You should know...

Know Your Medal of Honor Recipients:

Gunner’s Mate Third Class John Davis (US Navy) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on May 11, 1898 on board the USS Marblehead. His citation reads:

On board the U.S.S. Marblehead, during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Davis set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.

Corporal Joseph Davis (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on November 30, 1864 at Franklin, Tennessee. His citation reads:

Capture of flag.

Landsman Joseph H. Davis (US Navy) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on January 22, 1886 on board the US Receiving Ship Dale. His citation reads:

On board the U.S. Receiving Ship Dale off the Wharf at Norfolk, Va., 22 January 1886. Jumping overboard from the ferryboat, Davis rescued from drowning John Norman, ordinary seaman.


The I’m just sayin… Know Your South Carolina Athlete

Bobby Cremins: To hear him talk, you probably wouldn’t think that Bobby Cremins would ever be the SC athlete you should know… but he is. His years as a star for the Revolutionary War Hero’s basketball team earned him this prestigious spot on the blog (though, I must admit… it’s hard to find info on his playing days so I’ll be talking a good bit about his post-playing career). Cremins grew up in the Bronx, New York, where he was born to Irish immigrants. In 1966, he entered the University of South Carolina on a basketball scholarship, where he played under the legendary basketball coach Frank McGuire. While Cremins was there, the Revolutionary War Heroes won 61 games, with only 17 losses. Cremins was the starting point guard for three years for USC (I believe this was back when freshmen couldn’t play… so he was the starting PG for all the years he was eligible). He was also the captain of South Carolina's powerful 1969–70 team which went 25-3 (14-0 in the ACC… but lost to NC State in the championship game of the ACC Tournament). He graduated from South Carolina in 1970 and played professional basketball for one year in Ecuador.

Cremins started his coaching career at in 1971 as an assistant coach at Point Park College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He next returned to South Carolina to become McGuire's assistant coach in 1972. At age 27, Cremins became one of the youngest NCAA Division I head coaches in history when he took charge of the Appalachian State University's basketball team. In his first year at Appalachian his team had a record of 13–14, but then they accumulated an 87–56 record over the next five seasons, with three Southern Conference championships. The Mountaineers posted a 23–6 record, and received an NCAA Tournament slot in 1979. He was hired as the new head basketball coach for Georgia Tech at the close of the 1981 season. Cremins took over a Georgia Tech team that had been winless in the conference and had compiled a four wins and 23 losses record in the basketball season before his arrival. His team progressed to the ACC Basketball Tournament championship in 1985, and they amassed a record of 27 wins with eight losses. In 1990, his team progressed all the way to the Final Four with an overall 28–7 record. Three times he has been named ACC Coach of the Year (’83, ’85 and ’96) and was named the Naismith College Coach of the Year in 1990. During his time at Georgia Tech, Cremins coached such players as Mark Price, John Salley, Dennis Scott, Brian Oliver, Kenny Anderson, Jon Barry, Travis Best and Stephon Marbury. On March 24, 1993, Cremins agreed to coach basketball at his alma mater, the University of South Carolina, before changing his mind and deciding three days later to continue at Georgia Tech (where he would later retire from coaching). While he was retired, Bobby toured the country doing motivational speaking, television commentary on ACC and NCAA basketball, and worked with charities, mainly for Coaches vs. Cancer and the Jimmy V Foundation. In 2006, Cremins returned to coaching at the College of Charleston, after the Cougars hired Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall (only to have Marshall “pull a Cremins” and change his mind and remain at Winthrop).

I read a book about ACC basketball one time and in it was a story about the coaches in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. It talked about how competitive the coaches were and how a lot of them didn’t really like each other. But everybody loved Bobby… to the point that at a coaches meeting one time Cremins walked in and was going on and on about a recruit he’d just talked to. All the other coaches got real quiet until someone finally spoke up and said “Bobby, this is a dead period! You can’t talk to recruits right now!” Cremins looked around the room and said, “Really?!” None of the coaches turned him in to the NCAA… they liked him too much to do that to him.