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My friend, mentor and former Coach, Bartow Houston told me one time that everyone loves to see their name in print.  He was so right!

Because of The Washington Daily News, I and others get to share our love for writing. Never did I think of myself as a writer.  Coming from the locker room to the legal pad where I am now both Mrs. Gurkin and Mrs. Moss would be proud of me, although, we did not have spell check back then like we do now. Names like Rumley, Barnes and Vansant make me look good now because they edit my writing along with my wife, Tracey, they do a good job.

I ran across my scrapbook the other day and my mom had cut out John Morgan’s articles when I played Little Tar Heel League for Dr. Pepper, coached by Walter Gerard and Ed Nolley.  He would mention our batting average and the number of hits we got the night before. We did not know it then but we were so excited about seeing it. Later, he wrote Sidelines, an article in the sports page about how well the Pam Pack had done in football, basketball and baseball.  We all were excited about seeing our names in that column.

Dave Milligan had an article called Milligan’s Stew which came out daily in the WDN and it had people that were older than us.  My grandfather and cousin both were in his articles.  If you were lucky enough to be mentioned in his articles, you had done something good for the community.  Mr. Milligan wrote about people that had contributed to our small town and made them feel like they were important, and they were.

Mr. Ashley Futrell had an article called Puttering Around the Pamlico which was like Mr. Milligan’s.  It brought out the best in people who had made a difference to the county.

These men and the above mentioned names, have done much for our community! Back when I was in charge of recruiting at ECU, I always looked for articles that mentioned players and then I called their coach to ask about them. You see, young kids love to see their names in print in the past and even now. And thanks for these people that have done so much for so many.

I would personally like to thank Ben Roberts for putting every article that is printed on our class page and John Hill for complimenting me every Sunday on my article that week.  Thank you!

They were the best of times with the best of friends and in the best of places, Washington, N.C.! The original Washington!

Harold Jr.