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K.J. Choi made it to Korean Presbyterian Church Sunday before teeing off and winning the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro.

Perhaps some of the high-finishers behind Choi in the tournament pulled off for prayer at the wayside chapel on Liberty Road enroute to Forest Oaks Country Club.

Built in 1963 when Liberty Road was still U.S. 421, the log chapel with a steeple is meant for travelers to pause for prayer and meditation. It surely ranks as the tiniest chapel in Guilford County, with six short pews and a podium for a preacher.

It stands across the highway from Moriah United Methodist Church, founded in 1813. The church owns the chapel, which is a small replica of the first Moriah church.

"I wouldn't be surprised," the Rev. Diane Jones, the church's youth minister, said last week when asked if any golfers had stopped.

No golfer's name jumped off the log book next to the chapel entrance. But signing isn't required. People who do sign often give more than names and addresses. They write essays about the chapel's beauty and serenity.

Jones believe "ambience" best sums up the chapel's appeal. It looks so inviting set back under the trees.

"It's just a quaint and sweet place," she says.

Couples have chosen to get married there. There's room for only 10 or 12 people inside, but the double red doors can be kept open for wedding guests outside to watch and hear the "I do's" being said.

Jones says the church uses the wayside chapel as a teaching tool for children. It helps them understand how far religion has come in America, with Moriah an example.

It has progressed from a log cabin to an impressive brick structure with a long tradition of serving southeast Guilford for what will be 200 years in 2013.

The public will get a rare chance Friday and Saturday to tour perhaps the last grand church in Greensboro built in the style of a European cathedral, Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.

Jim McCullough, the director of religious education and OLG's historian, will lead the tours of the 52-year-old church, which looks as though it has been standing along West Market Street for centuries.

The tours will be part of OLG's annual fall festival.

The church was completed in July 1952, with money donated by those related Price and Bryan families to honor Ethel Clay Price, the devoutly Catholic wife of Julian Price.

Starting when he became president in 1919, Julian Price built what is today Jefferson-Pilot Corp. into a major life insurance company.

He was a Baptist, although it's not clear if he attended church. If he did, he would have no doubt riled the congregation with his refusal to remove his fedora. He never took it off in public, indoors or out.

It's a coincidence that the church tours come during the week of the announced merger of Lincoln National, a large life insurance company in Philadelphia, and Julian Price's old company. The merger will likely mean the end of the Jefferson and Pilot corporate names in Greensboro.

The Price and Bryan family's wealth, which made OLG possible, came from Jefferson-Pilot stock and other investments by Julian Price, his children and his son-in-law, Joseph Bryan.

Julian Price donated $400,000 for the church in 1946. He also chose the design among various plans submitted to him by the Catholic hierarchy.

He chose the same design as a Catholic church in Brooklyn, Our Lady of Refuge. Henry Murphy, the architect of the Brooklyn church, was hired to do OLG, which is smaller.

But before construction began, Julian Price in an auto accident in 1946, when he was in his late 70s. Various delays kept work on the church from starting until 1950.

By then, costs has risen. Kathleen Price Bryan, the daughter of Julian Price and wife of Joseph Bryan, and Martha Price, wife of Ralph Price Sr., the son of Julian Price, donated $300,000 to cover the added cost.

After the church opened, Kathleen Price Bryan continued to give money to beautify the interior, including a marble altar. The church still benefits from Price-Bryan money through the Josesph M. Bryan Sr. Endowment Fund.

During construction, the church drew on artisans from all over, but the stone, "Salisbury Pink" granite, was quarried in nearby Rowan County.

According to the church's web site, 300,000 pieces of cut stain glass were imported from Belgium. The design of the windows with the stained glass is modeled on a cathedral in Quebec.

OLG is a testament to how far Catholics have progressed in Greensboro. Catholic numbers were small when the first church, St. Anges, which opened in 1877 on Forbis Street (now North Church), about where the public library now stands.

The city now numbers five Catholic churches. Besides Benedict's and OLG, they are St. Mary's on East Lee Street, St. Pius X on North Elm Street and St. Paul's the Apostle on Horsepen Creek Road.

St. Agnes moved to North Elm Street in 1899 to a new building and changed its name to St. Benedict's. Mass is still held there more than 100 years later.

Bring the horses back and send the trucks to pasture.

The animals are more fuel efficent. A sack of oats costs less than a gallon of gas.

And horses are smarter than car, regardless of those dashboard gadgets that do anything but cut the price of gasoline.

A story in Monday's News & Record about how Guilford Dairy beat gas and tire rationing during World War II by using horses to pull milk wagons brought interesting responses from Andy Ralston-Asumendi and Fred Brown.

