By MONTE DUTTON

Old movies reveal habits from the past.

For instance, back when automobiles didn’t have consoles and bucket seats, drivers got in the passenger side and slid across the bench seats.

Have you ever tried to get in the passenger side and get over that console and under the wheel? I had to do that about 18 months ago when someone parked his or her car flush against the driver’s side door. It took about

This morning, as I watched Sam Spade call the district attorney’s office, it occurred to me that no one knows phone numbers anymore. I remember my phone number from when I was in high school, not to mention the time-of-day service.

M.S. Bailey and Son Bankers is prepared for all your banking needs. Time 1:02 p.m.

My grandfather’s grocery store. Dan Orr’s office, where my dad could often be located about dark. The police. The fire department. The city. There wasn’t any 911 to dial.

Now I know my number. That’s about it. Everything else is in the phone. If I get a call and don’t recognize it, I don’t often answer. If it’s not junk, the caller can text or leave a message.

It’s sort of a modern version of a bulletin board. Once Calvin Cooper asked my grandfather if he was interested in buying his house on the Lydia Mill village. Papa Davis said he would. Cooper told him there was a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board. My grandfather said he’d never known anything to be on that board that was worth reading.

All the people and places are long dead. So is the world they lived in.

Furman football must reload this fall and turn questions into declarative sentences.

A 10-3 record and Southern Conference championship made an impression, though.

Furman is ranked 14th in the Hero Sports FCS Preseason Top 25 poll.

The Paladins are projected to return 10 starters this fall under head coach Clay Hendrix, who is entering his eighth year at the helm.
Furman, which fell 35-28 in overtime at Montana in last year’s quarterfinal playoff, finished the 2023 season ranked seventh.

Reigning champion South Dakota State is ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll, followed by North Dakota State, Montana and Montana State. South Dakota rounds out the top five.
Chattanooga (10th) leads a trio of SoCon teams in the poll that also includes Furman and Western Carolina (16th).

The Paladins defeated Chattanooga twice last fall, taking down the Mocs, 17-14, in Chattanooga in the regular season to claim the SoCon crown, and later, 26-7, in FCS second round playoff action at Paladin Stadium.
Furman knocked off Western Carolina, 29-13, in Cullowhee, when the Catamounts were ranked eighth in the FCS.
Furman kicks off its 12-game 2024 season on Aug. 31 against Ole Miss.

Hero Sports FCS Preseason Top 25
1. South Dakota State (3 1st-Place Votes)
2. North Dakota State
3. Montana
4. Montana State
5. South Dakota
6. Villanova

7. Idaho
8. Sacramento State
9. Southern Illinois
10. Chattanooga
11. Central Arkansas
12. UIW
13. Richmond
14. FURMAN

15. UAlbany
16. Western Carolina
17. William & Mary
18. Tarleton State
19. Delaware
20. Lafayette
21. UC Davis
22. Weber State
23. Youngstown State
24. Illinois State
25. Eastern Illinois
Received votes (ordered from most voting points to least): Nicholls, Elon, UT Martin.

Women’s golfer Anna Morgan is one of four collegiate women’s golfers named to the second class of ambassadors for the Annika Development Program at Old Barnwell Golf Club in Aiken.

The program provides opportunities for women to excel in both golf and life and benefits a select group of college graduates who are attempting to pursue a professional career in golf.  All four women were selected on a combination of their golf talent, potential, leadership skills, personal character and dedication to their college careers.

Morgan is joined by Kajsa Arwefjäll of San Jose State, Caley McGinty from Ohio State and Anna Zanusso from the University of Denver.

Over the next three years, each ambassador will have access to play and practice at Old Barnwell and will receive training from its professional staff.  They will also receive a $10,000 annual stipend to cover tournament fees and travel.  Annika Sörenstam will provide mentoring sessions during their time in the development program, and ambassadors will receive housing for the first year of the program.

Four Furman athletes have qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships East Preliminaries, which will be hosted by the University of Kentucky, May 22-25, at the Kentucky Outdoor Track & Field Facility.

Senior Megan Marvin has qualified in the women’s 1,500 meters, and junior Sierra Bower will compete in the women’s 5,000. On the men’s side, senior Cameron Ponder will run in the 1,500, while senior Dylan Schubert will compete in the 5,000.

Morgan, a native of Chapel Hill, N.C., is making her third preliminary appearance, including her second in the 1,500. She finished sixth with a PR of 4:13.47 in the event at the regional meet in 2022 and went on to place 15th nationally that season. She enters the meet ranked 41st after posting a time of 4:18.13 at the Wake Forest Invitational.

A native of Carbondale, Colo., Bower qualified for her first NCAA East Preliminary.  She recorded a personal-best time of 16:03.89 in the 5,000 at the Raleigh Relays to qualify and enters the meet ranked 40th in the event. She won the event at the SoCon Outdoor Championships earlier this month.  

Ponder, from Winston-Salem, N.C. is running in the third NCAA East Preliminary of his career.  He is making his first appearance in the 1,500 after twice competing in the 3,000 Steeplechase. Ponder crossed the line in the 1,500 in 3:40.90 at the Wake Forest Invitational to qualify in 27th place. 

A native of Loveland, Colo., Schubert will compete in his second East preliminary and his first in the 5,000.  He ranks 10th in the event after placing third with a time of 13:36.98 at the Wake Forest Invitational.

‘Tis the season of academic distinction.

Four from men’s tennis — senior Emil Westling, juniors Cole Burnam and John Rado, and sophomore Thomas Kennedy – were named Academic All-District in a program under the auspices of College Sports Communicators.

It’s a geographically diverse quartet.

Westling is from Bjärred, Sweden; Burnam from Dallas, Texas; Rado of Los Altos, Calif.; and Kennedy of Atlanta, Ga.

By definition, it’s an academically elite group. Westling graduated from Furman with a 3.86 grade-point average in applied mathematics. Burnam has a 3.56 in business administration, Rado a 3.52 in the same and Kennedy a 3.56, presumably undeclared.

Women’s tennis also placed four on the district all-academic team.

Juniors Jess Dawson, from Hull, East Yorkshire, England, and Ellie Schulson, Newburyport, Mass., product, earned the honor for the second consecutive year, while Marissa Pennings, of Clearwater, Fla., and Grace Thomas, of Sunshine Coast, Australia, won for the first time.

Dawson is an accounting major with a 3.70 GPA. Schulson is a business administration major with a 3.75. Pennings holds a 3.73 in economics. Thomas boasts a 4.0 in neuroscience.

Four Furman athletes won postgraduate scholarships from the Southern Conference.

Chrissy Fleming (softball) wins the Dorothy Hicks Scholarship, while Callum Holland (men’s soccer) is the recipient of the William V. Moore Graduate Scholarship presented by McMillan Pazdan Smith. Lily Rathbun (women’s lacrosse) receives the Southern Conference Presidential Scholarship, and Emil Westling (men’s tennis) earns the Dave Hart Scholarship.

Decision time is approaching. What’s next? Do I keep doing it the way I am now? Do I amend this site? Do I continue to concentrate on local sports coverage, or do I change my priorities?

I’m thinking. I’m thinking.

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