| Summary: | Football game program Includes photos and biographies of players, photos of athletic staff, information about teams and universities, player rosters, team statistics, season schedules, and advertisements. Football Utah 30, Wyoming 27 u. ! . . • \ > . \xeeHence' Deseret Book ( | . I M - f| ZCMI Center Cottonwood Mall Fashion Place Mall Valley Fair Mall University Mall, Orem Parrish Square, Centerville Ogden City Mall, Ogden Cache Valley Mall. Logan Publisher Crossroads Publishing President, Managing Editor Robert G. Bradford Associate Editor Bruce Woodbury Art Director Katharine Dick Magazine photos contributed by the University of Utah Sports Information Department. VOL. 2 NO. 5 NOVEMBER 14, 1981 CONTENTS Del Rodgers-The Pop Is Back 6 Utah Hosts WAC Swimming Championships 7 1981-82 Runnin' Ute Outlook 8 1981-82 Lady Ute Outlook 9 Great Rivalries It John Heisman, Football's Great Innovator Special Teams Mean Field Position The Top 20 Basketball Teams For 1981-82 The Utes Outlook Ute Line-Up- _6t _9t _17t _12 Wyoming Line-UP. Wyoming Roster Utah Roster Behind the Scenes Wyoming Players _ The Tight End _15 .16 _17 .18 _19 _21 .25 College Marching Music What to do When You See the Blitz. The Safety Valve Bronko Nagurski. _31t J35t 37t _43t Taking What the Defense Gives. Utah Gymnastics Team to Defend National Title _46t _49t Notice Utah State Law prohibits consumption of alcoholic beverages on state property. Western Athletic Conference code requires each member institution to be responsible for crowd control at its home games. (Please do not verbally or physically abuse officials, visiting teams or other fans and refrain from throwing objects on the playing field.) Published twelve times a year by Crossroads Publishing, 550 South 300 West, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101. Copyright 1981 by Crossroads Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Nothing appearing in Utah Sport may be reprinted either wholly or in part without permission. The publishers are not responsible for the return of unsolicited material. Subscription information and correspondence should be directed to the above address. Advertising information and rates may be obtained by calling [801] 359-2600. A representative will call. Ute Skiers Begin NCAA Title Defense .26 _27 DEL RODGERS-THE POP IS BACK! by Jeff Gochnour When Del "Popcorn" Rodgers rambled for Utah's first touchdown against San Diego State he broke two school records. His 27 career touchdowns and 164 total points were enough to break the old mark set by Steve Odom. These accomplishments mean more to Del Rodhers than the mere breaking of a school record. They signify that Del Rodgers is back, and he has come to play this year with a renewed vigor for the game. It's no secret that after a sensational start as a freshman, Rodgers failed to live up to his potential. A knee injury in the third game of the season had a lot to do with it. Not only did it put him out for his entire freshman year, but in the next two years he somehow changed his style to protect himself from further injury. The old Popcorn, given that name for the explosive way in which he hit the line, had slipped into mediocrity. Rodgers was recruited out of high school by 117 colleges. His honors included being named All-Northern California player of the year, and Coach and Athlete All-American in 1977. He could run the 220 in 21.1 and the 100 in 9.8. Pretty impressive credentials for a kid out of North Salinas High. It's no wonder that Utah was excited when Popcorn annouced his decision to come to the U. And when he rushed for 297 yards in only 3 games as a freshman before the injury, they knew they had a gem. The next spring Del reported to practice almost 15 pounds over his playing weight. He appeared sluggish in workouts and that sluggishness carried onto the playing field. That sophomore year is one Rodgers would like to forget. He dropped from 6.2 yards per carry his freshman year to 3.7 his next. When his junior year finally rolled around, his improvement was noticeable. He still couldn't move Tony Lindsay out of the starting runningback slot but his statistics showed an improvement over his sophomore season. Rodgers still wasn't happy however. She still wasn't the running back he knew he could be. This year is different. In his first eight games he has rushed for 714 yards in 24 carries, an average of 5.8 yards per carry. Del is second in the WAC in rushing and 38th in the nation. With three games left he could easily become the first player in Ute football history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Rodgers attributes his success to the hard work he put in this past summer. "This