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Junior Ashli Knotts of the Lady Raiders leaps high to try for a block against Braxton County. |
By JIM COOPER
Sports Editor - Former Roane County High head wrestling coach Garry Bender is still recuperating in a Morgantown hospital from a bout with viral encephalitis.
Bender, who retired from coaching after the 2006-07 season, his 30th as a head coach in the county, fell ill in August and has been hospitalized for most of the time since then. Seizures, a symptom of his illness, have been the hardest to overcome.
According to a family member, Bender has been kept under heavy sedation at Ruby Memorial Hospital. He had not had a seizure in two days as of Wednesday.
My thoughts and prayers, as I’m sure is the case with all local sports fans, are with Bender and his family as they go through these trials and what is expected to be a lengthy recovery process.
He didn’t make it to the postseason himself this year, but Kane Davis had a front-row seat as the Philadelphia Phillies completed an improbable run to the National League East title.
Davis, a 1993 Spencer High grad, was called up to the Phillies from Triple-A Ottawa with a month left in the season. The middle reliever went 0-1 with a 5.56 ERA in 11 appearances with the big club, striking out 10 and walking eight in 11-1/3 innings.
The Phillies, of course, won 13 of their final 16 games to rally from seven games down on Sept. 12. They edged the New York Mets, one of Davis’ former teams, as the Mets became the first team in Major League history to blow a seven-game lead with 17 games to play.
While the Phillies are in the playoffs, Davis is not. He is not a part of a postseason roster that includes star relievers Brett Myers, Tom Gordon and J.C. Romero, along with Antonio Alfonseca, Clay Condroy and Jose Mesa.
The Phillies opened divisional play Wednesday at home against the Colorado Rockies, another of Davis’ former teams. The winner will square off with the Chicago Cubs-Arizona Diamondbacks survivor for the National League pennant and a shot at a World Series title.
RCHS senior lineman Brad Parsons has received an invitation to take a recruiting trip to Louisville to watch an upcoming Cardinals game. Parsons (6-2, 325) attended Louisville’s line camp this past summer and was selected by coaches as one of the top five defensive players.
Some other schools have reportedly shown interest in Parsons as well, and senior quarterback Josh Drake is also getting some college looks.
Thank goodness for Notre Dame.
I received a familiar email the other day about a football player who reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the field. The FBI was called in to analyze the substance and — you know the rest — the white powder unknown to the player turned out to be the goal line.
For now at least, the Irish have taken the Browns’ place in that email.
