Wake Forest Athletics News

100% Cotten - Cotton Briefs
by Stan Cotten

Oct. 20, 2003

Choo-Choo Passes
This column goes to press on the heels of the news of the death of one of the ACC's all-time greats - Charlie "Choo-Choo" Justice, the first athlete named to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Justice wore number 22 for the North Carolina Tar Heels in the late 1940s and rushed and passed for 4,883 yards - a record that stood for 45 years until it was broken by Carolina quarterback John Stanicek in 1994.

"His contributions to the University of North Carolina and intercollegiate athletics as a whole are immeasurable," said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. "However, as impressive as his accomplishments were on the field, they could not surpass the quality of the individual. Greatness and humility are too seldom linked, but they certainly were with Charlie."

Justice was twice a runner-up in the voting for the Heisman Trophy before moving on to a successful stint with the Washington Redskins in the NFL. Just last year, Justice was honored by the Redskins as one of the franchise's all-time greats during the team's 70th anniversary celebration.

Justice was 79.

We've Got You Covered
With football season and basketball season set to overlap, covering both on the radio sometimes gets to be - challenging. On Saturday, November 29, the Deacons will hit the hardwood at Yale for a scheduled 1:00 ET start with no television coverage slated. On that same day, the football Deacs will be opposed by Maryland in what will be Wake Forest's regular season finale at Groves Stadium.

While nothing is definite yet, indications are that the football game will be an early afternoon start if not right at noon. Since there is no way to be two places at once, our early plan is to send Mark Freidinger along for the basketball game and have him hooked up with us at Groves Stadium so that he can give us multiple live reports on the basketball game during the coverage of the football game.

Along those same lines, the "Jim Grobe Show" originally scheduled for Wednesday, November 12, has been moved up one day to Tuesday night, November 11, of that week. That will allow me to host Coach Grobe's show and then accompany the basketball team to New York on Wednesday to prepare for the season opener opposite Memphis the next night, Thursday, November 13, at Madison Square Garden. We'll be back to North Carolina that night after the game so we can be in place on Saturday for the football game between Wake Forest and Connecticut.

What can I say? I have a great job.

Hoops Are Here
This article went to press on Friday, October 17, one day before the official starting date of college basketball practice. The Deacs have been hard at work already, though, on their own and in individual instruction sessions with Coach Skip Prosser and his staff and Coach Charlene Curtis and her staff.

It seems almost impossible that the men will be without Josh Howard, now a rookie with the Dallas Mavericks. It seems like Josh has been here as long as I have - and that's now going on eight years. But Howard is certainly gone, and the next few weeks will be interesting to see how the Deacons gel without him around. Of course they got a taste of that last season when Howard was ailing throughout the preseason and available very little in preseason practice, didn't they?

I feel better already.