Douglas Ga Newspaper

Former North Myrtle Beach receiver trying to catch on with Falcons

P.J. Gore’s dream of becoming a professional athlete is finally coming true, just not in the sport he had always envisioned.

After starring at North Myrtle Beach High in both football and basketball, the Little River resident spent four years playing college hoops in hopes of turning it into a career.

But after one season as a wide receiver at tiny Mars Hill (N.C.) College, Gore finds himself in training camp with the Atlanta Falcons and in position to make it in the NFL.

“I’m just trying to seize the moment and make the most of this opportunity,” Gore said via telephone from the Falcons’ training camp in Flowery Branch, Ga. “I grew up playing football, basketball and baseball, but I always felt my heart was in basketball. Now it looks like football is my best shot, and I’m not leaving anything on the table.”

Gore was a high school standout on the hardwood and gridiron, but his talents were somewhat limited in the Chiefs’ Wing-T offense. He played quarterback in a system that rarely threw the ball, so his natural talents as a wideout were overlooked by many Division I schools and basketball appeared to be his best ticket to the next level.

“P.J. was such a good kid and leader, and he came in at a point when we really needed to win,” former Chiefs coach Steve Hart recalled. “I knew he was a great basketball player, but I always thought he was a footballer. I can’t say I’m surprised [he’s with the Falcons] because with his character and hard work he could have done anything.”

Gore ended up drawing interest from major schools in both sports, including an opportunity to play both at Clemson. But his grades sent him on a detour through the junior college ranks that seriously altered his plans.

“I was recruited by a couple of D-I schools, like Maryland and Clemson,” Gore recalled. “[Current Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney] was the wide receivers coach at Clemson at that time and he recruited me to come there and possibly play football and basketball. Unfortunately I didn’t qualify academically, so I had to go off to junior college first to get my grades up.”

After a difficult year at West Brunswick (N.C.) Community College, NCAA Division II school Mars Hill was Gore’s best offer. He made the most of the opportunity with the Lions by going on to score 1,143 points in basketball, which ranks 17th in school history. Last season the 6-foot-2 guard was an All-South Atlantic Conference first-team selection.

Some Thoughts on HB87, State Senator Curt Thompson - Douglas ...

I hope that summer is starting to wrap up nicely for everyone. It still feels amazing that 90 degree days are considered a relief from the heat! Now, I know that  all the big political stories of the summer have been coming out of Washington, but Georgia still has important  issues we are grappling with before starting up our next legislative session. Usually the dog days of summer are quiet times for activity at the Gold Dome. Legislators are back in their districts, connecting with constituents and trying to earn a living, since being a senator is technically a “part time job” in the state of Georgia.  That’s why I have to thank my fellow colleagues who were able to join me this last week, on July the 27th, for an important committee hearing on the economic impact HB87 is going to have on the state of Georgia. We took testimony from a variety of witnesses, starting with representatives of the Georgia Restaurant Association, the Anti-Defamation League, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), and the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, as well as private citizens.  We also got an update on the status of the lawsuit trying to overturn parts of the law.  The information was enlightening and sobering, clearly pointing out how bad this bill is for business.  Hearing it laid out how the Senators and Representatives pushing this type of legislation failed to anticipate, or failed to care, about the consequences this law would have on Georgia’s rural and metro area businesses.  Across all of the industries that spoke to our committee, there was a common theme: skilled workers have been leaving left and right. Both legal and undocumented employees have moved on to other states. With them went the many legal business owners who catered to them, which has further laid a hurtin’ on some local economies.   Many are leaving not because of the provisions of the law itself, but due to fears of a rise in anti-immigrant bias or racially motivated harassment. Both of these social ills are accentuated by the racial profiling provisions put into the law.  Some organizations like GALEO are encouraging people to stay and panic has partly subsided due to the Georgia Supreme Court’s injunction on those same sections, but the image of Georgia as anti-foreigner and anti-business remains. Labor costs are starting to go up in industries that rely on skilled, but largely foreign born, labor.

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