The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for May 2, 2022

Lorin F. DeLand

15 YEARS AGO
MAY 3, 2007

Evergreen Mayor Larry Fluker threw out the first pitch on Sat., April 28, to open the Babe Ruth season. The catcher is Quenton Simpson from Roberts Clinic Team.

Hillcrest spring game May 10: Things are a lot different this spring at Hillcrest High School where the Jaguars are going through spring drills in preparation for next Thursday’s spring game against Georgiana High School in Evergreen.
Hillcrest head coach Maurice Belser, who took over the struggling program last spring, said he agreed to move the spring game date up a week at the request of Georgiana Principal Joseph Dean.
Belser said Hillcrest will have its intra-squad Red vs. Black game Saturday at 3 p.m. at Jaguar Stadium.
(Players on Hillcrest’s team included Justin Nared, Malcolm Rudolph, Derrick Smith, Aaron Dees, Terrance Thomas, Neal Pressley, William Ferguson, John Dees, Malcolm Jackson, Edrikas Little, Kwann Peterson, Jimmy Peters and Tony Nettles.)

Sparta will cap off its spring workouts May 17 when the Warriors play Escambia Academy at Canoe at 6 p.m.
(Sparta head coach Mike) Sims said with eight juniors and eight seniors on this team, Sparta will have an opportunity to be better than it has been in a while.
(Players on the team included Mason Black, Taylor Brown, D.J. Buckhault, Chris Cinereski, Damon Godwin, Hunter Hutcheson, Joseph Ross, Neal Salter, Steven Stuart, Peyton Thompson, Myles Wiggins and J.R. Williams.)

40 YEARS AGO
MAY 6, 1982

Sparta nine wins pair, loses one: The Sparta Academy Warriors won two baseball games and lost one in recent action, according to Sports Information Director Byron Warren Jr.
The Warriors edged Fort Dale, 7-6, in a game played here on April 27 with Mike Mixon the winning pitcher and hitter of two safeties.
Sparta blasted Greenville Academy, 23-12, in a slugfest with Dewan Salter the winning pitcher. Joey Johnson, Mike Mixon, Russ Raines, Ed Carrier and Joe McInvale led the Warrior batters.
Escambia Academy edged Sparta, 6-4, in a tilt played April 23 in Canoe. Dewan Salter gave up just seven hits, but was tagged with the loss. Joey Johnson, Mike Mixon and Chris Blatz got one hit each. The Warrior “B” team and Escambia played to a 4-4 tie. Chad Grace had two hits and Al Etheridge, Thomas Floyd and Chris Vonderau had one hit each.
Mixon is the leading hitter for the season with a .442 average. Raines is hitting .368 and Carrier .333.

Donald Lee and Bobby Blount, outstanding senior athletes at Lyeffion High School, both sign football grant-in-aids (athletic scholarships) with Alabama State University of Montgomery. Head Coach Michael Bledsoe and Assistant Coach Ed Johnson observe. Lee played quarterback and Blount tight end on this year’s outstanding Yellow Jacket team, which posted a 7-3 record and tied for first place in Area 2.

90 YEARS AGO
MAY 5, 1932

NEW FOOTBALL RULES: Alarmed by more than 40 football deaths last season, the national football rules committee this spring adopted six new rules designed to make the game less hazardous. How they will work out in practice is a matter of interest to lovers of the sport.
The new rules forbid using the flying block or tackle; forbid defensive players to strike an opponent on the head, neck or face with the hand or arm; require more padding of equipment; make substitutions rule more liberal; and make the ball “dead” when any part of the ball carrier’s body except hands and feet touches the ground.
Since the beginning of football, which some authorities trace back about 2,000 years, many variations of the game have been developed, the present American college game being a modification of the English Rugby.
Of all the plays invented in the history of the game, the “flying wedge,” devised by Lorin F. DeLand of Harvard in the early 90s, was the most deadly. In this, offensive players lined up behind one another in the shape of a V, the ball carrier being inside the apex of the formation. The smashing power of this flying wedge was so devastating that it was barred after only one season’s use.
Many believe that the new 1932 rules will serve to reduce the number of injuries, without materially retracting from the zest of the game. If so, the public will view the work of the rules committee with much satisfaction.