RUSTY

From Page 1B in 1994. He is 11th on the list of the top 50 home run hitters of all time with 2,344 home runs. Nine of those top 11 were people that played on barn storming teams like Howard’s Furniture of Denver that traveled all over the country several days a week playing softball. Bumgardner always played for teams that just played on weekends, thus he had fewer at-bats than sluggers on barn storming teams. For example, a slugger on a barn storming team would average about 2,400 atbats a year while Bumgardner and others on weekend teams would average about 250 to 300 at-bats per year.

“The dimensions of the fields back then were a lot smaller than when we played,” Bumgardner noted. “And, they were swinging wooden bats. I remember seeing a Shriners tournament at the Kings Mountain Community Center and saw people like Stan Harvey and Don Arndt of Howard’s Furniture. It was crazy watching those guys hit the ball so far. I said ‘one day I’m going to be like

Kings Mountain’s Mountaineers regained a share of first place in the Big South Conference Friday night. While the Mountaineers were defeating Ashbrook 61-55 the previously undefeated Crest Chargers were losing to the Hunter Huss Huskies in Boiling Springs.

Those results left the Mountaineers and Chargers tied for first, but they were facing another big obstacle last night when they were in Gastonia again, this time playing the Hunter Huss Huskies who were looking to avenge an earlier close loss to the Mountaineers at Parker Gym.

Kings Mountain got the upper hand early and led the Green Wave 17-7 after the first period and 38-18 at the half. But the Green Wave got on a roll in the third period and outscored the Mountaineers 24-11 to trail by just 49-42 heading into the final eight minutes.

The Mountaineers were able to hold them off with good defense and an offense featuring three players in double figures. Freshmen

Bradley Floyd and Tucker Robinette led the way with 17 points each and junior Zay Smith scored 13 including five of nine from the free throw line. The Mountaineers were also strong on the boards with Floyd grabbing 12 rebounds, Bryson Brown nine and Curtis Simpson seven.

The Ashbrook girls stayed in a tie for first place with Stuart Cramer by turning back the Lady Mountaineers 41-27 in the opening game. Khalia King led the KM ladies with 13 points and also grabbed four rebounds. CoRey Simpson had five points and seven rebounds, Farri Martin four points, Tyasa Bell two points and six rebounds and Austyn Dixon one point and five rebounds.

Boys Boxscore

KM (61) – Floyd 17, Robinette 17, Smith 13, Simpson 7, Osborne 3, Brown 2, Sanders 2.

A (55) – Greene 19, Leslie 11, Patton 8, Clark 7, Miller 3, Bess 2, June 2.