CHRONICLING ECU & C-USA SPORTS
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View
from the 'ville
Thursday,
February 23, 2006
By Al Myatt |
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Fleet with a mission setting
sail for LeClair Classic
©2006 Bonesville.net
For a group that literally will be tooting
their own horns when they pull up to Clark-LeClair Stadium on Friday, the
Pirate Armada conceived by the Charlotte chapter of the Pirate Club has its
benevolent dimension as well.
Doug Groome came up with the idea for the
Armada, which will leave the Charlotte area Friday morning and make its
second annual trip to Greenville for the Keith LeClair Classic.
The Virtual Bowl, which raised about $20,000
for the Pirate Club in 2003 for an imaginary East Carolina bowl trip, was
another of Groome's brainchilds.
Randy Evans, who oversees the
Boneyard Banter message board, which is
devoted to discussing ECU athletics and related topics, suggested
incorporating a fund-raising effort to fight ALS, the disease which has
stricken the former Pirates baseball coach.
The motorcade, which will make its way
eastward with ECU flags flying, will join forces with fellow Pirates at
designated rendezvous points. Groome is hoping that everyone who joins the
Armada will contribute $100 to the fight against ALS.
"We had 10 or 12 cars last year and we took
the checks and cash and presented it to Helen Hunter, Catfish Hunter's wife,
in the seventh inning," Groome said. "We raised about $900 or $950. After
that the parents of the six participating teams were inspired and they
raised another $2,000."
Groome said auxiliary Armadas are being
organized by Scott Newby from Goldsboro and Bill Wooten from Richmond, VA.
Groome is hopeful that a contingent from Wilmington can also be part of the
special occasion. The groups will gather at Greenville Mall. From there,
they will make the final short leg of the their trip to the stadium.
"We'll come in with our radios blaring and
Jimi Hendrix playing and our horns blowing," Groome said.
Presumably, "Purple Haze" will be the Hendrix
tune of choice, the anthem to which the football Pirates run onto Bagwell
Field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on game days.
"We do this for Keith, to give back to Keith
and to fight this nasty disease," Groome said. "It also markets the Pirate
Club to an extent and it will hopefully motivate other people to get
involved."
One of the incentives, or drawbacks as the
case may be, to joining the Armada is that it requires participants to get
off of work on Friday. Groome has encountered various schedule conflicts
with potential members of the Armada.
"It doesn't matter if we have 10 cars or 50
cars," Groome said. "Anything that we can do to fight ALS and stamp that out
for future generations is worthwhile. There are a lot of life's lessons to
be learned here.
"It's a work in progress. This is a great
cause honoring a great man and the battle he faces every day."
Here's the Armada's official schedule, as
provided by Groome:
Friday, Feb. 24th:
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9:00 Leave from Sam's Mart
Concord Mills Exit South side of I85
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10:10-10:15 Meet and leave
the rest area at mile marker 139, exit 137
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11:40-11:55 Meet and leave
the Mudcat's ballfield HWY 39, 2nd exit once you hit 264 from 64, in
Zebulon (tall watertower)
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1:00-1:15 Meet at the
Greenville Mall and storm the stadium (will have reserved parking
probably at the Allied Health building in the grass)
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Tailgate, watch baseball,
etc.
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7th inning stretch —
present ALS checks to the ALS Society
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End of the top half of the
9th inning, celebrate another Pirate victory
For more information on the
cause the Armada supports, check out this web address:
http://www.catfishchapter.org/events/LeClair.html
2006 Keith LeClair Classic
Schedule:
Friday, Feb. 24
10:00 a.m. - Virginia Tech vs.
UNC-Wilmington
1:30 p.m. - N.C. State vs. West Virginia
5:00 p.m. - Penn State vs. East Carolina
Saturday, Feb. 25
10:00 a.m. - Penn State vs.
N.C. State
1:30 p.m. - UNC-Wilmington vs. East Carolina
5:00 p.m. - West Virginia vs. Virginia Tech
Sunday, Feb. 26
10:00 a.m. - West Virginia vs.
Penn State
1:00 p.m. - Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina
4:00 p.m. - N.C. State vs. UNC-Wilmington
Note: designated home team
listed last
Another Queen City calendar
date
Groome and company in the
Charlotte chapter have set May 9 as the tentative date for their spring
banquet. ECU athletic director Terry Holland and football coach Skip Holtz
will be speaking on athletics generally and the future of football in
particular.
Pirate hoops signee Fields
sidelined
The high school career of
6-foot-9 East Carolina hoops signee John Fields came to a conclusion with a
dislocated knee cap, according to the Fayetteville Observer.
Fields, who led Jack Britt
High's scoring and rebounding this season, was injured Friday in the final
of the Mid-Southeastern 4-A Conference Tournament. With Fields on crutches
and out of action, the Buccaneers were ousted 60-49 in the first round of
the sectionals by Raleigh Broughton on Tuesday.
Britt finished 21-8.
Buccaneers coach Ike Walker,
Jr., said not having Fields in the middle hurt Britt's perimeter attack as
well.
“Most of the time this year
we’ve been able to get good looks on the perimeter because of John’s
presence,’’ he told the Fayetteville paper. “People have to pay attention to
him. He was such a great passer for us.”
An MRI indicated that Fields
suffered no structural damage. He is expected to be able to play again in
about four weeks, according to Walker.
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02/23/2007 12:29:54 AM
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