May 6, 2020 Issue, Page 8 of 8

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Page 8 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma Wednesday, May 6, 2020 Hamm ready to take over Elkette basketball be in Elk City and be an Elk went to school in Ryan and the head junior high school Any changes in offensive here and knowing play- and I'm looking forward to then attended Southwestern softball coach coach. For and defensive schemes will ers and their strengths and growing the program and be- Oklahoma State University four years, he was the boys be determined at the appro- weaknesses will help him as ing a part of this community for a couple of years before soccer coach. priate time, but he said he he steps in the head coach- for a long time to come,” graduating from Texas Lu- Hamm said the girls bas- ing job. He is already able would like to see his play- Hamm said. theran University with a de- ketball team next year will ers play more man-to-man to evaluate players and what Administrators were hap- gree in kinesiology. work hard and try to get af- defense than in the past. The they need to improve at, and py to elevate Hamm to the When he was at Texas Lu- ter opponents and play with Elkettes will lose four se- because of those circum- head coach’s seat, Hunt said, theran University - located a faster style than it has in niors from this year’s team - stances, he doesn’t expect and are confident Hamm can in Seguin, located halfway the past. Baylee Miller, Norie Flow- as steep a learning curve as take the program to the next between Austin and San An- ‘We're going to a be ers, Haleigh Musick and there might be at other plac- level. tonio - for his last two years, a hard-working, scrappy Mikah Butler — but about 15 es. “With his leadership skills he was an assistant coach bunch,” he said. players will return for the The Elkettes started slow Hamm and his work ethic, we be- on the women’s basket- Coaches like to put their program. lieve great days are ahead of ball team. He came back to stamp on a team in their first “T couldn’t be more ex- in 2019-20 but played bet- By Don Munsch, Editor him and the Elkette basket- Oklahoma and was at Geary year, and Hamm said he will cited and I'm ready to get ter as the year went. They An assistant girls basket- ball program,” Hunt said. for two years and he has going,” Hamm said, adding won three playoff games, be no different as far as style ball coach at Elk City HighBecoming the head coach been at Elk City for the last of coaching. that he hopes players get with the seniors showing School will take over as ofa girls basketball program seven years, with the last six “TIL also take with me some work in over the sum- their leadership and younger head coach next year. has been a dream for Hamm. years exclusively at the high some of the things I’ve mer, but that all depends on players gaining some experi- Sean Hamm, who has been “I'm really thankful for school. The first year was learned the last seven years, safety protocols relative to ence. in Elk City seven years, will Mr. Hunt and Mr. [Rick] split between the intermedi- and I'll keep the stuff has COVID-19. “T think that was the first be the next coach. The previ- Garrison —_ [superintendent] ate school and high school. worked really well and stuff “But whenever that is, time that any of those girls ous coach, Tim Ellison, was for finally giving me a He has been a coach on the I like,” he said. “As with whether it’s this summer or had experienced going that reassigned, Elk City athletic chance to do that,” Hamm girls basketball team staff for any new coach who’s taking whether it’s October, we’ll far in the playoffs and it kind director Brian Hunt said. said, the seven years he has been over a program, they'll be be ready for it,” he sai of sets the expectations go- “I'm just real excited to A native of Terral, Hamm here. Hamm also serves as some changes.” He said being as assistant ing forward,” Hamm said. Used to nomadic life, pro golfers are settling into staying put By Jerry Zgoda, Star Tri- wherever that might be and er. They’ve played board lis suburbs. With his family, took seriously Idaho’s stay- the Israelites streaming out bune (Minneapolis) strange as that might be. games, golf and pickleball. he played video games and at-home order that expired of Egypt, led by Moses. MINNEAPOLIS _ Pro “Tm surprised Delta They’ve also established solved jigsaw puzzles before Friday. We're on chapter six ... golfer Troy Merritt’s broth- hasn’t called me to see “Two-Step Tuesdays,” when spring arrived. And he has taught the les- “T'm usually not home for er teaches at Spring Lake where I’ve been,” said Mer- they learn a new country “I don’t know about the sons plans sent by his sons’ a long stretch like this, es- Park’s Westwood ritt, who played at Spring middle swing dance every week. puzzles,” Herron said. “They teachers. school. Merritt’s parents Lake Park High and Winona She also practiced put- get me a little frustrated. I’m “My second-grader, we’ ve pecially when the weather were teachers, as were his State before he transferred to ting on an artificial-turf hole not very good at puzzles.” got to get through literature is nice. It’s just good to be aunts and uncles. His cous- Boise State. in her front hallway when Merritt has played golf and now,” he said one day last home and help out with ins are, too. Golfers’ livelihoods have the weather was bad. Golf fished at a pond outside town month, “They’re reading a schoolwork. I’ve really en- “We have a lot of teachers been disrupted as so many courses in North Dakota with his boys, and he said he book called ‘Tirzah,’ about joyed that.” in our family,” he said. million Americans have never closed, so she’s hit Now he is one as well, by been, but this forced break balls and played nine holes necessity, as schools nation- has been a pause unlike any