all' e,encis, L OY
tt PAIG appeared on
. hil career. th· 1949
lSO'�num( idl"Sau:heI" misspelled)
. ty itself... Pai e appears
e hard-to-find hi,h nwnber
240 card set ... This card
il most expensive in the set,
$120001' more in near-mint ... Don't
despair if you ant one: there w a
reprint in the 1 9 Bowman set ...
Pai e wu a colorful and beloved tar
. in. old egro Lea ucs, often called
the t pi�her ever ... He played for
the Indi , Browns, and A'I in &he
majors, folio in, a Ion carea with
the Binnin,ham Bla Barons, Pius­
burp Craw fords, KInI City on-
, many ocher &eamI in the
U. . and Latin America ... MDon',
look bile • somethin miaht be ,ain­
ina on you."
The Bas ball Hall of Fame Veterans
Committee chose one of the top pitch­
en of the World War n yean, HAL
NEWHOUSER, for induction this year
... Kept from military service because
of a heart defect. "Prince Hal" pitched
fOl' his hometown Detroit Tigers ... He
is the only pitcber to win consecutive
MVP Awuds.I944-45, when his 29-9
and 25-9 mU'ks led the lea,ue ...
Newhouser won two ,ames in the '45
World Sen ,including the seventh
lame v, the Cubs ... After the War, Hal
posted two more 20-win seasons, be­
fOR developing shoulder trouble ...
The card is from the 1960"Aeer Base­
ball Greats set, 168, probably lOin, up
from ill C\UTCJ\t guide value of $3 ...
1be best and most popular player in
the history of the New Yark Mell,
TOM SEAVER won a record per­
centqe 'of the writen' vote to enter
Cooperstown on his first ballot thiJ
year ... The '67 Rookie of the Year led
the "Millcle Mets" to the champion-
hip in 1969 ... He won the Cy Y OUIl,
AwU'd that year. and added other Cy
Youn,s in '73 and '75 ... Althouah
often a victim of poor offense, Seaver
still won 25,. of Mell victoriea in the
1967 -77 period ... "Tom Terrific" wu
• strikeout pilCher. poItina} 0 years of
200 or more whiffs ... The card is'300
in 1970 Topps, ruin, like other early
Seaven this yuz. up 10 the $ 1 00 ran,e
for carda in top condition '"
Bob Shannon w born and raised
din-poor in large family in Mi is­
ippi. His athletic kills won him
chol r hip to Tenne ee St te,
where he w a 12th round draft pick
of Washington Redskins in the
Vince Lombardi era. Cut in training
camp, turned to co ching - and
to East St. Loui , Illinoi . Now, n r­
ly two decade later, Bob Shannon is
widely regarded the greatest coach
in Illinoi high chool football.
The Right Kind of Heroes (Algon­
quin Books of Chapel Hill,
$1B.95/har.jcover), by Kevin Har­
rigan, tell the story of thi remark­
able m n and his phenomenally
ucee ful team, the Flyers of East St.
Loui High School.
In Shannon's years as head coach
at thi tough, inner city school, the
Flyers have won the Illinois state
championship six of the eight time
they've gone to the finals. The
team' overall record is 171-26, and
they are undefeated this season,
Shannon's 11th.
grades are better than the t of the
hool' tudents, twice many go
to college.
Some even go to the pro - from
the former great tight end for San
Diego, Kellen Winslow, to the Mi mi
Dolphin' ri ing tar, linebacker
Bryan Cox.
The Right Kind of Heroes follows
the fortunes of Coach Shannon and
tbe Flyers for two seasons, 1990 and
1991- in the off-season, at practice,
at home game ,and on the road.
FOR SHANNON, these were
seasons filled with worry and doubt
- about the caliber of his players and
their commitment to his program,
about injuries and ineligibility, about
outside interference and political
meddling.
But he didn't throw up his hands
and walk away from difficulty.
"Black inner city coaches are always
suspect," he comments. "The per­
ception is that they can't coach, and
they've got all these good players, so
they must be cheating. My
philosophy is to get good kids who
may be good athletes, but they've got
to be good kids first."
Bob Shannon is not only the head
coach of the Flyers he is also the
groundskeeper, the -security guard,
and the head equipment man - sole-
lyres robtainingwhatever
the tea 'in an equipment-in-
tensive sport. The Flyers are not
pampered athletes. "We don't
produce athletic bums," Shannon
says. "You can't go through life
figuring everybody owes you some­
thing."
