Football Season. ALL SIAC ALL CITY ALL-ROUND PLA YER. Had It's Problems

Transcription

1 Football Season I ALL SIAC ALL CITY ALL-ROUND PLA YER Had It's Problems 121

2 The Coaching Staff Had Busy Season Coach Epps tried hard to give the Cardinal and Black Gridiron Panthers the punch that led them to a 5-3 record last year Technique, pigskin finesse and desire was not enough to make the Panthers a winning team Freshman players dominated the team placing three on the first team and the veteran players were mostly in new positions Other veteran players that held their same position were not accustomed to playing sixty minutes The Panthers of this were year not the jungle wildcats that stalked their opponents and devoured them They were ferocious and mean but they were not winning On several occasions Coach Epps would tell the players, "This is not a fight but a ball game" The Panthers seemed to have concentrated on drawing blood from their opponents instead of winning The coaching staff worked hard day and night, at practice and meals and numerous skull practices trying to give the Panthers the experience necessary to have a winning team Many of the games lost were a result of one mistake For instance, the Fort Valley game where a Panther failed to cover the kickoff, and the Fisk game where the Panthers couldn't keep from getting penalties There were other games where mistakes or no mistakes would have mattered For instance, South Carolina State's team was just better than Clark; the mistakes we made might have helped us to score bu t not to win The Xavier game was a game that belonged LO the Gold Rush after the first five minutes of play; the Morris Brown game found us out-weighed dore experience and harder play on the part of the \1\101- verines gave them a better team Coach L S Epps hails from Xavier niversity where he participated in two sports and tarred in one He was a fair football player but he was a terrific basketball star, and a member of that great mbassador team, where he was the set hot arti t His coaching career was started at Gilbert academy where he coached a winning team Hi fir t at year Clark saw him as basketball coach, but now he is the ba ketball, football and track coach He ha done exceptionally well with the material he had to u e and the help he had to mold that material Each year that Coach Epps has been at Clark (including this year) some player has received some outstanding honor, 11 SlAC, An American, All City, or what have you Coach Roman Turmon is well known to the CiLY of for he did his at College playing Clark He made all American Honors in Basketball, All SIAC honors in football and was the shot putt champion He and Coach Epps worked together as if they had been Co-coaches for years For These Men-The Swan Song SENIORS (L to R) Newt Solomon Douglas Rowland Walter Vance and Charles Stinson, ) r

3 g nuon gla lljerica CLARK 6 FORT VALLEY 13 CLARK 12 ALABAMA STATE 7 Clark's first game of the season was played under the lights Two teams were out to get their first victory of the season Both teams, well coached, played a terrific first half with Clark finding pay dirt first The Wildcats then were determined to equal this scoring lear and eliel so 'with hard running mainly on the part of Laverne Green Half time found the score 6 all Beginning the second half Clark received and marched the ball [rom their 30 yard line to Fort Valley's 20 before losing it Quarterback, Newt Solomon lead a blood thirsty attack with the help of such backs as Algia Harnett, Ralph Culpepper, Lawrence Gates and James Touchstone With one minute and fifteen seconds left to play it looked as if the core was going to remain dead into the hands locked, but Fort Valley sneaked a pass of Igia Barnett and back out into the hands of a Wildcat who scored The PAT was good, ending the game with Fort Valley winning 13-6 Before 1953 Clark had not won a homecoming game since 1949 Although this year the Panthers' were the underdogs by 12 points, they still managed to come through with a win not because they had a better team but becallse they had the spirit Encouraged by the faculty and students the Panthers took to the field determined to win regardless of cost Clark won the toss and chose to receive The ball Barnett where was taken on the yard line by Algia he moved the ball twenty yards, two consecutive plays around end field Quarterback Newt Solomon called the converted end-fullback, Charles Stinson up center where he gained forty yards on the play The block that broke the play through was a cross block between Eugene Walker and Thomas Lofton A Ig-ia Barnett, Lawrence Gates, and Ralph Culpepper then teamed together and carried the ball into the end zone The PAT was no good After excessive changing of the ball from one team to other, State came out on top line Half time found the scoring from the two yard score Alabama State 7, Clark 6 CLARK 0 S C STATE 35 The Panthers after losing two straights journeyed to Orangeburg, South Carolina, to play the highly favored South Carolina State Wildcats State had won three games and loss none The Panthers made a switch of players moving Charles Stinson, end, to fullback and putting Al Ellis on end The Panthers received but could hardly move the ball A pass from Solomon to Stinson for about twenty yards before Stinson was tackled out of bound where his head hit the bench took over the ball on The Wildcats eventually clowns and tried a hard running right attack around our side of the line but Al Ellis and Thomas Lofton were deterrni neel not to be moved Sta te then took to the air and scored on the first play The PAT was good Clark still had the on spirit; the State kickoff the Panthers tried hard once again to cross the stripes but after the injury of Lawrence Gates something was lost by the Panthers Coach Epps then tried another strategy where he took out Newt Solomon, a and running quarterback put in Billy Richardson, a passing quarterback Richardson tried hard to hit his targets and resulted in completing two to McClellan, two to Ellis, two to Vance and one to Touchstone State began to try hard to stop this attack and was successful by in tercepting the ball on the twenty yard line and marching into the end zone The rest of the game was a scoring feast for the Wildcats, 123 J[ Light de Illakin ceptlve b honorabl ack, Al ''" e me Ba AII-A rnett, was I lonoreci Ily

