50 years ago in sports: Cross country wins association title

Published 10:30 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025

By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

A look back at Davie sports 50 years ago …
Bill Eanes finished first out of 250 in the principals golf tournament in Wilmington in 1975. After firing a course-record 64 at Duck Haven, he shot 74 at Echo Farms to finish with a two-day score of 138.
Bruce Tuttle became the 1975 golf champion at Hickory Hill Country Club by defeating Denny Creason 1-up.
The Davie Truckers men’s softball team breezed through a 48-team tournament. Randy McDaniel and Paul Beaver won MVP and top hitter, respectively. The all-tournament team included Trucker teammates Otis ijames, Steve Ledford, Rick Allred and Ronnie Ledford.
Davie and West Rowan tied 6-6 in a football defensive battle in Mt. Ulla. Davie had a 6-0 lead in the second quarter after an 8-yard run by Stan Thorp. The touchdown was set up by a 20-yard play in which quarterback Bobby Wall cut upfield on a triple-option play. After running for 7 yards, Wall pitched to Sid Short, who picked up 13 more. Thorp would bull into the end zone, but his extra point was wide. The lead stood up until 1:47 remained, when West scored on a 47-yard run. The Falcons could have won, but their point-after kick was blocked by Tim Grubb and Alex Thompson.
Davie football fell behind 12-0 in the first half and lost 12-7 at South Iredell. Davie closed the gap to five on Thorp’s 10-yard run and Short’s extra point. Davie, though, only mustered four first downs all night.
Thorp scored from the 3 and that was all the offense Davie needed in a 7-0 win over North Stanly.
The Gray’s Exxon softball team slipped past Ken’s Pool Room to win a 32-team tournament at the Fork Recreation Center. Gray’s and Ken’s faced three times to decide first place. Gray’s won the first meeting 4-3. Ken’s won the second meeting by one. In the winner-take-all rubber match, Gray’s prevailed 5-4. Eddie Beal of Ken’s received the leading hitting trophy. There was a tie for the home run trophy between Terry Johnson of Gray’s and Doug Hunt of Byrd Motor Lines. Johnson won the MVP trophy.
In a Davie football game, Randy Barker feasted on West Iredell, scoring three TDs in a 26-0 win. It was only 6-0 at halftime, but Davie began to pull away when Ron Bivins completed a 20-yard pass to Mark West and Greg Benson scored on a 10-yard run.
The Davie Truckers put a bow on a magnificent 90-28 season by winning the 15th tournament of the season. Founded in 1974, the Truckers ended 1975 with a two-year record of 186-54. Five men batted over .500 in the final tourney for 1975: Beaver, McDaniel, Ijames, Johnson and coach Tom Whitaker, who “very superbly filled in for a starter who was given his unconditional release before the tournament started,” the Enterprise wrote. The team included pitcher Vestal Potts; catchers Don Eaton and Whitaker; first basemen Ijames and Johnson; second baseman Beaver; shortstop Mcdaniel; third baseman S. Ledford; left fielder R. Ledford; left center fielder Rick Allred; right center fielder Bill Summers; and right fielders Johnny Stroud and Melvin Allred.
Short’s heroics lifted Davie football to a 6-0 win at North Iredell. In the first half, Short picked off two North passes. With 9:37 left in the game, Short dashed 17 yards to the end zone. The Raiders had a chance to tie or take the lead late in the fourth when they blocked a punt and took over at the Davie 10. But they could only muster 3 yards in four downs as the War Eagles held on. Defensive tackle Mark McClannon and linebacker Mark James were huge parts of the win.
This was the first year for Davie girls track, and Rebecca Garwood competed in the high jump and 220 and was Davie’s top scorer with 23 points in a regular-season meet.
The Borden’s women’s softball team wrapped up a brilliant year with a party at Red Lobster. In 75 games, they outscored opponents 747-283. In the season at Smith Grove, they won 17 of 18 games. In 13 tournaments, they went 43-14. Seven players received all-star trophies: Cathy Hutchins, Cathy Hanes, Phyllis Nichols, Jenny Barnhardt, Ann Stevens, Patricia Dwiggins and Luvada Bowens.
After falling 25-15 to North Rowan, Davie’s football team mashed Mooresville 28-7. The Blue Devils shaved Davie’s lead to 14-7, but Kevin Goodwin (9-yard TD) and Thorp (20-yard TD) created separation for the War Eagles.
North Rowan hosted the nine-team North Piedmont Conference championships, and the Davie girls track & field team walked away with first place. The individual champs from Davie were Laura Cockerham (4-10 high jump), Garwood (18.4 in 220 low hurdles) and Deanna Thomas (34-5 shot put). Two relay teams triumphed. Janice Hunter, Telesia Grant, Cockerham and Jackie Hairston won the 440 relay at 53.9, and Hunter, Barbara Call, Cockerham and Hairston took the 880 relay at 1:57.1.
Coach Burt Barger’s cross country team repeated as champion of the Western North Carolina High School Activities Association with 62 points to runner-up Asheboro’s 82, but a controversy followed the meet. Shelby filed a protest because the association’s executive director mailed out the wrong date for the meet and some schools did not get the correction in time.
“I regret the error,” he said. “I had inadvertently copied down the 1974 date (Oct. 28), but found the error last Thursday (Oct. 23). It should have been Monday, Oct. 27, and I immediately put a correction in the mail to all the schools.”
Shelby’s coach and assistant principal filed a protest for the meet to be rerun. “On this late a date, we felt Clary should have called the schools,” Shelby assistant principal Frank McDaniels said. “It isn’t fair to our boys who have worked so hard all year. We spent all of Monday (Oct. 27) getting prepared.”
The decision to rerun the meet was made by the 12-member executive committee. The new date was set for Nov. 5 at Davie. It worked out just fine for the War Eagles, who won the title again. Barry McBride (fourth place at 15:36), Mike Barnhardt (sixth at 15:56) and Craig Williams (seventh at 16:08) carried Davie to the mountaintop.
The Davie football season ended with a 4-5-1 record following a 29-8 loss at East Rowan. The first quarter was scoreless, but the Mustangs bullied their way to a 21-0 lead. At that point, coach Bill Peeler made a change at quarterback and inserted Bivins, who responded by driving the War Eagles 60 yards in seven plays. He completed two passes for 31 yards to move Davie to the East 1. Then Bivins scored up the middle for Davie’s lone TD.
With a 21-8 lead and only two seconds on the clock, East ran a play – and rubbed salt in the Davie wound – instead of kneeling on the ball. The East runner went around left end and raced 65 yards to the end zone with zeroes on the clock.