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SportsTalk: Lance Stallings Ready To Get Back To Work At Vance Charter

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Vance Charter Athletic Director Lance Stallings is enjoying some downtime. While vacationing at the beach or anywhere else this time of year is enjoyable, Stallings is ready to get back to work and gear up for the upcoming school year.  Stallings says it’s the part of the year where he is “making sure everything is ready to rock and roll.”  In preparation, the basketball and volleyball teams have already been in the gym.

Not only are the teams getting ready but Stallings says that facilities are also getting prepared. An upgrade to the gym’s lighting systems has now been completed. “It will be a different atmosphere,” according to Stallings now that the new system is in place.  No other facilities upgrades, improvements or construction are planned at this time.

Stallings will be overseeing volleyball, cross-country and men’s soccer as well as lacrosse during the fall athletics season.  He says his student athletes have adjusted and adapted to the changes that have happened over the last year and are ready for a return to something closer to normal this fall.

Stallings has been impressed with the growth the school’s lacrosse team has made making the playoffs in only its second season. The school is the only one in Vance or Granville County with a lacrosse program and, by starting from scratch, the team has become like a family.

His expectations for all of the school’s athletics programs go beyond picking up wins and appearing in playoffs. “What can we do to be our best” is the expectation. Whether that’s on or off the field or in the classroom, Stallings wants to see his students win at life. He says being a part of Vance Charter is very very special. When asked the best part of being the AD at Vance Charter, Stalling said, “Seeing the kids smile.” Once back from vacation, Stallings should have plenty of opportunities to see just that.

 

Noel Loved Baseball, Talking Local Sports On WIZS

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The WIZS family is mourning the loss of one of its own, Ron Noel, who died Wednesday. Noel co-hosted the Tuesday and Thursday sports show with Trey Snide. Thursday’s show was dedicated to Noel, in appreciation for his enthusiasm for local sports, especially in Vance and Granville counties.

Joe Sharrow, Vance County High School athletic director, shared the mic with Snide on today’s program, and the two shared memories about their colleague and friend.

“He was a great man,” Sharrow said. “He was the type of person who wouldn’t want things to stop because of him,” he added.

WIZS colleague Bill Harris called in to the show to remember Noel. “When I would fill in for you on Sports Talk,” Harris told Snide, “I would rely on (Ron’s) wealth of knowledge of local sports to get me through the program.” He could talk about coaches and players on various teams and various sports, Harris said. “I would let Ron go on because he just knew so much.”

Noel loved baseball, but he was interested in, and knowledgeable of, other sports as well.

“He was always prepared,” Snide said. When he’d come into the studio at 12:30 for the 1 p.m. show and the sports news was a little slow, Snide said Noel would simply say “let’s do local.” “That’s what we’re all about,” Snide said, appreciative of the fact that his co-host was always game for talking about what’s going on in the community.

“We love you, we appreciate everything you’ve done for us,” Snide said in remembering his friend and colleague. “We loved your excitement,” he added, saying that Noel listened to the show every single day.

Sharrow said Noel “always had a positive twist on things…he had a long-term vision – you lost this one, but you’re going to be all right down the road,” he said Noel would say after a tough loss.

Whether he was walking into a gymnasium in Vance County or Granville County, or a favorite spot to meet buddies and swap stories – the  Oxford Bojangle’s –  it seemed that Noel greeted friends wherever he went.

“He was ‘the guy,’Sharrow said. “He knew everything that was going on anywhere – in Vance, Granville – it could be anywhere in the state,” he said. He lived in Granville County, but he worked at J.C. Penney in Henderson for many years, so his love for both counties was evident.

John Charles Rose phoned in to express condolences to Ron’s wife, son and extended family on behalf of the radio station. “We thank Ron for the contributions he’s made over the years and for his family sharing him with us,” Rose said via telephone. He said Ron “always came in with a topic to talk about,” and really enjoyed talking about local sports.

Sharrow said the local sports community has lost several important figures recently – Joe Stepusin, Clay Faulkner, and Wilton Baskett.

Baskett was known for being a flashy dresser, and sporting school colors courtside, Sharrow recounted. The yellow coat at Northern Vance, then the green coat at Vance County High School games – Baskett wore them proudly. “He really believed in dressing professionally,” Sharrow said, adding that Baskett told him that he’d never coached a game without a tie on

“Ron was his tailor,” Sharrow said. “Ron is the one who picked those clothes out!”

Snide recalled Noel’s thoughtfulness to others, but especially to him before airtime. He would call up before coming to the radio station and ask if we wanted something for lunch – chicken or hotdogs, usually. “That just goes to show what kind of person Ron was,” he said.

