From staff reports

The Horace Billings Rowan Amateur golf tournament is set for July 19-21 at Corbin Hills.

The top 31 qualifiers in stroke play and defending champion Nick Lyerly will  compete in a match play format. See Scoreboard for a list of qualifiers.

Top qualifying scores included four-time champion Keith Dorsett’s 68, Derek Lipe’s 69 and Michael Swaringen’s 71.

GARS

Fifty-three GARS members played the first round of the group’s annual ABCD Tournament at Warrior.

‘A’ Flight winner was Franklin Ford with a net of 63.92.  ‘A’ Flight low gross winner was Bernard Caldwell.

‘B’ Flight winner was Mike Williams with a net of 61.88. ‘B’ Flight low gross winner was Ron Ervin.

‘C’ Flight winner was Carl Moore with a net of 63.72. ‘C’ Flight low gross winner was Lynn Shook.

‘D’ Flight winner was Carrol Downey with a net of 62.77. ‘D’ Flight low gross winner was Bob Turner.

Caldwell, 71, shot his age and also had low gross with a 71. Mike Williams won low net.

Bill Saunders, 85, shot an 84. while Allen Hammill eagled the par-5  No.  17 hole.

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The McCanless Couples group endured the heat one more time to enjoy lively competition on Sunday.

First place went to the team of Calvin Smith, Ralph Carver and Walt Kincaid.

Second place went to Azalee & David Huneycutt and  Tammie & Allen Drew.

Susan Wydner won longest putt. Carver won closest to the pin.

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The Corbin Hills Women’s Golf Association played a low net event on Tuesday.

Kristi Laton won the First Flifht. Tammmie Drew won the Second Flight. Sheryl Johnson was the Third Flight winner.

Owen passes away

Ken Owen, a Salisbury native who was one of the state’s top high school football players in the early 1950s and a standout in his career at Georgia Tech, died on Friday.

A story on the Salisbury-Rowan and Georgia Tech Hall of Famer is upcoming.

  

Legion baseball

Jake Brown had four RBIs and led Davidson County to a 15-5 win over Mocksville at Rich Park on  Tuesday.

Carson Simpson had three hits and three RBIs for Post 8 (19-8), while Nathan Burton had three hits and scored three runs.

David Highman went 3-for-3 for Mocksville (15-20).

Davidson County leads the Area III semifinal series 2-0 and will try to finish a sweep tonight at Holt-Moffitt Field.

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Randolph County pounded High Point 10-3 on Tuesday at Finch Field to take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five Area III semifinal series.

Harris Jackson drove in four runs for Randolph and also pitched four innings.

Wonder Hall of Famer

Basketball star Vernon Long, the first black athlete to compete for  A.L. Brown in 1965 and the first black basketball player at Lenoir-Rhyne in the fall of 1968, will be inducted into the L-R Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 5.

On the court, Long poured in 1,253 career points for the Bears, which ranks him 23rd on the all-time scoring list despite playing in an era without a 3-point line.

Long remained among the school’s top 10 all-time scorers for 20 years after he graduated and led L-R to 75 wins in his four seasons.

In 1971-72, the Bears won the Carolinas Conference Championship, made the NAIA District 26 finals and came within a basket of making the national tournament.

Long will be one of six new Hall of Fame members.  The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be part of Lenoir-Rhyne’s homecoming weekend and will take place in the P.E. Monroe Auditorium on LR’s campus.

The inductes will also be honored during Lenoir-Rhyne’s football game against UVA-Wise at Moretz Stadium.

Long starred for A.L. Brown’s 1966-67 and 1967-68 WNCHSAA champions. He averaged 14.6 points per game as a senior.

Intimidators

HICKORY — Pedro Gonzalez hit a walk-off single with one out in the 10th inning, as the Hickory Crawdads topped the Kannapolis Intimidators 5-4 on Tuesday.

East-West games

The West boys blasted the East 119-80 in the East-West All-Star Game at Greensboro Coliseum on Monday night.

North Stanly’s Bryson Childress made four 3-pointers and scored 14 for the West. Southwest Guilford’s Jay’den Turner, a Queens signee, scord 24 for the West and was voted MVP. North Davidson’s Themus Fulks added eight points for the West.

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The East girls soccer  team defeated the West 3-2 in the East-West All-Star Game on Tuesday.

Alex Kerr scored two goals for the East and was named MVP.

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The East-West football game is tonight at 8 p.m. at Jamieson Stadium in Greensboro.

Salisbury DB Cameron Gill is on the West team.

KMS AD   

Allison Parker, a standout in soccer at West Rowan and Catawba, has been named as the new AD at Kannapolis Middle School.

Football on the air

The High School Game of the Week will return to WSAT radio with Lance Poole on play-by-play and Glenn Taylor and Dale Snyder as color commentators.

The first broadcast will be Salisbury at North Rowan on Aug. 23.

Little League softball

Rowan Little League’s  12U all-stars will start Southeast Regional play in Warner-Robins, Ga., on Thursday, July 25.

Rowan will play the Virginia champs at 2 p.m.

Other games in the first round are Tennessee vs. South Carolina and Florida vs. Georgia.

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Rowan Little League’s 16U all-stars are representing North Carolina and are hosting the  seven-team Southeast Regional that starts on Friday and continues through Sunday at Salisbury Community Park.

First-round games are Tennessee vs. South Carolina at 9:30 a.m.; Rowan vs. Virginia at noon, and Florida vs. Georgia at 2:30 p.m.

West Virginia will play the Tennessee-South Carolina winner at 5 p.m.

If Rowan wins its first game it will play again at 7:30 p.m. on Friday against the Florida-Virginia winner.

Summer softball

Taylor Walton (West Rowan) went 3-for-3 in a 6-2 win by the Carolina Cardinals vs. Virginia Unity on Tuesday in the Triple Crown Nationals in Georgia.

Matt Whatley scored the game-winning run after he hit an RBI double and advanced to third on a walk by Tyreque Reed.

The Crawdads scored one run in the ninth before Kannapolis answered in the next half-inning when Amado Nunez hit an RBI single, driving in Romy Gonzalez to take a 4-3 lead.

Grant Anderson (6-4) got the win in relief while J.B. Olson (1-2) took the loss in the South Atlantic League game.

Alex Destino homered and singled, driving home three runs for the Intimidators.