From: News & Observer Published: Jan 16, 2006 12:30 AM
Modified: Jan 16, 2006 05:52 AM
http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/388997.htmlPressing to find misplaced history
Search is on for Black athletic recordshttp://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/ciaa
Tim Stevens, Staff Writer
Harvey Heartley always knew when to use a fullcourt press.
He had that timing as a basketball coach at Raleigh's Ligon High and at St. Augustine's College.
When the team was behind and time was running out, Heartley's teams were known for their man-to-man pressure.
Now Heartley is in the midst of another sort of all-out press as he tries to preserve a part of North Carolina history that rapidly is disappearing.
He is assembling a pictorial history of the N.C. High School Athletic Conference, which was the state high school athletic organization for black high school students during segregation.
In the process of gathering pictures of state championship teams and outstanding individuals, Heartley hopes to rediscover many of the NCHSAC state champions.
"Those championship results aren't lost -- some people know who won the title. But the right people don't know the results, so we can't put together a list," Heartley said.
"And every time one of those former coaches dies, a chance to preserve part of that legacy dies, too."
Much of the athletic history of the black high schools either was not recorded or was not available in 1969, when the NCHSAC disbanded and its members joined the N.C. High School Athletic Association.
The NCHSAC had regulated high school athletic competition among black students for more than 50 years.
Only 16 of the more than 100 black high school football champions could be identified in 1995 when the NCHSAA and The News & Observer produced the first state high school record book.
No record of championship teams from the defunct conference could be found in baseball, track and field or girls basketball.
"We tried," said Rick Strunk, an associate executive director with the NCHSAA, and a co-author of the record book. "We just couldn't find much except anecdotal results."
Some of the misplaced history has been recovered, especially in football.
The list of state champions is still incomplete, though, in baseball, basketball, tennis, track and field and football -- the five sports for which the NCHSAC held state championships.
In fact, there are only a handful of baseball titles recorded and one in boys track and field. Nothing is recorded for girls sports.
"There is so much that we don't know," Heartley said. "This is a job that is going to take years."
He has asked people in different parts of the state to research the black school history from their area.
Fred Whitted, for example, is researching the Wilmington area; Willie Bradshaw and Bob Hill, Durham; Reggie Henderson and Sam Gray, Rocky Mount and Wilson; and Al Roseboro, the Triad.
"We're going to have people all over the state trying to find these records," Heartley said. "These are guys who lived through some of this history and know other people who can help."
Heartley plans to eventually put the information into a book and expects to have some of the information on CD by March.
"I figure it will take us a couple of years at least to get all of the information that we want to include," Heartley said. "I don't want to print a book and have somebody hand me a stack of pictures the next day."
This year's version of the CD will be shown at a black high schools reunion scheduled for 10 a.m. March 11 at the Lions Park and Recreation Center in Raleigh.
The reunion is scheduled for the same weekend as the MEAC college basketball tournament.
Everyone who participated in high school athletics in the NCHSAC is invited to the brunch at the Lions Park Center.
"We hope there is such a big crowd that we have to overflow outside," Heartley said.
(To provide information on a NCHSAC championship team, contact Harvey Heartley at (919) 834-5575 orhheartley@nc.rr.com.)
High schools editor Tim Stevens can be reached at 829-8910 or tstevens@newsobserver.com
