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JOMC 50

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A Path Less Taken - This is an article I wrote about Steve Hale, who was co-captain of the UNC men's basketball team in 1986. He had the option of playing in the NBA, but instead chose medical school. Today he is a pediatrician in Burlington, VT, and works with my godfather. I played basketball with Hale when I was in high school. I wrote this article because Hale has not received much notoriety after his playing days. Yet Michael Jordan was quoted as saying Hale was one of the toughest players that ever guarded him. He not only is a professional doctor, but a professional person as you will see. http://www.tarheeldaily.com/feature.html?aid=2048

Tom Brennan: Big Voice, Small School - I also wrote this article for www.tarheeldaily.com, but it is no longer on the site. Tom Brennan is the head coach of the University of Vermont men's basketball team. I had the opportunity of watching him coach for two years when I attended UVM in Burlington, VT. During my freshman year of college I tried out for the team and was cut. However, I always admired Brennan's personality and lifestyle. I thought that the UNC basketball community should know a little about a coach like no other. This article ran before UNC played UVM at the Dean Dome on Dec. 19, 2002.

Carolina's Best-Kept Secret - Not too many Americans know the sport called team handball. Considering it is the second-most popular team sport in Europe and the UNC club teams host two of the most prestigious team handball tournaments in the United States, it deserves recognition. This piece informs and provides some color about this fast-paced sport. http://www.unc.edu/bw/feb_03/handball.html

Conditions don't dampen anglers' spirits - I've always liked to fish, but I never thought I would be writing about it. I covered my first fishing tournament as an intern for the Burlington Free Press in Burlington, VT. This article is short and sweet, just how I like it. Enjoy. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/specialnews/outdoor/0617092456.shtml

A Path Less Taken
Steve Hale's journey from hoops to medicine

In a few months he would graduate from UNC as a biology major and be drafted in the fourth round in the NBA by the New Jersey Nets. Yet like flowers that bloom in the springtime, senior Steve Hale had a budding idea.

“All of a sudden I felt like ‘hey I’m done’,” he said. “I’m done playing. I’ve done what I wanted to and I want to go onto another phase in my life.”

The next phase was medical school, something he began thinking about his junior year after enjoying some anatomy and physiology classes. Turning down a chance to play professionally, especially in the NBA, is a foreign concept in American society. But the 6'3" combo guard was an anomaly, even at UNC, where 10 of his former teammates played in the NBA. Unlike many of his fellow Tar Heels, Hale disliked the amount of travel an NBA player must endure and believed his time in the league would be short-lived.

His achievements under coach Dean Smith suggested the contrary to his own beliefs.

In Hale’s four years, UNC marched to the sweet sixteen and elite eight twice, while winning three regular season ACC titles. He was co-captain with Brad Daugherty his senior year, 1986, in which the team ranked number one nationally virtually all year. Among fellow Tar Heels, Hale ranks eighth all-time in assists (503) and eleventh in steals (164) and free-throw percentage (.813).

However, for the people who knew Hale closely, choosing medical school over professional basketball was not a surprise. In the Hale family, there was more to life than basketball.

“My older brother and sister were both very good students and academics was really prized in our household above athletics,” he said. “I had learned some pretty good study habits before I came to UNC, and enjoyed learning and really enjoyed going to class.”

Nevertheless, when Hale did not have a book open, he was on the basketball court. As a coach’s son, Hale began playing basketball at age 3. His father, Jerry, coached at the College of Southern Idaho until Steve was 10 and then took the helm at Oral Roberts University, moving to rural Jenks, Okla. Unlike his older brother and sister, who had other interests, Hale loved being around Jerry’s teams, attending virtually every practice from the ages of 5 to 13.

“I used to come home from school and go right to practice,” Steve said. “They had practice at about 3 o’clock so it was like a babysitter. I used to go to and watch every practice and in between drills I’d shoot or play. And then as he got ready after practice I’d shoot and play with some of the guys. So about three hours a day I’d be at the gym at practice. I loved it.”

Daily attendance rubbed off on Steve as he saw Jerry reward those players who exhibited extra effort despite having less talent. Hale’s high school coach, Joe Holladay, had a similar philosophy to Jerry.

