Fish Wrapper Chronicles
From 'One-Eyed Jack'
There
will be a new face and a new place at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium when East
Carolina plays its first home game of the 2002 football season against
Conference USA opponent Tulane at 7 p.m. on Saturday night. The new face
is David Horn and his voice will become familiar to Pirates fans as the
public address announcer. Horn succeeds John Moore, whose “First down
... Pirates” call allowed for fan participation by the thousands. Plans
are for Horn to continue that call. Horn has worked for Henry Hinton,
owner of the flagship station for the ECU radio network, WCZI-98.3, at
several stations. “David is a great guy and actually has the same kind
of voice as John Moore,” Hinton said. “It’s kind of deep, kind of like
John’s a little bit. David’s one of the neatest guys I’ve worked with.
He worked for me when he was in school at WCHL in Chapel Hill and came
with me when I came back to Greenville in 1989. “He wasn’t much of a
football fan when he came here but he married a young lady (Windy) who
was into it.” David currently has an afternoon shift on the air for
Sunny 93.9-FM in the Raleigh area.
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The new place is the $13 million structure at the west
end of Bagwell Field which has been known as the strength and
conditioning center. It will become the Murphy Center with its official
dedication at 5 p.m. on Saturday. That’s to honor Pete and Lynn Murphy
of Rose Hill. They made a $2 million donation in the fund-raising
effort. At 6 p.m. on Friday there will be a celebration and tour of
other named areas of the Murphy Center: the Walter and Marie Williams
strength and conditioning area on the first floor, the C. Felix and
Margaret Blount Harvey banquet hall, the Dick and Susan Jones academic
enhancement center, the Robert and Virginia Maynard lobby and the Bill
and Emily Furr lobby. The Pirates football team will take the field for
the first time from the Murphy Center prior to the Tulane game. The team
will also convene in the center at halftime. “That will save us from
jogging back to Kinston (to the locker room in the Ward Sports Medicine
Building) at the half,” said ECU coach Steve Logan. The full team has
already been able to do its Sunday conditioning program in the spacious
Murphy Center in just over a half hour. Pirate Club donors at the $150
level and above will be able to enjoy fellowship in the banquet hall
prior to games.
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Season ticket sales are slightly below last year’s level
of 15,400 according to projections. A crowd of about 35,000 is expected
for the ECU-Tulane matchup.
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Conference USA schools had 78 players on the opening
days rosters of National Football League teams when the play-for-pay
boys opened their regular season last weekend.
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