As sports continue to await word about the possible lifting of suspended seasons, the Standard would like to debut a new web-only segment, "On This Day." We hope to update it daily, bringing you some of the biggest moments in Warren County sports history (focusing mainly on the last 51 years since the school consolidation and formation of Warren County Senior High), as well as some famous birthdays and big national stories (Editor’s note: On This Day will return Monday, April 6)
Back on April 4, 2014, Warren County High School was in search of new basketball coaches. Everybody was wondering who would be fill the shoes of Erick Baird and Malcolm Montgomery on the sidelines.
Shea Panter was picked to guide the Lady Pioneers, while Chris Sullens was ultimately chosen to pilot the Pioneer program.
Sullens recently led his Pioneers to a District 6AAA championship, something he promised he would do when he was hired. He detailed what it meant to bring a championship back to Warren County in a coaching spotlight last month.
Sports fans will be able to vote on the big basketball news in the 16-event bracket which will make its debut in the Sunday, April 5 Standard. Voting will take place on the Standard’s sports Twitter page, @sstandardsports.
In other April 4 news, Bobby Cantrell was getting the WCSH track team ready (1983), golfers Katrina Williams and Gina Marlowe hit the links (1977), the high school boys tennis team prepped for the start of the season (1983), Liz Cope was a picking machine at first base for the Lady Pioneers (1984), recreation volleyball crowned a champion (1986), Stacey Bonner helped the Lady Pioneers to a big win (1990), Peggy Layman was admiring her shot from the fairway (1999), Landon Boren hustled defensively for the WCMS Pioneers (2001), WCHS netters pulled off sweep (2007), soccer and softball were celebrating wins (2010) and the front page was full of Pioneer and Lady Pioneer success (2018).
Famous April 4 birthdays
1924 – Gil Hodges, eight-time MLB all-star and coach
1933 – Bill France Jr., NASCAR pioneer
1938 – A. Bartlett Giamatti, MLB Commissioner
1963 – Jack Del Rio, NFL player and coach
1974 – Dave Mirra, BMX rider
National April 4 sports headlines (AP)
1937 — Byron Nelson shoots a 283 to win the Masters by two strokes over Ralph Guldahl.
1938 — Henry Picard beats Ralph Guldahl and Harry Cooper by two strokes to capture the Masters.
1983 — Lorenzo Charles scores on a dunk after Derek Whittenburg's 35-foot desperation shot falls short to give North Carolina State a 54-52 triumph over Houston in the NCAA championship.
1986 — Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky breaks his own NHL single-season points record with three assists to increase his total to 214. He scored 212 points in 1981-82.
1987 — New York's Denis Potvin, the highest-scoring defenseman in NHL history, scores his 1,000th point.
1988 — Danny Manning scores 31 points and grabs 18 rebounds as Kansas wins its second NCAA championship with an 83-79 victory over Oklahoma.
1993 — Sheryl Swoopes shatters the women's championship game record by scoring 47 points to lead Texas Tech to an 84-82 victory over Ohio State.
1993 — Mario Andretti, at 53, wins the Valvoline 200 in Phoenix to become the oldest driver to win an Indy car race and the first driver to win a race in four different decades.
1994 — Arkansas wins its first men's national championship with a 76-72 victory over Duke, depriving the Blue Devils of a third title in four years.
1998
— Mark McGwire ties Willie Mays' National League record by hitting a home run
in each of his first four games. McGwire launches a towering three-run shot in
the sixth inning of an 8-6 victory over the San Diego
2001 — Hideo Nomo becomes the fourth pitcher in major league history to throw a no-hitter in both leagues in Boston's 3-0 victory over Baltimore. Nomo joins Cy Young, Jim Bunning and Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers to accomplish the feat.
2003 — Toronto's Lenny Wilkens sets the NBA record for most career losses when the Raptors lost to the Spurs 124-98. Wilkens, in his 30th year as an NBA coach, was already the winningest coach in league history with 1,292 victories.
2003 — Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs becomes the 18th player to hit 500 career homers, connecting for a solo shot in a 10-9 loss to Cincinnati.
2005 — Dmitri Young becomes the third player to hit three homers on opening day to lead Detroit over the Kansas City Royals 11-2.
2005 — North Carolina defeats Illinois to win the NCAA Division I men's basketball championship. Sean May has 26 points and the Tar Heels don't allow a basket over the final 2 1/2 minutes to defeat Illinois 75-70.
2010 — Yani Tseng shoots a 4-under 68 to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship for her second major title. Tseng, of Taiwan, finishes at 13-under 275 at Mission Hills to hold off Suzann Pettersen by one stroke.
2011 — Kemba Walker scores 16 points and Alex Oriakhi has 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead Connecticut to a 53-41 win over Butler in the men's NCAA championship game. UConn coach Jim Calhoun wins his third national championship, something only four other coaches have done.
