, Rip Hawk and Swede Han-hon, no contest, referee disqual-ifying both teams.

TODAY'SPEOPLE

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