The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 50, Ed. 1 Monday, December 29, 1997 Page: 7 of 12
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Rige 1-B ❖ THE BAYTOWN SUN ❖ Monday, December 29,1997
Schedule
Monday. December 29
Basketball
■Sterling men at Conroe Tournament vs.
Cy Creek, 1:30 p.m.
■Day one of Gulf Coast Classic at Barters Hill
Barbers Hill v^omen vs. Concordia
Lutheran, 10:30 a.m.
Barbers HUI women vS. TBD, 6 p.m.
Sterling women vs. Kingwood, 3 p.m.
Barbers Hill men vs. Concordia Luther-
an, 7:30 p.m.
Tell iis about it
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Tide charts
Galveston Bay
Monday. December 29
Lowtide ...........9:28a.m.
High tide ..... .5:41p.m.
Lowtide........ .10:08 p.m.
(sunrise ,7:16 a.m., sunset 5:31 p.m.)
Tuesday, December 30
High tide .1:54 a.m.
Lowtide ......10:09a.m.
High tide ..........621p.m.
Lowtide..........10:54 p.m.
(sunrise,7:16 a.m.. sunset 5:32 p.m.)
Playoff picture sharpens
after wild-card weekend
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Big Som-
brero rocked, and so did the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers.
The Buccaneers celebrated their
return to the playoffs after a 15-year
absence Sunday, shutting down Barry
Sanders and playing with the poise of
postseason veterans in a 20-10 victory
over the Detroit Lions.
The victory, in the Bucs’ first home
playoff game since 1979, sends them
to Green Bay next Sunday for a third
meeting this season against the
defending Super Bowl champion.
■■■
FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) — The New
England Patriots completed a rare
three-game season sweep of Miami,’
stealing signals and passes and man-
handling Dolphin quarterback Dan
Marino again, and won 17-3 Sunday.
Next stop: a second-round game
Saturday in Pittsburgh, the only team
to beat the Patriots in their last six
.games.. The Steelers are one of three
teams held without a touchdown in
New England’s last four playoff games,
two of them on the Patriots’ roll to last
season’s Super Bowl.
Saturday. Dec- 27
Minnesota 23, New York Giants 22
Denver 42, Jacksonville 17
Sunday. Dec28
New England 17, Miami 3
Tampa Bay 20, Detroit 10
Divisional Playoffs
Saturday, Jan. 3
New England at Pitt., 11:30 a.m. (NBC)
Minnesota at San Fran., 3 p.m. (FOX)
Sunday, Jan^4
. Tampa at Green Bay, 11:30 p.m. (FOX).
Denver at KansasCity, 3 p:m: (NBC)
Barbers Hill basketball
tournament begins today
The Gulf Coast Classic Basketball
Tournament is underway at the Bar-
bers Hill Independent School District
complex. The following list reflects the
opening round schedule. . ,ro—
Men’s bracket
■ Port Arthur Austin vs. Anahuac at
the high school gym, 9 a.m.
■ Huffman vs. Northwest Academy at
the fieldhouse gym, 9 a.m.
■ Boys Prep vs. Trinity Christian at the
high school gym, noon
■ Lutheran South vs. Hardin at the
fieldhouse gym,'noon
■ Royal vs. Hamshire Fannett at the
high school gym, 3 p.m.
■ Hull-Daisetta vs. Tarkington at the
fieldhouse gym, 3 p.m.
■ High Island vs. Goodrich at the high
school gym, 7:30 p.m.
■ Barbers Hill vs. Concordia at the
fieldhouse gym, 7:30 p.m.
Women’s bracket
■ Hastings vs. St. Agnes at the middle
school west gym, 9 a.m.
■ De La Salle, La. vs. Dickinson at the
middle school east gym, 9 a.m.
■ Barbers Hill vs. Concordia at the
fieldhouse gym, 10:30 a.m.
■ Forest Brook vs. Memorial at the high
school gym, 10:30 a.m.
■ Silsbee vs. Salmon Arm 12 at the
middle school east gym, 10:30 a.m.
■ Brookshire Royal vs. Stratford at the
. middle school west gym. 10:30 a.m.
■ Westfield vs. Katy at the middle
school east gym, noon
■ Westbury Christian vs. Jasper at the
middle school westgym, noon
■ Oak Ridge vs. Salmon Arm 11 at the
middle school west gym, 1:30 p.m.
■ Cleveland vs. Nimitz at the high
school gym, 1:30 p.m.
■ Dobie vs. Conroe at the middle
school west gym, 3 p.m.
