KFDM COOP

Gamble Stars impress coach, players Noah Cole was proud to find himself in such good company Monday evening. “It's nice to be playing for a Hall of Fame coach,†the Vidor High senior said after the first practice for Friday night's Port Arthur News-James Gamble All-Star game ended at Lamar-Port Arthur's Parker Center. “It's an honor.†Cole is one of 11 finalists for the James Gamble Awards that will go to the two best basketball players in Southeast Texas Saturday night. They all convened to meet Gamble and start the preparation to play a team from Houston at the Parker Center Friday at 8 p.m. This is the third year that Vidor High School has had a player named finalist, with Jake McWilliams and George Williamson preceding Cole. “It was definitely a goal of mine to keep that tradition going,†said the 6-1 guard, who as a sophomore and junior helped Vidor to the playoffs for the first two times in school history, then averaged more than 20 points per game as a senior. Cole joins Ozen's Kris Richard, Hardin-Jefferson's Ryan Donahoe, West Brook's Nicholas Pearson and the Central duo of Brandon Moton and Keith Fisher on the roll of Mr. Outside finalists. Mr. Inside finalists are Memorial's Dominique Keller, Silsbee's Bryan Harris, Kelly's Johnathan Brown, Richard Netherly of West Orange-Stark and Mack Randall of Ozen. Richard, Donahoe and Netherly are juniors; all others are seniors. Keller is the only repeat finalist. “Everybody was asking me what they were supposed to do,†Keller, a 6-foot-7 senior, said. “I told them to just sit back and listen. That's all you can do. He (Gamble) knows pretty much everything about this game and you can learn a lot.†The learning curve may not be so steep for Brown, a Port Arthur resident who helped Kelly to three state TAPPS championships. At the Beaumont school, he played for James Knowles, a former Gamble assistant. “It was fun getting to know all the kids from around the Golden Triangle,†the 6-3 senior said. “And coach Gamble makes it feel like home. I know his system because I played for coach Knowles.†The importance of being on time is one thing they'll all learn. A slow start Monday bugged the 72-year-old Gamble, who led Port Arthur Lincoln to four state titles in the 1980s, and is 2-0 in coaching the all-star games that precede the annual Gamble Awards ceremony. “That was really disappointing to me. It threw us all off,†he said about the players not being ready to begin at the appointed hour. Several of them needed help finishing up paperwork. “We got a good hour's work in, but we didn't get to do everything we needed to do.†Maybe it was the short practice that couldn't be extended because Gamble had promised the players he'd let them off in time to watch Monday's NCAA championship game on TV. Maybe it was a better conditioned team. For whatever reason, the players didn't seem nearly as worn out as their predecessors after their first day of practicing for Gamble and assistant coach Melvin Getwood. “People seemed to be in good shape,†the coach said. “For the first day, they seemed to be the best conditioned group I've had. But we didn't get a full practice session in, so I didn't really get a good picture of what's going on.†Keller liked what he saw. “This team's better than last year,†he said of the group led by Mr. Inside Ashton Hall of Kountze and Mr. Outside Rod Bellard of Ozen. “We've got more shooters than last year, and we're bigger and stronger than last year. “We can press them or set it up, slow it down or do whatever we want to do.†Gamble, who spent most of his time working with the outside players, said he was impressed with the first-day showing of Richard and Moton. “Those two youngsters kind of stood out pretty good,†the coach said. Tickets to Friday night's Gamble Award Game are priced at $3 for adults and $2 for students. They are on sale at the Port Arthur News offices at 3501 Turtle Creek Drive and at the Lamar State College-Port Arthur business office at the corner of Stilwell and Procter.

Security boost too late for Titans? With arrangements being made for extra security in light of last week's parking lot shootout, Port Arthur school officials decided Monday to allow their baseball team to play its remaining five home games as scheduled. But Memorial High's District 22-5A competitors were balking at coming to Port Arthur. West Brook baseball coach Jacob Walton said Monday afternoon that he'd been told by principal Rodney Cavness the Bruins definitely aren't coming to Port Arthur to play a game scheduled for Tuesday night. “My principal told me we're not going over there,†he said. “After what happened last week, we're not going to take a chance.†Walton was referring to the bus crash that killed two West Brook soccer players on their way to a playoff game. “The other schools are pretty much refusing to come down there,†added Cavness, who is chairman of the 22-5A district executive committee. Memorial baseball coach Wayne McKeller said later Monday that he was notified by Port Arthur athletic director Ronnie Thompson that the Titans would travel to West Brook for Tuesday's 6 p.m. games. West Brook-Memorial subvarsity games, which are usually played at the homefield of the visiting varsity team, were canceled, McKeller said. He said a meeting of the district executive committee would decide where to play Memorial's remaining home games. Friday, Thompson announced a ban on home games in Port Arthur for the rest of the season after members of two rival gangs exchanged about 15 rounds of gunfire in the parking lot during a game between Memorial and Spring. Some of the bullets reportedly hit structures inside the ballpark, which is surrounded by a chain-link fence, but no one was injured. As of Monday night, Port Arthur police had arrested five people in connection with the incident. McKeller switched all remaining home games to the opponents' site Friday at Thompson's request. Monday, he was trying to call those same coaches and get the games moved back to Port Arthur. The switch in thinking by PAISD officials came after pledging over the weekend to rethink Thompson's prohibition of home games. At a Monday meeting, new security arrangements were settled on. “We re-evaluated the situation,†Thompson said. “We got with the UIL, got with the umpires association, got with the superintendent, got with the principal, the chief of police and sat down and put our heads together to see what we could do. “We're going to reprocess this thing back to the original schedule, but there will be security at every game. There will be enough security, or more than enough security, at every game.†Port Arthur police chief Mark Blanton said the new PAISD security plan calls for a minimum of two off-duty policemen working security at every baseball game. Three were scheduled for Tuesday night's game, he said. Because of a communication mixup, no policemen was present at Thursday's game. “I don't think that having a policeman there would have stopped them,†Blanton said. “From what I learned, it (the ball field lot) was just a place for them to pull over. It could have been a grocery store parking lot. They were just looking for a place to light. “It (the shooting) had nothing to do with the baseball game.†Dennis Sedtal, vice president of the local chapter of high school baseball umpires, took exception to a statement by Thompson that the chapter had refused to work Memorial games. He said the necessary vote by chapter leadership never took place. He noted that individual umpires have the right to refuse to work for particular schools, but said finding umps for games at Memorial would not be a problem. “If they're having a game there tomorrow night, we'll be sending officials,†he said. “I can tell you that.â€

OF 8 Anahuac 5

10-0 Jasper

3A downlow i guess

:damnfunny Heard that.

Love this time of year.

It's the new Poly Turf all the Schools in Houston have now. It's alot better than the old carpet crap.

WOW!

Congrats to him.

They'll be in my prayers..

'''fd

Who are some of the best Jr. High Shooters in Basketball??

PN-G 10 Central 1

I may be wrong but they may not have played? Belive Coach Stone was at the Track Meet.

Folks this is the time of year when Bass are Spawning. Rayburn and Toledo Bend are hot right now. Plastic Lizards are the way to go.

Congrats Huffman. Listi had it on tonight.

I think all schools would!

Must have? :scratch

Colmesneil Record??

That didn't last long!

Huffman 4..4th Inning BH 0

:shock:

Congrats Dogs!

I don't think i was bashing his school. I don't do that to any school. He should be happy that his school may be the first to get the new turf is all i'm trying to say... :roll: