Excited winners of the 53d Annual Optimist Bowl are members of the Lake Norman Giants Jr. Peewee football team - Serepca - and their coaches.

Soggy! In a word, our yards, roads, greenways are looking a little mushy.  Wonderful days to stay inside and catch up on chores we had been thinking about all summer.

News for today in Around Davidson centers on the winning Lake Norman Giants Jr. Pee Wee football team, a recent honor for our own Dave Fleming, and an interview with Estelle Mott about her years at North Mecklenburg High School with the late W. A. Hough.  There is also a note about a fabulous Fine Arts Sale held last weekend with contact information on the artists in case you missed seeing their beautiful items plus planning notes for tomorrow and Nov. 21 activities.

A VISIT WITH ESTELLE MOTT

By now all our readers know that the new high school under construction on Bailey Road will be named W. A. Hough High School in memory of the most respected former North Mecklenburg High School principal, William Amos Hough.  Hard to top DavidsonNews.net writer Laurie Dennis’ article on this decision, so Around Davidson took a different route.  A morning spent with former English teacher, Estelle Mott, a resident of The Pines, brought wonderful notes about teaching under Mr. Hough and insights into the man as a leader.  But there were also wonderful memories of years of devotion teaching at North.  In addition Mrs. Mott had comments about former students – many of whom still live in town.

Thanks to Estelle Mott, lots of Davidson young people found their creative writings published in the annual journal of NC English Teachers.

“I couldn’t be happier,” were the words Estelle Mott chose to describe the news about the naming of the new high school.  Not showing a bit of her 87 years, she spoke about a “choice group” of teachers and staff who stayed together through the years, supporting one another through thick and thin.  From 1957-1982 Mrs. Mott taught 11th and 12th grade English in a classroom at the end of “C” hall, next to the very “best parking space.”  Educated at Lees McRae and Catawba Colleges, Mrs. Mott received her master’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.  Marrying Charles Phillips Mott (”Phil”), the couple had two sons, Charles P. Mott, III, and Mark Anthony Mott, the younger of whom Dr. Woods delivered.  After Phil’s untimely death in 1965, Mrs. Mott had the support of the teachers and especially Mr. Hough at North.  Mr. Hough always maintained “that family came first.”

Mrs. Mott has always had a love of literature.  She did not require much memorization from her students but preferred to correct weaknesses in their writing.  Yes, her classes did diagram sentences and she remarked about the time they tackled diagramming the first paragraph of “Paradise Lost” (all one sentence!).  At the time of integration at North, her 11th grade literature book contained only one entry from a writer who was not white:  “The Creation,” a poem by James Weldon Johnson.  Mrs. Mott asked Mr. Hough to change the curriculum to include more minority writers which he did despite the objections of a few teachers who did not want to have to change their teaching routine.

The 1967 North Meck yearbook includes photos from a student-led celebration, Mr. Hough Day. Among those joining a standing ovation in this photo are English teacher Estelle Mott.

Mrs. Mott measured success in her classroom by how many students she could get to talk!  Imagine that!  She also was proudest of seeing her students succeed in the strict but supportive environment Mr. Hough maintained.  Tapped to direct plays for the drama department, she vividly remembers Nancy Smith Gardner playing Eliza in “My Fair Lady,” and Lawrence Kimbrough as “Ole Doc” in a play where she had to pry him away from the ping-pong table for practice.  Names which stand out on her classroom roster include Will Brown, Jimmy Poole, Bill Strong, Shaw and Curtis Smith, Tommy and Bryce Plott, all four children of Dan and Ethel Rhodes, Susan Walker, Martha Johnston, Susan Logan, David Abbott and Zoe Hough.  How proud she was of her students whose writings were included in the NC English Teachers Student Issue.

Yes, the interview with Estelle Mott drifted more into the joys of teaching English for 25 years at North than into particular notes about W. A. Hough but throughout the conversation, Mr. Hough and his devotion to the school and its faculty was never far from her mind.  In anticipation of our time together, she wrote out a few remarks worth including:

I have been thinking about what I have heard others say about Mr. Hough.  It was a few years ago and another teacher and I were discussing the “friendly art of persuasion.”  How we might get Mr. Hough to agree to an idea we had at the time.  And this teacher’s thought is my first point for consideration about our principal.  The teacher said, “Well, if you can convince him that it will benefit the child, he will agree.”  Few of us as teachers ever doubted his interest in the welfare of the student.

A second occasion comes to mind.  Two husbands are taking their wives out to dinner.  It’s a Mother’s Day occasion and the husband of one says, “Well, let’s put Mr. Hough’s girls in the car…”  Some suggestion here, that when you work with Mr. Hough you are not just somebody, you’re  somebody special.  It points toward the relationship that exists between him and individual members of our teaching family.

I see Mr. Hough as he influences others; I see him as he is influenced by others.  Chiefly I see him as he is influenced by his wife.  We of the English group knew that we would benefit by the fact that she was a teacher of English and a student of human nature.  If I could make use of a visual aid to leave an image of Mr. Hough, I would have included three sport letters earned at Wake Forest University, one bird dog much accustomed to pointing, one church, Baptist, with a capital “B,” one school, many heads strong and voicing a vote of confidence this day!

Well said, Estelle Mott.  What wonderful memories and many thanks for sharing with Davidsonnews.net.

PEE WEE CHAMPS

Peewee football is BIG in our area.  Officially called the Pop Warner Junior Peewee Division, it includes boys ages 9-12 within a certain weight range. Our “Lake Norman Giants” area has nearly 400 young players meeting the age and weight criteria, making up 13 teams in four different division that have been playing since August 1 of this year.  Ron Turner, president of the Lake Norman Giants, commented that all are “especially proud of all the teams in the Lake Norman area and in particular the two teams that will represent us in the City Championship.”  That game occurred last Saturday, November 7, pitting the Lake Norman Giants Serepca (so named for head coach Dave Serepca) against the Lake Norman Giants Bertone (Head Coach John Bertone).  Both teams displayed a powerful offense and a stingy defense making it an outstanding end to the season with the Giants Serepca winning the 53d Annual Optimist Bowl.

It's not all about football but also about teamwork helping our community with a food drive for area pantry shelves.

How excited were the 25 boys on the team and their coaches, Derek Mohr, Dave Serepca, Chad Grier, John Jamison and William Steiner. They will have one additional chance to show their skill when they participate in the “Christmas Town Bowl” in McAddenville on November 20.  It is not all football for the team, however.  Each team has a service project during the fall and the “Serepca Giants” conducted a food drive after their game on Halloween.  Gathering more than 300 lbs. of non-perishable food, the team made deliveries to Ada Jenkins, Loaves and Fishes, Huntersville United Methodist Church and Hope House to augment their food pantry shelves.

Congratulations to all the team members and many thanks to Bonnie Newell of River Run who sent us the news and photos.  Two of the Newell boys, Connor and Mitchell, play Peewee football with Dave Serepca’s team.

A WINNING COMBINATION: Dave Fleming and the Medicine Ball

Davidson's own Dave Fleming is a nationally-respected sports writer. Here he is interviewing star quarterback Eli Manning

Dave Fleming, a senior writer for ESPN: The Magazine, lives on Concord Road with his wife, Kim, and daughters, Ally and Kate.  A talented writer of two previous books (Noah’s Rainbow and Breaker Boys), Dave now has an additional honor.  An article he wrote for ESPN: The Magazine, has been chosen for the 2009 anthology, “The Best American Sports Writing,” published by Houghton Mifflin. Well established as the premier sports anthology, the publication brings together the year’s finest writing on sports.

More than 350 national, regional and specialty publications were reviewed and just 25 articles selected to appear in this publication.  Dave’s article, titled “The Ball that Just Won’t Die,” first appeared in his magazine in April 2008 and traces the bizarre  4,000 year history of the medicine ball.  He is the first from ESPN: The Magazine, to have work featured in the anthology.

Congratulations to you, Dave.  How nice to have hard work recognized.  Our readers can read more about medicine balls from Dave’s article by clicking here.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING IN RIVER RUN

What fun to spend time recently at the home of Alice and Dave Garbrick in River Run and check out the creations of area artists at their Annual Fine Arts Show. Last Friday and Saturday mornings shoppers sipped coffee and munched on delicious goodies while browsing among displays of jewelry, scarves, pottery, note cards and personalized maps. There were wonderful items for those hard-to-shop-for people on your holiday list. In case you missed it, you can contact any of the artists listed below by telephone.

Local artists (l-r, standing) Alice Garbrick, Brenda Forouzad and Ginger Bowman, together with Harry Karn.

Ginger Bowman offered one-of-a-kind hand knit shawls, scarves, and sweaters in luxurious yarns. She also displayed unique designer jewelry made of shells, seaglass, fossils, gemstones, moldavite and meteorite wrapped in sterling silver. (704-896-5617) Alice Garbrick & Kathy Feezor can provide you with a watercolor print of Davidson using a map of the town with paintings of 12 noted buildings.  To personalize the watercolor, they will add a custom painting of your house or painting of the Davidson Wildcat statue! Also, they have beautiful Davidson note cards for sale. An added extra are many choices of  hand knit sculptured handbags by Kathy! (704-895-0705)

Brenda Forouzad had a display of original handmade jewelry featuring sterling silver, Swarovski crystals, one-of-a-kind pendants, semi-precious gemstones and natural materials including freshwater pearls and coral. (704-895-9363)  Harry Karn was the “only fella” in the group and he displayed creations of  hand-thrown functional pottery with a variety of wine stoppers, wine and margarita glasses, decorative vases and other pieces. He also sculpts and will do commissioned pieces. (704-895-8861)

As always, we are impressed with the many creative artists in our town.  This group plans to repeat their show next November.  We look forward to it.

NOTEWORTHY NOTES

Have you heard about the new management of Historic Beaver Dam? Armin Desch of Armin’s Catering in Huntersville will take over booking events and managing the facility beginning tomorrow when there is a ribbon cutting on site beginning at 10 a.m. Following a short program, there will be refreshments and a chance to talk to Armin and his staff. Sounds like a nice way to end the week.

Don’t forget tomorrow’s duo piano recital at 12:30 on the Davidson College Campus in the Tyler-Tallman Hall. It is one of the college’s musical interludes and promising to be outstanding with Cynthia Lawing and Harriette Line Thompson performing.

Start thinking ahead for two important events on Saturday, November 21. There will be more information next week in Around Davidson but for now think about holiday meal planning courtesy of the ladies at St. Alban’s who will be holding their 3d Annual Fall Fairthat date from 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the church. The fair is a benefit for the Mooresville Soup Kitchen.

Also on that Saturday you can enjoy a road trip to Kannapolis to the Gem Theatre to attend the 5 p.m. premiere of “Our Vanishing Americana.” This film is produced by Mike Lassiter and directed by Scott Galloway, both Davidson residents. A reception at Forty Six restaurant will follow the viewing.

Send us your news

Have news for Brenda? Write to her at hbarger@bellsouth.net.