Short shots while noting that McPherson’s Senior American Legion baseball team will be using wooden bats starting today in the Salina Grand Slam Tournament, which means there will be a crack of the bat instead of that irritating ping sound...
For the first time since we started at The Sentinel on Aug. 13, 1979, we’ll be without our security blanket.
Carol Swenson’s last day as McPherson College Sports Information Director was Tuesday, as he has decided to retire.
Swen has been our friend and mentor ever since we arrived into town all those lo, so many, years ago.
Swen was one of the first persons we met. At the time, he was a teacher at then-McPherson Junior High and served as statistician for the McPherson High football and basketball games.
It took only one game to realize just how important he would be to this reporter’s career. His detailed and precise way of keeping statistics made our career so much easier and we learned so much from him.
Swen, “Cousin” Claude Hughes and myself made a lot of football trips as the media crew, then were joined by Bob Hooper for basketball. We were quite the group, going to games and then replaying them on our trips home. In the “old days,” we would make trips to state basketball and not stay. If we made the finals, it made for a long week and we were glad once it was over.
Swen later moved to the high school, where he eventually succeeded Jay Frazier as the AD. He was able to train student assistants to keep the stats, just the way he did. Again, it made our job so much easier, as we concentrated on play-by-play and taking pictures.
Swen decided to join McPherson College nine years ago and gave the school a much-needed sports information department. There’s no question if he had wanted, he could have been an SID at an NCAA Division I school, but like he always said, he was comfortable living and working in a small town.
Most of all, Swen has been a good friend and confidant. He is one of the most respected people I know and never has said a bad word about anyone. Hopefully Swen and his wife, Donna, will get to travel to see the pride and joys of their lives, their kids and grandkids. They certainly both deserve it.
We’re sure Swen will still be around at games, but just as we’d like to do, he’ll be able to watch them only as a fan.
Thanks for all the help, Swen. Hopefully I can do you proud during the twilight years of my career.
BACK TO THE BLUES -- Following Sunday’s final round of the McPherson City Golf Tournament, it was decided by those who played that the blue tees would be played next year at Turkey Creek.
The tournament committee decided this year to experiment with playing the white tees. It was thought that there might be more interest in the tournament, as the numbers have dropped from the low 90s to the high 50s in the last 10 years.
A majority of those playing this year regularly play the blues anyway. The white tees made Turkey Creek much easier, and it reflected in the scoring. The average score was 80, just one stroke less than Rolling Acres. Normally, the margin is closer to 10.
All three courses were in tremendous shape and the superintendents should be lauded -- Jason Buschbom, Greg Jermark and Morris Mills.
Hopefully next year the numbers will get back into the 70s, as it truly is a great event.
COULD HENRYS BE TROUBLE? -- KU basketball fans have to be squirming about the Henry brothers’ situation.
For those who haven’t been following this bizarre scenario, KU beat reporter J. Brady McCullough -- who works for The Kansas City Star, which feeds its stories to The Wichita Eagle -- wrote a piece on Sunday that painted a rather unflattering picture of Xavier and C.J. Henry, and especially their father, former KU star Carl Henry.
There was talk Tuesday by Carl, who seemed to be more in a snit than anybody else, that his sons might ditch KU for Kentucky. By the time things calmed down, the Henrys were still at KU, so it turned out to be much to do about nothing.
But you just have to wonder how Xavier Henry is going to be perceived by his new teammates. He comes to KU with a truckload of hype, though in the college game he hasn’t proved diddly. There’s a lot of talk about him being one-and-done, but what happens if he comes in and doesn’t even average double figures on what already figured to be a top-five team without him.
C.J. Henry is also as intriguing as he wants to be more than a tagalong. He should be a mature player, having already toiled professionally as a minor-league baseball player.
Bill Self, who has the velvet glove when it comes to handling such situations, is going to have his work cut out for him. He’s got a lot of talent to juggle and some feelings are bound to be hurt.
What had promised to be a fascinating season for the Jayhawks has become even more fascinating. We’re just hoping the thing just doesn’t all blow up.
McPherson, Kan. —
