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Alex En Sports Editor Editor's note: in conjunction with the celebration of Black History Month, the sports department is paying tribute to great black nthlpfp* frnm I ISC This: is thp. first of a four-part series. Class. It's the one word that best describes the greatest basketball player to ever play for the Gamecocks. Now playing for the Dallas Mavericks, Alex English has been a leader and a positive role model, both on and off the court, throughEagles pre: to NCAA h By PATRICK VILLEGAS Assistant Sports Editor USC's toughest test of their current road trip, and possibly of the season, will take place Saturday when the Gamecocks face a headon collision with the 9th-ranked Metro-leading Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi. The talents of Southern Miss forward Clarence Weatherspoon will clearly be on the minds of the Gamecock players. Established as one of the nation's best forwards, Weatherspoon is averaging 18.1 points per game and a Metroleading 12.2 rebounds a game. Weatherspoon also garnered Metro Conference Player of the Week honors earlier this season. Weatherspoon, along with teammate Darrin Chancellor, were the heroes in Southern Mississippi's tight 64-58 victory over the Game' cocks at Carolina Coliseum Jan. 10. Weatherspoon, with 14 points on the night, powered the Eagles late in the second half to keep a GAIN VALUABI W CJjcvivtlN Or Jp Call 7"i ll Columbia Area \ A Columbia Residei member of the Department of and Off Campus Student Serv a resource person and supporl living off campus. Responsibi Community Development, Ac Responsibilities. Qualifications: The candidate Student with a 2.25 GPR and c employment until their seconc Benefits: A CARA receives $3 sional status within the dcparl professional development. Inquiries are Welcome! Please or George Morell at Off Camp $50 MINIIV DON/ Your plasma is neec recently have had ai infections!!! 1) Mononucleosis 2) Strep Throat 3) Chickenpox or Shir 4) Measles 5) Mumps 6) Chiymidia or Herpe OP Serologicals glish: fr( out his life. A 15-year veteran of the NBA, f English started his playing days right here in Columbia, where he was born on Jan. 5, 1954. A star in his teens when he played at Dreher High School, English decided after he graduated in 1972 to stay close to home and play college ball at the University of South Carolina. The 6-foot-8 forward not only started every game the Gamecocks played from the 1972-73 to the 1975-76 season, he was a consistent scorer every year. To put his scoring outputs into a contemporary perspective, his point average of 14.6 per game when he was a freshman (take note, Jamie Watson!) would rank him second in scoring on this year's team behind only another English (not related), Jo Jo. The elder English would also be the leading scorer on this year's squad sent tough < lid-seeking ( hold of the slim Eagle lead and eventually the victory. Chancellor led all players with 17 points. All the hoopla in Columbia focused on the defensive antics of the Gamecocks and the offensive force of the Golden Eagles. The game proved to be a defensive stand and an offensive flub. USC and Southern Miss, ranked 21st and 19th respectively at the time, failed to put up the numbers as both teams collapsed, shooting under 40 percent from the field. Again this weekend, the focus on the game will spotlight the Metro-leading defense of USC, allowing 64 points per game, against the Metro-leading offense of Southern Miss, with 87 points per game. <Jr?nthf?rn \ificeiecirmi 'c dvnami^ duo of Weatherspoon and Chancellor will provide the last testing hurdle for the Gamecocks before the NCAA tourney, provided the Gamecocks make it that far. USC ,E EXPERIENCE ^iySU^Uvil 77-7726 Resident Advisor it Advisor (CARA) is a staff Resident Student Development ices, responsible for serving as t system for a group of students lities Include: Student and [ministration and Departmental must be an Off Campus :annot hold any additional 1 semester of service. 50 per semester, ParaprofesIment, opportunities for contact Rosemary Broadway 'us Student Services 777-4174. IUM EACH iTION led if you have or ay of the following lgles Simust be free of other STD's) 2719 Middleburg Dr. Suite 105 i. 1_:_ n/-? /-inOA A OUIUIIIUIcl, OO (803) 254-6537 >m Game English if you were to take his points per game average from any of his last three years at USC. English's accomplishments at USC are numerous. He lettered all four years and was named to several All-American teams in 1976, when he led the Gamecocks in scoring with an average of 22.6 challenge iamecocks will not face another team of this caliber until postseason action. The "Spoon and D.C." tandem, as the Golden Eagle fans call them, are among the Metro's elite in almost every individual category, namely scoring, field goal percentage, three-point field goals, and rebounding. As a sidelight, Jo Jo English and Chancellor will use the game to duel it out to see who will hold the three-point percentage crown at the end of the regular season. Chanceli~, .u? o ivji lcuus tut itaguc wiui jz, percent, but English is not far behind with 43 percent. Led by head coach M.K. Turk, the rest of the Eagle lineup includes freshman forward