occasionally. wide have been closed by other in their careers. “Tve eaten more home- NFL Draft shows that parity the coronavirus pandemic. has left college football “J have not slept so well cooked meals than I have Merritt and his wife, Court- in the last seven years,” said the last 10 years,” said Ol- ney, find themselves home Olson, who was raised near son, who in mid-March fin- schooling their sons Scout, Fargo, played at North Da- ished fourth in Phoenix on By Berry Tramel, The with the most picks in a par- the Big Ten. And the SEC a second-grader, and Dodge, kota State and turned pro in the lower-level Cactus Tour, Oklahoman ticular draft accounted for dominates everyone, with who’s in kindergarten, in 2013. “This is the longest which has had weekly events The NCAA announced more than 30 percent of the LSU winning it all in 2019 Boise, Idaho. time I’ve been in the same in Arizona. last week its name/image/ total selections: 30.6 per- and Georgia dang near in “T don’t have the patience time zone. Your body can Winner of nearly $1.5 likeness reform that basi- cent in 2006, 31.2 percent in 2017. to be a teacher,” Merritt said, actually get in a rhythm of million in career earnings, cally will allow athletes to 2017 and 32.5 in 2020. The playoff has become “but I can go ahead and help falling asleep and waking up Olson played three events be compensated for endorse- The two most top-heavy paramount. Players appear my kids out at home for naturally, not being in a dif- before the LPGA suspended ments. The initial theories drafts in NFL history have to be making decisions based sure.” ferent time zone every week. its season. Tim Herron, a say the rich will get richer come in the last four years, more than ever on getting to His PGA Tour is shut That has been great. Not four-time PGA Tour winner, in college football, that en- which parallels the advent of the four-team tournament. down at least until its sched- having to pack and unpack made his PGA Tour Cham- dorsements will flow in mar- the four-team College Foot- The talent has become less uled return in mid-June in has been great. pions debut in February, and kets that are eat up with the ball Playoff. The playoff has spread out. Not that long Fort Worth, Texas. July’s “Tm on the road 32 weeks his tie for 18th at the Hoag sport. gained stature; the rest of the ago, the mid-majors would British Open was canceled, a year, so there are a lot of Classic in his third event was In Birmingham and Okla- college football post-season, produce a bumper crop. and the tour’s three remain- things some people take for his best finish before tour- homa City and Columbus, aincluding major bowl games The University of Buffalo ing major championships granted that I really appreci- naments were canceled or commercial with a campus when they’re not the nation- had six players drafted in are set to be played, starting ate.” postponed. quarterback might sell a car al semifinals, have slipped. 2014. Connecticut had five with the PGA Championship Olson and her husband, He’d like to get an exemp- or two. In Los Angeles and And the recruiting seems in 2013. Boise State six in in August and ending with Grant, a North Dakota State tion if the PGA Tour indeed Chicago and New York, not to show it. 2012. South Florida five in the Masters in November. football assistant coach, returns in June at the Colo- so much. In the first NFL Draft that 2010. Cincinnati six in 2009. The LPGA and PGA Tour have used this time since she nial Golf Club, where he But a few days before the contracted to seven rounds, Hawaii six in 2007. Champions revised their finished second at the Aus- won in 2006 and has a beau- NCAA announcement came 1994, only one school had That doesn’t happen any- schedules. Both plan to re- tralian Open in February to tiful plaid jacket to show an event that sheds more more than six draftees. Notre more. turn in mid-to-late July, each spend time at home in Fargo for it. But he is more likely light on the subject of parity. Dame with 10. So exactly how are en- in Michigan, if COVID-19 together. Her $118,382 pay- to resume playing when the In the NFL Draft, 14 LSU In the last four NFL dorsements going to make allows. day was second only to the Champions tour does July players were selected. Ten Drafts, Alabama has aver- this situation even worse? “[’ve been wrong so many $244,615 she won for tying 31. each from Michigan and aged more than 10 picks per They aren’t. The elite of the times what I think this virus for second at the 2018 Evian Herron has played a good Ohio State went. Toss in the year, 10.25. In the last five elite already are getting the will do,” LPGA Tour player Championship, an LPGA bit of golf with his three nine draftees from Alabama, NFL Drafts, Ohio State has best talent. It’s dang near a Amy Olson said. major. teenage sons and last month and 16.9 percent of the 255 averaged 9.0 picks per year. monopoly. Professional nomads now “[ was just hitting my got his boat out of winter players drafted were from We knew college football If you don’t like the new unusually stuck in one place stride,” she said, “but every- storage. He has walked with four schools. parity was gone. Clemson NCAA rule on name/image/ these past two months, tour body’s in the same boat.” his wife, Ann, and their Cav- In the 27 years since the dominates the ACC. Okla- likeness, fine. But don’t use players raised in Minnesota She and Grant have alier King Charles Spaniel, NFL Draft was reduced homa dominates the Big a devotion to parity as your or neighboring states have cooked, cleaned, worked out Cruiser, near their home in to just seven rounds, only 12. Ohio State, with an oc- cause. That one already is hunkered down at home, and done yard work togeth- the southwestern Minneapo- thrice have the 10 programs casional uprising, dominates lost. Have a sports photo to share? Send it to [email protected]