4 Freshman Gridders,Made Season Interesting CLARK 6 TUSKEGEE 12 The over Confident Panthers fought hard but to The P nther's no avail as they fell to Tuskegee 12-6 mixed up a variety of plays but Tuskegee ml:xed up a variety of defensive maneuvers to combat their plays From the opening moment of the gan:e the Pant ers were baffled because Tuskegee, mainly a smgle wmg team, came out in the T formation Half time score was 12-0 favoring Tuskegee The second half was a nip and tuck battle with J ames Baker a being thorn in the side of the Panther's No team scored until the last Charles McClellan caught a pass The game ended 12-6 CLARK 7 XAVIER three minutes when on the one foot line 45 For the seniors this has been the fourth consecutive year that they have lost to the Xavier Gold Rush This year was definitely a year that the Panthers were destined to lose The game started as if there was a chance for an upset Clark held the Gold Rush three downs and on the last down they did something highly unusual they passed and it was good for the touchdown The Gold Rush then kicked off to Clark and held them for three downs forcing them to kick Again the same situation occurred, on passing the last down for a touchdown It was not until the third quarter that Clark found the range A pass intended for Charles Stinson fell short of the target but quick thinking on the part of Ralph Culpepper enabled him to catch the pass and "skat" to the fifteen yard line before he was tackled A series of plays carried the ball to the two yard line where Culpepper crossed the stripes for Clark's first touchdown Stinson's conversion was good making the score 26-7 In the rest of the game the Pan thers tried hard to hold down the score on the part of Xavier and increase the score on the part of Clark to no avail CLARK'6 FISK 12 was not until the last five seconds in the end zone [or Clark first Clark played its best game of the season and,:"as topped short of victol} becaus of heavy penalties The Panthers scored SIX times 111 vain before finally crossing the line with one that counted The first penalty that preven ted a use touchdown w Illegal of the hands; the next holdmg; then u e illegal of hands; clipping, off side, and use finally illegal or hands Fisk tried hard to stop the hard running of Ralph and Culpepper James Touchstone, but the e boy were really finding the blocks In the e ond quarter Fisk recovered a fumble on the ten yardlme and went on to score But the way that Clark wa running no one was yet worried about a victory To the urpr!se of Clark, Fisk intercepted a pass and scored again This put a dent into the "pep" of the Panther It that Ralph Culpepper caught a pass and final score CLARK 6 MORRIS BROWN 39 The Turkey Day classic packed the overflowing crowd to see two city rands with an rivals meet in a "gibe it all" game Morris Brown won the toss and chose to receive Neither team seemed a ble to get hands several times before started The ball changed Morris Brown reached pay dirt When Morris Brown kicked off, Clark set up its kickoff return, with every man on Clark's team taking a man Algia Barnett went up the center and peeled or to the side and was in the open running for the goal line where he was caught on the two yard line by Brandon Southern In the next play Clark fumbled and the Wolverines recovered and marched all the way to score again Again 'Morris Brown kicked ofl and Clark set up its kickoff return with Algia Barnett receiving and marching all the way untouched for Clark's first score Because of the outstanding playing of Barnett, he was elected honorable mention All-American; and Charles Stinson was elected All SIAC This game ended the football season for the year, and we would like to say farewell to the sen iors 124