Ralston-Asumendi, whose grandfather delivered milk for Guilford Dairy, singled out the part about how milkmen could sit back in the wagon, daydream or even catnap. The horse knew the route and where to stop.

"You mentioned that the drivers could loosely drive the cart, but my grandfather went one better," Ralston-Asumendi e-mailed. "He would be in the back of the cart getting the next order ready and the horse would go to the next place and stop."

Brown said that when he was 13 and 14, he worked as a milk cart helper for Long Meadow Dairies in Durham, which also parked its trucks and used horses during the war.

"When we would travel down a street, we would leave the wagon moving," he said in an e-mail, adding that he and the milkmen would make deliveries on both sides of the street while the horse moseyed along. The horse needed no direction.

Let's see a car or truck do that.

Guilford Dairy, founded in 1931 during the Great Depression, survived the hard times of the '30s and hardships imposed by wartime rationing during in the 1940s.

It emerged from the war a strong company with a brand name known to all who lived in Guilford County.

Like Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Co. and Pilot Life Insurance Co., people assumed Guilford Dairy would be around forever.

Alas, it was gulped down in a merger, first when a group of cooperatives banded together to form United Dairy. In 1975, United was taken over by Flav-O-Rich of Louisville, Ky.

Flav-O-Rich continued operating the big processing plant that Guilford Dairy built on West Market Street in 1948.

The plant shut down in 2001 and has remained empty. It's a memory to the era when Guilford residents were fierely loyal to the milk and ice cream made by their hometown dairy, which used milk supplied by Guilford County dairy farmers.

Downtown Greensboro has gone condo crazy.

The latest condominium project was unveiled Monday with gold banners hanging from the long building that takes up a chunk of the north side of West Market Street's 200 block, across from the old Guilford Courty Courthouse.

The building used to be a series of store fronts that included the Greensboro Drug Co., where the courthouse crowd took coffee breaks.

During the 1980s, the building was purchased and renovated for the Tuggle Duggins & Meschan law firm. The firm plans to move by the end of the year to parts of two floors in the 20-story Jefferson-Pilot Building, soon to be the Lincoln National Building.

Bobbie Maynard, an agent for Allen Tate Realtors, marketing agent for the project, says the exact layout hasn't been decided yet. But the building will probably include 21 to 24 condo units.

The offerings will include one- and two-bedroom units and tri-plexes, which are units that will occupy the two floors facing West Market and the basement.

Maynard estimates prices will range from $130,000 to $280,000.

Noting the proximity of the Elon University Law School, which will move into the old public library building now being renovated at Greene Street and West Friendly Avenue, "I think these will be a great opportunity for law students and professors," Maynard says.

This would be the fifth major condo project downtown and Maynard thinks the market is there.

"I'm doing Southside, and I have one luxury unit left," she said. "I'm doing 411 West Washington Street and all 33 units are under contract."

Other big projects include Governors Court at North Church Street and East Friendly Avenue that opened more than two years, and Smothers Lofts, recently completed at South Elm Street and Smother's Place near the South Elm rail crossing.

Another project is under way on the northern fringe of the downtown across from First Presbyterian Church on North Elm Street.

Pre-sales are to begin soon on the first condominium building in Bellemeade Village, on the site of the old North State Chevrolet property where Battleground Avenue and Eugene and Smith streets come together. The village is slated to include condos, apartments, retail and office space.

There's also talk of the Old Wachovia Building and the Southeastern Building, both in the heart of downtown, being converted into combination residential, office and retail space.

The West Market Street condos will done by Ryan Jackson LLC, which is currently doing a project called Villas at Hamilton Lakes.

Who says Greensboro has lacked bold leadership?

Had the city fathers succeeded in 1909, the Governor would have his Capitol here and the legislature would be convening for long sessions one year and short sessions (that often get long).

Greensboro tried to wrest the state capital from Raleigh.

The attempt came during the 1890s and the first three decades of the 20th century, when city fathers thought big and aggressively pursued new ventures.

Everything seemed possible for the city after the early 1890s, when leaders managed to land not one, but two state colleges here. Both have grown into major universities - N.C. A&T State and UNCG.

No other North Carolina city can claim two large state universities. Winston-Salem has Winston-Salem State University and N.C. School of the Arts, but the latter is small and didn't open until the 1960s.

After Greensboro snared the two state schools against competition from other cities, local political leaders started thinking even bigger.

In February 1909, a special train of local political and civic leaders, led by State Sen. John A. Barringer of Guilford, went to Raleigh to propose a referendum on moving the capital.