“Coach Holladay used to have drills where he would throw the ball to the other end of the court and you would run down there and dive for it,” Hale said. “It was kind of a football drill. So guys that could do that became the guys that we respected, and those guys who didn’t really want to get involved or get dirty we kind of frowned upon.”

Hale was never frowned upon and his extraordinary hustle and mental toughness began to separate him from his peers. Always in superb shape, Hale ran from his house down the road and back, a two and a quarter mile distance. He ran it faster each time, even in the over 100-degree summertime heat.

His dedication soon paid off. Recruiting letters started arriving his sophomore year of high school, mostly from Midwest colleges. Never playing in AAU tournaments or all-star games, Hale did not get national exposure until the summer before his senior year.

He attended Howard Garfinkel’s prestigious Five-Star Basketball Camp in Pittsburgh. Hale knew there were hoards of college coaches at the camp and somehow he had to distinguish himself from the other 300 players. At the time, he did not know UNC assistant coach Eddie Fogler was watching. In one of the first outside scrimmages, the player he was guarding lost his dribble for a moment and Hale dove on the concrete after the ball – a trademark for the rest of his playing career. Fogler was so impressed, he went back and told the rest of the coaching staff about a player who was diving on concrete.

“That was impressive,” said Bill Guthridge, an assistant coach at the time. “You don’t dive on concrete. There are few that ever dive on concrete. He was that type of player. He was a hard worker, had great basketball savvy. If you’d have all Steve Hale’s on your team, you would be very good.”

UNC recruited Hale his senior year, along with Duke, Arkansas and all the Big Eight schools. He enjoyed his visit to Chapel Hill most, noting the cordial welcome the players gave him. He also wanted to compete for a national championship each year.

Holladay’s coaching style was similar to Smith’s. Holladay utilized every minute of practice time with a purpose, ran an up-tempo offense and let Hale play point guard despite being taller than most of his teammates. He appeared in all 36 games his freshman season.

A devout Christian, Hale joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at UNC, a group he had participated with since high school. Teammate Matt Doherty took him to an FCA meeting shortly after arriving in Chapel Hill and introduced him to Lyn Taylor, who he would start dating a year and a half later and marry soon after graduation in May 1986.

He soon developed his niche of basketball, academics and religion. Although he was soft-spoken and humble off the court, his teammates and coaches commended his combination of competitiveness, basketball IQ and fundamentals.

Every preseason the players were timed in a mile run and every season Hale led the pack. In fact, he ran a 4:39 mile that was a team record for years. Nevertheless, Hale says his athletic ability was his biggest weakness as a player. Maybe his size 14 sneakers slowed him down, but his teammates would tell you the contrary.

Teammate Michael Jordan was quoted in several publications saying Hale was one of the toughest defenders he ever faced. Hale said that he learned players’ tendencies every day in practice and gained his mental toughness from playing one-on-one with his older brother Mike, who was less talented than Steve but refused to be beat.

“He is one of the most courageous guys I ever met,” said UNC teammate Warren Martin. “He laid it on the line every time he stepped on the court. He had the heart to guard wings and even small forwards. That was one of his strong points.”

Coach Smith also noticed Hale’s effort and inserted him at the starting point guard position his sophomore year when freshman Kenny Smith was out for a few weeks with a broken wrist.

Hale started alongside Smith his junior and senior year. Hale and Smith gelled together and made coach Smith’s job easier because they both could play the point or shooting guard position. Their similar style of play showed up on the stat sheet, posting similar numbers in all categories.

They also were two of the first five UNC players to play in the newly built Dean Smith Center on Jan. 18, 1986 – a date Hale delivered one of his best offensive games. His career-high 28 points on 10-for-12 shooting helped the No. 1-ranked Tar Heels edge No. 3-ranked Duke 95-92. Still, he downplays his performance.

“It was just lucky,” Hale said. “Most of my points were on lay-ups. I had a couple opportunities and made a couple of shots. It wasn’t as if I was shooting lights out and was unconscious. All of it came within the flow of the offense.”