summer I worked harder than ever," he said. "I had an overwhelming desire to improve my past. It's my last year ansd I have the God-given talents to go pro. I just want to live up to the potential that was there once and prove to the coaches and fans that I really am a quality running back." Del attributes a lot of his success to his mother. "She always laid things on the line," he said. "I think her attitude has helped me a lot through my hard times." Rodgers finds it difficult to pinpoint exactly what football has taught him. He says it has helped him to become an overall better person and accept the good along with the bad. He says, "Football has given me a very balanced life and helped me to deal with my emotions. I've learned how to dedicate myself to whatever I'm doing and that will be a big plus for me in the years ahead." Del Rodger's future is on a game-to-game basis. His sights are on the present. All the ingredients are there for a WAC championship and he wants to do everything in his power to obtain that goal. Pro football looms as a definite possibility, but Popcorn isn't concerned about that at the moment. He will graduate on time in consumer studies and, should things not work out with football, he knows he can pursue a career elsewhere. Rodgers has overcome a lot of adversity to get where he is now. Everytime he has fallen, he has picked himself back up again, and that is the mark of a true professional. Ute fans can rest assured that the pop is back in Del Rodger's life and that can only mean that good things are on the horizon for Utah football. Utah Hosts WAC Swimming Championships by A. James Wilson Western Athletic Conference Championships don't come easy. But try telling that to Ute Swim Mentor Don Reddish. Since the WAC was formed back in 1963, Don and Company have won 11 of 19 WAC Titles, including the last two in a row. This year the conference meet is hosted by Utah in Salt Lake City, March 4,5, and 6, and every other team and coach picks Utah to pull off another victory. But Coach Reddish isn't so sure; "We have a good team this year, but we were hurt last year by graduation. We will be a contender to win again, but far from a sure thing." Seniors lost were responsible for 251 of Utah's record total 566 points in last years meets along with 12 individual conference championships. Quite a loss to the Swimmin' Utes. But a strong nucleus still remains: Co-captain Oscar Gonzalez, a senior who placed second twice and third once last year in the IM's and the 200 breaststroke respectively will not be denied again this year. Co-captain Gerry Forsdick, a senior and school record holder in the 200 butterfly and fourth last year in the 100 butterfly. Sophomore Ron Smith, conference champion last year in the 400 IM. Ron also placed third in the 200 IM and fourth in the 200 backstroke. Sophomore Scott Mefford was conference champion in the 200 backstroke and a member of the winning 800 and 400 freestyle relays last year while being runner-up in the 100 backstroke by 9/1000 of a second and fourth in the 200 IM. Junior Bruce Kelley, conference champion in the 100 breaststroke and a member of the champion 400 freestyle relay, runner-up in the 100 freestyle and fifth in the 200 IM. Sophomore Gil Keene, second and third last season in the 200 and 100 breaststrokes, respectivley, and swam the breast-stroke leg on the champion 400 medley relay. Junior Matt Hayes, runner-up to his brother Mike in the 200 freestyle and scored in the 100 and 500 freestyles and was on the winning 800 freestyle relay. Joining this group will be returning senior Dave Melgaard, fifth in the 100 backstroke last year, sophomore Marshall Macknicki, third int he same event and scored in the 50 freestyle, sophomore Scott Crosson in the diving and junior Charlie Turville in the backstroke and brother Casey Turville in the freestyles. Coming off the injury list from last season are Alfredo Romo, a middle distance freestyler, and Joe Kammerer, a diver, who are looking for their best seasons ever. The new members of the Ute squad have a big gap to fill. Freshman Pat Hayes from Newbury Park, CA. (Yep, you guessed it, brother of Mike and Matt) will head up a strong recruiting year for Utah. Pat is a High School All- America in the 100 and 200 freestyles. Freshman Sean O'Brien from Reno, NV., a High School AH-America in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke. Freshmen Todd Elder and Jim Johnson, both from Fountain Valley, CA. Todd, a High School All-America in the 100 butterfly and 200 and 500 freestyles. Jim, a High School All-America in the 50 and 100 freestyles. Junior College transfer Lawrence (Lolo) Jaffee from Claremont, CA., a JC All-America in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyles. Also joining this group are freshmen Lane Smith from Salt Lake City, sprint butterfly, freestyle and breastroke, Jon Whitehead from Reno in the butterflys, Farrell Stevens from Salt Lake City in the backstrokes and IMs and divers Kurt Warneke and Doug Firth, both from Utah Home pool advantage favors the Utes this year. "We have a long history of winning," points out Coach Reddish. "We hate to lose, and any team that beats us will be in for the fight of their lives. 