■ Sterling vs. Kingwood at the mid-
dle school east gym, 3 p.m.
- Editors note: The games listed
above represent the first round of
action at the Gulf Coast Classic Tour-
nament. Due to the number of teams
involved in the tournament and the 1
number of games each team must
play to determine a winner, several of
the participating teams will play multi-
ple games on Monday. To follow a
specific team, fans should refer to the
numerous tournament bracket boards
that will be posted throughout the Bar-
bers Hill complex.
The best of ‘Sun’ sports ’97
race day.
Risiis the local connection as well as the
man that makes this new powerhouse team
come together. Some of Risi’s business inter-
ests are Ferrari of Houston, Ferrari of Dallas
and Ferrari of Mexico City. He also recently
acquired the Mercedes Benz dealership in
River Oaks.
Early in life, Risi worked in conjunction ,
with the factory racing efforts and has main-
tained a good relationship with them ever
since.
Whenever he surfaces, he always seems to
be the glue for whatever team (or teams) he
is working with.
I’ll give you a for-instance. In advertising
it’s rare to see competitors share space. Each
company wants sole exposure when they are
spending the kinds of dollars we see on
today’s multi-million dollar deals. Can you
imagine Dale Earnhardt wearing Mr. Good-
wrench colors on one side and Ford Quality
Care on the other?
Well, on these factory-backed 333-SPs tihat
the Dqyle-Risi racing team will be using,
will you see big boys Danka and Toshiba -
side-by-side. These are two world leaders in
only real stated goal for the group is to win
LeMans at some point during the next three
years.
I know what you’re thinking. We’ve seen
many “Dream Teams” assembled over the
years, a little in racing, a lot in the courtroom
and even out there on the hardwood of the
NBA and the Olympics.
But rarely have we seen such a pool of tal-
ent amassed in auto racing all aimed at one
single goal.
Doyle has been quite successful as a team
owner and has helped developed the Ameri-
•' — ’ r-
doning the Ferrari 333-SP. With a very talent-
sity, over 25 local student athletes, both
male and female, were offered (and accept-
ed) college scholarships in 1997. Perhaps
this should be the No. 1 story of the year
every year."
i ft. Q —Two local fishermen,
■ Ot Cl who were participating in a
summer-long fishing tournament, struck it
rich by reeling in some very valuable fish.
First Robert Ibarra, a security guard at Lee
College, caught a 10-pound, 13-ounce
speckled trout out of Trinity Bay that was
worth a new boat, motor and trailer. It was
the largest trout (on record) ever caught in
theseparts. '
Then Larry Wilkey, who owns and oper-
ates the State Farm Insurance office on
Baker Road caught a specially tagged red-
fish that he cashed in for a new truck, boat,
motor and trailer. ■■
Since we’re all being deluged with multi-
tudes of “The Best of 1997” stories, I
thought I’d contribute my thoughts.
Fortunately for all of us, there were sev-
- eral notable accomplishments by local ath-
letes and their teams. In fact, there were too
many to mention them all here. So I nar-
rowed my list to the few that had made a
big enough impression on me that I could
remember them off of the top of my head,
before I researched my notes. ro , ~
I f inally decided on a top-10 list that was
pared down by how important I believe
these events will be when weighed over the
course of time.
1— The top story of the year was. an
easy selection. Clearly, the Barbers
Hill Lady Eagle basketball team emerging
from a pool of literally hundreds of schools
to become the state champions of women’s
3 A basketball was the biggest local sports
story of the year.
Let the record reflect that Head Coach
Pennee Hall and starters Danyelle Grimes,
Aarika Florus, Julie Sandefur, Jennifer
Dover, Jackie Sanders and the entire Eagle
bench should be remembered forever as the
crown jewels of 1997.
2— Lee High School sophomore
Andrea Gardiner became the first
African American skater to win the United
States Junior National Figure Skating title.
The dramatic come-from-behind win
that Gardiner used to capture the champi-
onship against the best skaters in the world
could have easily been the top choice on
my list. Trust me, there will be many more
times when Gardiner, who was just 16
years old when she won this title, puts Bay-
town on the map and in front of the world.
3 - The Lee Gander football team
going three games deep into the
High School playoffs.
The excitement generated by Head
Coach Dick Olin’s Ganders had the city
both happy to share this rare space. I credit
Risi for this new spirit of cooperation.
And I’m not finished. Not only has this
team brought competing companies together,
they have also brought two of the most tal-
ented sportscar drivers together.
