“Needling the faculty, staff, and students for 96 straight”
The Pine Needle
St. Christopher’s School
Richmond, Virginia
October 2013
Number 1
Volume XCVI
The Dawn of the New Dinesty By Henry Fauls Senior Editor
This Is Our Turf
By Merrick Furman Junior Contributor
It was an all-out turf war. After serious deliberation and thought, a committee of coaches and administrators decided to put in turf. Proponents argued that an artificial field would allow the school to maximize practice space, while some favored the tradition and the better playing environment that the grass field provided. After about a month of delays the new turf arrived just in time for the Saints first home game of the year, Sept. 13. Granted, this was not the planned completion date; rain and grading issues bogged down the construction, scheduled to be completed
for the first day of football practice, Aug. 12. Now Saints football and lacrosse players will play all their home games on artificial turf. The change is a much-anticipated new addition to the Saints’ list of great athletic facilities. The award winning grass of Knowles Field is not gone; it has merely moved a couple hundred yards south to the Middle School field. “The best turf in the Commonwealth” is what Athletic Director John Gordon had in mind when he decided to revamp the already award winning Knowles Field. Although Knowles Field was undoubtedly one of the nicest natural grass playing surfaces in Virginia, Coach Gordon
said it would benefit the St. Christopher’s athletic department to have a field capable of hosting contests in all weather conditions and all times of the year. The new turf is expected to last about 25 years, which provides the Saints football program with a nearly maintenance-free playing surface for the foreseeable future. The process attracted many college and high school representatives who are interested in attempting the project at their schools. The new turf consists of a fourlayer system to ensure proper drainage, including a cushioned, foam shock pad, designed to minimize the force of impact on players, thus Continued Field, Page 6
Under the Hood with Partee
By Charlie Parrish Junior Contributor
Now many of us have heard the stories of how Sam Partee built a car with his bare hands from stones imported from Mexico. While much of that statement is ridiculous, there is some truth to it. There may be no stones or imports involved but he effectively rebuilt much of his car, a BMW E39 M5. BMW ,the company that produced the car, uses E39 as the name for this style of M5 which was produced from 1995-2003. The M stands for Motorsport, BMW’s high performance division. The 5 is used because the car is based off a regular 5 series sedan that has been tuned for the highest performance possible
and given a plethora of luxurious features. It all started long ago when Partee and his dad would work on another BMW. “I was always really interested in cars, but ever since my dad and I started working on his M5 I became obsessed with working on that type of car.” Fast forward to the present, and we see Partee again working on an M5, however this one belongs to him. Partee loves this car, saying he will keep it for the rest of his life. “I’m never going to get rid of it, I will build and rebuild this car until the day I die.” According to Partee, when he first got the car any other normal person would have been satisfied with it, but he was not. He described it as driveable but not where he wanted it. As of now, he has replaced or
rebuilt the entire upper engine, all of the suspension components, the right motor mount, the motor brackets, the transmission mounts, the intakes, the ABS brakes system, the fender, the hood, the stereo system and all the fluids, and he plans to keep working until he reaches perfection whenever that may be. Out of everything on that impressive list, the transmission mounts and motor mounts proved to be the hardest job because they were difficult to get to and required the engine to be lifted. Due to the lack of an engine lift, he had to improvise, using a car jack with a piece of wood between the mount and the car to prevent damage to the car. Partee did much of this work in the freezing cold, which he described as “horrible,” but he powered through with flannels, gloves Continued Partee’s Car, Page 6
The red cups—new and cool but not that big of a deal. Until you uncover why they’re here. Walter Ellerbe is the man behind this school-spirited change who hopes that the darker plastic will improve the longevity of the cups. Our new chef boasts an unbelievable background, from fullback at the University of South Carolina to the owner of several award-winning restaurants. Beginning his high schoool career as a 5’10”, 225 lb. tailback who sprinted a 4.4 40 and threw 345 pounds up on a bench press, Chef Ellerbe moved on to play at the University of South Carolina from ’86-’90. From there, he made the transition to semi-pro ball for the Triangle Cardinals in Raleigh, close to his home in Durham. After a modest stint with the sheriff’s department, Chef picked up a full time job at a Marriott in Raleigh where he decided to take advantage of the company’s continuing education program. The blossoming chef landed a spot at the Culinary Institute of America for five out of the seven years he worked at Marriott. Because of a mix up his final year, he was sent to another premiere culinary school in South Carolina, Johnson & Wales University. Chef Ellerbe fell in love with the instruction there and earned an associates and bachelor’s degree. After graduation, Mr. Ellerbe, while working as the chef at Capitol City Chop House, answered a call from former President Jimmy Carter’s publicist, hoping that his boss could have dinner there. Though Chef thought it was a vicious prank contrived by his friends, not only did Carter eat at his restaurant, he also asked Chef Ellerbe to cook for him on the last leg of his tour. He accepted, and that tour landed him in the Tidewater area where he started working for Sage Dining Services at Norfolk Collegiate School. The New York Giants and the New York Jets offered him a job as the executive chef for their joint offseason camp after his first run with Sage. A successful 10-day excursion that turned out to be more of an interview earned him the job as Continued Chef, Page 5