5 J LI S BUN,, Captain IIttd jhte,ejtih9 1fett, 125

6 BASKETEERS Sanding, I to 1': Charlie Branch, Reginald Threat, Warren Rouse, Eugene Walker, Charlie Tinsley, Connie Swiner Kneeling: Rudolph Barke, WIlham Herrin, Cerald Tate, Charles McClellan, Willie Martin Seated: Albert Thomas, MIlton Fields, Jame Cohen, and Julius Bunn missed out on the tournament they won last year To be invited to the tournament a team must be among the ten top teams, was the eleventh team and Clark was the Clark College's SIAC champions Tuskeegee twelfth Still the basketball team had a better percentage than the football team 33% to 14% Most of the Clark fans can't see why Clark had such a poor record this year with practically team the same What it is, is this: last year Coach Epps had ten good players that he used quite often and made most of them appear to the public as first stringers Actually there were only two first stringers from last year to return this year in the persons of Julius BLInn and Reginald Threat Missing from last year's sq uad were Roman Turman, averaging 30 points a 'ame, - Offie Clark, and Harold Hubbard all first stringers Also missing were the six and seventh players in the persons of John Swain and Buzzy Jones The season opened as expected with Clark winning' their first game on Robert Phillips Day again t Savannah State, the SEC defending champion But with the rest of the season came the unexpected, and the next game with Savannah State was a scoring [east for tate Afterwards Clark went on to lose to lien, Morris Brown, South Carolina State, Benedict, Bethune Cookman, Florida A & M, Dillard and Morehouse Playing Fort Valley twice as if they owned them, the Panthers won both games Morehouse, after beating Clark the first and after being highly favored for the second, lost to Clark by a margin Regardles to how many games Clark or forchouse had lost before the two meet, you can never predict who will win The rivalry between these two schools can always turn the score around Although Clark had a losing season the Panthers still show promises of being a winning team next year A team that was composed of one senior, no juniors, and the rest sophomores and freshmen, shows great 126

7 - this Savannah Allen - Morehouse _ Ft Ft Morris _ Xavier Allen S _ Florida Alabama Benedict Morehouse Morris Florida Bethu Savannah Dillard New _ New Columbia, talent Reginald Threat was the consistent high scorer Julius Bunn was the Hoorman, and Milton Fields was the set shot artist Clark did, however, participate in the all Georgia tournament held at Booker T Washington High School,, Georgia Clark met Albany State in the opener, and by toppling them finals moved to the semi against Savannah State Savannah won, but the Panthers still had a chance for third place if they could beat their old reliable friend, which Fort Valley they did So after all, we still had some outstanding honors coming to our school This "All Georgia" post season tournament was the first of its kind and a great success; and the officials have started already planning the tournament for next year How does Clark look on paper for tournament play next year? Wonderful For the first thing year, the Panthers had a great change to make Their primary offense had been built around the center With All American, Roman, playing out his last year, it was hard to find a man as big, as aggressive and with as much finesse as he had The results: change the offense, and that is what Clark did Instead of one man making all the points, every man made points from all positions of the floor, and it must take a little time to become adj usted to the switch Another thing that has been continuously looked over is that Clark does not have the back-board strength that it had last year Our percentage of rebounds has fallen from 65% to about 32% per game It is not the lost of height altogether, but mostly experience By this time next year Coach Epps will have oriented the Panthers into a real basketball team Let us take another look into the past Warren Rouse came to Clark not as Coach Epps developed him a basketball player, but Roman Turmon came to Clark big, but that's about all He did not know how to use his weight, how to shoot and how to really control the back board Harold Hubbard couldn't even make 'Washington High's "B" team, and Coach developed him into an exceptional all-round player So it may easily be the case with such players Eugene as Walker, Charlie Tinsley and Charlie Branch We hope BASKETBALL SCHEDULE ATLANTA, GA Dale Teani Place Sat, Dec State Fri, Dec 10 State _ Savannah Tues, Jan 4 University Thurs, Jan 6 Bethune-Cookman Sat, Jan 8 Mon, Jan 10 Valley - Brown _ State _ Tues, Feb Fri, Feb _ Mon, Feb A & M _ Tallahassee, Fla Tues, Feb _ ne-cook ma n Daytona Beach, Fla Fri, Feb 18 - Brown Thurs, Jan 13 Macon Sat, Jan University Orleans Mon, Jan 17 University Orleans Thurs, Jan Valley Fri, Jan University S C Sat, Jan _ C State Orangeburg, S C Fri, Jan _ A & i'vi Mon, Jan The New York Five These five players from New York have been a great help to the Panthers in their attack Coach Epps has used them consistently in all of Clark's games to Standing (left right) are Julius Bunn, James Cohen, Reginald Threat, Rudolph Barker, and Milton Fields 127

