Baylor School will honor retired wrestling coach Jim Morgan before its 6 p.m. match today against archrival McCallie.
The ceremony is scheduled for 5:45 and will include the unveiling of a bust sculpted by Cessna Decosimo. The bust has been installed in the Worsham Wrestling Arena lobby, and a replica will be presented to Morgan.
Morgan is a McCallie graduate who ended a distinguished coaching career at Baylor with six state duals championships from 1984 until last year. And he is the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s all-time winningest coach both in victories (178) and percentage (.723) for a 1969-83 span that included six Southern Conference championships.
Fowlkes a Flame
Soddy-Daisy senior James Fowlkes signed scholarship powers Wednesday to continue his baseball career with NAIA power Lee University in Cleveland.
“James is a great sign for us, and I think he has a chance to be a great player,” Flames coach Mark Brew said. “He is very athletic for a catcher and has the versatility to play the outfield. He has a strong arm, runs extremely well and projects to be a gap-to-gap guy at the plate.”
The 6-foot-2 Fowlkes “is going to be a great fit for Lee,” Soddy-Daisy coach Jared Hensley said. “He’s a very athletic player who can hit for power and average, and he also has good speed. He has been a good leader and great team player for our program.”
Fowlkes hit .406 with a .531 on-base percentage for the Chattanooga Cyclones this past summer, and Cyclones founder-coach George Koontz called him “a coach’s dream. He is very talented, has a tireless work ethic and hates to lose. … He should be an All-American at Lee and eventually play pro ball.”
Fowlkes said he also considered Carson-Newman and Troy and got a look from Memphis but picked the NAIA program over the NCAA schools because of “the opportunity to grow as an athlete and a person.”
McKinney to LMU
GPS senior Nicole McKinney recently decided to continue her soccer career at Lincoln Memorial University, an NCAA Division II school in Harrogate, Tenn.
McKinney was a two-year starter for the Bruisers and led the 2010 team with seven goals and seven assists. She was named to the Tennessee High School Soccer Coaches Association all-state team.
She was recruited by NCAA Division I programs Tennessee Tech and Wofford and other Division II schools besides LMU.
“Lincoln Memorial has some old-time charm — not too small or too large — a great coach and I like the players that I met in summer camps,” McKinney said in a released statement. “I think it will allow me to continue to enjoy the game while working on my academic life as well.”
New GPS coach Leland Strang believes McKinney will make a good outside midfielder or outside back in college.
“Her service is fantastic,” Strang said. “She’s really good with set pieces; she was part of half of our offense this year, either by goal or assist. She provided good leadership for us, and I think she’ll go to LMU and have an impact.”
Seagroves to TTU
Brianna Seagroves officially became the first soccer signee for the Chattanooga Patriots home-school athletic program Wednesday, beating her fellow co-captain by three days.
Emmanuel Awotula, the Tennessee Temple University assistant coach who attended the signing at Ringgold’s Poplar Springs Baptist Church, where Seagroves does her co-op work, said her aggressive defense and physical play were the main attractions.
“I saw her team play against Red Bank,” Awotula said. “Red Bank had a girl who was real fast, but Brianna was able to contain her.”
Seagroves plays club ball for the East Ridge Express 92, and TTU head coach Kenrick Liburd said he liked her technique and soccer acumen.
“I see her as a defender or a wide midfielder,” Liburd said.
“We’re just a fourth-year program, and Brianna has been with me from the beginning,” Patriots coach Beth Bontekoe said. “She’s been a catalyst for our improvement. She’s played every position I’ve needed her to play and always has done what needed to be done.”
Dalton honors late teacher
The Dalton girls’ basketball team, ranked No. 2 in Georgia’s Class AAA, will host sixth-ranked Chestatee at 4 p.m. Saturday with all proceeds going to the Demara Robinson Scholarship Fund.
Robinson, a Dalton teacher, was killed in an automobile accident Jan. 4 on her way to work.
“We hope a lot of people come out to support the team and this cause,” Dalton coach Jeff McKinney said. “She was a great teacher and meant a lot to this school and community.”