The newspaper story announcing the special train noted that Guilford County was almost the exact geographical center of the state and that "more than the one-half of the white population of the state resides west and south of Greensboro."

The article went on to bash Raleigh, declaring, "Not only are the state buildings inadequate for the present pressing needs of the state, but the hotel facilties in Raleigh make pleasant life of the state representative impossible."

The story implied the state was planning to spend $7.5 million on state government improvements in Raleigh.

The Greensboro contingent argued the move to Greensboro would be cheaper. Carolina Real Estate Investment Co., which was developing the Glenwood neighborhood in southwest Greensboro, offered the state 25 free acres there for the capitol and other government buildings.

Local political leaders boasted the capital relocation idea had the support of Salisbury, Charlotte, Statesville, Burlington and other towns.

The big hitters who took the special train included President Julius Foust of what's now UNCG, County School Supt. Thomas Foust (Julius's brother), developer Garland Daniel (Lake Daniel), businessman C.D. Benbow, the mayor of High Point and honchos from Gibsonville.

They returned without the capital.

The news article was correct about the state's population shifting westward, but the state's political power remained in the east. In those days, all 100 counties were guaranteed at least one state seat in the House of Representatives.

Because the east had more counties than the west, the east dominated the legislature.

Lawmakers from from eastern North Carolina weren't about to let the capital move 75 miles westward down the rail line to Greensboro.

But it was a good try by Greensboro.

The city did make a steal from Raleigh three years later. In 1912, the Golds brothers, Charles and P.D., decided to move to Greensboro from Raleigh Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Co. The Golds had founded the company in 1907.

Jefferson prospered here and merged with Pilot Life Insurance Co. to become Jefferson-Pilot. Jeff-Pilot has long been of the city's landmark companies - until a few weeks ago.

It appears Jeff-Pilot has now been snatched from Greensboro. If shareholders approve, J-P will merge with Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. of Philadelphia. Greensboro will be the headquarters of the company's insurance division, but the executives offices will move to Philadelphia and the J-P name will disappear.

At least Greensboro remains the capital of Guilford County, thanks to another bold move in the early 1800s. A group of "centrists" were successful in relocating the county seat from the now vanished northwest community of Martinville to the center of the county and create the new town of Greensboro. Voters approved the move in a referendum.

But watch out Greensboro. Rumblings arise from time to time from the High Point area (which twice tried to secede from Guilford) to move the county seat to a place between the two cities, such as the old and long vacant Pilot Life campus at Sedgefield.

So what else is new? asks Al Thomy. The Houston Astros are losing the World Series. One more loss to the Chicago White Sox and it's over.

In Thomy's mind, Houston is always losing. The Greensboro native and semi-retired sportswriter goes so far back in baseball that it amounts to ancient history.

He can't shake off the notion as Houston as a loser after covering the team, then known as the Houston Colt .45s, in 1963 and 1964 for the old Houston Press newspaper. In each of those seasons, the team won 66 and lost 96 games.

"They were castoffs and rejects," Thomy says of the roster. "They were too old or too young."

Thomy knew what the next day's headline would say on his story: "Colt 45s lose again."

The idea of the club ever making it to a World Series seemed as far fetched then as one of those astronauts, who trained in Houston and drank at the press bar at the ballpark, going to the moon.

During Thomy's time, Houston was an expansion team. That meant its initial roster was filled with inexperienced young players and others Major League teams no longer wanted.

Thomy was so eager to cover a Big League team, he left a secure job with the Atlanta Constitution to cover a lousy team for a shaky newspaper, one that would fold two years later.

The Colt .45s played in a temporary park while a domed stadium was being built next door.

For sure, the team had some bright spots, including two youngsters - power hitters Rusty Staub and Joe Morgan, who would become big stars later.

And occasionally one of the old timers, such as Greensboro's Skinny Brown, in his early 40s and a cast off from the Baltimore Orioles, would perform like they did in younger days.

Those two years with a chronic loser "were the most fun I had covering sports," Thomy said, who still does occasional sports writing.

He said the Colt .45s were filled with hell raisers, with the exception of Brown, a family man who kept pretty much to himself.

Thomy said the Houston women loved Bob Aspromonte, known as the Valentino of the National League because of his good looks. He dated actress Angie Dickinson.

Thomy once wrote a story for The Sporting News in which Aspromonte rated each National League city according to the beauty of its women. A reporter could get away with a story like that in those days.

The highlight of Thomy's two years with the Colt .45s was watching another veteran, pitcher Turk Farrell, regain his old form in the wee hours of the morning.

