'Super Dave' Remembered at UNC

Before North Carolina’s 101-75 victory over Mississippi Valley State on Sunday, the Tar Heels asked for a moment of silence to remember “Super” Dave Harder, who drove UNC’s bus for more than two decades.

And the coaches took it one step farther, wearing custom lapel pins with the initials “DH” to remember a man they considered part of their team.

“They put one on my desk, and I was very pleased to wear it,’’ coach Roy Williams said of the custom pin. “I knew we were going to do the moment of silence for Dave … it was a touching moment, but a tough one, too.”

Harder -- nicknamed “Super Dave” for his incredible feats of driving, such as maneuvering the team through ice and snow on road trips, and backing the bus into tight garages, when necessary -- passed away suddenly in October. He was 64.

Taylor Swift Wins 3 Trophies at AMAs

Taylor Swift was crowned artist of the year at the American Music Awards for a second time.

"This is so crazy!" the country superstar said after beat such contenders as Adele, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry to capture all three trophies that she was nominated for at Sunday's ceremony, including artist of the year, the show's highest accolade that she previously claimed in 2009.

"I ended up writing the record by myself, so the fact that you would honor it this way, you have no idea what this means to me," said Swift after winning the trophy for favorite country album for "Speak Now." She was also awarded the prize for favorite country female artist.

Nicki Minaj, the pink-loving hip-hop diva, won two trophies Sunday. She kicked off the 39th annual fan-favorite ceremony by sporting a pair of speakers on her much-talked about posterior and was later honored as favorite rap/hip-hop artist, besting a group that included mentor Lil Wayne, and won favorite rap/hip-hop album for "Pink Friday."

Several artists delivered stripped-down performances: The Band Perry crooned an emotional "If I Die Young," a pink-haired Perry accompanied herself on guitar for "The One That Got Away" and a platinum-blonde Chris Brown simply sang "All Back" before being joined by a troop of helmet-clad back-up dancers for a flashy interpretation of "Say It With Me."

There were collaborations, too. Lopez joined a glowing-in-the-dark will.i.am for his new single "Hard." Christina Aguilera dueted with Maroon 5 on their "Moves Like Jagger," and then Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine teamed with Gym Class Heroes for their hit "Stereo Hearts." Bieber joined LMFAO in animal-print pants for the show's finale, which ended with everyone on stage — including David Hasselhoff — stripping down to smiley-face underwear.

Ambitious Ploughman Going for Four Trophies

Ploughman have set their sights on becoming a footballing success story for years to come. The new kids on the Peterborough Sunday Morning League block have already signaled their trophies intent by winning their first eight competitive matches. They have shot to the top of the Division Three table and are busy making smart progress in knockout competitions as well.

And they are not afraid to talk up their chances of glory in their debut season either.
Manager and co-founder Liam Robertson, a former top rugby player around here with Oundle, Deeping and Borough, said: “We have a chance to win four trophies this season and we’re going for the lot. “We want the whole shebang and we want to get ourselves up the leagues as quickly as we can. “You need to be up in the Premier Division and Division One to really get recognised and that’s what we are after.”

Ploughman continued their rip-roaring start by booking their place in the third round of the Northants Sunday Shield at the weekend. They overcame fellow locals AFC Bretton (a team they had already dumped out of the PFA Sunday Morning Junior Cup earlier in the season) 4-0. Two of the club’s other founders - Ondre Odain (2) and Gerard Evans - hit the net along with Jake Slater. They are also safely into the last eight of the PFA competition and have the McCain Cup to look forward to later in the season.

Robertson added: “All the lads are from the same circle of friends in the Werrington area and everyone gets on really well. “Myself, Ondre and Gerard knew we had put a decent side together and thought we stood a good chance of doing well, but we never dreamed of starting like this. “Now it’s just a case of keeping our standards high and continuing to pick up the results.

Ferrari’s Alonso Still After the Big Trophy

Ferrari Formula One driver Fernando Alonso will not be short of motivation for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. With Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel already claiming the 2011 Drivers' Championship, you might expect Alonso to take his foot off the pedal a bit as another draining Formula One season begins to wind down, but that is just not the case.

The 30-year-old Spaniard has seen it all in his career, winning two title trophies along the way as well as locking down 72 podium finishes, but the Yas Marina circuit remains a track Alonso has yet to get the better of.

"Once again I will be targeting the podium," he told journalists at the Scuderia Ferrari hospitality unit in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. "I have 72 podiums so far, which means 72 trophies at home, which is not bad. They come from all the circuits on the calendar apart from Abu Dhabi. So there is only one trophy missing at home and I hope that this year I can add the one from Abu Dhabi."

He added that Ferrari will continue to use the Friday practice as a test session aimed at improving the car for next year. "More important than evaluating new components is the work of checking the correlation between what we see on the race track with what we see from the wind tunnel," he said. "This means we can work with confidence through December and January, knowing that all the data we have in the tunnel is real. We need to get the most out of ourselves this winter and arrive in March with the best Ferrari possible.

