Wading through the sweat-soaked days of August, football andsoftball practice is going strong. Meanwhile, the Seventh AnnualTucker Smith Memorial Golf Tournament also is on the horizon, Aug.29-Sept. 1.

The Tucker is a fun-filled weekend of 4-ball match play golf andfellowship at the Brookhaven Country Club. All proceeds go to theLincoln County Chapter of the Habitat for Humanity.

Here’s the schedule. On Friday, Aug. 29, a practice round isavailable. A pairings party, complete with a live band, takes placethat night.

On Saturday, Aug. 30, the first round gets under way. It willfeature a shotgun start, either at 8 a.m. or 1 p.m. On Sunday, Aug.31, golfers compete in the second round, starting at 8 a.m. and 1p.m. Bracket finals are Monday, Sept. 1, featuring a 9 a.m. shotgunstart.

Under the tournament format, it’s possible to lose on Saturday,win on Sunday and still make it to Monday’s finals. The tournamentusually draws a full field of 80 teams. Several of them come fromout of state. BCC general manager Ronny Ross and his staff do agreat job hosting the event.

Entry fee is $120 per player. It entitles the entrant to golf,lunch and a shirt. Jeff “Buckwheat” Henning is tournamentchairman.

Teams will be preflighted, according to handicap. There will beeight teams in each flight. To enter the event, contact the BCCGolf Shop at 833-6841.

This is the seventh annual event. During that period of time,over $32,000 have been raised for Habitat’s house-buildingprojects. Tucker Smith was a graduate of the United States MilitaryAcademy at West Point, N.Y. He was killed in an automobile accidentnot long after his graduation.

Defending tournament champions are Don Coleman and Henry Swannof Brookhaven.

Congratulations to Craig Smith on his BCC Club Championshipvictory. He edged runner-up George Hennington by one stroke andbeat Chandler Russ by two. Smith will be a freshman atCopiah-Lincoln Community College this fall. He should give the golfteam a big shot in the arm.

Speaking of shots in the arm, the University of SouthernMississippi Golden Eagles will receive several tons of freepublicity when they play Nebraska’s Cornhuskers on Thursday night,Sept. 25, in Hattiesburg. The game will be televised on ESPN to aninternational audience.

Presently, USM head coach Jeff Bower is preparing his GoldenEagles for a season-opening road trip to California on Saturday,Aug. 30. The game will be played at 73,347-seat Memorial Stadium inBerkley.

This is the first-ever meeting between the two schools on thegridiron. The Golden Bears went 7-5 last year and were 4-4 in thePac-10, sharing fourth place.

Obviously, Bower believes in discipline, be it team orindividual. He booted his top receiver, Kenneth Johnson, off theteam last week. Johnson, a senior from Gramercy, La., had a fullpage devoted to his football exploits in USM’s football mediaguide. No mention of his off the field exploits which got himdismissed.

Hopefully, former Lawrence County running back Wayne Hardy canmake a full recovery from injuries which slowed him during USM’sspring practice. Hardy is a redshirt freshman with lots ofpotential.

As a senior at LCHS, Hardy was honored as The DAILY LEADER’sAll-Area Player of the Year on the 2001 squad. He was the firstLCHS athlete to sign a Division I football scholarship straight outof high school.

Two former LCHS and Copiah-Lincoln Community College stars,linebacker Ken Bournes and fullback Lorenzo Townsend, are expectedto make big contributions at Ole Miss this season. Both wereredshirted last year when the Rebels went to the Independence Bowland upset Nebraska.

Bobby Bowden, Florida State’s legendary head football coach,will be the featured speaker at Mississippi College’s second annualWild Game Dinner. It will be held Monday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m., inAnderson Hall of the B.C. Rogers Student Center on the MC campus inClinton.

Also featured will be world famous wild game chef Billy JoeCross who has written nine cookbooks on the art of wild game andsouthern cooking. Bowden’s Seminoles will have an open date thatweek after a game against Duke University.

All money raised from the event will go to the MC athleticdepartment. Tickets are $100 each or $150 per couple. Group tablesare available.

For more information, contact the MC ticket office at925-3341.

Former Loyd Star, Co-Lin and Troy State (Ala.) catcher LanceNewman has been signed by the Montgmery (Ala.) Wings of theSoutheastern League. Newman is excited about the opportunity toplay baseball on the professional level. Two weeks of the regularseason remain before the playoffs begin.

Write to sports editor Tom Goetz c/o DAILY LEADER, P.O. BOX 551,Brookhaven, MS 39601 or e-mail sports@dailyleader.com.