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Show f I Sun Times, February 13, 1980, Page Ben Lomond Beacon, February 14, 1980, 1 1 blloomeir WaDDace, By Keith Duncan In the beginning, he was just Scott Wallace. Just a lanky that had high hopes of making a high school basketball team. Just another kid from Sunset who grew up with a basketball next to his pillow. And were just lucky to have him, says his coach, Craig Hansen. six-foot- The story behind Wallaces basketball career at Clearfield High goes something like one of those Cinderella tales but for the still lanky Falcon center, his cage experiences have been a reality whether bitter or filled with roses. 6-- 4 These cold, winter basketball months have produced a dream come true. Coach Hansen feels Wallace is that dream blooming in truth right before his eyes and everyone who has paid a buck to see a Clearfield basketball game. Wallace, who is among leaders in scoring and rebounding in Region One and a main artery with the Falcons, was quoted to being by his didnt have the greatest coach, chance of even being a member of our team last season. Some people would never guess it the way Scott plays today, but the guy barely made the squad last year, said Hansen. Im sure Scott had dreams as a self-fulfilli- a better than average athlete and starring for his high school team, but all the hard work, well, at least now he realizes what that is," stated Hansen. youth of becoming Tenth on the List Who knows why Wallace made the sophomore team, but at the time he was in the program and thats all that mattered. Perhaps it occured to him a little later in the season that he is something like tenth on the list or being confused on the benches end with the team's waterboy. Needless to say he didnt see much playing time but that never seemed to draw' from his love for the sport. Life just seemed to go like it always does. A year passed by and perhaps an inch or two had been added and it was time again for your basic basketball tryout. I wanted to make the team real bad, recalls Wallace but who didnt have fond ideas about scratching the bench all season. There will always come a time between the first day of tryouts and the seasons first scrimmage when coach calls you into his office for a player-coac- copys poor Pagel ClearfieldCourier, February 1 Dsm'tt a ya may not play too much." Coach Hansen layed the facts out, facts Scott didnt want to accept at the time. Coach talked me out of quitting three times before I finally came to him and handed him my gear. I went home that night feeling lower than I could ever possibly remember feeling, I admitted Wallace. I knew I hadnt made the right decision. Nothing went right during those few hours, I couldnt think and I was very lonely. Later he recalled how much basketball really meant to him. The team was having a scrim FaDcon mage that 3, 1980, because was I Fullmer By Bliss Fullmer 1 HE WAS JUST Scott Wallace two years ago but now his coaches say they are lucky to have him. Wallace leads the Falcons basketball attack from his center position. st All-tim- High School REGION ONE p s, one-han- d 96-8- 31. Brian Jacksons 18 points and Dean Hungers clutch free throw shooting down the stretch brought the Ags out tie to the victory. USU led by of a at halftime. Calvin 13 points, Roberts had 16 points and 21 rebounds in fueling a Titan comeback. Wyoming Cola St 6 4 6 Hawaii NewMex. 3 3 7 8 S.D. St. 2 8 4 W 8 8 Utah St. LB.$t. S.J.St. Fresno PacHc StaBar Fllrtn .900 .700 .636 .625 .400 .300 .273 .200 14 7 7 12 10 IS IS 9 .417 .682 482 5 17 .429 .500 .250 .227 17 4 .810 11 11 6 18 I 2 .800 2 J00 7 3 6 4 .700 .600 S AllOames L Pet. W 16 16 14 15 13 8 3 3 7 J00 10 0 10 .000 6 . 7 12 12 12 16 ... 483 42( .401 .45! .273 Local results, Schedule TMt Wash's Games old-tim- 50-3- 4 3 4 Cenferenca Pel. glOV6S. rebounding edge by Fullerton to gain revenge over the Titans for a 8 loss at USU 7 7 PCAA Standings Most fighters punch away because its a job, but Rosebud and another Athletic Club because pug, John Henry went into the ring at the Broadway to settle it with decided and n at a run-ibar, a had had of a grudge. They continued from page )0 1 Utah UTEP BYU All damn W L Pet. 18 4 .818 Big Sky Standings Kentucky Rosebud. College cage teams Conference L Pet. W 9 Air Force 6 13 .316 (Air Force enters WAC July 1, 1980. UNLV membership pending final vote by WAC Presidents' Council) , about being a There are chumps, and there are champs. The nice thing and end the former to avoid being so ways are there many human is that heroes the is the unsung up as one of the latter. Sometimes discovering most fun. WAC Standings UNLV Bets were put down in a hurry, and Leitzel jumped up and, using the in short order. right hand, whipped out After turning such a feat, Leitzel quickly picked up the bets and then, and did 19 more chin- to maybe just showing off a bit, hopped up the bar ups using the left hand. circus performer, would be a