How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth...

No one was surprised when bigger, faster South Alabama beat Division II Quincy (Ill.) College 73-61 in Mobile. Afterward, Mike Hanks, South's 33-year-old second-year head coach, was asked if he had considered taking it easy on the Hawks and their coach, 60-year-old Sherrill Hanks. "No way. He's the one with 730 wins," said Mike of his father. "I'm still on this side of a hundred. I needed it a hell of a lot more than he did."

The Hankses spent a lot of time together before the game. "But once it started," said Mike, who played guard for his father at Quincy High, "we got down to business." When a Quincy player was whistled for holding, Sherrill protested, "C'mon, Ref, he's not strong enough to hold!"

Last month, when South Alabama went to Hawaii for a Christmas tournament, Mike and his wife, Susan, dropped their three children off at their grandparents' home in Illinois. Sherrill resisted the temptation to grill his grandchildren about their father's program, but was not above playing a trick on his son last week. "We were going to exchange films before our game," says Mike, "but he conveniently forgot to bring theirs."