1981-82 Runnin' Ute Outlook by Bruce Woodbury Young and excited may be the best way to describe the 1981-82 University of Utah Basketball Team. The '81-82 Runnin' Utes will field a team this season that will definitely have the accent on youth. Nine of the 13 squad members will be frehmen or sophomores. One senior and three juniors make up the rest of the team. Only one starter, Pace Mannion, returns from last year's team, which posted a 25-5 record (second mer averaged 4.9 points last season, shooting over 52 percent from the field. Peter Williams (6-7) is the other junior this year. He averaged almost 3.0 points per game last year playing behind Vranes on the front line. Williams showed plenty of potential and should move into his own this season. Sophomores Angelo Robinson and Chris Winans saw plenty of playing time last season and will be counted on best in the school's history). The Utes were the Western Athletic Conference co-champions and made it to the final 16 in the NCAA tournament. Gone are All-America Danny Vranes, Tom Chambers, Karl Bankowski and Scott Martin. Vranes was the fifth player selected in the NBA draft, while Chambers was the eighth player chosen. Bankowski was also drafted. Ute Coach Jerry Pimm, who has posted a 144-5 record in his seven years at Utah, will have seven lettermen returning from last season, along with 6-11 redshirt Crfaig Bell, who lettered two years ago. The 6-7 Mannion heads the list of returning players. The talented junior averaged 6.9 points per game and 3.3 rebounds while passing for 124 assists on the season. The lone senior this season is Craig Hammer. The 6-5 Ham-to help significantly. Robinson averaged 2.5 points from the backcourt and started two games as a freshman. Winans did an excellent job of backing up Chambers on the front line. The 6-8 player averaged 2.0 points and 2.2 rebounds. Sophomore Scott Hill will also challenge his teammates for playing time. Utah had a good year recruiting, picking up six quality athletes. Newcomers are 6-5 George Furgis from Salt Lake City (25 pts. 9 rebounds); 6-8 Ray McAdams from Newark, New Jersey (17 pts. 10 rebs); 6-9 Tim McLaughlin from Irvine,California (19 pts. 9 rebs); 6-9 James Van Ness from Portland, Oregon (17 pts. 10.5 rebs). Also joining the Utah team is 5-10 junior Mike Bernardo, a transfer from Snow College. 1981-82 Lady Ute Outlook by Michael Dunn The only thing better than having a big, aggressive front line is having a big, aggressive front line that is quick and experienced. And that is exactly what the 1981-82 version of the Lady Utes have, despite the graduation of several key seniors after last year's season. And what a season it was! The Lady Utes compiled a 24-9 record that included 13 straight wins during the middle of the season. That winning streak continued into conference play, and the Lady Utes ended up tied with BYU for the conference championship with a 9-1 mark. for highest scoring average and led the team in field goal percentage (.826). Also seeing playing time this year will be small forward Anita Stites. Adding to the punch will be returning redshirt Jan Fronk. The 5-9 sophomore will rejoin the Lady Utes after sitting out last season with an injury. Senior point guard Monica Starrett will be back directing the Utah offensive attack. Monica's quickness gave her 57 stals last year and she finished second in assists with 116. 5-5 senior Dixie Wood is the likely choice to fill the big Alongthe way, they also won the Copper Classic, the symbol of women's basketball supremacy in the State of Utah, for the third time in the last four years. Back commanding the low post position is 6-3 junior Sandy Kovach. Sandy led the team last year in both field goal percentage (.568) and in scoring (13.7). She also grabbed an average of 8.1 rebounds and managed 32 blocked shots during the season. Another tower underneath will be freshman sensation Debbie Asper. At 6-1, Debbie saw a lot of playing time last year. She was third in scoring with an 11.7 average and a 7.0 rebound average. Senior Lisa Stolarcyzk (5-9) will again see action at the small forward position. Lisa tied Sandy Kovach last year