Just six years ago, Warren County High School was completely revamping its basketball programs. The decision was made to hire Chris Sullens and Shea Panter to lead the Pioneers and Lady Pioneers, which was captured in the April 16, 2014, edition of the Standard.
Sullens was taking over as the third coach in as many years for the Pioneers, taking over after John Dillard resigned after one season. Sullens has taken the program to new heights in the last six years, culminating with the thrilling District 6AAA championship win earlier this year. Sullens spoke about how much it meant to lead the Pioneers to victory in a coaching spotlight after the title game.
Panter spent five seasons as Lady Pioneer coach before her resignation in 2019.
The Lady Pioneer program was featured again on April 16, 2017. In that issue, WCHS standout Elsa Eckenrod was signing a scholarship to attend Maryville College. Eckenrod has parlayed her time with the Scots into a trip to Europe to play on an all-star team.
More on Eckenrod’s time playing college basketball will be featured in upcoming Standard editions.
In other April 16 editions in the past decade, Boyd baseball had a tough time in a doubleheader (2010), WCHS soccer split matchups with Franklin County and DeKalb County (2010), WCHS softball stopped a losing streak with a win over Obion County (2010), the Pioneer baseball team beat White County (2014), WCHS softball beat White County (2017) and the WCMS softball team trounced White County (2017).
Famous April 16 birthdays
1903 – Paul Waner, MLB Hall of Famer
1928 – Night Train Lane, Seven-time NFL Pro Bowler
1947 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, NBA Hall of Famer, league’s all-time leading scorer
1955 – Bruce Bochy, Three-time MLB World Series champion coach
1963 – Garry Galley, Three-time NHL All Star
1982 – Jonathan Vilma, three-time NFL Pro Bowler
1982 – Boris Diaw, NBA champion
1991 – Nolan Arenado, Five-time MLB All Star
National April 16 headlines (AP)
1940 — Bob Feller of Cleveland defeats the White Sox 1-0 in Chicago the only opening day no-hitter in major league history.
1949 — The Toronto Maple Leafs, with a 3-1 victory, sweep the Detroit Red Wings for the second straight year in the Stanley Cup Final.
1954 — The Detroit Red Wings edge the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in the seventh game to win the Stanley Cup.
1957 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 5-1 to take the Stanley Cup in five games.
1958 — Arnold Palmer edges Doug Ford by one stroke to win the Masters.
1961 — The Chicago Black Hawks win the Stanley Cup in six games with a 5-1 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings.
1987 — Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls scores 61 points in a 117-114 loss to the Atlanta Hawks and becomes the second player to surpass 3,000 points in a season.
1990 — Gelindo Bordin becomes the first Olympic men’s champion to win the Boston Marathon.
1991 — The St. Louis Blues become the eighth team in NHL playoff history to come back from a 3-1 deficit as they beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in the seventh game.
1992 — Mike Gartner of the New York Rangers gets his 500th career assist in a 7-1 rout of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Gartner becomes the first NHL player to record his 500th assist, 500th goal, 1,000th point and play in his 1,000th game all in the same season.
1995 — Utah’s Tom Chambers scores 15 points in a 105-83 win over the Los Angeles Clippers to become the 20th NBA player to score 20,000 points.
1997 — The Chicago Cubs set the mark for worst start in National League history, extending their losing streak to 12 with a 4-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Chicago breaks the overall NL record of 0-11 by the 1884 Detroit Wolverines.
2003 — The Anaheim Mighty Ducks beat Detroit 3-2 in overtime, making the Red Wings the first defending Stanley Cup winner in 51 years to be swept the following season in a four-game opening series.
2008 — Golden State finishes the season at 48-34 after losing to Seattle 126-121. The Warriors have more wins than any team that failed to make the playoffs since the NBA expanded to the 16-team format in 1984. Houston held the previous mark of 45 wins in 2000-01.
2013 — Two bombs explode near Boston Marathon finish line, killing three people and injuring more than 270 in a bloody scene of shattered glass and severed limbs. Earlier in the day, Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia wins the 117th edition of the marathon and Rita Jeptoo of Kenya wins the women’s race.