Bernard Haslet (8.3 ppg), senior center Daron Jenkins (12.4 ppg and 8.1 rpg) and senior guard Russell Johnson (11.8 ppg). Saturday's game with the Gamecocks and the Golden Eagles will be broadcast live by Raycom at 1 p.m. on WIS-TV channel 10. cock gre points per game. He holds the following team records: most consecutive games started (111), mosl points (1,972), highest scoring average (17.8) and most field goals (855). His #22 was retired following his senior season in 1976. In 1976, English was 'he 23rd player taken in the NBA raft (by the Milwaukee Bucks. Through two seasons with the B ;s, English averaged 7.7 points per game in a limited role. English signed with the Indiana Pacers for the 1978-79 season and would finally start making a scoring impact the following season averaging 14.9 points per gam( mrougn 04 games oeiore oein^ dealt to the Denver Nuggets. It was in Denver that English re ally started to show the star quality Gamecock fans knew he possesset all along. In 10-and-a-half season: h R.Vh Tovlnr Ijl ^ 1 aj 1U1 Chip Shots Sherry Dayid, Ann Gard? women will play their final home \ The 5 p.m. encounter with the men's game. This group of senio season title the past three years am Coach Nancy Wilson has guid ances, yet fan support has been m to diesc : ve deserving seniors! . . . My vote for college bas awesome Shaquille O'Neal. Johns hoops. O'Neal, who turns 19 year ian Laettner of Duke outplay the J thought). . . . Speaking of UNLV, NB^ Runnin' Rebels have SEVEN ever . . . Feat-of-the-Week Award [ three-point competition in Charlotl first 19 shots en route to the Long point arc is un-bee-lieev-able!!! . . . Which "sport" is a bigger pounding at the hands of Terry N< have done to a once-great sport, while their professional counterpar . . . With Jim Palmer attemptii Hank Aaron batting cleanup for tl Quaketown? Is Ted Williams goii stick to commentating and anderwi \ . . Congratulations to ourselv way, OK? , iat to NB/ with the Nuggets, English racked up a series of honors including being named to eight NBA All-Star teams, leading the league in scoring in 1983 (28.4 ppg), and scoring more points in the 1980s than any other player. English had his best year as a Nugget in 1986 when he scored 2,414 points for the second-best point average (29.8 per game) in the NBA that year. After being signed by Dallas as an unrestricted free-agent, English 1 is playing his first (and perhaps his final) season with the Mavericks. The NBA's leading active scorer , has had to adapt to a limited role j while playing behind younger forl wards Roy Tarpley and Rodnfey McCray. Through the first 46 - games, English is averaging only / 11 points per game, but has man1 aged to start half of the Mavs' s games. O'Neal nc _ Johnson i ier, Beverly Hawkins, Treka McMillian game in a Lady Gamecock uniform Mond Lady Tigers (not "Eagles," David Newi rs has been largely responsible for winn i being in the hunt for a fourth as this sea ed the Lady Gamecocks to three consec arginal. C'mon Carolina fans! Come out ketball Player of the Year goes to Larr on is the best player on the most talentei s old in March, can be incredibly domina Jhaq Attack this past weekend realizes O' l analyst Ted Green said on ESPN's Up itual first-round draft choices on their rost pes to Craig Hodges of the Chicago Bull te during All-Star Weekend. In the seconi ; Distance Shooters crown. Hitting 19 stn farce, professional boxing or professiona orris made further mockery of what the 1 It's ironic that amateur boxing and wre: ts are such charades. ig a baseball comeback, wonder who else ic Braves this year? Will Willie Mays p ig to put down the rod-n-reel and take ( sar ads. es here at USC! We are now officially ofl HP i^r JMp Mr# K Bjfl I I \ legend English's accomplishments off the court are also noteworthy. He is a published poet and one of only three major speakers who spoke along with Pope John Paul II at the "Service of Unity" at WilliamsBrice Stadium during the papal visit to Columbia in 1987. That same year he appeared in the movie Amazing Grace and Chuck with actress Jamie Lee Curtis and actor Gregory Peck. It is "Alex English- the humanitarian" though that English would probably like to be remembered for best. In a touching gesture, English proposed that he and the rest of the participants of the 1986 NRA All-Star Gamp, rlnnatp thpir pay for that game to the Ethiopian famine relief. He persuaded his fellow players, and the league adopted the proposal. )t un-'real,' 2 big 'deal' an.1 Karrr 1 llc-ton. These five lay against Memphis State, ton!) precedes the USC-Winthrop I r?rr tho \Aotrn Prvnforon/^a fa/tnlnr ni?j uiv itivuu iv^uiai son winds down. ;utive NCAA tournament appearearly and show your appreciation y Johnson of UNLV, not LSU's i team in the history of collegiate ting. But anyone who saw ChristNeal still has a ways to go (scary Close with Roy Firestone that the er. s for his performance in the NBA i round, Hodges connected on his light from behind the NBA three1 wrestling? Sugar Ray Leonard's ikes of Don King and Bob Arum ;tling are so legitimate in nature, will follow? Are we going to see atrol centerfield for the Giants in )ne last shot at .400? Listen Jim, F NCAA probation! Let's stay that V W . V