It was twilight doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates in old Forbes Field. When Farrell arrived on the mound in relief late in the second game, it was 2 a.m.

He proceeded to win the game for Houston by striking out with nine pitches the Pirates three big stars, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski.

When Thomy offered congratulations afterward, Farrell responded, "No one beats the Turk after midnight."

Thomy remembers the horrible stretch when the team went on the road and didn't score a run for 40 consecutive innings. Upon the club's return to Houston, a Dixieland band was at the airport to cheer up the players.

Playing outdoors in Houston was hot. The mosquitos were as big as baseballs and the team was not only getting harrassed by other teams but the makers of Colt 45 firearms.

It would seem an honor to have a Major League team's nickname named after a company's product. But the Colt firearms company must have thought a bad team like Houston reflected poorly on its revolvers.

The company sued. The team soon changed its name to the Astros, after moving to a big new indoor arena named the Astrodome in honor of the the new NASA training center that had opened in Houston.

By then, Thomy had returned to Atlanta, where he eventually rejoined the Constitution covering the football Falcons and the basketball Hawks.

He believes he's the only North Carolina born sportwriter or at least the first to have covered a Major League team, an NBA team and an NFL team.

He's watching the series from a room with a TV in his Latham Park home and thinking about those teams in '63 and '64.

"They were," he says, "really bad."

Don't ask how the father of transportation in North Carolina was overlooked last year when the N.C. Transportation Hall of Fame named its first inductees.

But that oversight will be corrected Tuesday in High Point when the hall of fame holds its second induction ceremony at the at the Radisson Hotel.

John Motley Morehead, governor from 1841-44, who helped awake North Carolina and rid it of its reputation as the Rip Van Winkle State, will be among seven inductees.

Morehead was the first to push the idea of a public/private-owned railroad across the state.

When he left office, he continued lobbying for the railroad and was named its first president in 1850, even before any rails were in place.

The N.C. Railroad Co. line was designated to go from Goldsboro to Raleigh to Greensboro to Charlotte. Construction began in the early 1850s and final spike driven in 1856 near the South Elm Street crossing, a few blocks from Morehead's Blandwood Mansion.

The line gave birth to at least two towns, High Point (the highest point on the line) and Burlington (where the repairs shops were located).

Morehead's railroad is now wholly state owned and leased to Norfolk Southern Railroad. Its tracks, especially those between Raleigh and Charlotte, hum 24-7 with freight trains and a few passenger trains.

The line is expected to play a larger role in the state's future as cities along the line establish commuter rail systems and the federal government creates a high-speed rail line from the North to the Southeast. The Raleigh-Charlotte portion of the N.C.

Railroad line will play an important role in the future, as cities along the route establish commuter rail and the federal government creates a high-speel rail line from the North to the Southeast. The Raleigh-Charlotte section of Morehead's railroad has already been selected as part of the high speed route.

Another inductee with Triad connections is the late Tom Davis of Winston-Salem, who in 1948 started Piedmont Airlines. He built it from what he called a "puddle jumper,'' serving small and middle size cities in North and South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee to a national and international carrier.

Piedmont was eventually bought by US Airways, but an almost cult following keeps memories of Piedmont alive. It was famous for its service, on-time arrivals and safety record.

Yet another Triad inductee is Earl E. Congdon Jr., CEO of Old Dominion Freight in Thomasville. Despite its name, his comapny has beem in North Carolina since 1962, when it relocated from Richmond.

Founded in 1934 by Congdon's father with one truck, the company now has 4,000 tractors and 14,000 trailers serving 45 states and Canada It employees more than 10,000 people.

Others to be inducted are the late highway builder Robert Barnell Sr., Paul D. Crbbins, the late Herman Hoose and Billy Rose.

Barnhill Construction Co. built sections of interstates in North Carolina, Virginia and Delaware and the Raleigh Beltway (I-440). The company also did railroad work, widening the old Atlanta Coast Line route (now CXX), between Rocky Mount and Enfield.

Cribbins, professor emeritus at N.C. State University, spent 32 years at the university teaching transportation courses, ranging from highway geometric design to airport planning and design

The late Herman Hoos in 1948 was hired by Charlotte as the first traffic engineer in North Carolina. He championed highway innovation and safety during his 30 years with the city of Charlotte.

Billy Rose served as state highway administrator for the N.C. Department of Transportation during the 1970s and 1980s, a period of major interstate and urban thoroughfare construction in North Carolina.

Tuesday's luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m. but a transportation exhibit will open at the hotel at 9:30 a.m.