guard position in the Utah backcourt. Terry Benham, a 5-6 junior who played her first year at Utah last year after transferring from Washington State, will also be a contender at the guard position. Helping out under the hoop will be Chris Acarregui, a 5-10 junior transfer from Oregon State. Chris, who can also play guard, finished second in scoring during her freshman year. The other transfer is junior Mary Tebbs, who comes to Utah from BYU. While Mary is most at home at the big guard position, Coach Gardner feels that Mary is versatile enough to play the point as well. Back in uniform is 6-0 Leisha Lee, who sat out her frosh year after a pre-season injury. From Ogden comes highly touted Anne Handy, who Coach Gardner considers "one of the most mobile 6-2 players around." CO C o < o o-o .£ o ^ a 0 Q_ C "E D co D o < CO o o Q. z O CO < CO "co o CL t < co C o "D CD co O ao (5 CO Q < o ex. CO CO o Q_ o €J 0 . o . Hmd _na ' i 7 /. .* 0 Dl % $ Navy's Middies toss their hats in the air to celebrate victory over Army. n 1883, the president of Cornell University was informed that some of his students intended to travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the express purpose of playing a strange new game called football. The president, one Andrew White, cancelled the Cornell - Michigan game and uttered the first faculty resistance in sentiments we still hear, from time to time, almost a century later: "I shall not permit 30 men to travel 400 miles," he thundered, ''merely to agitate a bag of wind." He was, of course, fighting a losing battle. For the game, as we all know, has flourished, to the point that on golden autumn Saturdays no one will argue if you suggest that it wasn't Columbus who discovered America but Princeton and Rutgers, back there in 1869 when they gathered at New Brunswick, NJ., solemnly removed their waistcoats and then took turns pummeling one another by Bill Lyon, Philadelphia INQUIRER for possession of an inflated pig bladder. What they introduced then was not just a game but a new word-"rivalry. That, more than anything else, is what makes the college game so unique. Rivalries are what separate the college game from the professional, whether it's for a one-year possession of an Old Oaken Bucket or for bragging rights to a whole state or a city. College football invented sports rivalries and it bristles with them . . . intrastate, cross-town, border, interservice . LSU - Ole Miss., Alabama - Auburn, Michigan - Michigan State, Indiana - Purdue, Pitt - Penn State, Army -Navy, USC - UCLA . . . it is an endless, throbbing list fed by one great truism: Everybody has somebody he likes to see get beat. It is that simple. Almost every rivalry features a side bet involving some sort of tangible evidence of success, ranging from a wooden turtle to a giant steer hide, with the scores branded in. This process, too, got its start from Rutgers - Princeton. The two schools had been fighting over a Revolutionary War cannon for years and they finally decided the best way to deter-mine ownership would be to play football. From that was spawned a hoary succession of Little Brown Jugs. The Little Brown Jug is probably football's most famous objet d'art, but you should know that it started out as neither little nor brown, rather a gray plaster crock, two-and-a-half feet tall, which was filled with fresh spring water sipped by early Michigan teams. Back in 1903, having run up a 29-game winning streak under Coach Fielding Yost, Michigan played Minnesota and was held to a 6-6 tie. Disgraced, the Michigan team fled and left the water crock behind. "Yost left his jug," the Minnesota Swedes chortled. The Gophers said continued It Great Rivalries Michigan would have to win it back, and they have been snarling over it ever since. Rivalries do not need any artificial embellishment, of course, to trigger flaming emotions, the kind that become so fer-vent that nothing else matters except the game. How significant is a college football rivalry? Consider the Texas - Arkansas affair. One year, the pastor of the Fayetteville (Ark.) First Baptist Church, Rev. Andrew Hall, probably put it in perspective when he filled the church message board with this admonition: "Football is only a game. Spiritual things are eternal. Nevertheless . . . BEAT TEXAS!" The original traditional rivalry began back in 1875, by a couple of schools you might have heard of in casual conversation. Yale and Harvard. Even today it is still referred to simply as The Game, That might sound a bit pretentious now, but there was a time when this confrontation settled what was then the national championship. Now it may mean, to the outside world, nothing more than first