LUMBERTON — Robeson County saw a lot happen sports wise in 2019, from local news to county natives leaving their mark on the national level.
The Robesonian sports staff made a list of the top 10 stories from the past 365 days.
1. Lumberton hosts Dixie Youth Division II World Series and earns 2021 bid
For the second year in a row, the city of Lumberton welcomed some of the best youth baseball teams across the Southeast to the Ray Pennington Athletic Complex for a Dixie Youth Baseball national event. In late July, Lumberton hosted the inaugural Division II World Series, bringing teams from small communities across the Dixie Youth footprint to the city. Due to the size of the Lumberton Youth Baseball Association, two teams from Red Springs’ Dixie Youth program played as hosts in the event.
A week following hosting the Division II World Series, Lumberton was awarded the bid to host the Dixie Youth Division I World Series in 2021 at the Ray Pennington Athletic Complex, with an option to also host the Division II tournament the week before as well. After hosting the 2018 Division I World Series, it will mark the third, and possibly the fourth, World Series hosted in Lumberton in four years.
2. UNCP men’s basketball coach Ben Miller resigns
Ben Miller resigned from his job as head men’s basketball coach at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke in November, citing personal struggles and substance abuse leading to his decision. Miller left at the top of the program’s win list with 199 wins in 11 seasons in Pembroke. He also directed the program to back-to-back Peach Belt Conference regular season and tournament titles in 2017 and 2018, and the NCAA Division II Tournament six times.
Miller was on administrative leave for the first five games of the season before announcing his resignation. Under the direction of assistant coach Tony Jones in an interim capacity, the Braves have started the season 8-3, including a 5-1 stretch to begin the campaign.
3. PGA Tour golfer William McGirt comes home to Fairmont
A large turnout came out to Fairmont Golf Club on April 30 when PGA Tour golfer and Fairmont native William McGirt returned to his roots to host a golf clinic at the course where he spent most of his early life. McGirt also provided instruction to several amateur golfers on hand at the event.
The event happened months before McGirt planned on a possible return to professional golf coming off hip surgery. McGirt said that he was aiming for a return around the Fourth of July, but follow-up procedures were needed so he was unable to make an appearance on Tour at all in 2019.
4. Kelvin Sampson returns Houston to Sweet 16; wins 600th
A lot of times in recent years has the University of Houston basketball team accomplished something that was a “first since Phi Slamma Jamma,” just showcasing the quick turnaround that Kelvin Sampson has had at the basketball power from the 1980s. This year, Houston made it past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament since the 1984 season in March. Houston came five points shy of topping Kentucky in the Sweet 16.
This season also brought a personal benchmark for Sampson as the Cougars delivered the Pembroke native his 600th career win as a college coach on Jan. 16 against SMU.
5. Ethan Baucom earns Peach Belt baseball Player of the Year
One of the top power hitters in the nation this season, UNCP junior Ethan Baucom claimed the Peach Belt’s Player of the Year award. He knocked home 71 RBIs and drove 20 homers during the 2019 season. On top of earning his second-straight nod on the Peach Belt’s all-conference team, Baucom was named to three All-American squads that made him the eighth player in 11 seasons for the Braves to earn consensus All-American honors.
Baucom also had a strong summer in the Coastal Plain League with 18 RBIs for the Savannah Bananas.
6. Isaac Parks’s notable year on and off the field
UNCP punter Isaac Parks dispelled the old saying that the punter never gets any love, and did so in more ways than one. The senior was named an All-American for the second straight year, earning first-team honors from both the Associated Press and the Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association to become the third Braves player named an All-American in multiple seasons. Parks led Division II with a 45.7-yard punting average, with 17 kicks of over 50 yards, and holds virtually all of the program’s season and career punting records.
He also earned attention from a postgame proposal to fiance Sarah Graham after the Braves’ Sept. 21 win over Catawba; video of the proposal and enthusiastic reaction of Parks’ teammates has been viewed nearly 640,000 times on Twitter.
7. Native American National Baseball team holds all-star game
Frank Fulton came up with the idea of a Native American National Baseball team, and quickly made an exhibition come together that coincided with Lumbee Homecoming in early July. The team was made up mostly of former high school standouts from Robeson County, with a couple of other players from tribes throughout the country. The exhibition was played at Purnell Swett High School on July 3.
The Native American Warriors Orange team won 8-7 and was fueled by a late homer off the bat of D.J. Lowery.
8. UNCP’s Joshua Chepkesir runs to All-American honors
As the UNCP cross country season for 2019 kept unfolding, sophomore runner Joshua Chepkesir just kept winning. The Kenyan won every race he participated in until NCAA Division II Nationals, then placed eighth there to earn All-American honors. His NCAA Southeast Regional championship was his second straight and the school’s third, and came after Chepkesir broke by 18 seconds an event record at the Peach Belt Conference Championship, held at Lumberton’s Luther Britt Park, that had stood for 17 years.
At a school that’s had plenty of successful cross country athletes over the years, Chepkesir’s accomplishments put him in rarefied air, matching Pardon Ndhlovu as runners to win back-to-back conference and regional titles and become All-Americans.
9. Memorable Robeson County Shootout
It will be a while before anyone who was in the building at Purnell Swett Dec. 21 will forget the frantic finish of the girls championship game in the Robeson County Shootout. After St. Pauls had spent nearly the whole game trying to overcome a large early deficit, they led by three before Purnell Swett’s Emily Oxendine hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 9 seconds remaining. T.J. Eichelberger, the defending Robeson County Player of the Year, promptly went to the other end and banked in a game-winner as time expired, sealing the Bulldogs’ first Shootout girls title since 1998.
The tournament was filled with dramatic games and great performances. Lumberton, who only advanced from the semifinals after an overtime win at St. Pauls, beat Fairmont 62-51 for the boys championship, the Pirates’ seventh title.
10. Chris Chapman earns lifesaver award
Red Springs trainer Chris Chapman was honored by the NCHSAA at the organization’s annual meeting in May with the Lifesaver Citation for his work in the fall of 2017 that helped save the life of football player Keagan Brayboy who collapsed at a football game.