Later today, Noel’s son, Ray, will probably be on the sidelines at Granville Central High School in Stem as the Panthers host East Wake Academy in the second round of the baseball playoffs.

Sharrow said he talked with his friend and GCHS athletic director Wednesday night and the younger Noel said he was going to be there. “He said, ‘this is what my dad would want me to do,’” Sharrow said.

Sharrow and others in the local sports community will be there tonight to support their friend and colleague. “And,” Sharrow said, “I’m absolutely pulling for the Panthers tonight.”

SportsTalk: Vance Charter Ladies Preparing Early For Basketball

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Basketball season may be a few months away but Vance Charter Ladies Varsity Coach Brian Howard already has his team hard at work in preparation for the upcoming season.  “Off season has been pretty good.” Howard said. “We are into our off season workouts. We are averaging 10 to 12 girls a day,” Howard continued.  Howard characterizes that as a huge turnout.

The groundwork for the upcoming season was laid out at the end of last season. Howard told his team, “If you want to play on this team you have to do off-season workouts.” During these workouts Howard and his staff are tracking every piece of data possible such as made shots, made three throws and made three point shots in an effort to improve on last year’s 7-3 record. According to Howard the result of tracking these data sets will be having the right people in the program and the right people in the right spots on the floor when the season begins.

Coach Howard says he expects the Lady Knights to be better prepared and in better shape due to the off-season workouts. It’s also giving him and his staff the opportunity to install new and improved offensive and defensive schemes. Howard feels that this will put Vance Charter’s program ahead of many others. His team will feature four seniors and he singled out rising freshman Amber Reavis as someone the team will rely on heavily.

Last year’s 7-3 season ended with a 44-33 loss at the hands of Gates County in the state playoffs, but this year will find Vance Charter in a new conference. Howard says the new conference will be interesting. Meanwhile, the Lady Knights have two more weeks of workouts to get through.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

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SportsTalk 05-27-01 Carolina Cobras

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It’s football season! I know the calendar says May and High Schools just wrapped up their season and the NFL is still a few months away but the National Arena League kicks off the 2021 season tomorrow night beginning with the defending NAL champions, the Carolina Cobras, taking on the Jersey Flight. Head Coach Joshua Resignalo spoke with Trey Snide and Ron Noel Thursday on WIZS Radio’s SportsTalk about the prospects for his team this season.

While the 2020 season was cancelled due to Covid, Coach Res, as he is called, said Covid “put a hinder on all businesses.” He also said that even with the cancellation of the 2020 season it didn’t shake up what the Cobras wanted to do. Players are signed to seasonal contracts and he has been able to bring back players originally signed for last season. It’s been 18 months since the 2019 championship game in Jacksonville, Florida and Coach Res has spent the down time putting together the best roster that he could for the team.  Along with the players he brought back from the cancelled 2020 season, he has also added seven players with ties to the Triad and Triangle. “Bringing in local players was a big emphasis. It helps with marketing in the community,” said the coach.  Many players on the team use their playing time with the Cobras as a way to either get back to the NFL or as a stepping stone from smaller colleges to the NFL or CFL.

Coach Res expects the Cobras to be physically ready for tomorrow night’s game however, “mentally ready is going to be the key,” Coach Resingalo says of the first game of the season. He says the Jersey Flight offers a good challenge as they were able to pick up players from the now defunct Arena Football League which closed up shop in 2019. “Pretty experienced,” Coach Res said of the Flight.

The Cobras have made it to the NAL championship game for the last two seasons, and he expects the team to be there again this season.

The Cobras play their home games at Greensboro Coliseum and will have a four game home stand beginning on June 19th after two road games to kick off the season. For those interested in watching the Carolina Cobras play, tune in to the NAL Youtube channel. There you will find all of the game broadcasts for the entire league.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

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SportsTalk 05-27-21 Barry Moore, Granville Central Baseball

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UPDATE 9:30 P.M. THURS –

FINAL SCORE GRANVILLE CENTRAL 7 TO 3 OVER LOUISBURG.

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The Granville Central Panthers Varsity Baseball team started off 0-3 but have since put together five consecutive wins and look for a sixth tonight as the school welcomes the Louisburg Warriors for a 6pm game.

Head coach Barry Moore said freshman Brenden Chamberlain will pitch. The team has struggled with pitching this season and have walked too many batters which he attributes to the youthfulness of the team. “Our team is still young,” Coach Moore said. He said the team has three seniors that are big contributors as well as a couple of freshman who have helped out. Despite the pitching struggles Coach Moore says that aspect of the team is improving.

“Now is a lot better than it was several weeks ago. It feels like over the last couple of weeks that we are where we should have been at the beginning of the season,” Coach Moore said.