In addition to his humble attitude, Hale was also admired for his sense of humor. The next day, UNC beat Marquette on the road 66-64. As he sat on the team bus waiting to leave, he saw a college-aged guy grab Martin’s luggage bag and run off. With adrenaline still flowing through his veins, Hale jumped out and chased the thief with assistant Roy Williams behind him. The culprit ran out of breath in the 10-degree weather after about 100 yards and Hale and Williams took him to campus police. As they escorted him back, the guy wanted to know what they were going to do with him. In a straight face Hale said, “We’re going to hang you.”

Hale continued to play like he had at the Five-Star Camp despite his individual and team success. Perhaps the greatest testament to his character came during one of his last games as a Tar Heel, facing Maryland at home. Matched up against All-American Len Bias at the top of the key, there was a loose ball. Bias took two or three steps and reached down for the ball. Hale dove for the ball and his chest landed on Bias’s knee. Hale left the game and came back in after what ended up being a collapsed right lung. He missed his last three regular season games, yet came back at full strength in the ACC tournament.

“That was one of the toughest things I’ve ever seen,” Martin said. “How he managed to come back from that was just incredible.”

His sacrifice on and off the court was recognized as he was twice selected UNC’s best defender and most inspirational player and was one of 10 players nationally on the GTE Academic All-American Team in 1986.

In September of 1986, Steve and Lyn had a year-long honeymoon in England before Steve began medical school at UNC. He played professionally during that year, but it was low-key and a relaxing time for them, before planning their future.

After medical school, they decided he might want to try his residency somewhere in New England, and if it did not work they could always come back to North Carolina. Hale got matched with his first choice in the Burlington, Vt. area, where he has practiced pediatrics ever since.

He said he enjoys spending time with his family, even when he’s on call, and takes advantage of Vermont’s wilderness, going hiking and camping. Last summer he did some backpacking on the long trail -- a remote path far away from the world of the NBA -- living a life by his beliefs.

“I think (life) comes down to relationships,” Hale said. “I value my relationship with my family. I value, very much, my relationship with God and with my church I’m involved with, and my relationship with my patients and my friends. The things you accomplish kind of fade, but the relationships you have around you, those are really the valuable things.”

He can't talk negatively, and frankly, he just can't stop talking. When asked what he most dislikes about basketball, he'll tell you recruiting. But don't interrupt (not like you can) and he'll confess how much he reveres his job – none of his players leave early for the NBA and he hasn't been fired in 17 years as University of Vermont's head coach. Not a bad scenario for someone who enjoys writing poetry and co-hosts a morning radio show in Burlington, VT.

Besides the fact that "it's hard to be a 17-year-old's best friend when you're 52," Tom Brennan may despise recruiting for another reason. Every basketball team in the America East Conference is given 13 scholarships except Vermont, who receives 10 and a half. While many coaches might use this discrepancy as an excuse, Brennan realizes he doesn't have the enormous pressure to win like many other division one head coaches such as UNC's Matt Doherty.

"There's no gun to your head saying if you don't win X amount of games you're going to go or if you don't win a championship in a certain amount of time," Brennan said. "So I always feel very blessed that I never got popped and to me that's a big thing."

Another big thing for Brennan takes place on Dec. 19, when UNC hosts Vermont in a contest scheduled because of ironic circumstances on Jan. 19, 2002. The two teams stayed at the same hotel before their respective road games against Connecticut and Hartford the following day. Both coaching staffs hit it off resulting in the Dec. 19 game.

"We're very grateful that Carolina will play us because it's such a prestigious school," Brennan said. "It really helps us because it's a big pay day for us and it looks good on your schedule. It's just a great game until you have to play it."

Last April Brennan tuned into the McDonald's High School All-American Game on television. He soon discovered the talented Tar Heels' recruiting class of Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Sean May. Overwhelmed by UNC's gifted trio, Brennan changed the channel after the announcer indicated the third player attending UNC. Recognizing Carolina's teenage flair and deep tradition may hinder his chances of winning, he still relishes the opportunity to coach in the Dean Dome.

Regardless of the game's outcome, fans will get their money's worth with Brennan on the sideline. Carolina fans will soon learn what everyone in Patrick Gymnasium already knows, that Brennan is just as much a cheerleader as he is a coach.

"In games you can just look over and he's putting on a little show on the sidelines," said UVM co-captain Andre Anderson. "He jumps around and sprints down the sidelines. He's always got that fist in the air. He's an exciting guy and fun to be around."

