Names in the Game

HOMERVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- Home-run king Hank Aaron, speaking in the aptly named town of Homerville, cautioned children against pinning<br>their hopes on being a great athlete.<br> <br>"Remember this: You

Sunday, February 13th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

HOMERVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- Home-run king Hank Aaron, speaking in the aptly named town of Homerville, cautioned children against pinning
their hopes on being a great athlete.

"Remember this: You can be the best player, break a leg or an arm and lose everything," Aaron told the group in the high school
cafeteria for the Clinch County NAACP black history celebration Saturday.

Aaron, who has more career at-bats, RBIs and home runs than any player in the history of baseball, said that some of his greatest
accomplishments took place off the field.

He said one of his fondest memories was being in the Boy Scouts in Mobile, Ala. As a Scout, Aaron got to direct traffic for a then-segregated Mardi Gras celebration.

"I carried that with me through all my life," Aaron said.

Now a senior vice president with the Atlanta Braves, Aaron told the parents to make sure their children got a good education.

His audience included actor Ossie Davis, a Clinch County native, and former Georgia football standout Lindsay Scott, who said he was inspired by Aaron when he was growing up.

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Blood testing for drug use could be introduced before the start of the Olympics in September, Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates says.

Coates said Sunday that SOCOG and the International Olympic Committee are committed to implementing blood testing to stamp out the use of erythropoietin (EPO), a banned performance-enhancing hormone that is undetectable using current tests.

Speaking after the IOC's Coordination Committee meetings, Coates said researchers at the Australian Institute of Sport were on the
verge of producing a reliable blood test.

"There is a political will on behalf of the IOC to have blood testing if it's available," he said. "I'm hopeful (a test for EPO will be available) and so is the AIS."

Coordination Commission chairman Jacques Rogge wasn't as sure.

Rogge said the IOC had provided the AIS with a $1 million grant to develop a test for EPO and he was pleased with the progress.

"We're not sure if we'll have a test in time for Sydney -- there are many legal and scientific issues that need to be resolved," he said.

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CALCUTTA, India (AP) -- Leander Paes, one half of India's world No. 1 tennis doubles team, is looking for a new partner to play the
left-hand court until Mahesh Bhupathy recovers from an injury.

Paes has done poorly playing in the left-hand court with several substitute partners, including Byron Black and Sebastian Lareau.

"It seems I have a new partner almost every week," Paes said Sunday. "I am looking for someone with whom I can play from the
right hand court."

Paes' success in the Grand Slam tournaments -- the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon -- came previously when he played
from the right-hand court, with Bhupathy in the left.

Bhupathy is expected to return when India meets South Korea in the Davis Cup in April.

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FLINT, Mich. (AP) -- For Keristen LaBelle, it was like any other wrestling match. Only after walking victorious off the mat did the Davison High School sophomore realize what she had accomplished.

"Everybody was saying, `Good job,' " she said. "That's when I thought, `I just won the Big Nine.' "

In winning the 103-pound division at the conference wrestling meet Saturday, LaBelle apparently became the first girl to win an
individual championship in a Big Nine varsity boys sport.

LaBelle avenged her only loss to a Big Nine opponent by beating Kearsley's Coby Carpentier 2-0 in the title match.

Her goal is to place in the top eight in the state meet March 11 at Detroit. If she advances to state, she'd follow the trail set last year by Cynthia Harrold of Saginaw County, who made it to the state event -- the first girl to do so -- in LaBelle's weight class.

LaBelle's teammates like her chances.

"I think she can tear up the state at 103 this year," said Davison's Joe Whitman, the Big Nine champion at 135 pounds.