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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2007 > May > 23 > Entry
“What Really Happened to Pogue and Hoover?”
It happened when my wife and I went to the Pine Club to eat Monday night. It happened Monday afternoon when I spoke to a journalism class at Xenia High.
It happened today when I stopped in at my neighborhood coffee shop in the Oregon District and it happened the last time I was at Madden Golf Course.
No matter where I’ve been. No matter if I’ve been around young people or old, folks black or white, the question has been the same:
“So what really happened to Pogue and Hoover?”
Two weeks ago, the pair of basketball big men — the 6-foot-9 Aaron Pogue from Dunbar High and 6-foot-11 Dorian Hoover, last of Sinclair Community College — were shot while sitting in a parked car along Salem Avenue.
The car they were in — which Hoover said had run out of gas — was riddled by bullets. The two athletes ended up running for their lives, Pogue with a bullet in his side, Hoover with one in his foot.
Pogue is now out of the hospital. Hoover is hobbling around town on crutches. Both still have the bullets in them.
Hoover told me last week that he has no idea who shot them — or why. Pogue was being shielded from the press by his family, but his mother told me that her son’s assessment and Hoover’s are the same.
Dayton police seem to agree. Last week a department spokesman told me it appears the pair were minding their own business and, at least as of now, there seems to be no motive other than random violence.
That said, Dayton police figure someone witnessed what happened and want someone to call the homicide division with any kind of tip.
Although no one is talking to the cops, it seems like everybody’s talking among themselves about the shooting. Maybe because I’ve written a couple of stories on the shooting or maybe just because I’m a sports writer, but people bring it up to me almost daily.
Everyone has his or her own speculation, own opinion. Some people think the two were up to no good. Some think someone was out to get them. Others think their car may have looked like someone else’s. It’s been suggested they were in a certain gang’s territory. Some think there might be some nut out there just potshotting people.
I’m not sure what to think, though I like Pogue and Hoover and tend to believe them, as do their respective coaches, Dunbar’s Pete Pullen and Sinclair’s Jeff Price.
Regardless, I know I’ll be asked about it again and again. I just wish I had a better answer to give when it happens.
Comments
By Dave
May 24, 2007 7:31 AM | Link to this
We may never know what really happened to Pogue and Hoover. Seems very suspicious to me.