In their No. 1 car, the team will be led by a
pair of world champs, Wayne Taylor and Fer-
mine Velleze. These guys have spent the past
few years trying to drive the other into obliv-
ion. Now they are like brothers and have
• quickly formed a kinship bond to reach their
goal — a LeMans title. ’ '
The 1998 season starts early. Press day for .
The 24-Hours of Daytona is Jan. 7 with first
round qualifying on Jan. 10. The race itself
will start shortly after 11 a.m. CST on Satur-
day, Jan. 31. and will last throughout the
night until exactly — by the Rolex — 24
hours later.
Next week we’ll talk about what this team
has to do with racing in Houston for 1998.
Isn’t CART coming first?
Bobby Crisp covers auto racing for The
Sun and can be heard on 950-KPRC every
Saturday during the "Let’s Go Racing with
Jay Davis" show.
buzzing throughout the season. The team
went 11-2, swept through their district and
finished as area champs. And don’t forget,
the man that got them there, quarterback
Ell Roberson III, will be back next year.
— Sterling graduate-tumed-profes-
sional boxer, Calvin “The Dream”
Green, cruised through ’97 with a 5-0-1
mark to improve his overall record to 10-0-
1. Green’s only blemish came in a draw that
was brought on by an inadvertent head-butt
that forced the fight to be stopped.
I believe that this story is big for one rea-
son — Green has the tools and capabilities
to be a world champion. We all know that
boxing i s a strange world and that anything
can happen, but if Green stays focused, he
too could put Baytown on the map.
— Houston Raceway Park lands a
second yearly national drag racing
event. Take all the money and notoriety
generated fo,r Baytown and its economy by
the 100,000-plus fans that make the. annual
pilgrimage to the Slick 50 Nationals in
March and double it. Enough said.
dfr — Beginning with National Signing
V Day in February, when 10 men
signed on the dotted line, and continuing
on through to last Friday when Luke Bar-
rett of Anahuac committed to Rice Univer-
Above: On March 1, the
Barbers Hill Lady Eagle
basketball team hoist-
ed the state champi-
onship trophy over their
heads for the first time
since 1983. It was The
Sun’s sports story of
the year. (
Left The Lee Gander
football teams’inspira-
tional playoff march in
1997 was the best run
by a Maroon team in
21 years.
File pbotosby .
Alison Ashworth and John Rowland
In — Lee College pro- ’
V duced a pair of winners.
In the early part of the year, the men’s bas-
ketball team reached the final four of their
conference tournament in Waco. It was
their best finish in Head Coach Roy Cham-
pagne’s tenure.
In the fall, the‘Lady Rebel volleyball
squad earned their first berth to the Nation-
al Junior College Athletic Association
National Tournament in Utah.
As I said from .the start, we are indeed
fortunate that these weren’t the only high-
lights of the year. Countless inspirational
stories and a handful of disappointments
made 1997 a year we will all remember.
I can't wait for 1998.
Robert Geiger is the sports editor at The
Sun.
Andrea Gardiner took on the best in the world
and won, capturing the United States Junior
National Figure Skating Championship.
Ferrari backs local group in hopes of gaining LeMans title
Editor’s note: Due to the extensive cover-
age plannedfor the Gulf Coast Classic Bas-
ketball Tournament which takes place today
through Wednesday in Barbers Hill, Bobby
Crisp’s racing column, which usually
appears on Tuesdays, has been moved to
today's Sports page. Crisp will return to his
usual Tuesday spot next week.
As I promised in last week’s column, we’ll
spend some time today talking about the
Doyle-Risi racing team. This is a newly
formed group that has a lot of horsepower
behind it.
What’s amazing is that for the first time
that I can remember, the Ferrari factory is
spending it ’s precious factory dollars in
sportscar racing. This is money that could be
going to their vaunted F-I program and if
1997 was a standard, their 1998 effort may
be worth a world championship.
Nevertheless, it quite a statement for them
to say (with their money and support) that
they actually have enough faith m Mr. Doyle
and Mr. Risi to back them. Further, while the can made Riley & Scott chassis after aban-
Ferrari folks admit that it would be nice if ....... .. .'. L’ _ , ,
Doyleand Risiactually win someof the U.S. ed driver, Wayne Taylor, and his main spon- ..............
endurance races they plan on entering, the sor, Danka, his team is always a factor on office productivity products and they are
SCORES
and morn
PRO FOOTBALL
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 50, Ed. 1 Monday, December 29, 1997, newspaper, December 29, 1997; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1176700/m1/7/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.