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The team of Perry and Chad Hanchey took top honors in the First Flight
of the Pecos Rotary Club's Adult-Youth Golf Tournament, held Saturday
and Sunday at the Reeves County Golf Course.
The two shot a 63-63-126 to beat out Mike and Jeff Hensley, who fired a
62-65-127. Third place went to Ronald Miller and Gary Moorehead, who
shot a 63-72-135.
A total of 24 teams were entered in four flights of the tournament. In
the Second Flight, Mike Ortiz and Lee Lyles won with a 70-66-136 score,
one stroke up on Bob Hopper and Chad Andes, who shot a 70-67-137. Bill
Cooksey and Jonathan Johns were third, at 73-70-143.
In the Third Flight, J.C. White and Kim Clark won with a 76-70-146
total. Don and Casey Love were second, with a 75-74-149, while Louise
Cassell and Taryn McNeil shot a 78-72-150 for third.
Jerry Patterson and Amanda Stickels won the Fourth Flight, with a
80-74-154 score, while Ronnie Daniel and Courtney Freeman were second,
at 81-75-156. Third went to Jimmy and Trent Riley, who won on a chip-off
after a two hole playoff.
Eagles plan Saturday grid events
The first scrimmage of the preseason for the Pecos Eagles is still
eight days away, but two events for fans are scheduled for this Saturday.
Eagles' coach Mike Belew said Wednesday that the players will be
dressed out for individual and team pictures Saturday afternoon between
1 and 2 p.m. at Eagle Stadium, while the Pecos Eagles Booster Club will
be holding a watermelon and cantaloupe feast from 7-9 p.m. Saturday in
the Pecos High School cafeteria to meet the players and support the new
coaches.
"Any parents who want to can come out and take pictures of their kids
on Saturday," said Belew, who took over as Eagles' coach at
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD athletic director this past April.
The first of the Eagles' two preseason scrimmages will be at home on
Aug. 23 against the Crane Golden Cranes. Pecos scrimmages Greenwood at
Midland on Aug. 30, opens regular season play in Lamesa on Sept. 6, and
plays their home opener on Sept. 13 against the Alpine Bucks.
Two-a-days are continuing for Pecos, with the second half of practice
seet for 8-10 p.m. both tonight and Friday at Eagle Stadium.
Oilers' fan support hits dry hole
By MICHAEL A. LUTZ
AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON - Don McLachlan is living a marketing executive's nightmare.
He's not trying to sell snow in Alaska, but the assignment might be
nearly as difficult - selling Houston Oilers tickets until the team
defects to Tennessee.
As senior vice president for marketing, it's McLachlan's job to entice
fans into the stands. And like any good salesman, he's is putting a
positive spin - as positive as he can, anyway - on the situation.
``We're heading into uncharted waters,'' McLachlan said. ``No team has
ever had a situation like this before. We're at the point where we're
trying to be aggressive and customer-oriented and take care of
everybody.''
The first indication of how difficult it will be to sell tickets came
Saturday, when only 12,851 showed up to see the Oilers beat Indianapolis
16-12 in their first home exhibition game this season.
It was the smallest crowd to see an Oilers game in the Astrodome and
would be dwarfed by throngs at many Texas high school football games.
Phyllis Dorrough of Friendswood, watched the game from her regular seat
at the dome, renewed her season tickets despite the perceived betrayal
by Oilers owner Bud Adams.
``I'm disgusted with Bud, but these guys (players) have nothing to do
with him,'' she said. ``I come to see the Oilers play. Sometimes they
play football and sometimes they don't. I don't come to put stars in
Bud's crown.''
Adams has become one of the most-despised men in Houston over the years.
He threatened to move the team to Jacksonville in 1987 but agreed to
stay when the county spent millions to upgrade the Astrodome.
Taxpayers are still paying for that, even as the Oilers have a foot out
the door to Nashville. The move is expected to come before the 1998
season.
The Astrodome work Adams demanded also meant tearing out the dome's
exploding scoreboard, long a fan favorite.
``He pulled that Jacksonville thing,'' Ms. Dorrough said. ``Every time
you turn around he was saying if he didn't get this or that, he would
take his club and go.''
``I came to the Astrodome the first year they built it, and that
scoreboard was fantasy. It had everything, and he took it away.''
Rice sociologist Stephen Klineburg, who regularly surveys attitudes
among Houstonians, believes Adams' tactics over the years had much to do
the fact that the city did little to keep him.
Adams began negotiations with Nashville after his demand for a new
taxpayer-funded stadium in Houston were rejected.
``If it had been anybody else, there's a good chance that the public
would have been much more insistent that something be done to keep the
Oilers,'' Klineburg said.
``He's just a very bad politician, very ineffective in building the
necessary sort of loyalty and commitments to the fans that's so
crucial.''
McLachlan is trying to keep season-ticket sales from dropping to
disastrous levels, but the early returns aren't good.
The Oilers have sold just over 13,000 season tickets this year, compared
to 31,000 at this time a year ago. Sales topped out at 35,000 last
season, but there's little hope of attaining anywhere near that this
year.
McLachlan has hit the corporate trail in his attempt to hawk blocks of
season tickets. The Oilers are using telemarketing extensively for the
first time and they've also introduced two sets of four-game mini-season
ticket packages.
The message is simple: Plenty of good seats remain available.
``People are realizing that for the first time ever, there are good
season tickets available,'' McLachlan said. ``Some people have used the
situation to upgrade their tickets.''
Donald and Elizabeth Chachere - he likes the Oilers, she likes the
Cowboys - have been season-ticket holders five years and took advantage
of the wider selection to move from the end zone around to the goal
line.
``It's still the only game in town,'' Chachere said. ``It allowed us to
upgrade. It's nice to get out of the end zone.''
The most important part of the ticket equation will be a successful
season on the field.
``If we don't win, it won't matter what anyone else does,'' quarterback
Chris Chandler said. ``The place will be empty.''
McLachlan agreed.
``That's pretty much the feeling I get, too,'' he said. ``We'll have a
lot of excitement and anticipation for the year and if this team does
well, they'll come because it's NFL football.''
That may not be enough for some fans.
``I don't see why we have to keep giving,'' Donald Chachere said. ``With
the kind of money they throw around, they could pay for it themselves.
``We just paid $11 for two drinks and a dog. I don't see why they need
help.''
State and Regional Sports Pages--San Angelo Standard-Times
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