Bob Shannon lives high school
football 365 days a year. At 47; he
has been named High School Coach
of year five times by The Sporting
News. Yet he earns just $2,500 for
his football duties above his $36,500
a nnua 1 salary as a tenured teacher;
and his coaching contract, renewable
yearly, is protected only by his won­
lost record.
Shannon has turned down
numerous college offers. Will he
remain in East S1. Louis? His wife,
for one, believes he has found his
calling in life. ' Shannon will be at
Eastside with the Flyers, she predicts"
"until he dies."
By. HAR�Y M. ANDERSON. JR. opposittion to go fastewr than they
SpfIC,., to Michigan Citizen normally do."
"I tell them
that this is
basically
the last all­
Black situa­
tion they" II
ever have to
deal with."
BUT WINNING ISN'T the only
thing. Bob Shannon makes a real
difference in his players' lives. "My
job is to prepare these guys to do the
best they can while they're here, and
to survive once they get out of here,"
he says.
"I tell them that this is basically
the last all-Black situation they'Il
ever have to deal with." His credo is
"Get it done" - do the job no matter
what the obstacle or odds against.
No excuses.
The important result? Because
players must stay eligible in order to
play, and because Shannon team's
coach Bob Shannon, head football coach of the powerhouse high school footbaJlteam, the Easside Flyers
of East St. Louis, Illinois. (photo by Odell Mitchell Jr.)
Coach shannon expresses dimay after a play. (Photo by Odell Mitchell Jr.)
Titan women look for repeat performanc
After finishing third in the Mid­
western City Conference with a 6-6
conference and a 17-12 overall
record, the University Of Detroit
Women's Basketball Squad are
hungry for more action from their
MCC and non-conference foes.
In his "third season as head coach
Fred Proctor, a former Wayne State
basketball player and former girls
basketball coach at St. Martin De­
Porres, ees a com[petitive, but
promising road ahead for the Titan
Women.
"We expect to be a young team,"
Proctor said. "We have some inex­
perience, but were working hard at it.
'We're coming off a good year from
last cason and we would I ike to build
on that this season. We expect to be
competitive in every game we pI y. It
"We're going to have an up­
tempo game and plan to be quicker
than I t year. Our team i smaller
than last year. We like to t out and
run and to execute more of a control
fastbreak by pushing the ball up th
court. We want to push the ball as
much as we can so we tan force the
TITAN WOMEN ,LOST
Heather Longar (13.B points per
season, Proctor explained that the U
of 0 is moving in the proper direc­
tion to attract kid� from the Detroit
high schools.
game, 6.B rebounds per game, .705
free throw average) and Denise Cook
(B.O ppg, 56 steals, 63 assists) to
graduation. Taking up the slack this
year will be 5-9 Patrice Martin, a
senior guard from Flint
Northwestern,' Stacy Kriza, 6-3
senior forward, Amira Danforth, a
5-B sophomore .guard from West
Bloomfield and Freshman Faith Cyr,
a 5-11 forward. Proctor expects
them to step in and fill tho sneakers
of Longar and Cook.
"WE'VE BEEN constantly
recruiting kids from the City," He ex­
plained. "It's very important for the
U of 0 to make our campus acces­
sible to the Detroit PSL and catholic
Schools. During erly signings we just
signed a kid who's from Cass Tech,
the same team that beat King in the
State Districts. That's a major step to
tart a trickle-down move for kids to
come from the PSL."
"It's understandble for kids to go
away and play for a college out of
state, but if you have program for
kids to respect and know that they can
get some national exposure, then
they'll come to the U of D and other
kids will follow." ,
Al though picked to finish fifth out
of eight teams in the MCC, Proctor is
confident that his squad will respond
to
"We think we're competitive
enough to run with them. We just
have to improve ourselves. "
"THOSE THREE PLAYERs
(Martin, Kriza and Danforth) are
probably our key returning players,"
Proctor said. "Cyr is a good freshman
who'll give us orne good quality
minutes.'"
"Anita Jones and Ann Shaw will
also have to give us orne quality time
on the floor."
Jon ,a 6-1 senior center from
Cleveland, Ohio has B.1 poin per
game average last eason. She also
had 16 blocked hots,21 teals and a
free throw percentage of .690. Shaw,
a junior college transfer averged 11.2
points per game' for St. Clair Com­
rnunity College.
Although the Titan Women have
no local talent from the PSL this
Patrice Martin .