It's no surprise he raises his arms in the air every time one of his player's launches a shot outside the arc – he's a veteran coach who loves games. But Brennan's love for games goes beyond coaching.

"I'm at the point in my life I wish we had 80 games and 30 practices instead of the other way around," he said. "I just love watching everybody go and seeing how people react to different situations. I really enjoy the whole ambience of it, everything about it."

Recruiting is nothing more than a necessary evil,
I hate it more than Texans' hate boll weevils.
Hey, I know it's nothing more than a means to an end,
But really, I'm too old to have 17-year-old friends...

Brennan's notoriety has inflated statewide to the equivalent of Jim Calhoun in Connecticut or Roy Williams in Kansas. And much of this can be attributed to the free publicity on his morning radio show. His popularity is so eminent that his show, "Corm and the Coach," rated number one for the past 10 years by The Reader's Choice, beating Don Imus and Howard Stern.

One night this past August, Brennan was watching the biography channel in his newly built home in Colchester. During the program, blurbs of different people popped on his screen. And sure enough one of them was Howard Stern, the often controversial but always well-recognized American entertainer. As the show examined Stern's book and movie, the man plopped on his couch reflected on his radio success.

"You're just a little guy in Burlington, but he came up here and you kicked his butt," Brennan said. "To me that would be like going to Carolina and winning. It's hard to do, it's really hard to do."

Brennan acknowledges the uniqueness of his situation, given the opportunity to work on the radio before 9 a.m. – promoting the basketball program and school, while developing his poetry hobby. In many ways he is a combination of David Stern and Howard Stern. He has the wit of a seasoned coach and the disposition of an entertainer. While he brings a similar personality to both jobs, there is a difference.

"Coaching is very real," Brennan said. "You're dealing with good guys and guys you really love and want to see do better and want to make better. Radio, you're trying to get people to buy something they can't afford and don't need. And if they do it and you make them laugh one time, bingo, you hit the jackpot."

The Burlington community adores Brennan because altruism is a part of his program, not just a publicity stunt. Every year the Vermont basketball players raise money for charity by serving almost a thousand people attending the annual Kevin Roberson Spaghetti Dinner. Roberson, a former conference player of the year at UVM, was tragically killed by a drunk driver in 1993. The event couldn't be better for Brennan.

"State police are involved and I'm the maitre d'," he said. "And I greet people and host them. It's really the only thing I do well. If there ever was a job I was born to do that was it. But unfortunately we only do that one night a year."

As his popularity increased, so did his poetry, which he began reading on the air about nine years ago. His self-proclaimed "Nipsey Russell" style reveals Brennan's spontaneous nature.

"It's a thing I really enjoy doing, but I don't take it seriously," he said. "I don't sit in a cabin and contemplate the world and come up with ideas. I do it between the time I get to the radio at 5:30 and leave at 9:00."

He has accumulated about 600 poems, the best of which he plans on publishing in the spring and titling, "Poetry for the Unwashed Masses."

I don't have to make promises that I know I won't keep,
Because my players are individuals, not some heard of sheep.
They're here to learn life lessons, not just play ball,
And the group I have now has stood nothing but tall...

Growing up in Phillipsburg, NJ, Brennan enjoyed playing a variety of sports, but particularly excelled in hoops, graduating as the all-time leading scorer at Phillipsburg Catholic High School. He followed his stellar prep school career at the University of Georgia, competing against the legendary Pete Maravich and Johnny Neumann.

Brennan traded his jersey and high-tops for a coach's suit and wingtips after he graduated from Georgia in 1971. He broke into the division one ranks in 1982 as the head coach of Yale and remained at Vermont since 1986.

Although Brennan earned his third America East Coach of the Year Award and Vermont set several school records last season, including 21 wins and its first regular season conference title, success wasn't always typical in Patrick Gym. The Catamounts won 14 games in his first three seasons.

"I was given great advice by one of my assistants when we first got the job," Brennan said. "We were like 3-24 or 5-20 something and I said, ‘This office sucks.' And he said, ‘Yeah, but it's yours.' And I thought, you know what, it doesn't suck that bad after all. And I never forgot that."

