DOCTORS, LAWYERS BATTLE ON COURT TONIGHT

John Harding says his barrister basketball team is poised for victory with a new offensive strategy for tonight's rematch against the doctors in the second annual Doctor/Lawyer benefit basketball game.

Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Central High School field house. Proceeds benefit the Community Counseling Center. Tickets are available at the door and cost $5 for adults and $2.50 for children under 12.

John "Warren G." Harding said: "Last year we lost by six points. Now we've got a new offensive scheme. I think the game will be close."

A confident Dr. Charles "Coast to Coast" Pancoast said lawyers talk a good game but the proof will be seen on the court.

Most of the basketball players are over 30, but both teams have been practicing regularly to prepare for the rematch. The doctors and lawyers also have been lobbing barbs at each other off the court.

Lawyer "Jammin'" Jeff Dix said, despite all the good-natured ribbing, both the doctors and the lawyers want victory.

"It's supposed to be all in fun," he said. "But when you get all those type-A personalities on the court, everybody wants to win."

Plus, the lawyers want revenge for last year's defeat.

"It was a tough loss," Dix said. But, he explained, two key players were out sick last year. Another top player, Harding, fouled out. "And then there was Mike Payne. One of the doctors injured his knee -- on the court, of course."

At a recent practice, Harding broke his finger and won't be able to play. He'll be coaching from the sidelines. With Harding out again this year, Dix said, the pressure is on.

Lawyer Kevin "Dogbone" Wibbenmeyer said the doctors are bitter over their loss this summer in the Community Counseling Center's benefit softball game.

"The softball game clearly established the lawyers as superior athletes," Wibbenmeyer said. "The score was either 10 to 8 or 35 to 1. I don't remember. Well, the more I think about it I think maybe it was 35 to 1."

Wibbenmeyer said the doctors see tonight's basketball game as a way to regain their dignity.

"I think it will be a good game,' he said. "I predict we'll win by five or 10 points."

Last year, much of the crowd support was for the doctors. Wibbenmeyer said the lawyers are rallying support this year.

"Plus," Dix said, "They have Greg Leet. He played at the University of Alabama under Gene Bartow and is really head and shoulders above a lot of us."

Dr. Greg "Cotton" Leet, an optometrist, said he did play basketball under Gene Bartow. "But that was almost two decades ago. I don't know how much that will help our team."

Leet thinks the crowd turns out not so much to see skillful basketball but more likely to watch two groups of middle-age professionals struggling up and down the court.

"It will be more like the Harlem Globetrotters," Leet said.

The litigation-leery doctors have been careful about what they say concerning the game.

"When you've got a lot of lawyers together in a room, the last thing we want to do is make them mad," Leet said.

"I'm really disappointed that John Harding can't play. That definitely puts them at a disadvantage, but I'm sure they'll have something up their sleeve."

Doctors' coach Pancoast said, "We definitely want to win."

But the docs have been pacing themselves in practice. "Otherwise we'd get injured too fast," he said.

Pancoast said the team has a secret weapon, Dr. Connie "Sims" Simmons, the only woman playing in the game.

Simmons, a pediatrician, expects the men to treat her nicely, at least at first. She was a high school basketball standout at Oran and an Academic All-American in college.

At 5 feet, 8 inches, Simmons expects to play guard.

"I don't think I'm in a class anything like Greg Leet," she said. "I just hope I can make it up and down the court a few times. I'll be happy if I score a few points."

Last year's basketball game raised $8,000. Kathy Swan, coordinator of this year's event, expects it to generate over $10,000. The money benefits the Community Counseling Center Foundation.

The Cape Girardeau Central High pom pon squad, the Southeast Missouri State University Sundancers and cheerleaders will be performing at halftime.

A three-point shootout is also planned at halftime. Each shooter raised $250 to participate.

Shooting will be Jim Limbaugh, Percy Houston, Mark Kohlfeld, Timmy Powers, John Mumford, David Crowe, Joe Radetic, Keith Russell, David Goncher, and Chuck Heady.

Over 250 people will attend a patron party, the game's version of a tailgate party, prior to tipoff. Advance tickets were sold.

Tickets for the game are available at the door and also at Boatmen's Bank in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Mercantile Bank of Cape Girardeau, Schnucks, Doctors' Park administration office, and the Community Counseling Center.

For more information, call the Community Counseling Center at 334-1100.