place in the Ivy League. But to the partisans it is still as meaningful as it was when raccoon coats were the rage. They may not get too worked up about Yale - Harvard down in Baton Rouge or Lubbock or South Bend or Tuscaloosa or Norman, but when The Game approaches, Wall Street gets worked up. Yale, remember, gave us Walter Camp and Amos Alonzo Stagg, not to mention Pudge Heffelfinger and Albie Booth and Larry Kelley, while Harvard was fur-continued nishing Hamilton Fish and Eddie Mahan and a SenatoMo-be named Edward Kennedy, who scored the only Crimson TD in a 1955 defeat. It was Charlie Yeager, the student manager for Yale, who slipped unnoticed onto the field and caught a conversion pass, thereby rousing the ire of Harvardites, who cried foul play. The very next year, however, a Harvard student loosed several greased pigs in the Yale Bowl. during the game . . er, that is, The Game. Neither school is thought of as a football super power today, but to stroll through the leaves on a burnished afternoon in either New Haven or Cambridge, to inhale the color and the atmosphere, the tailgating and the class reunions, is to taste the anticipation that is the core of the appeal of college football rivalries. If Harvard -Yale conjures up visions of cerebral battle, then Texas - Oklahoma strips right down to the nub of raw emotion. Each October the Cotton Bowl is a pandemoniacal sellout, with the bands trying to drown each other out with "The Eyes of Texas" and "Boomer Sooner." The Longhoms and Sooners have been playing since 1900, and the game became the key attraction of the State Fair of Texas in 1915. This assures that upwards of 300,000 people will flood Dallas, and 225,000 of them won't have a ticket for the game. That will not dull their revelry. This is the only known rivalry where newspapers routinely include in all the statistics a boxscore of arrests. (The record is 700, The Little Brown Jug dates back to 1903 and belongs to the victor of the Minnesota- Michigan game. in 1968.) It is said that many oil wells are wagered on the outcome of this game, that Nieman-Marcus makes more sales than during Christmas week, that the streets are more liquid and rowdy than even the French Quarter during Mardi Gras, and that the all-time NCAA record for sales of aspirin was set at the corner of Commerce and Akard Streets. It all began heating up in the late 1940s when Oklahoma won nine out of 10. This was when Bud Wilkinson was coaching five undefeated teams and three national champions, and, disgruntled Longhorn fans grumbled, did it by luring some prime Texas recruits across the Red River. Texas got its revenge under Darrell Royal, who, in the most delicious of ironies, had played for Oklahoma. As the Texas coach, he won 10 of his first 12 from the Sooners. But Oklahoma bounced right back, even to the point of whipping Texas with its own invention- the Wishbone. Up north there is another frothing feud involving Michigan and Ohio State. They started butting heads in 1897 and for a long time it was like two dinosaurs elbow-locked over a tar pit. The two agreed to move the date to the final game of the season in 1935 and what they did was create a whole new second season. Nineteen times this one has decided the Big Ten title and a berth in the Rose Bowl, and it has produced some of the game's real glamour names-Tom Harmon and Forest Evashevski, "Hop-along "Cassady and Archie Griffin, Fritz Crisler and Wayne Woodrow Hayes. They take no prisoners in this series. Whenever one school gets the other down, it stomps. Michigan won 40-0 once and in '46 was up 55-0 and driving for more; stopped on third down at the Buckeye 12, the Wolverines added insult to injury with a field goal. OSU got in its licks, too. One year the Bucks scored with only five seconds to play and went for two, completing a 50 to 20 rout. In 1968, OSU ran it up again, 50-14. So the next year, the week before the rematch, Michigan wore red practice jerseys with "50" stenciled in large numbers across the front as a graphic reminder. Thus inspired, Michigan extracted its revenge, 24-12. Every November they go at it, in either Ann Arbor or in Columbus. It is always brutally cold, occasionally fought in a blizzard, and it is always a sellout. They could play on an ice floe in the middle of the Arctic Ocean and Eskimo ticket scalpers would still make a fortune out of Michigan - Qhio State. Down South, where the Hatfields and the McCoys popularized the whole idea of feuding, there's a boiling rivalry be-continued 3t Great Rivalries continued tween Alabama and Tennessee. On the third Saturday of each October, southern genteelness takes a holiday. The Tide and the Vols began their rivalry in 