And when I went to recruit them, I faked a good cheer,
But to tell the truth, I'm really glad they're here.
Because this group is special, they've stolen my heart,
Mostly of course because they make me look smart...

Five years ago Brennan learned of an eight-year-old boy from Enosburg Falls, VT, diagnosed with leukemia. Moved by the prognosis, Brennan provided Thomas Cook a position on the baseline near the team's bench, serving as the ball boy for all home games. Some of the players grew close to Cook and were devastated by his death a year ago November. Still, Brennan uses Cook as a reminder to his players of how blessed they are.

"I say, ‘This guy would kill to run up and down. I'm going to have to tell him to run harder?' I would never have to tell him to run harder."
Serving as inspiration, a strong work ethic has never been a problem for his players. Just like Cook, Brennan's upbeat spirit rubs off on those around him.

"He definitely supports us emotionally," said sophomore Taylor Coppenrath. "Just seeing him and the way he speaks gets me motivated. It makes me want to play harder and do better."

When Brennan's English Bulldog, Gunner, died in November, his players witnessed his emotional attachment.

"The only time I saw him down was when his dog died," Anderson said. "Other than that he's always up ready to go. He's not really a down guy, he's an exciting guy. His personality makes him the kind of coach you want to play for."

It will be hard for the Catamounts to perform better than last season. Despite bringing 11 players back from a team that broke numerous school records, Vermont lost two of its top three scorers, including Trevor Gaines to graduation and point guard T.J. Sorrentine, who broke both wrists in a scrimmage on Nov. 1. Anderson will take over at the point, filling in for last year's conference player of the year.

"It's a big blow obviously," Anderson said. "Personally, I have to take it as an opportunity. And at the same time everybody else has to pick it up and make up for T.J. by committee because we got the guys that can do it."

Brennan may be the ideal person to help the team adapt without Sorrentine, having witnessed almost everything in his extensive basketball career. The same man who adopts certain trends like a popsicle craze last summer.

"I'm a tremendous creature of habit," Brennan said in August. "Like now, I'm on this popsicle kick. I've been eating popsicles since it got hot. I'm eating like 20 a day, I don't know what the hell the problem is. But I know by September I'll never touch another popsicle."

While his potato chip and candy cravings pass, he has maintained a routine after moving into his new house by Lake Champlain in the summer of 2001. One day driving home Brennan began thinking about how grateful he was to own this home and reflected how it became a reality. The first thing that came to mind was Roberson. Brennan reminded himself of his star player's legacy.

"Well, one reason it happened is because that guy came. Man he meant so much to us and so much to this program."

Still contemplating, Brennan ironically passed 40 Henry Street, Roberson's residence his senior year, and beeped his horn. Since then his team went on a tare. Tears of joy flowed down his cheeks when he won his first championship as a coach last March. Now everyday Brennan drives out of his way to beep.

Although middle-aged, Brennan is young for a man who has accomplished all of his personal goals in life – made possible by a small division one school in a town in Vermont.

"I feel comfortable with who I am," he said. "I love where I am. I really feel that this community and university has given so much to me and I get to give back to it everyday through the radio and through our program. Then again, I'm not for everybody. Not many people want a disc jockey as their basketball coach."

Carolina's Best-Kept Secret

Thousands of North Carolina students lineup for men’s basketball tickets outside the Dean E. Smith Center with crust still in their eyes on a rainy Saturday morning. Meanwhile, former and current national-caliber players are scoring goals at an alarming rate inside Fetzer Gymnasium. They race down the court with a few dribbles, pass to teammates and soar through the air with an arm cocked like a baseball pitcher – firing a ball into the back of a net.

While students begrudgingly wait until their numbers are called off for their precious basketball tickets, only a few, if any, will step inside Fetzer Gym on Nov. 16 to witness a sport that can be considered the best kept secret at UNC – team handball.

UNC hosts two tournaments every year – the Tar Heel Invitational, in the fall, and the Carolina Blue Cup Tournament, scheduled this year on Feb. 15-16. Both of which cover a two-day time period and are considered among the top three team handball tournaments in America. Many club teams include Olympic players, not just college teams, who make the pilgrimage to Chapel Hill to compete.

