Will Harris: Chalk one up for the good guys

Elizabeth City, N.C. - It was a good day when I heard that Michael Bonner would be able to play basketball for Elizabeth City State next season. I had been championing Bonner’s cause for quite a while, but it seemed like nothing was going to change and he would have to sit out another season because of other people’s mistakes.

Bonner, a former Perquimans standout, transferred to ECSU from Winston-Salem State last summer. Normally, this would not be an issue and he could play right away, but Winston-Salem was making the transition back into the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and league rules say a player moving between CIAA schools must sit out two years. That rule was waived for that year since Winston-Salem, as well as Lincoln which was entering the league at the same time, if players enrolled in summer school. But Booner was not...

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CIAA rules ECSU's Bonner eligible next season

Elizabeth City, NC - The Michael Bonner saga has a happy ending after all.

Bonner, the former Perquimans standout basketball player who sat out last season in an eligibility controversy at Elizabeth City State after transferring from Winston-Salem State, has been granted a waiver from the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and ruled eligible for the upcoming season.

“Man, it’s been a fight,” said Bonner, who will have two years of eligibility remaining. “I lost a year (of eligibility) out of the three years I would have had, but I was just grateful get it over.”

Bonner, the 2007 Daily Advance Player of the Year, was caught up in a mess created when Winston-Salem abandoned its Division I plans and rejoined the CIAA in 2010.

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ECSU’s Bonner in limbo
Harris: Does anyone care about Michael Bonner?
Incoming ... Booner comes to ECSU
Harris: Seems like it was a little too late for Bonner

VISIT: ELIZABETH CITY STATE UNIVERSITY
VISIT: ECSUVIKINGS

Harris: Does anyone care about Elizabeth City State's Michael Bonner?

Harris: Does anyone care about Michael Bonner?

At one end of the basketball court in the R.L. Vaughan Center are team photos for the Elizabeth City State teams. In the men’s basketball picture, one of the biggest smiles belongs to Perquimans graduate Michael Bonner. Although he didn’t know it then, it was the only time Bonner would put on an ECSU uniform.

Since then, Bonner has been getting a raw deal. And that is about as nice as I can put it and get it past my editors.

He should be playing with the Vikings and contributing as they make a run in the final weeks of the season. Instead, Bonner is watching the games from the stands. Always with a smile on his face...

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ECSU's Bonner in limbo - The Daily Advance

Incoming ... Booner comes to ECSU - The Daily Advance

NOTE TO VIKINGS AND HBCU FANS:

Please pass the link to this story "Harris: Does anyone care about Michael Bonner?" on to your friends and let us all assist this deserving student-athlete in receiving a fair decision from CIAA Commissioner Leon G. Kerry.

ECSU beat writer Will Harris of the Daily Advance Newspaper is on point -- that student Michael Bonner has received a raw deal from the professionals that he and his family trusted to provide the proper guidance for both his academic and athletic careers. Why should he suffer for their incompetency?

Will you help by bringing political pressure on the CIAA Commissioner's Office to provide Mr. Michael Bonner with a quick waiver of this silly two-year rule, that should not be applied to the Winston Salem State University situation? Please express your support and ask the Commissioner to render a decision, now, that is long overdue to Mr. Bonner and his family.

You may contact the CIAA commissioner's office at:

Mr. Leon Kerry, Commissioner
E-mail: LeonKerry@aol.com
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Post Office Box 7349
22 Enterprise Parkway, Suite 210
Hampton, Virginia 23666
E-Mail: TheCIAA@aol.com
Office: 757-865-0071
Fax: 757-865-8436

We appreciate your support and assistance on this effort for this deserving CIAA student-athlete. Thank you.

beepbeep

P.S. If this was my son, I would be breaking out a can of whoop ass on the Commissioner's office -- but I won't go there today.


Videographer: UrbanSportsITG

Incoming ... Bonner comes to ECSU

Elizabeth City State’s basketball team is starting to look like an Atlantic Conference all-star team. Perquimans’ Michael Bonner is the latest former star of the 1A conference, now known as the Four Rivers, to join the Vikings, transferring from Winston-Salem State. Earlier this year, former Camden star Ricky Krainiak transferred to ECSU from Campbell, joining last year’s Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Rookie of the Year Angelo Sharpless of Plymouth.

Being close to home and the presence of Sharpless and Krainiak influenced Bonner’s choice of schools. “ECSU is a very good place,” said Bonner, the 2007-08 Daily Advance Player of the Year. “Coach (Shawn) Walker is a really cool guy and from what I hear, he is an excellent coach. Angelo Sharpless, I played with him in high school. Ricky Krainiak, I played with him in high school. We all have that bond already. It’s a beautiful school and my family is around here and my church is around here.”

After Bonner experienced a rough freshman season, Winston-Salem coaches decided to redshirt the 6-foot-5, 190-pound guard last season, a choice that confused the Hertford native.

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