Athletic camps bring youth to Auburn in summer
Athletic camps bring youth to Auburn in summer
ROBERT SMITH/Photo Editor
Auburn's numerous youth sports camps, including Hal Baird's baseball camp, draw aspiring athletes from around the Southeast to the Plains each summer.
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By Beth Schepens
Staff Writer
Each summer Auburn's campus is flooded with hundreds of kids and teen-agers who attend Auburn athletic summer camps.
They range from ages 8 to 17 and come for a variety of reasons, but mainly to play the games they love.
They are some of the best young athletes in the Southeast, not only in skill but in spirit.
It is a tradition that carries Auburn's athletic excellence into the next generation.
This tradition of excellence in sports is evident in such camps as the Bowden Academy, a football camp for quarterbacks and receivers the Bowden family established 11 years ago.
What started out as a camp in Cocoa Beach, Fla., with 30-40 young men now draws 400 ninth through 12th graders from all over the country.
"It is one of the premiere camps in the country. Most quarterbacks and receivers in the SEC go through this camp," Head Football Coach Terry Bowden said.
Another nationally-known camp is David Marsh's Tiger Swim Camp.
It's a 5-day program where swimmers receive intensive training sessions focusing on stroke technique and development.
Although winning the men's national championship did not increase the amount of campers this year, Coach Marsh said, "Surprisingly it hasn't made a difference, but I think it will next year. Most kids have made up their minds by Christmas where they're going."
Other Auburn athletic camps are being influenced by changes in their performance on the national level.
With the introduction of the Women's National Basketball Association, Joe Ciampi's girls basketball camps will be impacted.
"It will definitely have an impact," Kristin Knapp, coordinator for Ciampi's camps, said.
"Little girls are encouraged to play basketball today. That's good. Now, they have a lot of role models they didn't have in the past. They can see them on TV."
Auburn baseball has a distinctive tradition of superiority, something the boys who come to Hal Baird's baseball camps hope to attain in their own baseball careers.
Chris Foster, 11, and his brother, Tyler, 10, became a continuing part of their family's Auburn tradition when they decided to attend the Youth Skills Baseball Camp from June 20-22.
Their uncle, David Foster, played baseball for Auburn in the early 1980s.
Mary Foster of Coaling, Ala., brought her grandsons to Auburn because of the impact her son's decision made.
"My son really changed all of our lives when he started playing here. We were all Bama fans, but now we're all Auburn fans," Foster said.
Foster's grandsons, who live outside of Tuscaloosa, chose to travel 2 1/2 hours to attend Auburn's baseball camp because of this change in loyalties.
Like the other hundreds of kids who attend these sports camps, "They loved it," Foster said.
Auburn's other sports camps include Bowden's football camp and kicking academy, Cliff Ellis' basketball camps, Auburn Tiger golf, tennis, softball and girls' soccer camps.
These camps help shape aspiring athletes into the men and women who will shape the athletics of the next generation.
Majors call Auburn grad to big time
By Goodloe Sutton
Staff Writer
Former Auburn baseball player Scott Sullivan has pitched his way into the Cincinatti Reds lineup.
Sullivan played for Auburn from 1991 until 1993 when he graduated in business. He was also a second round draftÊpick of the Reds.
Sullivan was originally a walk-on for the Tigers.
While Sullivan was playing high school baseball in the former Alabama Private School Association, college and pro scouts snubbed both the uncompetive league and Sullivan.
Marion Military Institute, where Sullivan played baseball and football for one year, was the only junior college to offer him a scholarship.
In the fall of 1991, Sullivan walked on the Tiger baseball team.
"Scott pitching for Auburn and now for the Reds is remarkable," Auburn head baseball coach Hal Baird said.
Sullivan originally walked on as a shortstop but wasn't good enough, Baird said. Then he decided to try pitching.
"I liked him and he seemed to have a good work ethic, but he just didn't throw hard," Baird said. "He looked like a good batting practice pitcher, and that was about it. I planned on redshirting him."
