Club Business
Deva Reece, past president of the Alamance Breakfast Club and member of our club since 2010, filled in for President Jim Cartner, who is on leave with a new job assignment. Dick O’Donnell, wearing something other than green today because of a funeral he will be attending, led the invocation and the pledge of allegiance to the US flag. Deva abandoned Jim’s trivia notes to venture into unknown waters, telling us three things that puzzle him: 1.) Why were kamikaze pilots always pictured wearing leather helmets? 2.) Why is toilet paper perforated every four inches? and 3.) something about spam emails.
Deva asked Micah Fox to introduce a couple of guests – Brook Carpenter, who said he will be joining the club, and Gavin Newsome. Stuart Sioussat presented his guest, Doug Hyman, a local entrepreneur who recently moved into the community. Dick O’Donnell introduced his friend, Michael Quintas, who is an agent for Farm Bureau Insurance. Check below to see upcoming birthdays and anniversaries in March and program responsibilities going forward. Next week Dick O’Donnell is on tap.
Click here to see all scheduled program dates and responsibilities.
March Birthdays and Anniversaries
11 | Matt Patel | 8 | Francois and Andrea Masuka |
20 | Ben Wooten | 27 | Joseph and Susannah Williams |
30 | Susan Watson |
Happy Dollar Announcements
- Mary Thomas Gilbert, wearing her BCA t-shirt, announced the coming fund raising collaboration between BCA and Feed the Hunger. She also told us how happy she is that her son if finally feeling better.
- Carolyn Rhode reminded us that the Girl Scout cookie sale is almost completed. Eat now or forever hold your peace.
Member Providing Our Program: Deva Reece
Deva has been a member of our club since 2010, having been sponsored by the inimitable Randy Perkins. Deva is a Paul Harris Fellow and an avid golfer. He is married to Nancy and is the owner of Sir Speedy Printing. A true gentleman, he is a real asset to our club.
Program: Kevin Brafford and ACC Basketball Tales
Kevin grew up in the Lexington area, not realizing that it is abnormal to have BBQ restaurants on every corner. In the early 1980s he became a cub reporter with the Asheboro Tribune covering sports. He continued as a sports writer for some twenty years. He reminisced of TVs being brought into classrooms so the students could view the ACC Tournament. He is a proclaimed anti-establishmentarian, who was unable to band together with the swarm of UNC, State, or Duke fans. Instead he backed Wake Forest. He actually attended UNC-Charlotte.
Kevin told us that Dean Smith was partly responsible for his becoming the person who manages TV timeouts during ACC games. Dean became so upset when Skeeter Francis called a timeout at his discretion that stopped a classic Tar Heel run, that the conference decided to place an independent person in charge of the affair, and Kevin got the job. He said it has been a fun ride for the last sixteen years or so. He reckons he has attended upwards of 500 games as a result. The first ACC Tournament he worked was in 2004. He said a gun was accidentally discharged right behind him by a security person. Nothing has been as exciting since.
He let us know that sadly, even though the Greensboro Colisum provides the largest seating capacity and does the best job at staging the tournament, we will probably only see it there every four or five years. The university presidents are calling the shots these days, and they prefer venues in larger cities that have lots of interesting off the court sights to see and events to attend, such as in NYC or DC.
Keven gave us his opinions about coaching situations at Duke, UNC, State, and Wake. He said he believes upcoming changes by the NCAA will help reduce the number of one-and-dones. Kids will be able to go straight into the NBA out of high school, but, if they elect to attend college, they will have to stay for at least two years. This will force a higher level of buy in by the kids and will be better for the schools, too. Coaches will have more time to develop players, and fans will get to root for them more than a year.
Conclusion
We have a winner! Thomas Phelps raked in a hefty prize today when he drew the Ace of Hearts, much to the disappointment of everyone else in the room. Congrats, Thomas! Go buy that new car! Deva adjourned the meeting with the four-way test.