North Carolina School for the Deaf - Clock Tower Yearbook (Morganton, NC)

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the Bears showed excellent form and coopera- tion as they romped to an easy 37-29 victory. Topping off the heavy January schedule was a trip to Washington, D. C. Enroute to Wash- ington the Bears paused in Virginia long en- ough to hand the Virginia School for the Deaf a 30-17 drubbing. Proceeding to Washington, the team spent a busy day sight-seeing and then went down in defeat before a fast playing Kend- all School team 27-23. The remainder of the season was completed without any remarkable incident. In the Valdese Tournament the Bears proved to be a favorite with the crowd but in the end the over-worked Bears came out in fourth place. In this tourna- ment, Richard Bowman, young ace center of the team, won top scoring honors, a berth on the All-Tourney team, plus an individual trophy for his playing. The Bears also entered the Winston-Salem Tournament and got off to a good start by defeating Elon College 41-25. However, they were eliminated in the second round by Claremont High, 30-29. Throughout the year’s athletic program the Seniors did their share. On the grid-iron the Seniors had diminuative Melvin Ellis, masive Kenneth Leonard, and Bascom Robinson, as well as Elrice Daniels who was manager. At the end of the football season, these same three Seniors transferred their attentions to the bas- ketball court and all three were regulars on the team. Here, again, Elrice turned up in the capacity of assistant manager. During the sea- son the N. C. quintet racked up a total of 900 points of which 442 were made of the three Seniors players. GIRLS’ BASKETBALL Under the tutelage of Miss Rotha, the Bear- ettes got off to an early start with their basket- ball practice while the boys were still tumbling around on the football field. The team had lost three regulars by graduation, but this did not hinder them greatly. The girls proceeded to drop their first two exhibition games, but got back in form just in time to cop their first con- ference game with Morganton, 13-10. The se- cond conference game, this time with Shelby, also ended in victory for the Bearettes. Then the girls went into a slump, losing four straight conference games. On the trip to Washington, the girls defeated the Virginia girls 38-21 and then went down in defeat with the Kendall girls 40-38. Although strong in defense, the Bearettes proved a bit weak in scoring - which may have been due to their lack in height. Regardless of the odds against them, the Bearettes never once failed to show the fighting spirit and sportsman- ship for which N. C. School for the Deaf teams are noted. Not to be outdone by the boys, the Seniors girls placed two of their class, Frances Withrow and Dottie Moore, on the team, and Pattie Kerley as manager. Q

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“3 THE CLOCK TOWER 2 Sports By MELVIN ELLIs FOOTBALL As another school year nears its end, we can look back over a rather successful year in athle- tics. Our teams did not have an extraordinary string of victories nor did they win any cham- pionship, but they did put up a good fight in every game and never failed to show good sportsmanship. This sportsmanship, even in the face of hopeless odds, did much to create re- spect for our teams. Practice opened August 20, with forty boys reporting to try out for berths on the team. Coach. Fishler, who replaced Raymond Butler, really put the boys through a rigorous session of conditioning before allowing any scrimmage. At first it appeared that the loss of four lettermen from last years squad would weaken the team considerably, but Coach Fishler soon found men to fit into the vacant positions. However, no one could be found to duplicate the passing of Marvin Tuttle, a fact which hindered the team throughout the session. Perhaps the most exciting games of the year were the ones with the Florida and Virginia Schools for the Deaf. Florida was defeated by a score of 7-4 on the Morganton High School field and this was probably the cleanest game of the year. The game with Virginia was played on the Virginia field and ended in a 19 - 32 defeat for the Bears. Both Wayne Hilton and Melvin Ellis were injured in this game, but luckily they were able to finish the season. The most heartbreaking game of the year came near the end of the season when the Bears ran up against the strong Hickory team and went down in defeat to the tune of 54 - 6. In this game the Bears again gave the fans a taste of their unbeatable spirit and sportsmanship. Although Hickory had a vast advantage in weight and substitutes, the Bears kept plung- ing until the end. So many of the N. C. boys were injured in this game that it was necessary to forfeit the final game of the year with Lin- colnton. It was discovered that Earl Smith had suffered a ruptured kidney and fractured vert- brae in this game and had to be taken to Charlotte Memorial Hospital. At the time of this writing, we are happy to say that Earl has completely recovered and is back in school. In summing up the season’s record we find that of the thirteen games played, four were wen and one was a tie. This record may not seem so impressive, but when one takes into consideration the tremendous odds against which the Bears had to complete he must admit that to win even four games took a “never say die” spirit. R. H. Bledsoe, veteran lineman, won a honorable mention on the All-State team and also a position on the All-American Schools for the Deaf team. BOYS’ BASKETBALL After a brief rest from the rigors of the foot- ball season, the Bears assembled in the gym on December 1, to begin practice for a 16 game basketball schedule. Bernie Cumbee, Marvin Tuttle, and Truitt Saunders were missing from this years team, but Coach Fishler soon found replacements. The gym floor was painted and the seats also received a couple coats of paint, and then the Bears really buckled down to practice - hoping to avenge some of their grid- iron defeats. In an exhibition game with the Statesville All-Stars on December 13, the Bears gave the fans a peek at what was in store for them by completely out-classing the visitors to the score of 42-33. The first conference game of the season was with our old rival, Morganton High School. This game turned out to be a thrilling over-time affair which ended in a 30-29 victory for Morganton. In the second conference game, Shelby gave the Bears a 31-21 licking. By the time the third game rolled around, the Bears were in better condition and proceeded to whip the taller Rutherfordton quintet 46-29. On January 20, a return game was played with Morganton High School and

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Kenneth Leonard, End Meivin Ellis, Back Bascom Robinson, Tackle FooTBALL SQUAD FIRST ROW—Lecnard, Co-Captuin; Smith; Ellis, Captain; Hilton; Bledsoe; Hames; SECOND ROW—Harlow; Crawford; Pressley; Evans; Robinson; Jessup; Carroll; Capes; THIRD ROW—Thomas Fishler, coach; Daniels, manager; McKenzie; Hall; Arrington; Absher; Mocney, assistant manager; Wm. Brightwell, assistant coach.