Sometimes as a sports writer, I get a bit humbled with the sporting events I get to cover and the big-time people that I get to meet.
It happened again last Saturday night.
First, I got to visit with the famous Butterbean and his promoter Mike Long. Awesome, folks. Then, I interviewed announcer Bill Hazelwood.
But sitting next to boxing referee Bill Clancey and getting to visit with him was awesome. He’s refereed a boxing match of Mike Tyson among many other big-time fighters. Soon, on March 20, he’ll be receiving The Presidential Achievement Award and Muhammad Ali’s wife will be presenting the award to him.
Big news! Bill Hazelwood announced on Saturday night in Pickens that the Roughest and Toughest Brawl will be returning for at least two more years to the Market at the Mill Event Center.
“Pickens, South Carolina showed up and showed their support last night (on Friday night) like you could not imagine,” said Hazelwood. “We could not be happier. We’ve already signed for the next two years – at least.”
Some good fights at the Roughest and Toughest Brawl in Pickens …
The final bout of the night was in the Heavyweight Division where William Every defeated Landon Shipman.
Emery is 22 years old from Woodruff and he weighed in at 355 pounds.
“I just have to give it to God,” said Emery. “He helped me get through this. I’d also like to thank my family and my girlfriend for supporting me through this.
On the women’s side, Seneca’s Amanda Towe defeated Anderson’s Rekara Johnson in the championship bout. Towe has quite an interesting story beyond the ring.
“I recently had an injury and to be able to come out and go toe-to-toe with a win, and I’m a single mom with three kids,” said the 34-year-old Towe. “And, to be a role model for them (her kids).”
Added Towe, “She (Johnson) was a great opponent. She hit hard. It was really a fight with her. It was great.”
Some other winners from Saturday night’s championship round:
Steven Loggins (151) def. Charlie Parris (148)
Andrew McCall (179) def. Darron Simpson (189)
Did you know? There were 15 fighters from Friday night’s Roughest and Toughest Brawl – who won on Friday night – that did not return to fight on Saturday night in Pickens. They jokingly call it the Toughman Flu.
EHS Baseball … on a roll: At press time, the Easley High School baseball team was off to a 5-0 start and had outscored their opponents 39-10.
Leading the way on offense was Braxton Patton at .636 batting average (7-for-11), Kaleb Owens .615 (8-for-13), Jackson Rampey .455 (5-for-11) and Brayden Bryson ..375 (6-for-16). Cooper Sears has the lone home run for the Green Wave and Owens has 4 doubles.
On the pitching mound, Owens had a 3-0 pitching record with a 0.50 ERA.
Jackson and EHS Boys Hoops: Freshman point-guard Drey Jackson also earned I-AAAA All-Region honors this past season and won the Newcomer of the Year award for the Green Wave. Jackson turned in 12.9 points a game, 6.2 assists and shot 35 percent from 3-point range.
“As the region play began, he just elevated his game more,” said Coach Jackson. “His stats actually went up during region play. That’s critical and when you need him the most.”
The two Most Improved Awards went to freshman Miles Campbell and senior Jakobie Ginns. Campbell hit some big threes during the season and Ginns lost 20-plus pounds to get into basketball shape and elevate his game. Not to be overlooked was Will Patton who was honored as a standout senior.
“He (Campbell) struggled a bit in the summer, but I saw his confidence build,” said Coach Jackson.
About Ginns, Coach Jackson added, “I challenged him in the summer and he didn’t get mad. He said yes sir. He had great footwork and just the fact that he was able to buy in.”
EHS Girls JV Hoops: The Easley High School sophomore/JV team finished 12-8 this past season.
Camora Liottle led the Green Wave JV squad in scoring (19 ppg) and was second in the conference in scoring. Josalyn Gamble turned in a team-high 1.2 blocks this season, along with 4.2 rebounds a game.
Circle the date: It’s not sports related, but the big talk this past weekend was to mark your calendar for Saturday, April 20. The Market at the Mill Event Center in Pickens is supposed to be hosting 10 bands from Nashville, Tenn. “Popcorn Sutton” is supposed to be there with over 400 cars.
Reach Jeff Holt at 864-855-0355.