“There are goals scored constantly in this sport no matter how good the defense is, no matter how good the goalie is,” said John Silva, UNC’s team handball coach. “It’s like lacrosse in that regard. It’s up and down, there are shots, there are fantastic saves by the goalie, there’s great athleticism and it’s not like you’re having to wait 40 minutes to see if a goal’s going to be scored.”
Team handball developed in Denmark as off-season training for soccer players in the early 1900s. It has been an Olympic sport since 1972.

Each team consists of six court players and a goalie. The court is slightly longer and wider than a basketball court. The game is like soccer with your hands, and contact is a part of good defense. It is a passing game with a premium on athleticism, court awareness and technique.

Unlike some high-scoring sports, like basketball, in handball the referees do not touch the ball. The players must put the ball immediately down at the spot where a penalty occurred, so play resumes with no delay.

Teams were permitted one timeout per half for the first time two years ago, a controversial rule that the International Handball Federation thought might disrupt the continuity of a game divided into two 30-minute halves, Silva said. Instead, the timeouts add to a coach’s strategy and give the players a needed breather.

Also, like football’s popularity in the United States, team handball is the second most popular team sport in the world behind soccer, according to Silva. He receives e-mails from European students who want to play at UNC. So why haven’t Americans caught on to handball?

“As soon as people in the United States hear handball or team handball they think of the game that’s played in a racquetball court,” said Silva, a sports psychology professor in UNC’s exercise and sport science department. “I think a lot of American kids, North American kids in general, once they see the sport, once they start playing it, they really get attracted to it because it’s a very hand-eye game and we’re a very hand-eye culture.”

When Silva worked as a sports psychologist for the U.S. Olympic wrestling team in 1986 he had no clue about team handball. However, the president of U.S. Team Handball, Peter Buehning, requested Silva for his services. Initially hesitant because he had no understanding of the sport, Silva finally gave in after numerous phone calls from Buehning and flew out to the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs to work with the U.S. team.

"They dressed me out and threw me out on the court,” Silva said. “They said, ‘The best way for you to understand the sport is to run around with us. You know, you’re not going to stand there in a lab coat or anything.”

From that moment on, Silva was hooked. He not only fell in love with the sport, but found that the players enjoyed working with him and were “real, regular guys."

After the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea, he felt the time was right. He wanted to expose the UNC community to the new sport he adored.
' After the ‘88 Olympics I came back and said, ‘You know, this is such a great sport and I’m supposed to be an educator and I like to teach’,” Silva said. “And to me coaching the team is another way of challenging my teaching skills, taking kids who had never picked up a ball in their life and turning them into an Olympian – to me it’s a great teaching challenge.”

Thus, the Carolina Team Handball Club started in Jan. 1989, with a nucleus of former UNC varsity athletes. Silva has always maintained highly structured practices, simulating game situations and working on team and individual skills. He said that every former varsity athlete who has been through one practice has acknowledged the intensity, and some even admitted they were tired.

Apparently, his experience at the Olympic level and study of the game (he earned his team handball coaching and refereeing certificates) soon rubbed off on his players as they won a bronze medal in Division II at the U.S. National Championships in the spring of 1989. The team had no experience a few months earlier and had not played in any tournaments.

"I wanted to eventually get people who never had played the sport and have them come in as freshmen, never having touched the ball, and come out as seniors being really good team handball players,” Silva said. “And that is where we are now.”

Having a knowledgeable coach can only do so much for a team’s success. Players need to believe in their coach’s system. This could not be more evident than during the first game in pool play at the 2000 College National Tournament in Chapel Hill between UNC and Air Force. These two strong programs were so evenly matched that the game was still tied after overtime. The teams went through two shootouts and the deciding shot came down to a UNC player. Before the shot, Silva offered him some advice.

“I said, ‘Shoot a bounce shot, low-right. You’re going to score and win the game.’ And the guy went out there and he shot a bounce shot low-right and he won the game.”

Silva has been blessed with players who sacrifice themselves. A year ago in January, a team handball Olympic training camp was held in Fetzer Gym. In just his first year playing the sport, Carolina goalie Kevin Johnson was competing against players who had been on the national team for years. Jumping into the air for a save, he got hit in the face. His head hit the floor first, then the rest of his body. Yet, for Johnson he was just doing his job and bounced back onto his feet, still dazed.

