Tankersley honors memory of friend with scholarship

Published 12:00 am Thursday, January 3, 2008

January 3, 2007

Eric Smith and Taylor Tankersley built a lasting friendship when the two were students at Warren Central High School. Tankersley, the star pitcher, and Smith, the team’s biggest fan, became synonymous with Viking Baseball. The team won the 2001 Class 5A state championship and players will agree Smith was nearly as big a part of that success as Tank.

Eric died in 2002 at age 16 after a lengthy fight against brain cancer.

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Now, for the second year in a row, the Eric Smith Legacy Scholarship will be awarded to a county student who exemplifies a love for baseball, a superior academic record and a zeal for helping others.

Last year, Warren Central’s Kari Lieberman won the inaugural award, a $15,000 scholarship. The winner is chosen by a committee, then honored at a banquet.

“Eric always put others first,” Tankersley said. “Even when things were at their worst, he never thought negative. He always concentrated on the positive. He never allowed himself to wallow in sorrow; he always found something positive.”

This year’s winner, Adam Farrish of Vicksburg High, gave up baseball after last year to concentrate on academics and myriad clubs to which he belongs.

The Eric’s Legacy Banquet is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. at the Southern Cultural Heritage Center and many of the players from that championship team — a little older, wiser, and with a bit less hair — will be in attendance. A silent auction with plenty of baseball memorabilia will precede the banquet and the $50 cost of the ticket is tax deductible. Tickets are still available, Tankersley said on Wednesday.

Tank just finished his first complete season in the major leagues as a middle relief pitcher for the Florida Marlins. He compiled a 6-1 record with a 3.99 ERA and 49 strikeouts for the Marlins in 2007.

A few resolutions in the sports world

* Football players will no longer be allowed to front flip, or back flip into the end zone when scoring a touchdown. As it is now, sometimes it’s a penalty, sometimes not. Maybe it will take a high-priced athlete to break his neck show-boating for the flip to be officially retired.

* Instant replay will be limited to two per game and coaches are the ones who may challenge. It seems like every close call these days results in a five-minute delay. Games last four hours and soon referees will not make any calls and just send it straight to replay.

* Sports reporters are not allowed to ask the following question: What does it mean for you?

Coach, what does it mean for you to win the national championship? What does it mean to play in honor of an injured goat? What does it mean for you when your dog won’t eat?

No more.

* Game announcers should automatically be fired when the following scenario happens: thirty seconds left in the game, team A is down by four points with the ball on the opponents’ 20-yard line. The announcer bellows, “A field goal does no good here.”

And neither do you. Goodbye.

* The BCS will die. Who is the No. 1 football team this year? LSU and Ohio State will be playing for the title, but from what these eyes saw on New Year’s Day, the team that can beat either Southern Cal or Georgia likely is the best in the country. How about Oklahoma, or one-loss Missouri? A national champion will be crowned on Jan. 7, and it should include an asterisk.

* And finally, New Year’s resolution columns will be banned immediately.

*

Sean P. Murphy is sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. E-mail him at

smurphy@vicksburgpost.com