1901, with 'Bama doing all the early dominating. In one stretch, the Tide hung seven straight shutouts on Tennessee. By 1928, the Vols had had enough. A man named Robert Neyland had come in to coach, Gene McEver returned the opening kickoff a mere 100 yards, Bobby Dodd ran wild and Tennessee carved out a 15-13 upset over the 'Bama team that had won the Rose Bowl the year before. The series was off and bubbling. In 1936, 'Bama was inspired in the game by a player named Paul "Bear" Bryant. He played on a broken leg. In the '50s, Tennessee won seven, tied two against Bama, and then the Tide brought in Bryant to coach. He brought along some quarterbacks named Steve Sloan and Joe Namath and "Snake" Stabler. . .and, yes, Stabler still remembers one of those games. He threw away a pass to stop the clock. Except it was on fourth down. The Vols got out of a tie and used that as a springboard to beat the Bear and 'Bama four straight. To this day, Bear Bryant says that in evaluating recruits he judges them on the basis of whether he'd want then) out there in the fourth quarter against Tennessee. If Alabama-Tennessee reminds you of flamethrowers down among the magnolias, then Notre Dame - Southern Cal is the personification of Hollywood, the real Golden Dome against the Silver Screen-Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen, Anthony Davis and O. J. Simpson, Paul Hornung and Mike Garrett, national championships hanging in the balance, stirring comebacks and memorable upsets. "It's the greatest rivalry in the country," says Jack Snow who caught more than his share of passes for the Irish. "They are always messing each other up. As sure as one is going for the national championship, the other will gum up the works. It's one of those games where a three-touchdown lead doesn't mean a thing." (Remember '72, when Anthony Davis returned the second half kickoff for a TD and USC rallied behind his six scores to turn a lopsided loss into a rousing romp?) In 1935, with the game at South Bend, the beach boys from the West Coast stood shivering in 18-degree weather. Across the field, Notre Dame was bundled in blankets. The Irish band played the Ave Maria in memory of Knute Rockne. Played it clear through, twice. Thoroughly numbed by now, USC fumbled the kickoff at its own three. It is said the band was voted a game ball by the Notre Dame squad. The traditional rivalry between Yale and Harvard, known today as simply "The Game," began back in 1875. "This game always reminds me of the poker player who has won all the money, cashed his chips and is ready to walk out when somebody challenges him to a showdown, all or nothing," said John McKay, who coached USC during a storied portion of the Notre Dame rivalry. Historians uncovered, following World War II, a secret message sent by Japanese intelligence in the U.S. to Tokyo. It talked about this strange autumnal ritual in America called football. "This is a strange thing which stirs the Americans," the report said. "They are not to be taken lightly in the autumn." Which is as good a way as any to get around to what once was the most famous rivalry in all the sports world. Army - Navy. Its appeal transcends provincial rooting interests. It is a spectacle with true national flavor. Even global. Admirals and generals, fox hole diggers and deck swabbers, cock an ear to the Armed Forces Network broadcast. Indeed, in 1944, when Army put the wraps on an undefeated season with a victory over Navy, this telegram was sent: "THE GREATEST OF ALL ARMY TEAMS. STOP. WE HAVE STOPPED THE WAR TO CELEBRATE YOUR MAGNIFICENT SUCCESS. STOP' It was signed, simply, MacArthur. The rivalry no longer draws 110,000 to JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Last year, it was shifted to Veterans Stadium, just a couple of blocks away, because the crowd had dwindled away to "only" 75,000 or so. Neither the Cadets nor the Middies have been gunning for No. 1 in recent years, but this does not detract in the least from the zeal with which they confront one another. It began in 1890, a grudge match originated by a West Point cadet named Dennis Michie, for whom Army's stadium is named, and was played on a parade ground. Navy won, 24-0, and returned home with a goat it had found on the road there. The Middies named the goat Bill and officially adopted him as their mascot. They've gone through a couple of dozen Bills by now . . . and Army has kidnapped just about every one at some time or other. Army -Navy took almost no time to heat up. In 1893, President Grover Cleveland stopped the game for a period of five years because a brigadier general and a rear admiral got into such a ferocious argument afterwards that they