Thursday, April 14, 2016

That's two

In the mid-1980s, I was covering a raucous basketball night at Whiteville (N.C.) High School. I was there for the girls game, and the place was so packed that they were turning fans away.

For some reason, I had to call the newspaper office (no cell phones then) before the game, so a state trooper escorted me to another building. As we left the gym, some guy said, "That's two. Two of us should go in."

I made my call, and the trooper escorted me back into the gym, much to the chagrin of the stranded fans.

The only thing I remember about the games is that it was so full that I had to SIT ON THE FLOOR UNDER THE SCORER'S TABLE! During the girls game, one of the girls touched the halfcourt line with her toe (over and back). I pointed to her foot, but the refs missed it.

In the boys game, a tiny guard for one team was caught in the air against the taller Whiteville front line. He brought the ball from his hip and shot a sort of hook shot that banked in over outstretched hands.

I wrote a short story that would have done the Associated Press proud. When I got back to the paper, I rewrote it, and one of my co-workers said it was the best 9.2-inch story he ever saw. That's counting the headline.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK


BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

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