celebrity L. Leitzel, the skinny of the today. Her first name was population some segments among men in the country who can dozen a Lillian, and even today there arent beat her record. And while were talking about champs, how about Walter Edgerton, the slowly-so- me The club was packed that evening, and both fighters started their strength. said they were feeling each other out and conserving Rosebud started slapping some leather late in the second round, and round it was all over. Henry staggered John Henry often. By the fourth was laid out like a plank in the ring, and Walter Rosebud Edgerton . was doing a victory dance. and didn t win He didnt get a lot of notice, made hardly any money, to Rosebud anyway. crown for his performance. But it was gratifying was no big deal. The like an Henry that KOing Some might say 45 years. at hill the over all, way beaten fighter was, after, of the But then, Edgerton was no spring chicken either. The evening 64th of his birthday. few days shy fight he was just a exhibited his skill by Hipwell 15-- 4 for the Region One title in the 105 pound division. Steve Ulibarri won second place for Clearfield in the 98 pound division. He bowed to Paul Dupai of Layton on a 10-- 5 decision. Both wre tlers began wrestling in their respective junior high schools. r to Another Falcon wrestler, Blake McMillan, lost a 2 Brian Brown of Layton, for the 145 pound division championship of Region One. McMillian and Brown both wrestled in junior high.school. McMillan has been wrestling for eight years. He began his wrestling career in elementary school, and then had three years of experience at North Davis Junior High School, before lettering three years at Clearfield High. Most of the top wrestlers, from Davis County had junior high school experience. A noteable exception was 119 pound Kurt Gallegos of Layton. Gallegos did not have previous high school wrestling experience, but won the most valuable wrestling trophy for the Region One tourney. Someone to show that junior high school wrestling might cite that as a to discourage early is not a must, but before you jump on the band-wago- n wrestling experience, please note that this same Gallegos, though only 119 in football, because of his blazing speed, and pounds, made 3-- . 41-2- 4-- Schools Greg Hipwell, stepped onto the mat to wrestle Robbie Zamora of Layton, He (Hipwell ) was pitting three years of experience against five for his Lancer opponent. Zamora began his v stling career in the eighth grade at Central Davis Junior High School, and he complimented that valuable experience by participating in summer A.A.U. competition. Hipwell was unable to wrestle in junior high school because the Weber School District does not have a junior high school program. Zamora high-price- 57-5- 7 pre-seaso- n Experience can mean the championship! high-powere- d four-corn- when Wallace heard critics predict Clearfield to finish fifth or sixth in the region. 1 knew we were a better team than that, he said. Once 1 in league, Clearfield has now dropped two in a row and stands alone third in the league race. But Wallace says the Falcons w ill be back. Take Region Scotts primary ambition is to bring the region championship trophy to Clearfield after having rested in Roy the past three years. Talk about getting that region trophy is sometimes ample debate subject at the Wallace home in Sunset. Florence and Arley Wallace follow their son closely and dont miss a game. Besides my parents Id have to credit Chuck Vernon, who lives a few houses down the street, for instilling the desire to excell in sports at a younger age, said Scott. So from tenth on the bench to Region One player of the week, Wallace may be giving birth to a dream come true, not only to himself but for the few others that know his story. When Roy High Forget the Olympics, forget the upcoming state tournaments in stuff like the wrestling and basketball, let all that other d upcoming Bi Sky and NCAA Tournaments go for a while. The writers will give you all the lowdown on that. Today, some lesser heroes ol sports. Ah yes, trivia. You can live without you wont want to. For example, a bunch of bored cowboys made play out of work and started the institution of the r deo. In New Zealand, where there are more sheep than people, they do pretty much the same thing. Naturally, you lose a little impact when you bulldog a sheep instead of a Brahma Bull, so they did a little innovating. The big sport there is, no kidding now, sheep shearing. Sure, you wont get your face on a cereal box by being the worlds champ, but its still a badge of distinction-- of sorts. And the best there is is Colin Bosher. He set out to earn a worlds record a few years back, and did he ever. He wanted to see how many sheep he could shear in a nine-hou- r day, but he didnt get the chance. He ran out of subjects after 8 hours and 53 minutes. During that time he clipped 565 Romney and Perendale ewes-- an average of about one every 