He feels the team missed some opportunities to beat Roanoke Rapids in the season opener but are now dialed in to where they should be. The team currently has a .306 batting average and their on base average sits at .455 this season.

Coach Moore expects a big turnout for tonight’s game as the Granville Central Panthers look to improve to 6-3 against Louisburg.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

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SportsTalk 5-25-21 Malia Simmons, Vance County High School

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Just after graduation from Vance County High School yesterday, Vipers Softball player Malia Simmons signed a letter of intent to play for Winston-Salem State yesterday. Simmons, who has set a number of school records, began as a Southern Vance Raider but finished her high school career as a Vance County Viper. “We were not the best. We had what we had. We had to make it work,” Simmons said about her high school years.

In addition to playing softball at Winston-Salem State, Simmons will be majoring in nursing. She said Winston-Salem State has one of the top nursing programs in the state and after talking to the school’s head softball coach, she said choosing the school was the best decision for her.

“Super Excited,” said Kim Simmons, Malia’s mother, about the choice of schools. “She had several college offers,” added Ms. Simmons. Kim said of her daughter, “I didn’t expect her to succeed like she has.” She also encouraged her daughter by telling her, “Reach for your dreams, the sky is the limit.”

“I’m really proud of the choice she is making,” said Malia’s father when asked about her decision to attend Winston-Salem State.

In addition to school and softball Malia also worked full time creating a difficult schedule for her and her parents. The hard work and commitment has paid off for Malia as she will continue her softball career and further her education at Winston-Salem State.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

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SportsTalk 5-17-21 Kerr-Vance Academy State Championship

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Anyone who has ever played in an organized sport certainly knows how tough winning a championship can be, so imagine winning not only four state baseball championships but winning four in a row. That’s exactly what the Kerr-Vance Academy Spartans accomplished this past weekend. After dropping Friday’s game against undefeated Grace Christian in Sanford by the score of 9-6, Kerr-Vance roared back on Saturday with a convincing 6-0 win and left Sanford with another state championship.

“It feels great. The seniors pulled this group together,” said head coach Mike Rigsbee. Rigsbee has been a part of KVA baseball for many years, however this is his first season as head coach. “The players can take all the credit,” Rigsbee said of his team.

One of the stars of the Kerr-Vance Spartans is R.J. Johnson. Johnson, in his senior year, will be moving on to Appalachian State. “We played it game by game and never looked ahead,” Johnson said about the team during this season. Seniors were a big part of the KVA squad. “This senior class has really helped establish this new era of excellence,” said George Hoyle, the school’s athletic director. Hoyle said that during his time at KVA the baseball program has been to eight championship games, winning six. Referring to Grace Christian, Hoyle said, “We knew we could compete with them.” Johnson also praised his senior teammates saying, “All of the seniors stepped up.”

After Saturday’s game Grace Christian’s head coach told Rigsbee that his team just couldn’t make the adjustments needed to win. KVA lost the first game of this season to Grace Christian, but the Spartans were able to make their own adjustments as the team moved forward through the season enabling them to win their 4th state championship.

“Playing a tough schedule helped,” said Hoyle. Hoyle and Rigsbee put together a schedule that pitted the Spartans against some of the toughest teams in North Carolina and Virginia. Hoyle, who is leaving to take a similar post at Thales Academy in Wake Forest, said, “Seeing the seniors move on to the next level is unbelievable,” refering to Johnson moving on to Appalachian State. Hoyle also said that this season saw twelve Major League Baseball organizations come to Kerr Vance Academy games.

Kerr Vance finishes the season as state baseball champions for the fourth consecutive season with a 12 and 8 won lost record.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

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SportsTalk 05-13-21 George Hoyle, Kerr Vance Academy

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For the fourth time consecutively the Kerr-Vance Academy baseball team finds itself in the running for another state championship. This weekend Kerr-Vance will take on Grace Christian in Sanford. Kerr-Vance has posted an 11-7 record so far this year while Grace Christian is undefeated at 20-0.

As with most school atletics programs, Kerr-Vance faced challenges to get games in. The school’s Athletic Director, George Hoyle, said one of those challenges was scheduling. He had hoped to get at least ten games in during the baseball season but has managed eighteen so far this year. “I’m thrilled with how this season has gone,” Hoyle said. “We were fortunate with weather and Covid,” Hoyle continued. Kerr-Vance Academy was fortunate with no instances of Covid reported for the team the entire season. This year was the first under head coack Mike Rigsbee. Hoyle said there was a lot of excitement and some uncertainty with a new head coach leading the program.  Hoyle said it was “great to see Rigsbee’s personality and energy come into the program. It was cool to see.”