“I’m still standing there and the coach grabbed a hold of me and said, ‘That’s what we need, no fear.’”

It isn’t just the fact that Silva is a knowledgeable coach, but he understands a player’s emotions as an athlete and a human being.

“I’ve had a lot of coaches,” said senior Kevin Williams, a former junior varsity basketball player. “I played tons of sports growing up and he’s probably one of the calmer coaches I’ve ever had, but I think his care for the sport and his care for us really shines through. It makes me work harder, just the fact that he cares about me as a person and an athlete of his.”

Adam Ross is a third-year law student, playing for Silva the last six years and now a member of the alumni team, Carolina Blue. He commends his coach for his volunteer work, designing plays and coaching both the University and alumni teams at the same time each Wednesday and Thursday afternoon
.
"A lot of players, coming in as a freshman and sophomore, don’t realize the effort that he puts in, but he dedicates a lot of time to it,” Ross said. “And pretty much every player that I know of, after being with him for a few years, really appreciates what he does for the team and what he does for the players as individuals.”

This mutual respect and adulation has paid off for the two club teams. For the past two years, two of the top 10 teams (all club teams included) in the country have been Carolina teams. Eleven players have trained for the U.S. National team since 1989. Members on this year’s Carolina Blue squad, Myles Bacon, Jon-Breck Sampson and Wade Sutton have competed in the Pan American games in South America. Two UNC alumni, John Keller and Steven Penn, started as court players on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team. Former UNC women’s basketball player Chryss Watts is often considered the best team handball player from Carolina. She became a two-time Olympian, including captain of the 1996 U.S. women’s team. How many teams can boast such lofty achievements while allowing anyone to join the team?

Yet gaining public recognition is a problem, Silva and players said. Perhaps Ross has the solution.

"I think it is a great spectator sport,” he said. “The biggest problem is people don’t know it. They don’t understand it. And until a cable channel or some network picks it up and starts running it a little bit with announcers that understand the game and explain it to the public, it’s not going to take off.”

Conditions don't dampen anglers' spirits

The constant rainfall and rising lake level did little to prevent anglers from casting rods into Lake Champlain on Saturday. Fishermen seemed to use the precipitation and an overnight cold front to their advantage on the opening day of the 21st annual Lake Champlain International fishing derby.

"The cool temperature and rain causes the coldwater species to be more active in this season," said Weston Davis, the Burlington weigh station captain, "so we're getting a lot of nice size lake trout."

Lake trout and salmon were prevalent in the Shelburne Bay area. Despite muddy water, anglers still found bass and bowfins in shallower waters.

Fishermen cited rivers and deltas as the most difficult places to catch fish. The extensive rainfall over the past two weeks in northern Vermont has left water murky and turbulent in these areas.

"I would say this year is more challenging because there are places that we fish off the mouths of the Winooski River and Lamoille River that are not fishable because of water clarity -- where historically we've caught a good quantity of salmon," said Dan Kiniry, who used a Needlefish and spoons in hopes of finding salmon.

"We've had fewer fish weighed in here than we usually do," said weigh captain Don Tobi. "I think that's because we usually get a lot of guys who fish in the rivers, and they can't fish in the rivers this year."

The 51-degree lake water was close to perfect for anglers like Kiniry who were chasing lake trout at various depths in the big lake. The salmon seemed more fussy.

Kiniry said he hooked, but lost, several salmon early in the morning along Red Rocks off Burlington, and decided to change his tactics at noon.

He had better luck with lake trout.

"I put one line down to see if we could get a lake trout and it took that one right away," he said.

Farther north, in the shallow waters around Grand Isle and North Hero areas, fishermen mostly reeled in largemouth and smallmouth bass with a significant number of bowfin as well.

The LCI reported large numbers of fish and high levels of optimism despite expected rainfall for the remainder of the event.

"The weather didn't bother me any," said David Slayton of East Ryegate. "The fish are still biting. You might get a little wet, that's it. I just want to get out there."

Contact me at brettg@email.unc.edu.

This page was updated on 4.12.03.