56 seconds. He later said how hard he trained for the task, and how he had to condition himself to go that long without sitting down or eating. I believe I met Bosher personally a few vears ago He was working for the government, and gave me my f irst (I ha its a pity. Hieres another champion you don't hear mucn alMUt:-an- d Its sad because this one, Elm er 0 li pha nt , is for rea Oliphant enrolled in Purdue in the late 30s, and took to athletics in a big way. His three years there proved him to be a versatile athlete, to say the least. He earned three letters each in football, baseball, basketball, and track. Then along came World War II. Oliphant applied and was admitted to West Point where, because of the war, he was granted another four years of athletic eligibility. He lettered at West Point for four years on the football team, picked up three for the basketball monograms, three baseball letters, one in track and-juin hockey as well. If that wasnt enough, he also parheck of ticipated on the Army swimming team and was the schools boxing champion. His record is incredible: 24 collegiate varsity letters, from two different but very good schools, in a total of five different sports. He has to be e the College letter champion. I .ots of people do, but there is Do you have trouble doing a chin-up- ? someone whodidnt: L. Leitzel. chin-uis something else is one thing, but a Now a chin-u- p is a little matter of of there obvious the strength, Besides problems again. cant balance that enters into it. Lots of people who can do many chin-updid. and Leitzel Yet can, do any at all using only pullups had stood for over At the time, the worlds record for But one day Leitzel walked 40 years and the record was just 12 chin-upwould soon be history. A record the that announced into a gym and boldly circus performer, Leitzel said it would be simple to break the Jan. with any team in this region. It was a surprise actually, By Bliss lesser sports heroes USU overcame a duels. can still remember people saying during my junior year that we were going to be lousy when we turned seniors, said Wallace. But it feels good now to be able to prove them wrong and show we are competitive Trivia time and the in Craig, a junior guard, had 15 points a reserve role. Arnold, with his team burdened by foul trouble (Devin Durrant fouled out while Fred Roberts and Danny Ainge had four personals each) , put his team attack the last 12 in the minutes and it paid off with driving no layups and Ute fouls. We had to four the to but go other choice, corners," Arnold said. anraymore I ByJohn Peterson mark. 1 1 change of mind," or his hustling on defense and snaring down rebounds, it impressed his coaches and startled opposing teams. Practices Were a Key Scott claims his having to guard Roger Vincent may have been as much a part of his resurgence as anything else. Vincent played center for the Falcons last season and was best known for his uncanny jumping ability on the cage floors. This past summer I had no second thoughts about my position with team, all I had to do was to work hard and prepare for the upcoming season, stated Wallace. Sometimes it was three times a week for the players who would someday form the Falcon basketball team. In Price they took home a trophy for first place deeds in a basketball camp and no one team was overly stronger than Wallace and his crew among region opponents in summer Sometimes those sessions are meant to birld up, weed out and in Wallaces case, it goes, Took kid we like ya, but d I going through any longer, I returned to the gym and told Coach Hansen I hadnt made the right decision. He told me to go and ask the team if they would have me back and I did and they accepted me, remembered Wallace. I decided that as I was going to be a member of the team I was going to give it everything I was capable of giving," continued Scott. By the second game of the league season, Wallace was in the starting line-u- p and towards seasons end, he was starting regularly. Whether it was all just all a conference. h Page puslhi-ove- ir and night couldnt stand what 1 Invitation extended An open invitation is being given to all parents and adults to the Clearfield area. AYSO on Friday, the 15th, at 7 p.m. downstairs in the Clearfield City offices. The city building is located at 140 East Center Street. (Tuesday) Utah State at Brigham Young (Wednesday) Wyoming at UNLV (Thursday) Weber State at Navada-Ren- o Long Beach State at Utah State Texas-E- I Paso at Hawaii Colorado State at UNLV New Mexico State at San Diego State (Saturday) Weber State at Northern Arizona Santa Barbara at Utah State at Brigham Young Air Foret at Colorado State Ne M at Hawaii I.TEP at San Diego State Alaska-Anchora- Soocer registration to begin in Davis County Final registration will be held Wednesday, Feb. 20 for the American Youth Soccer Organization for the 1980 Spring and Fall sessions. Registration to be completed by March 1. Registration