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SPORTS 1B THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL » SUNDAY, MAY 7, 2017 COMMERCIALAPPEAL.COM/SPORTS HORSE RACING COMMENTARY Former Harding Academy player Dick Clinton spent his life encouraging, counseling and lifting up DREAM COME TRUE others. 12th man had the heart of a lion Former teammates honor Clinton’s dedication to others COLUMNIST GEOFF CALKINS Dick Clinton had a modest senior year for Harding Academy back in 1976, at least if you look at the num- bers, which I did. He only got into 19 of Harding’s 30 games. He was 1-of-4 for the line, and 6-of-13 from the field. Clinton had four assists, four turnovers, seven steals and 20 re- bounds. His season high was four points. But Friday afternoon at Harding Academy, they handed out a $1,000 scholarship and a new award named after Clinton. Why? “He knew his role, played hard in practice and kept team morale high,” said Tom Murrey, a lawyer at FedEx who was a member of that 1976 team. “He went on to do great things in life and he was the best AP teammate I ever had.” John Velazquez rides Always Dreaming to victory in the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. So let’s hear it for great team- mates this commencement season. Let’s hear it for dedication and work ethic and for those who have fig- Always Dreaming romps through mud in Run for Roses ured out that life is not all about them. This is not to take anything away BETH HARRIS from the valedictorians and the team ASSOCIATED PRESS captains and the class presidents and the record-holders, who will get LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Always Dreaming their well-deserved acclaim. But splashed through the slop to win the Ken- there’s more than one way to have an 3 tucky Derby by 2 ⁄4 lengths on Saturday, impact, as the remarkable life of giving trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Clinton demonstrates. John Velazquez their second victories in “He used to call himself a 20-20 the race but their first together. man,” Murrey said. “He’d get into Pletcher and Velazquez have teamed the game if we were up by 20 or if up often over the years and are the there were 20 seconds left.” sport’s leading money winners. On their Clinton was one of just two sen- own, they were a combined 2 for 63 com- iors on that Harding team. The other ing into America’s greatest race. senior was a starter. Clinton rarely Together, they were unbeatable on a got off the bench. cool and rainy at Churchill Downs. Sent off at 9-2 odds, Always Dreaming See CALKINS, Page 7B made it the fifth straight year that a Der- by favorite has won, the longest such stretch since the 1970s. “He went on to do Always Dreaming was followed across the finish line by a pair of long- MARK ZEROF/USA TODAY SPORTS shots: 33-1 Lookin At Lee and 40-1 Battle John Velazquez aboard Always Dreaming (5) leads the field at the start of the Kentucky Derby great things in life of Midway. on Saurday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. 1 Always Dreaming ran 1 ⁄4 miles in and he was the best 2:03.59 and paid $11.40, $7.20 and $5.80. Lookin At Lee returned $26.60 and Classic Empire finished fourth, fol- Pletcher also trains Tapwrit and teammate I ever $18.20, while Battle of Midway was an- lowed by Practical Joke, Tapwrit, Gun- Patch. other five lengths back in third and paid nevera, McCraken, Gormley and Irish Thunder Snow, the Dubai-based en- had.” $20.80 to show. War Cry. Hence was 11th, followed by try, didn’t finish. He broke poorly out of Pletcher won his first Derby in 2010 Untrapped, Girvin, one-eyed Patch, J the starting gate and began bucking. He TOM MURREY with Super Saver; Velazquez won the fol- Boys Echo, Sonneteer, Fast And Accu- was caught by the outrider and he A LAWYER AT FEDEX WHO WAS A MEMBER OF lowing year with Animal Kingdom. rate, Irap, and State of Honor. walked back to the barn on his own. THAT 1976 TEAM OLE MISS FOOTBALL Sanogo eager GREG POWERS / SPECIAL TO THE to find his role CLARION-LEDGER Looks to help Rebels’ linebacker unit ANTONIO MORALES violent of a game. And people told USA TODAY NETWORK – MISSISSIPPI me, ‘No, Mo is bigger. He’s going to be the one hurting kids.’ ” Hamed Sanogo grew up playing soc- It took some time, but Hamed eventu- cer in the Ivory Coast. ally relented and his son morphed into a His love for the game trickled down to three-star linebacker, who will come to his children as well. His oldest child, Ole Miss with some expectations of help- Abdel, plays collegiately at Colgate and ing the Rebels’ linebacker unit, which re- his youngest, Abby-Lee, 12, is off to a fast ceived some reinforcements this past start in her career. recruiting cycle. Then there’s his middle child, Mo- “We see him coming in as a Mike (mid- hamed, who gravitated toward some- dle) or Sam (strong-side linebacker). thing else. We’re going to play a three-linebacker “I didn’t play football. I thought it was defense in certain situations. He would Mohamed Sanogo is expected to too many hits and I was just not attracted fit the role either place,” Ole Miss line- be a middle or strong-side (to it). He wanted to play and I said no,” backers coach Bradley Dale Peveto said. linebacker for Ole Miss. Hamed said.“He asked several times and we wouldn’t do it. 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