Published: March 19, 2008 10:43 pm            

Mark Maynard: Check local ties in NCAA: 3/20/08

Beyond the obvious — games involving Kentucky and those popular office pool brackets — there’s plenty of other reason for local rooting interest in the NCAA Tournament.

For starters, there’s former Paintsville Mr. Basketball John Pelphrey leading Arkansas into the tournament as a No. 9 seed in his first season as Boss Hog. Last year, Pelphrey took South Alabama to the Dance (and the players Pelphrey recruited are back for another waltz this season).

Pelphrey took the Razorbacks to the SEC tournament finals where they lost to Georgia on Sunday. They play Indiana in the opening round.

Pelphrey, of course, has his own place in NCAA history as a member of Kentucky’s 1992 “Unforgettables” that lost the fateful East Region final to Duke on the Christian Laettner shot UK fans will have to endure over and over again in the coming weeks.

There’s also Adam Howard, a former MVP of the 16th Region Tournament while playing for the Ashland Tomcats in 2003. Howard is a member of Western Kentucky’s Sun Belt championship team that will play Drake in the opening round Friday in Tampa.

Howard is a senior with the Hilltoppers although he has played sparingly throughout his career at WKU. Not surprisingly, the hard-working Howard is very popular with teammates, fans and coaches.

Finally, the battle between Southern California and Kansas State today has some local connections. USC star freshman O.J. Mayo will not only be going against Michael Beasley — the player most regard as the best freshman in the country — but also against former AAU, Rose Hill and Cincinnati North College Hill teammate Bill Walker.

Mayo and Walker played together throughout their AAU careers with the D1 Greyhounds, based in Cincinnati. They were together for about half the 2002-03 season at Rose Hill before Walker bolted.

They were reunited at North College Hill for three seasons before Walker ran out of eligibility early (because he had played part of a freshman season at Rose Hill). Last year as a freshman at K-State, he suffered an ACL injury but has recovered quite nicely and is a key sophomore for K-State.

Mayo has lived up to the hype, averaging more than 20 points per game at USC.

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If you think it seems early for Easter, you’re right.

A friend sent this information to me via e-mail. I found it interesting enough to share with readers here.

Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). The dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that the Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on the Roman calendar we use.

Easter can be a day earlier, although it’s rare. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will see.

The next time Easter will be March 23 is the year 2228. The last time it was this early was 1913, which means if you’re 95 or older, you were around for that one. The next time it will be on March 22 is the year 2285 and the last time it was on March 22 was 1818.

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Congratulations to Hobie Rogers, a man who I consider a friend to the area sports community.

Ashland Mayor Steve Gilmore gave Rogers, who works in the mailroom here at the newspaper, a key to the city recently.

“He’s the kind of citizen every mayor would be proud to know,” Gilmore said. “I wish there were more like him.”

While Rogers’ first rooting loyalty is always with the Tomcats, he’s always cheered for whoever advances to the next level in every sport.

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Condolences to the family of Nard Pergrem, who died in Florida last week.

Pergrem is the third Elks Sports Day honoree to pass away in the past six months, following Raymond “Chigger” Adkins and 2007 honoree Jack Fultz.

Pergrem, a basketball and baseball star for the Tomcats, was also well known as a top-notch basketball official. Pergrem was the Sports Day honoree in 2002.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.

        

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