The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 21, 1999, Page Page 9, Image 9
Wednesday, April 21, 1999
exist in the
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somewhere around No. 812 at the time.
USC Head Coach Joe Morrison had
led his troops to big victories at Notre
Dame and Michigan and was poised
to take over the coveted No. 1 ranking
because every other team in the
top five had lost that day.
Somehow, though, USC lost to
Navy, by a pretty embarrassing score
in fact, and was sent packing.
No problem here.
The team went on to beat Clemson
the next week on a last-second
field goal, and proceeded to the Gator
Bowl to play Oklahoma State.
Chalk up another loss, which made
us 0-6 in bowl games. What did that
amount to?
Our best season ever and nothing
to show for it
The team continued to flourish
throughout the '80s, and people
IhoughtUSChadfinally found the answer
to its problems.
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even soifl) ixie vDockhi vurs6 is deeo*
He was almost right, because a week
later, Morrison was found dead because
of a heart attack.
(We won't go into where he was
| when he had the heart attack.;
Two fans
by Kelly Kurt
Associated Press
COMMERCE, Okla. ? Like others b
Brassfield and Todd McClain dream of g
Quincy St.
Here, at the crumbling house where Mt
his young son with big-league visions, tl
no baseball fan could miss. Here, wher
honed his swing with a tin shed for a ba
sion crowds of tourists.
"We've even talked about the tin bar
bat against it, just like he did," said Bra
up in nearby Miami, Okla., trading bas
"Commerce Comet."
The 37-year-olds, buddies since Littl
Mantle's boyhood home in this small to\
ago.
They sold it in a New York auction ii
a lawyer to get it back, after the $60,500
[
, t? , a
___________________________
' This hex i
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The Curse also mocked USC during
its greatest moment.
As George Rogers walked onstage
m New York in 1980 to accept the Heisman
Trophy, most Carolina fans
thought it couldn't get any better.
H beEd"7JhTy
you guessed it, Clemson.
To later add to our chagrin, Clemson
won the national championship
the very next year.
This hex doesn't just exist in the
big sports, either.
Our men's soccer team is one of
the best programs in the nation.
In 1993, the chance came to prove
that, as coach Mark Berson led his
team to the NCAA finals against Virginia.
A loyal crowd had shown up at
Davidson College to cheer our boys cm
to victory to finally end a century's
worth of athletic mediocrity.
mi. - /i 1 - J - _ J
ine KXJise snowea up again, ana
use got a 2-1 loss and a second-place
trophy.
a 63-5 record behind the pitching of
Joyce Compton.
lobbying
who wanted to m<
through.
~~ ~ ~ "Our main obje
efore them, Brian keep the house
reatness at 319 S. The four-room
facing a cluttered 1
itt Mantle coached in water-stained 1
iey see a museum The weak, wo
e Mickey Mantle Peeling wallpapei
ckstop, they envi- a baseball-sized h
Brassfield and
n and letting kids home to what it
ssfield, who grew ^ 1944
eball cards of the The men> sale
are using their sa
e League, bought pockets can take tl
vn about six years gaj^
They are look
n 1994, then hired ja ? toys, blue je
i deal with a buyer Famer's name<
m s? i
H
CAROLINA
ioesn'tjust
either."
It also set an NCAA record for consecutive
wins and collected an SEC
chamraonshio.
Then it advanced to the College
World Series, where it lost two straight
and went home.
The latest example of the Curse
could be seen last Wednesday on the
baseball field, when the Gamecocks
somehow managed to lose to a weakened
Tiger squad.
It will never cease to amaze me
how that team can play like champions
for every night, but whenever
Clemson comes to town, they suddenly
turn into the Rickey Dinks of Pittsburgh
Pirates fame.
One of my friends was heard to remark,
"I can't believe this happened
again. I knew that damned Curse
could never be broken,"
"No matter how many orange
crayons my daddy broke when I was
little, the Curse lives on."
I don't know how to beat the Curse.
However, I do know if our players could
go into just one game without the
knowledge of the Curse, they might
pull something off. The next chance is
tonight at Clemson.
I'll be there ? will you?
I for muse
Dve it to Las Vegas or Branson, Mo., fell
tctive is not to get rich," McClain said. "It's
and preserve it."
clapboard home sits at the edge of town,
lot. Its roof sags. Inside, the ceiling bulges
ayers.
oden floor requires careful negotiation,
r shivers in a breeze that blows through
ole in a front-room window.
McClain are just beginning to restore the
as when Mantle lived there between 1934
s managers at a plastics manufacturer,
vings and aren't sure how far their own
aem. "We're not wealthy people," McClain
ing for a collection of Mantle memorabil:ans
and other items bearing the Hall of
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IT PAYS TO
\ SPORTS
1999 Gamecock Spoi
1. UCLA, Men's Soccer
2. Ole Miss, Men's Basketball
3. Ball State, Football
4. UNC, Men's Soccer
1. Vanderbilt, Football
2. ECU, Men's Basketball
3. Syracuse, Men's Basketball
4. Miss. State, Football *
i^trhivEB?
1. Marshall, Football
2. Syracuse, Men's Basketball
3. SEC, Women's Basketball
4. SEC, Football
:um in Mantle
The two envision life-size bronze statues of a young Mantle
and his father engaged in a practice session in the front
yard.
They want Commerce to clean up neglected lots and
make Mantle's old haunts, like the football field, accessible
to tourists. And they want the town to return its main
streets to tne vintage smaii town an impisn Mantle lett
for the New York Yankees.
"The fans will see that hard work can take you places
no matter where you come from," they wrote, in a synopsis
of their plans.
Mayor Jack Young, a 74-year-old Commerce native, has
his doubts that tourists will be drawn off nearby highways
for that.
"That house has been there for years and years," he said.
"It's at a dead-end road."
And he doubts local folks will rally to support the effort.
Not that they're against it, he said. It's just that some people
here still have hard feelings about Mantle, even though
nearly four years have passed since his death.
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Page 9
rts Cornwallis Awards
1. Men's Soccer
2. Baseball
3. Track and Field
4. Equestrian
I 1. Lou Holtz Coming to USC
2. 1998 baseball team
|| 3. Basketball G.P.A.
4. Troy Hambrick's dismissal
1. Mike McGee
2. Eddie Fogler
3. Brad Scott
4. LeRon Williams
1. Lou Holtz
2. Aaron Lucas
3. Derek Watson
4. Megan Matthews
iiMHilnl'HH'liHiMil'll'UHilhM
1. Courtney Leavitt
2. Hagen Rouse
3. Steve Florio
4. Equestrian Team
's hometown
"Mickey Mantle didn't even show up when they dedicated
Mickey Mantle Boulevard," Young said. "People got
down on him for stuff like that."
Former postmaster Bill Brumley recalled that when the
Civic Pride Committee tried to start a Mantle museum a
decade ago, the slugger's lawyer threatened to sue.
But he still wants to see one.
"Tourism would bring in a lot of dollars. People would
see the area, you know, and maybe they'd like to move to a
nice, quiet area like this," Brumley said.
Brassfield and McClain believe their attraction could
draw 100,000 visitors a year and complement a proposed
Mantle museum in Grove, 20 miles to the south.
Neil Sakow, who operates Neil's American Dream Mu
seum in Connecticut, suspects a Mantle museum will appeal
to baby boomers nostalgic for the 1950s and '60s, and
the golden age of baseball represented in Mantle's countryboy
charm.
"Everybody, they just melt when they go back to childhood,"
Sakow said. "And the Mickey Mantle name is magic."
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