Baird worked with Sullivan and asked him to throw sidearm instead of straight over the top.
"His velocity increased dramatically. Two weeks before the season opener, I told him instead of a redshirt, he would be wearing a blue and orange shirt," Baird said with a smile.
In the 1991 opening weekend against Western Carolina, Sullivan pitched two wins and a save.
Two years later, Sullivan was drafted and playing in the minors.
During his first summer of minor league baseball, Sullivan played rookie ball in Billings, Mont., where he won five games and posted no losses. His ERA was 1.67 in 54 innings, while striking out 79.
In 1994, he was called up to the AA Chattanooga Lookouts. His 1994 record was 11-7 with 11 strikeouts in 121 innings.
The Reds moved him to the AAA Indianopolis Indians in 1995.
His record was 4-3 with 54 strikeouts in 58 innings.
Later in the season, the Big Red Machine put him on the mound in Cincinatti for 3.2 innings. He gave up four hits, two runs, two walks and two strikeouts.
In 1996 Sullivan bounced back and forth from Indy to Cincy.
He was 5-2, having pitched 108 innings for Indy with 77 strikeouts. His ERA was 2.73.
On the mound in Red Town in 1996, Sullivan pitched eight innings, giving up seven hits with three strikeouts.
This year has produced more impressive numbers for Sullivan. He is currently 1-1, with 25.1 innings pitched and 28 strikeouts for the Reds.
Sullivan who is hotel hopping on the road with the Reds and will remain in Cincinatti for the rest of the season, was unavailable for comment.
FILE
Clark Humphries, NCAA champion in the pole vault, at the Auburn Open in May.
By Michael T. Wall
Sports Editor
Auburn claimed another NCAA Championship in the form of 21-year-old Clark Humphries, NCAA outdoor champion pole-vaulter.
Humphries overcame the most frightening experience any pole-vaulter must face at the NCAA Championship held in Bloomington, Ind., the weekend of June 4 Ð 7.
"While warming up Humphries broke a pole, which is a very traumatic experience," Auburn track coach, Rodney Tiffin said.
"I didn't jump the way I should have. I just kind of ran for it and the pole snapped. I ended up on all fours," Humphries, a junior from Nashville, Tenn., said.
"The pole broke in three or four places sending splinters out everywhere, cutting Humphries' hand," Tiffin said.
"Most people would've called it a day right then because breaking a pole is an easy way to get injured, but Humphries grabbed another pole and went for it," Tiffin said.
"It happened so fast, and I was so keyed up to jump that I wasn't going to let anything get in the way," Humphries said.
Humphries was the only competitor to clear the 18-4 height, and he tied his Auburn record.
Now that Humphries has had a couple of weeks to let his victory sink in, he said, "It's great."
"It didn't hit me at first, but now that it has settled in it feels great," he said.
Humphries had been competing all season long as a decathlete and excelled in the long and high jumps. This experience helped him gain the title of Collegiate Champion in the pole vault.
Humphries trained two to three hours a day, concentrating on improving his speed.
"He was on the track one hour a day and working out with weights one hour a day," Tiffin said. The hard work paid off.
"Humphries did well in every event he was in. He found out he was a lot better athlete than he thought. He learned to be confident," Tiffin said.
Not settling for just one championship title, Humphries has his eyes set on the indoor and outdoor SEC championship title, the indoor NCAA championship title and an Olympic gold medal.
"Being in the next Olympics is a big goal of mine," Humphries said.
"After I'm finished with collegiate competition, I'll keep training, go to meets on my own and prepare for the Olympic trials in the year 2000," Humphries said.
"Competing in the World University Games in Italy this August will be a great stepping stone for me," Humphries said.
The World University Games are "an international collegiate meet, or basically the college version of the Olympics," he said.
"I'll be competing against the world's best, the same people I will be facing in the Olympics," Humphries said. "It'll be fun."
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