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Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Vietnam memorial at MHS undergoes re-visioning
Jun. 13—It's a roll call for the ages at Morgantown High School. One including Thomas "Tommy " Bennett, Roger Bise, Major Dalton, Robert Hoskins, Howard Jackson and Dave Kovac. Carroll Lilly, James Messenger, Charles Nowell Jr. and Gordon Perry, also. You can add John Pickett, William Ross Jr., Ron Rowsey and Jack Wade Scarborough Jr. in there, too — along with William Sisler, Joseph Slavenksy Jr., Dean Spencer III and Delmas Townsend — to complete the eternal class. Those 18 names have something else in common, besides being graduates of the red-bricked school on Wilson Avenue. All paid the ultimate price in Vietnam. Kovac, who was popular and nice to the kids who weren't cool, joined the Marines right after graduation. He was killed in an ambush in the early days of the fighting. Lilly had been an established fighter pilot when he was shot down — he remains listed as missing in action to this day, as his body was never recovered. Bennett was a conscientious objector who died as a combat medic while rescuing buddies in heavy fire. He would be bestowed posthumously with the Medal of Honor, the military's highest recognition for bravery. With the help of the MHS Key Club—classmates Bennett and Kovac were ranking members—the school put up a memorial years ago with the names etched in marble that sits along the side of the school. Over the years, though, unattended shrubbery took over the monument, obscuring the names. "Yeah, we needed to do something about that, " said teacher Jenny Secreto, who has long championed the fallen, particularly Bennett, who regularly gets a unit in her English honors classes. "I'm not sure a lot of our kids know the monument exists, " she said. Now, just in time for Flag Day, those names are as visible as they've ever been. Secreto enlisted graphic artists at Morgantown's City Neon to come up with an additional design element to better showcase the 18. A donation from the Key Club and proceeds from Kona Ice sales paid for the project. The new-look monument comes in the form of an additional frame to house a gallery of yearbook photos of the students, who, with the exception of Lilly, made the trip home from Southeast Asia in a flag-draped coffin. The gallery is printed on a sheet of polyurethane-type composites to better withstand rain and snow, said Rudy Hoffert, a design manager at City Neon. "Of course, we feel good about being able to help, " Hoffert said. "We're a Morgantown company, and so were the people and their families that we get to help honor. And when the gallery needs replacing, we can just do a new one and slide it right back in. It'll last a long time, though." Secreto, though, wants that collective, composite memory and acknowledgement to last forever. After all, the teacher said: it's a time-bridge. "I tell our kids today that these guys sat in the same classrooms, " she said. They roamed the same hallways, took lunch in the same cafeteria and sat in the same bleachers at Pony Lewis Field on football Friday nights, Secreto said. "And look at what they were facing in their time. They were so young — just like you."
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Big Rock Blue Marlin boaters share their superstitions for luck
MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. (WNCT) — Some boaters in the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament have their own superstitions to ensure good sailing. Some boaters rules for good luck are: Wearing the same shirt or pair of socks 'Each boat has its own little, little superstition, so to speak. You know, everybody wears colored socks and they may wear white socks and black socks,' weight master Randy Gregory said. 'Who knows? It's just crazy superstition. Yeah. Sometimes they make them bite, sometimes it doesn't.' 'My favorite one is I have a red big blue marlin sure that I love, and I have called striped marlin on the fly in Cabo San Lucas,' Big Rock board member Tommy Bennett said. 'I've called Blue Marlin on the floor in Guatemala wearing that shirt. And it is my my lucky fishing shirt.' Throwing Oreo cookies and beer over the bow of the boat to feed the fish 'You take Oreo cookies over the bar You take them and you present them to the Billfish gods and you come in there like that and then, you know, you shake up some beers and you spray it off the stern,' weight master Randy Gregory said. 'You know, it kind of attracts the fish.' Never bring bananas on the boat 'It's a really old wives tale. Bananas are not really easy, and they cause other fruit around them to rot. I think it dates back to colonial days,' research assistant at NC State Paul Rudershausen said. 'So you should definitely not take bananas on a boat. Especially on Friday the 13th.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Big Rock to give back to local charities with money raised at tournament
MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. (WNCT) — The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament isn't just about fishing, but also about helping to raise money for local charities. Every year, the tournament brings in a huge economic impact, raising over $3 million to give back in just the last two years alone. The money raised goes to places like the Carteret Health Care Cancer Center, Carteret County Schools, Carteret Community Theater, Salvation Army, and much more. 'I would hope that people would kind of revel in the excitement of tournament week. Would be inspired perhaps to go online and order a T-shirt or a hat, knowing that in doing so they're contributing to monies that are going to flow out of the big rock tournament into our community,' Chairman of Big Rock Charity Committee Tommy Bennett said. 'You don't have to be a fisherman to participate in the big rock, and all of that just helps build those charitable contributions that we give away every year.' Official announcements of how much money is being donated this year and to which organizations will be made shortly after the summer. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