challenged each other to a duel. To this day, it remains the only game which has been televised every year since the tube began. It has been a rivalry brimming with pranks and pomp, and it too has given us big names-Davis and Blanchard, the Lonesome End, Bellino and Staubach . . and the imposing vista of the Long Gray Line, marching in precision, and a cloud of white naval hats sprayed across the sky . . . "I've been in all-star games, playoffs, Super Bowls," reflected Roger Staubach, "but I've never been as caught up in drama as when I was privileged to be a part of Army - Navy. It's what college football is all about. . .a great rivalry." ••• 4t JOHN HEISMAN FOOTBALL'S GREAT INNOVATOR * , « * . * . » • f, x,$. _*. . . * . *» a » f * . _ f - . . v * " • ». -X' „ • * . i l l • he worth of the Heisman Trophy, annually awarded to the best college football player in the nation, is so well established that no testimonials are necessary. Millions of words are penned about all the Heisman hopefuls, but it would be a safe bet that few will be written about John William Heisman, the man for whom the Trophy was named. This slight is unfortunate, because Mr. Heisman is definitely a football figure worthy of far more public recognition than he has received. In his book, Football's Greatest Coaches, Edwin Pope claims that "Heisman ranked only behind Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner and Walter Camp as a contributor to the game we know today." Heisman's football career began at Brown University in 1887. For three years, through 1889, Heisman anchored the Brown line as a 158-lb. center, living in dread of being buried by 220-lb. linemen. Despite his size, football must have agreed with the gutsy Hqisman because he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania where he closed out his playing days with two years (1890-91) on the Quaker forward wall as a tackle, center and end. Heisman thus became one of the first men to receive letters from two colleges, a not uncommon practice in later years. J.W. eventually did take the first steps toward gainful employment when he entered law school, but the lure of the pigskin was overwhelming and in 1892 he returned to his native Ohio to assume the head coaching responsibilities at Oberlin College. Only 23, Heisman had the benefit of the best Ivy League tutelage (although the Ivy League wasn't officially formed until 1954). Heisman had learned well; in his first year he guided Oberlin's Yeomen to a perfect record. For the next two seasons "Old John W." coached at Buchtel now Akron) and then back to Oberlin. His off seasons were occupied with Shakespearean acting and he enjoyed using his flair for exaggerated stage English during his chalkboard sessions. On the opening day of fall practice, for instance, he would hold up a football and describe it as "a prolate spheroid-that is, an elongated sphere-in which the outer leathern casing is drawn tightly over a somewhat smaller rubber tubing," adding "better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football." In 1895 Heisman planted his roots in the South, accepting the head coach job at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn. Winning 13 and losing only three games in his five years at A.P.I., Heisman moved on to Clemson in 1900. He coached four seasons for the Tigers, once again losing only three while accumulating 20 victories, including two drubbings of Georgia Tech, 44-5 and 73-0. The humiliation for the Yellowjackets was too much and for an increase of $50 over his Clemson salary the Engineers had Heisman as their first paid football coach. Following the 1919 season Heisman returned to the Red and Blue of Pennsylvania for three seasons and then went to Washington and Jefferson for only the 1923 campaign. Heisman couldn't recapture the glory of his early years and his last job as an active coach was at Rice Institute, where J.W. completed only three years of a five-year contract. At the age of 60, in 1927, J.W Heisman finished his career as an active coach. Thirty-five years of head coaching should alone qualify Heisman for football immortality, but in those years, mostly the early ones, his accomplishments abound with innovations now considered an integral part of the game. A few of the Heisman introductions to football include: • The center snap. Prior to Heisman the ball was rolled from the center to the quarterback. • The scoreboard listing downs, yardage and other pertinent points. • The "hike" or "hep" vocal signals for starting play. • Interference on end runs. • Putting the quarterback at safety on defense rather than lining the team on defense exactly as they were on offense, which pitted the