| Remember When? —Twister hoops standout Ward inks with Missouri school | | Posted: Friday, May 4, 2012 6:06 am
| Remember when takes a look back at the local stories from the files of The Messenger that took place 1, 5, 10, 20 and 30 years ago.
30 Years Ago
May 2 — Union City High School basketball star Ronald Ward signed a scholarship to continue his hoop playing career at Northwest Missouri State. Ward graduated from the Tornado program as the school’s all-time leading scorer and earned Class 2A All State honors his senior year when he led UCHS to the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press prep rankings. Former Obion County Central head coach Kermit Cottrell was an assistant coach at NWMS.
May 6 — Randy Barnes received the unanimous approval of the Union City School Board to become the new head football coach of the Golden Tornadoes. Barnes, who had assisted Larry Shanks for seven seasons as Shanks’ first hire when he was named the Twisters’ man in charge, had been the acting head coach since Shanks resigned to become defensive coordinator at UT Martin back in the winter. A Ripley native, Barnes was a product of UTM, where was a record-setting kicker. More than 20 persons applied for the UCHS job.
20 Years Ago
May 4 — Obion Central’s Steve Worley and David Barnes of Union City both twirled splendid one-hit shutouts to help their respective teams advance in the District 13AA Tournament. Worley, a senior southpaw who had 165 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings, fanned 15 and hit a two-run homer to help the Rebels beat Gibson County. Barnes, just a freshman, retired the first 14 batters he faced in succession in the Tornadoes’ triumph. He was touched for only a bloop single while sitting down 21 of 22 hitters against Westview.
May 5 — Both the girls’ and boys’ tennis teams from Union City High School advanced to the second round of state tournament play for the fifth consecutive season with victories over McNairy Central. The Lady Tornadoes won 6-0 as both Melanie Kemp and Jennifer Gillett each won in singles and doubles play, while the Twister boys got singles triumphs from Todd McMinn, Kevin Little, Chad Hailey and Cesar Faranelli to post a 4-1 win. Two days later, Byron Johnson become the lone UCHS track athlete to advance to the state level when he won the high jump at the Region 3A-AA meet in Memphis.
10 Years Ago
May 7 — Obion Central beat Union City for the third time in as many meetings to oust the Lady Tornadoes from the District 13AA softball tournament. The 7-0 triumph represented just the fifth win overall for OC on the season, but kept the Rebel girls alive in the postseason. Ashley Cammuse was the winning hurler, backed by stellar defense from Colby McGee, who had four fly ball put outs and four assists at shortstop. Tori Gill and Bradi Fuzzell combined to fan 10 for UC, but the Twisters hurt themselves with four errors and 10 walks.
May 8 — A dramatic rally sent the Obion Central baseball team to the regional tournament as Cory Workman’s RBI single in the 10th lifted the Rebels past Westview 3-1. OC had been down to its last out before Tommy Robbins’ infield hit allowed Central to tie the score in the seventh. Ben Cope, pitching on just two days rest, struck out 12 for the Rebs. Jacob McKinnis chased home an insurance run with a fielder’s choice.
5 Years Ago
May 9 — The South Fulton softball team earned a berth in the district tournament championship game for an 11th consecutive season by beating Union City 4-1. Curt Lee’s Devilettes got a strong pitching performance from Emily Pinion and key two-run single from Bethany Seratt to send the Lady Tornadoes to the loser’s bracket finals where UC was to meet Halls with the winner then needing to beat SF twice to claim the tourney title. Paige Fisher scored Union City’s lone run.
May 9 — A handful of Union City High School track athletes earned sectional berths in the field event competition of the regional meet. Cedric Allen (long jump), Dexter Hopson (long jump, triple jump), Marq Evans (shot put), Sharree Forrest (shot put) and Renesha Moffatt (discus) all moved on to the next round with Top 5 finishes.
1 Year Ago
May 3 — Messenger-Obion County Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year Mackenzie Tucker signed to continue her playing career at Dyersburg State. Tucker, who averaged 12 points and five rebounds her senior season, helped the Lady Rebels to a school-record 32 victories.
May 6 — The Union City boys’ track team celebrated the “relaunch” of the Rotary Relays by winning the team championship for the first time since 1990. The long-running event was not held in 2009 due to rain and the following year because of deteriorating track conditions, but sunny skies and a new surface set the stage for Most Valuable Runner DeAndrez Williams to win the 100, 200 and 400 meter races. Williams was also a member of the winning 400 meter relay team. Jasmine Dysart won the shot and Jackie Hudson the discus for the UC girls, who were fifth in the 10-team field. Published in The Messenger 5.3.12 | | | | |
