WINGATE — National grief, we’ve learned this week, wears many faces. We’ve seen horrific images that won’t easily be erased — businessmen leaping from skyscrapers; kamikaze pilots slamming aircraft into marble buildings, their intent unmistakable; and rubble — glass and steel and dust and rock — piled 10 stories high in our own back yard.
Our vocabulary, sad to report, has expanded to included seldom-heard words like terrorist attack, body bags and military response.
Make no mistake — the world as we once knew it no longer exists. “Not after Tuesday,” said Carnel Spencer of Wadesboro. “Nothing is the same.”
It was under that guise, even because of it, that Catawba played a football game Saturday afternoon at Wingate University’s Belk Stadium.
“We weren’t going to give in to terrorism,” said Catawba Athletic Director Dennis Davidson. “That’s exactly what they want — to disrupt our lives.”
Davidson spent a great deal of time this week deliberating and conferring with Steve Poston, Wingate’s vice president of student affairs. They considered a number of factors — the possibility of rescheduling, the fact that this was Wingate’s family weekend — but most importantly the safety of all spectators and participants. By Wednesday night the two agreed to open the South Atlantic Conference season under heightened awareness.
“I asked the players and coaches if they wanted to play,” Davidson said. “And to the man, they all said yes. They felt this was the best way to stand up to terrorism.”
There was actually little choice, indicated Catawba Sports Information Director Jim Lewis. “The Division I schools don’t have a problem rescheduling their games,” he said. “They can play through Thanksgiving. We can’t. We have an open date, but it doesn’t coincide with Wingate’s. It was either play today or cancel.”
So while the rest of the sports world stood still — this was one of only two games played in North Carolina yesterday — Catawba and Wingate began the healing process by participating in one of America’s most-cherished traditions.
“There was no wrong answer here,” said Poston. “The schools that decided not to play this weekend did it for good reasons. The schools that decided to play did it for good reasons. It was a horrible thing that happened and a tough call to make. But the question we kept coming back to was, ‘What’s best for our kids?’ With our players and staff, the decision to play was unanimous. On our campus it was not. A lot of people criticized me, said it was disrespectful. But we decided the best thing to do was move forward.”
Spencer, a stadium employee and former Washington, D.C., policeman, agreed with the decision.
“We have to carry on,” he insisted. “Throughout this nation’s 200-year history, we’ve never let an oppressive force dictate our lifestyle. If a terrorist group thinks it can start now, it’s barking up the wrong tree. That’s not going to happen.”
Catawba coach David Bennett offered a spiritual response. “It’s a shame that something like this had to happen, but it’s brought us closer together,” he said. “You realize that football is miniscule. What’s important is family and God and right now, the strength of our armed forces.”
Recently discharged U.S. Marine Bryant Harris, a freshman on Catawba’s practice squad, was directly effected by the tragedy. “I still have a lot of friends stationed in Japan and at Camp Lejeune,” he said. “I pray they’ll be OK.”
A straw poll of spectators elicited mixed feelings about playing the game. Dr. Herbert M. Seward Jr., of Charlotte, questioned its appropriateness and added, “I know we have to move forward, but what’s one weekend? We should have stopped and had a time of silence.”
Gerry Mullins, stepfather of Catawba tight end Mark Sintich, also disagreed. “I’m shocked that they would play,” he said. “It’s probably a good diversion, but I’m still shocked. What I heard was the two things these terrorists target are high-rise buildings and sporting events. Catawba-Wingate isn’t going to draw much attention, but you still have to be concerned.”
Then came this modified dissertation from Pineville’s David Lee, whose wife works as a flight attendant: “America is too free. We take too much for granted. We expect too much. I fly often because I fly for free and let me tell you, I’ve witnessed a lot of lax measures for Americans. We demand it, we get it. And why? Because we want our freedom. Well, it comes with a price and this week, we paid it. You watch. A lot of things are about to change in this country.”
Maybe that doomsday-is-coming view helped intensify this attempt to grasp a little bit of normalcy, to maintain — for one confusing September afternoon — the status quo.
“Every opportunity you get to enjoy life, you need to take advantage of because it’s a strange world out there,” said Wingate coach Joe Reich. “You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow. If we go to war next week, you may never see this again.
“I’m so glad we played,” he continued. “This was us standing up to something wrong in the world and saying, ‘We’re gonna do what we do because this is America.’ No one can take that from us.”
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