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Volume 78 • Issue 29 • Wednesday, July 17, 2013
INSIDE... Museum re-opens ........3A Opinions ........4A Harper Park hosts Dixie Youth tourney ..........9A
Drumm to be inducted into MH Sports Hall of Fame
Contributed Photo
This conceptual image shows the location in Stowe Park where the Spirit of the Fighting Yank statue would be placed if all the pieces for his move work out. The statute would be enhanced with a pavilion, American flag, and landscaping.
Fighting Yank moving? ALAN HODGE alan.bannernews@gmail.com
By Kathy Blake Special to the Banner News
If it’s Wednesday, Charlie “Poss� Drumm is at the Tuckaseegee Recreation Center in Charlotte, playing the game that is his passion. About two dozen men gather in the gymnasium, many in elastic knee or elbow braces, most with water jugs and towels stored on bleachers. There are heavy-set men and slender ones, quick shooters and fast talkers, bonded for the afternoon in the hot, stagnant air reasserting their reverence for basketball. Two requirements regulate play in this clique – be 50 or older, and love the game. At 80, Drumm is the eldest. He doesn’t wear a brace, doesn’t carry water, but his skills at this 4-on-4 ritual are compatible with the rest of these players who have been meeting at Tuckaseegee for more than a decade. “For him to be out there, running around like we do, and still come back for another day, that’s incredible,� said Tony Huntley, 58, a Wednesday regular since he became eligible. The men play for three hours, year-round, and compete in tournaments in May and December. Barbara Drumm, Charlie’s wife of 53 years, understands the grip basketball can have on a player. “His love of basketball is like how we love to breathe fresh air. It just comes natural for him,� she said. “I think it was natural for him since he was a young child.� * Drumm was born in Mount Holly and discovered sports early. “I was playing by the time I was 8 years old,� he said, “but it was just for fun.� He played competitively in junior high, then added four years of basketball, and three years of golf, football and baseball at Mount Holly High School. His best friend, Harold Helton, started calling him “little Poss,� after Drumm’s father’s nickname, and it stuck. Of all he did, the basketball of the 1948-49 and 1949-50 seasons was his favorite. Drumm, at 5-foot-10, played point guard, and led the 1950 MHHS team to the Little Eight conference tournament title. “That was the big one, when we won the championship,� he said. “We were tied, and we won by one point against Stanley High School.� Drumm played for Lees-McRae College in See DRUMM, 2A
The “Spirit of the Fighting Yank� WWII memorial statue in front of Belmont Middle School might have legs made of bronze, but he could be marching to a new location in Stowe Park. The statue depicts a World War II soldier in combat action, was erected in 1946 on the campus of what was then Belmont High, and is one of just five similar memorials created by famed sculptor Ernest Visquesney. The
other four Fighting Yanks are located in Chicago, Bloomington, Ind., Port Huron, Mich., and Oil City, Pa. Belmont’s Fighting Yank has been seriously vandalized at least twice. Several years ago, his Tommy gun was stolen. On July 24, 2011, youths pulled him from his stone base and threw his head in Dutchman’s Creek. The head and gun were eventually replaced, but given the fact that trees have grown near the statue and partially obscured it, he is vulnerable to attack again. Not only that, but the statue’s current location is removed from
downtown Belmont where thousands of folks work, visit, and play. Earlier this year, State Farm agent Art Shoemaker, a military veteran and long-time Auten Stowe American Legion Post 144 member, was walking by the statue when it dawned on him that a safer, more visible location for the Fighting Yank might not be a bad thing. Thus was born the idea of moving the statue to Stowe Park. “After the statue was vandalized again I got fired up and wanted to see if it could be See FIGHTING YANK, 5A
Duckworth brothers battle at Gettysburg ALAN HODGE alan.bannernews@gmail.com
When most guys go on vacation its usually to a place they can relax, work on a suntan, and maybe sip a brewski. For brothers Brian and Joey Duckworth of Stanley, their recent summer adventure involved putting on grey wool uniforms, taking up muskets, and following in the footsteps of their great-great grandfather, Richard Alexander McCorkle, to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where he had fought in the Civil War battle there July 1-3, 1863 as a member of the 52nd NC Regiment, and where they took part in the 150th anniversary reenactment events commemorating that pivotal engagement. The Duckworths, members of the 28th Regiment North Carolina Troops, joined over 10,000 other reenactors portraying Confederate and Union soldiers, as well as 19th century civilians, who converged on Gettysburg from
every state and 16 foreign nations to relive history during the week of July17. The Gettysburg Visitors Bureau estimated 200,000 folks converged on the town during that same period to see and hear lectures, tours, and living history events associated with the 150th anniversary of the battle. “We have been planning for this event ever since we started reenacting,� Brian said. “I started in 2009 and Joey started in 2010 (after I dragged him along). I even let my beard get especially long and it turned red, possibly from my McCorkle genes.� Just as in 1863, the weather during See DUCKWORTH, 10A Photo by Kermit Myers
Brothers Joey and Brian Duckworth from Stanley followed in the footsteps of their great-great-grandfather who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg by taking part in the 150th anniversary reenactment events held in and around the town July 1-7.
Attending dedication was like dĂŠjĂĄ vu for Rankin ALAN HODGE alan.bannernews@gmail.com
When North Carolina Air National Guard MSgt. Tracie Rankin of Stanley went to South Dakota recently to take part in the dedication of markers paying tribute to the aircrew of a firefighting C130 that crashed there last year it was like dĂŠjĂĄ vu all over again. The crash killed four crew members, including Maj. Joe McCormick of Belmont, and injuring two others, including Sgt. Josh Marlowe of Cleveland County. A member of the NCANG 145th MAW based at CharlotteDouglas International Airport, Rankin was with the group that had originally gone to South
MSgt. Tracie Rankin Dakota on the firefighting mission. “One year ago, on June 30th, our unit was preparing to leave for Colorado Springs with two airplanes equipped for fighting forest fires and one airplane to
carry the support personnel from Maintenance, Operations and Logistics,� Rankin said. “I was going on the trip in a supply/logistics role, to support the Maintenance personnel with aircraft parts if needed. Once we arrived in Colorado Springs, we were told the next day we would move to Cheyenne, Wyoming because the fires were getting worse in that area. “On July 1, 2012 we moved to Cheyenne and MAFFS 7 and 8 were flying on some fires, on the evening of July 1st is when MAFFS 7 went down in South Dakota, killing four airmen. After receiving news of the crash, I was ask to become a FLO (Family Liaison Officer) for one of our survivors and his
family, so I moved to South Dakota on July 2nd and remained there until the survivor was able to be flown back to Charlotte.� The survivor and family that Rankin was assigned to is Josh Marlowe from Boiling Springs. Over the past year since the crash, an effort by Custer County Chronicle publisher Charles Najacht, as well as US Forest Service and National Guard folks, saw the construction of two informational and commemorative markers near the C130 crash site. They explain what happened and feature images of the crewmen who were killed. The markers were dedicated on July 1 with a See RANKIN, 5A
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