"It is much more important to learn for the new car: better to get half a tenth of a second for next year than to be second in this Drivers' championship. But I can see how hard the engineers and mechanics are working to get me to second place, with the whole team being really motivated, so for them I will be trying my best this weekend."

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is currently the 18th and penultimate round of the Formula One World Championship.

Trophies Available in New Hyde Park

Crown Trophy on Jericho Turnpike is nationally-known and locally-owned by Ron and Claudia Shapiro, who essentially fell into this business and started from scratch. Before officially opening in May 2005, Shapiro said she and her husband started selling products out of their garage in 2004 until all the permits were cleared for the store.

“My husband had been in sales for 25-years of medical equipment for hospitals and the job was getting more and more strenuous on him…and he wasn’t happy where he was,” Claudia Shapiro said. “I was basically out of a job and I had started my own translation business from home but it didn’t really generate much income.”

When a good friend of the Shapiro’s, who knew the owners of the Crown Company, came to them with the job offer, they didn’t hesitate to take it. The location was already set in New Hyde Park, and the Shapiro’s thought it was perfect, only being 20-minutes away from their home in Port Washington.

“We talked to the owners; we had no idea about the business," Shapiro said. "I thought when I heard engraving that we would be sitting there with an etching needle, but the first time I saw the laser machine going, it was much easier."

“We talked to the owners; we had no idea about the business," Shapiro said. "I thought when I heard engraving that we would be sitting there with an etching needle, but the first time I saw the laser machine going, it was much easier."

Now, six years in, business had been good to the couple, who sell everything from sculptures, glass, plaques, acrylics, pins medals and trophies. “Our top product to sell is [probably] the Rosewood plaque,” Shapiro said. “It is $50 dollars and with engraving it is $65 or $70 dollars depending on how much engraving you have, but there’s crystal and so many different styles of trophies, so it’s hard to say.”

Crown Trophy does engraving for different sports, churches, leagues, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, committees, businesses and universities such as Adelphi and St. John’s.

also see: trophies, custom pins and corporate awards

UIL Academics Brings Home Five Trophies

Nineteen Llano High School students and four teachers left before sunrise on Saturday, November 5, to experience their first full UIL Academic Meet of the school year at Pflugerville High School. Greeted by 23 other mostly larger high schools, the day provided much competition of an outstanding caliber, yet the young team brought home five trophies. December 3 will be the next UIL Academic tournament at Lago Vista High School, with registration starting this week and closing on Monday, November 21.

A freshman at LHS, Cole Polley, should be proud of the first place trophy earned in Ready Writing, a two hour expository essay contest. His coach noted that Cole only had one point deducted, which is rare. Two more trophies were won by the CX Varsity Debate Team of junior Drew Buttery and senior Tim Hansen placing third. Placing fifth and receiving a trophy in Spelling and Vocabulary was sophomore Necille Nunez. The Spelling Team placed third. It included Necille and freshmen Sterling Owen and Kasey Hairston, sophomore Yamilex Espinoza, and junior Alex Elliot. Other students competing at this first tournament were: Current Issues: Kasey Hairston; CX Debate: Jacob Thomsen and Tori Vestal; Calculator: Lance Cox; Feature Writing: Shelby Harris; Literary Criticism: Laura Ortiz; Math: Lance Cox and Shelby Martin; Number Sense: Lance Cox and Shelby Martin; Science: Levi Bailey, Shelby Martin, Noah Patton ; LD Debate: Savannah Arteaga (who missed advancing by ONE point), and Social Studies: Laura Ortiz and Jacob Beasley.

Wine Win for Symphony Hill

Symphony Hill Wines has firmly placed itself amongst the ranks of Australia's wine elite by being nominated for two trophies at the 2011 Royal Melbourne Wine Show.
They achieved top gold in its class for their 2008 Reserve Shiraz scoring the highest possible points. Only the top scoring gold medal wines are eligible for being awarded the show's trophies and Symphony Hill Wines Reserve Shiraz was a finalist for the Best Rhone Style or Shiraz Trophy and the prestigious Douglas Seabrook Single Vineyard Trophy.

Owner Ewen Macpherson said Shiraz was by far the variety with the highest number of entries from around Australia. "To be to be one of the four finalists for the Best Shiraz trophy is a tremendous achievement for our young winery," he said. "The wine that pipped us for the Best Shiraz trophy was also awarded the Jimmy Watson trophy. I would love to see the Jimmy Watson trophy to head to Queensland one day. I firmly believe you should aim for the stars to get to the moon. It has headed to Tasmania for the first time this year and hopefully to Queensland in the very near future."

He said his winery's name up on the screen at the Trophy Presentation dinner was a thrill which was hard to describe. "And to see it twice for two trophies was sublime. Top gold for a Shiraz at Royal Melbourne for a winery with one small block of Shiraz competing against fabulous large wineries selecting their fruit from a multitude of vineyards from across Australia is a monumental achievement."

Winemaker Mike Hayes said it was the highlight of his career to be invited down to the trophy presentation dinner.

Symphony Hill Wines is owned by Ewen and Elissa Macpherson and Ewen's parents Bob and Jill Macpherson. When the vines were planted in 1999 there were four generations of the Macpherson family living on the property.