sessions will be conducted at the following locations: HILL FORCE AIR Youth Center (any day during open hours), John Laggelt, MuniCLEARFIELD BASE 776-074- Pool cipal Swimming (during open hours any day). Roger Thomas i continued on page 825-047- 1 3 heart-breake- all-stat- e quickness. Gallegos is a super athlete and wrestling was a natural for someone his size. Can you imagine what an extra three years would have done for this lad? There are nine junior high schools in Davis County and that doesnt include the ninth grade class that attends Davis High School. Each of the schools participates in wrestling and they have an enthusiastic program in the district. The Layton and Clearfield coaches harvest the results of the early training, given their incoming athletes. Sky View High School also has junior high wrestling in the two schools that feed into its program. The Bobcats were second only to Layton in Region One, this year. Changes in Ogden The four junior high schools of the Ogden School District have a flourishing wrestling league for their students, and Ben Lomond and Ogden High Schools are reaping the benefits, but all of that is going to change. The 1980-8- 1 class of ninth graders will be the last to graduate from Mount Ford, Highland, Mount Ogden and Central Ogden Junior High Schools. After next year, all ninth graders will attend either Ben Lomond or Ogden High School. The four junior high schools will become middle schools for sixth, seventh and eighth graders. Rumor has it that the same change will soon take place in all of Davis County. At present there is a middle school in Kaysville, but all ninth graders attend Davis High School. The middle school concept is not new throughout the country. California schools have been using the system for years, and it is also a common practice in the Eastern States. Salt Lake City schools are converting to middle schools. All of the Jordan School District has changed to four year high schools, and the sixth, seventh and eighth graders attend midiie school. Closer to home, there is the Morgan School District, which has one elementary, one middle and one four-yea- r high school. I predict that all schools will eventually adopt the middle school system, said Gerald Raat, Assistant Superintendent at the Ogden School District. Doctor Garner went on to predict that most of the junior high schools in our area would drop contact football, because of the great exp-sns- e involved. He cited the $70 cost of an O.S.H.A. - approved football Football is just too expensive, said the helmet as a For Instance. Doctor, and a lot of schools in this area are toying with the idea of dropping it at the junior high school level. Weber County voters recently voted down the two mill Leeway bond issue, and now cuts must be made for the Weber School District to survive. are taking a hard look at athletics. ( I can think of a lot The powers-that-b- e of programs that should be scrubbed before athletics) A similar bond issue was voted down in Davis County, and conjecture has it that athletics, and especially junior high school football is in jeopardy. The middle school stystem might be hard to implement in Region One schools. I doubt if Roy High School, for instance, could presently absorb the ninth graders of Sand Ridge and Roy Junior High Schools. If a school could include ninth grade students in its class rooms, it would solve some pressing problems in athletics. Those ninth grade students (both boys and girls) would be available for early specialized training in athletics, and that has been a grievance by Weber School District coaches from Bonneville, Roy and Weber High School. It would put the Weber County Schools on an equal basis with those of Davis County and of Sky View High School, which presently have competition in both wrestling and girls n basketball at the junior high level. equipment would be available for ninth grade teams. The middle schools would revert back to intra-murprograms in all be permitted to would in school and and is that good. Every boy sports, girl play on a competitive ball team, rather than the select few who now are chosen to fill a limited number of positions on the junior high school teams. Lets Take Another Look I must admit that I started this column to chastise the Weber School District for its failure to allow junior high school athletes to wrestle and to play girls basketball on a competitive basis with teams from other schools. A little research produced some facts that changed my mind. 1 can better understand the school districts position, though I must insist that Roy, Weber and Bonneville High Schools have suffered, and Clearfield, Layton and Sky Vlewhave prospered from their respective junior high school policies In athletics. Maybe the middle school concept will work in the Weber School District, as well as in all of Davis County. Meanwhile something should be done to equalize the various schools of Region One. Hand-me-dow- |