8 Clark Track Team Tramples All Foes In City Meet The Clark College track team made up the disappointments witnessed by the previous endeavors in the City for all of the Clark fans in meet which was the second meet in which the Panthers placed first in their last four tries The Panthers to journeyed the Alfred Florida relays and made not a poor showing Ellis and Leon Carlton broke the record in the javelin contest, only to have their new record broken by a student from Sou thern with a throw of 189' In the second meet, Clark dueled against Fort Benning in a meet that seemed to be Fort Benning's until the very last Clark lost the one mile run as Emerson Packard was passed one hundred yards from the tape after leading all the way Lowe took high honors in the 440-yard dash The City meet was the Panther's all the way Clark received a first place in every event except the 100- yard dash and the 220-yard dash It "vas Emerson Packard in the one-mile run, Charles Miles in the two-mile run, Lowe in the 440-yard dash and the 880- yard run, Walter Vance, Melvin Brown, Walter Lowe, and Algia Barnett in the mile relay, Alfred Ellis and Leon Carlton in the discus throw, Leon Carlton and Alfred Ellis in the javelin throw, Charlie Tensley and Alfred Ellis in the shot putt, Algia Barnett in the hurdles, Ralph Culpepper in the broad jump The Panthers racked up a total of 89 points to make it a clean sweep over the Morehouse Maroon Tigers and the Morris Brown purple Wolverines who had scores of 20 points and 16 points respectively This win for the Panthers had the largest margin that there has been in the history of a City meet This has been the most impressive season that the Panthers have had since 1951 when the Panthers won by a margin of 69 points to 39 points for IIorris Brown and 20 points for Morehouse Clark's track team has only one senior in the person of Walter Vance All of the others will be returnees next year The Co-Captain of the track team this year is Alfred Ellis, a three-letter athlete who takes all of his work seriously, regardless of what it may be Booker T Washington High two letter athlete He preped at School where he was a There he received such honors as membership on the all city football and all city basketball teams After entering Clark and making first-team football and basketball his freshman year, he was called into the Air Force In the Air Force he participated in Basketball where he wa elected captain of his team He was the first egto to ever receive such an honor The time he spent in service did not hurt him at all He is out and is ready to go as if he were a freshman Melvin Brown, the captain of this year's team i al 0 a former athlete of Booker T Washington High School He participated in football and track in high school, running twenty six touchdowns hi enior year Sitting (I-r) James Touchstone, Charles Lowe, Melvin Brown, Charles Miles VI/alter Vance' back row, Algla Barnett, Charles Green: Clinton Winborn, Ralph Culpepper, an 1 Leon Carlelon; standing, Eugene 'Walker and Alfred Ellis 128

9 J n addition, he was the dash man on the track team Since entering Clark, he has received great recognition in football, and had his most successful year in track his freshman year He also has the "never say die" spirit Coach Epps has made thi track team Algia Barnett, an athlete who never knew how to do anything except run, ha been converted into a hurdler Walter Vance upon entering Clark, had never before seen a track meet; Coach Epps converted him into a midd istan e man Leon Carlton and Alfred Ellis didn't know they could throw a javelin before entering Clark, but Coach Epps gave them the technique to go along with their abil ity Moreover, led Leon Carlton LO the 1 C champion hip before Carlton entered the service Clark has greal Ire hman talent this year that might easily be developed Walter Lowe, a mid-distance man, ran a 52 seconds 440 his freshman year Clares Miles has proved to have great stamina in the two-mile run James Touchstone has proved that he had speed The freshmen have that they like to win Clark is now preparing for the SlAC track and field The Florida A & M Spikesters have championship won the championship for the last two years This year they are going to receive much competition from Xavier and Clark The latter two teams have been placing second and third for the last two years Clark has several first place potentials in Leon Carlton, Alfred Ellis, Walter Lowe, Emerson Packer, Charles Green and Roosevelt Taylor With Morehouse taking points from Florida in the 100 and 220-yard in the one-mile clash, and with Xavier taking points relay, Clark may have a chance to an easy first place CARLTON BARN Tr