In regards to Kerr Vance Academy’s successful season Hoyle said, “I can confirm winning is fun.” Even though he enjoys winning Hoyle thinks that seeing the growth of his seniors is far more important than winning baseball games. The school has been quite successful with its athletic programs with KVA winning eight state championships over the last four years.

All of the success has not gone unnoticed as Hoyle has announced he will be leaving KVA to take the athletic director’s position at Thales Academy in Wake Forest. Hoyle has recently become engaged and wasn’t really looking to move but Thales Academy made a good recruitment pitch. “I’m looking forward to the new opportunity and a great challenge,” Hoyle said about moving on to Thales Academy. For the moment, Hoyle and Coach Rigsbee have KVA Baseball on their minds as they head to Sanford to try and bring home one more state championship.

For complete details and audio click play.

 

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SportsTalk 5-11-21 Scottie Richardson, Crossroads Christian

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“It’s a great day to be a Colt!” said Scottie Richardson, athletic director at Crossroads Christian after the school’s golf program won the state 1A championship by two strokes on Monday at Bryan Park-Players Course in  Greensboro.  The championship is the first athletic championship of any type ever won by the school. Two years ago Crossroads Christian was runner up in the state.  Richardson gave credit to golfing coach James Darnell. “He’s a local legend,” Richardson said. He went on to say that Darnell has to be part caddy and part psychologist as a golfing coach.

Richardson, who is also head basketball coach at the school, said all of the coaches of the school’s various athletic programs would “trash talk” with each other about which one would win the school’s first state championship but all of the coaches at the school have been very supportive of Coach Darnell and his team.

Speaking about Monday’s championship Richardson said, “It was a great atmosphere when the sun was out.” The tournament had to shut down for an hour and a half due to thunderstorms to rolled through the Guilford County area on Monday afternoon.

Richardson also acknowledged that the golf team will lose some players to graduation this year but feels that the team’s underclassmen are good enough to keep the team competitive in the coming seasons.

Representing the Crossroads Christian School Colts this year at the NCISAA Boys’ State Championship were Caden Woodward, Tyler Darnell, Merritt Cogdill and Colby Taylor.

For full details and complete audio click play.

 

 

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SportsTalk 5-4-21 Paul “Showtime” Gaffney, Gaffney Athletic Prep Academy

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Before he was known as “Showtime,” Paul Gaffney was a kid from a rural coal mining town in Kentucky. He was born to an unmarried teenage mom who placed him for adoption. At the age of two, his adoptive mother died and Gaffney was raised alone by his adoptive father. Gaffney would be considered as an “at-risk child” but Gaffney overcame these issues through his love of athletics and basketball. He is the Tennessee Wesleyan University Hall of Fame, where he received a B.S. in Business Management and, through his fifteen years with the Harlem Globetrotters, he is in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Now he is the founder of Gaffney Atletic Preparatory Academy (GAPA) in Tennessee which Gaffeny calls, “An innovative school dealing with sports careers including sports medicine, marketing, communications and nutrition serving grades six through twelve.” There is also a post grad program available to students who need it to help with GPA’s as well. GAPA enhances opportunities for students to move up to prestige college, according to Gaffney.

Gaffney says, “There were always people around me who inspired me to be a better athlete,” and this is what he hopes that GAPA will do for his students. Gaffney says GAPA teaches kids to find out what they love. While they may love athletics they might not be the world’s greatest athlete but might be great at cooking which could lead to a career as a sports nutritionist allowing them to be involved in athletics while not being on the field or court.

Students are from all over the world. He recruits students locally as well as Italy, Portugal and other locations.

However, GAPA isn’t his only interest. Gaffney is manager of the Tennessee Conductors of the WABA Basketball League. This women’s league is an opportunity to showcase talent so players may be able to move on to the WNBA. The team is scheduled to begin its season in July.

Gaffney credits his fifteen years with the Harlem Globetrotters in helping him open doors on these ventures. “The Globetrotters helped me develop the needed character for these endeavors,” Gaffney said.

Speaking of his Globetrotter experience Gaffney said, “We played eight days in a seven day week.” The constant travel all over the world helped the team develope a brotherhood that remains to this day. “The court was my office for 15 years and I enjoyed every minute of it,” Gaffney said. He calls the Globetrotter a tight knit family.

Gaffney also said playing with the Globetrotters was probably harder than playing basketball in the NBA due to the number of games involved and the travel which saw them go all around the world but the millions of smiles and memories those games brought to fans are special not only to those fans but for him as well. One of Gaffney’s fondest memories and one that changed his life was in 1996 when he met then South African President Nelson Mandela.

For complete details and audio click play.