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Bouie still giving local clinics

By Brian Hillabush

Batavia Daily News Sports Editor Bill Bruton wrote a nice little piece on former Kendall star Roosevelt Bouie, which was a feature I was going to do when I had my wrist surgeries at the start of the summer.

Bouie won four consecutive Class C titles while at Kendall and conducts clinics (Bruton talked to him in Pembroke) and does radio broadcasts for the Rochester Razorsharks.

Bouie was a star in Section 5 in the mid 1970s and learned a lot from his old-school coach, Dick Reynolds.

That made an impact on the 6-foot-11 Bouie, as did something else his high school coach taught him. Reynolds expected his team to be ready to play from the opening tip-off.

"So don't go out there taking your time thinking you can get warmed up. You'd better be ready to go when the ball drops," Bouie told Bruton. "(Reynolds) said you'd better be dripping sweat or you're not warmed up."

Bouie was a recruit for Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who has been with the Orange forever. Boeheim has a career record of 771-228 in 32 seasons as coach.

Bouie had quite a career at Syracuse, with this being his bio on the team's Web site.

A second-team Basketball Weekly freshman All-American in 1977…first-team USBWA, Citizen’s Savings Foundation and Medalist All-American in 1980…first team All-BIG EAST selection in 1980…holds the records for highest field goal percentage in a season and highest blocked shots average for a career (2.8 bpg)…12th all-time in career scoring (1,560 points), sixth in career rebounds (987) and second in career blocked shots (327)…holds the freshman blocked shots and blocked shots average records…has the most blocked shots in a game by a freshman with seven (vs. Harvard and Buffalo)…second round pick of the Dallas Mavericks in the 1980 NBA Draft.

Bouie never played in the NBA. He did not feel as if the Mavericks offered enough money, so he went to Europe to play. He played for 13 seasons in Italy (two for Scavolini Resaro, seven for Riunite Reggio Emilia and two for Clear Contu). He was a legend in Italy where he was a five time all-star and holds the league record for career field goal percentage. He also won a European Championship in the 1991-1992 season. 

Bouie wrapped up his career with one season playing in Oreste, Spain. 

Daily News sports, Friday

By Brian Hillabush

 The Daily News finally ran the Genesee Region League football all-stars today, and the only way to describe this piece is disappointing.

For the past few years there has been a cool graphic that was a football field with headshots of each player and then a story about the all-stars. This year, the paper went back to the boring team photo that looks bad because the players are wearing jeans with their jersey and the faces are so small you can barely see them.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why they would go back to this extremely unattractive photo when the cool graphic must still be in the system.

The writeups are fine with all the players statistics and plans for college next year if they are a senior. But, it is the same thing that is done for every other all-star squad.

If you are interested in seeing an all-star story with action photos from the season, check out the one that ran on The Batavian back on Oct. 21.

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The highlight of Friday's edition is the photo on page B-4 by Nick Serrata that goes along with the story by Alanna Stage covering the Elba Tournament at Genesee Community College.

Elba's Missy Call and Attica's Rachel Kohlhagen are fighting for a loose ball, which Call ends up knocking out of play, right in the direction of Serrata. He captured the moment perfectly. 

Serrata's basketball photography has been fantastic so far this season and is a nice compliment to Mark Gutman's work. The Daily has excellent sports photography.

You can check out Serrata's excellent photo by picking up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, you can subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Daily News sports, Tuesday

By Brian Hillabush

In Tuesday's Daily News sports, the Genesee Region League volleyball all-stars are featured on the front page.

Byron-Bergen won the GR title with a 21-2 record, but lost in the sectional finals to Nazareth.

The list of all-stars are

Katie Boxler (Attica), Mary Cocking (B-B), Meghan Fahy (Kendall), Jessica George (B-B), Krysta Lougheed (B-B), Stephanie Maurer (Pembroke), Mary McCormick (B-B), Brittany Morelli (Notre Dame), Kayla Konieczny (B-B), Jackie Algier (Attica), Liz Geandreau (Notre Dame), Samantha Skryp (Lyndonville) and Chelsea Turcer (Alexander).

The Coach of the Year was Kristen Partridge.

Batavia Daily News Saturday: Looking back at the Depression

By Brian Hillabush

Managing editor Mark Graczyk has a great story in Saturday's edition of The Daily News.

Batavia is a city with a rich history and Graczyk takes a fascinating look at the Depression era and looks at how people that survived those times remember them. Some of the people interviewed by Graczyk remember things being a little more positive than the history books tell us.

"I don't ever recall it feeling like a hardship," 86-year old Francis Guppenberger says. "We may not have ever had a lot of money because the pay wasn't that high, but we didn't think we were poor ... I don't remember any hard times, even when my dad was out of work."

Others remember things being  very tight.

"When I got married, we knew that there was a certain amount we could spend for heat, food and rent," Virginia Temple says. "If there was something left you could do something special. Otherwise you didn't do it. Very seldom did you have extra."

Later in the story, Temple says that she thinks right now are pretty bad, stating "It's probably a little worse now, with people losing their money."

The story is a great look back at a time many people are talking about because of the current state of the economy. The only problem with the story would be the run-over. At the end of the story it says you can find the rest of the story on page A-8. I looked, it wasn't there. You should make sure to just turn the page and find the rest on A-2.

The piece continues on B-1 as 14 readers submit memories of the Great Depression in their own words.

If any members of The Batavian family has any memories of the Depression, or remembers any stories they may have heard from parents or grandparents, please post them in comments section. It is always fun to look back in history and we would love to hear your stories.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

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