quarterback against much heavier opposition. continued on 14f n Nov. 1 last fall, on a bright, windless day in Fort Collins, Colo., University of YAtyoming punter Jack Weil executed seven punts. They traveled 61, 51, 58, 45, 52, 63 and 59 yards. Colorado State, Wyoming's opponent that day, got the ball following Weil's kicks on its 20, 25, 17, 8, 4, 12 and 10 yard lines. As a result, Colorado State was forced to punt from its 15, 32, 28,13 and 32 yard lines. Weil was responsible not only for a Western Athletic Conference single-game punting record (with an average of 55.6 yards for his seven kicks), but also for giving Wyoming a dramatic edge in field position for the game. by Mike Monroe, Denver POST So what was the outcome? Colorado State 28, Wyoming 25, of course. Special teams, you see, mean field position. They don't always mean a victory. "All things being equal," just about any football coach in America will tell you, "the kicking game wins every fourth game." All things, of course, aren't always equal. They are often enough, however, that the play of special teams-the punting, punt return, punt coverage, kickoff, kick-off return and field goal units-receive far more attention from coaches today than they did a few decades back. One head coach takes direct responsibility for his team's special teams. "A head coach's most important job is to hire good assistants" he says. "But I still coach the special teams. It's one of the most important jobs on any coaching staff." The same coach goes farther than the consensus in assigning game importance to the special teams. "In an average 11-game schedule," he says, "at least two games are won or lost by the kicking game-strictly the kicking game." The importance of the kickoff must continued * * * • &i Special Teams not be overlooked in discussing the significance of special teams relative to all-important field position. The opening kickoff of each half of a game can go a long way in determining field position for the two teams for the entire half. "If the opponent has to start at his 20," says a coach, "and if you can then keep him from making two consecutive first downs, your team is going to gain field position. If, on the other hand, the opponent returns the opening kickoff to the 30, and then makes just one first down, you have lost field position, maybe for the whole half. "What you are able to do offensively is, in large part, determined by your field position. That's what makes that opening kickoff so important, and that's one of the reasons you will often see a team that wins the (coin) toss elect to kick off and take the wind if the wind is a factor." Special team players have to be, well . . . special. "They have to be a different breed of cat," says one coach. "We don't permit the faint of heart to be on the Special teams. Special team players must be able to run, dish out a hit and take a good hit. They must be fearless." The college rules makers have taken notice of the play of special teams, and have played a part in at least one trend that has shown up statistically in recent years. By outlawing blocking below the waist and tightening up the rules governing roughing the kicker, they have made long punt returns go the way of the dinosaur. While they may riot yet be extinct, they are certainly rare. Of course, the improvement among college punters and the emergence of a number of punters who are able to get good height- "hang time"-haS also cut down on long punt runbacks. Punt returns, on the average, have dropped by almost three yards in the past 20 years. While this may sound insignificant, it is nonetheless important and primarily is a reflection that fewer and fewer punts are being taken back all the way. • "With the rule changed to outlaw blocking below the waist, some of the fear has been taken out of being on a punt coverage team," says one coach. "In the past, the guys going down to cover the kick had to be aware of the blockers because of the risk of injury to a man going full blast downfield. "Now, they can 'let it all hang out' going down to get to the (punt) receiver. "Just about the only time you're ever going to see a punt returned all the way, or a long way, is when the punter 'out-kicks' his coverage. Of course, some of these guys do that on a regular basis continued continued g B_» ' V ft / Jr. '*,:•' k k i W i J .«*- "~V; J ';j5L / 4t The opening kickoff can often determine field position for the two teams for the entire half. l i t Special Teams continued nowadays. It's really only the extremely long, low kick that will get returned." The rules makers also outlawed three years ago a nifty little device used on rare occasions by a very few coaches. Until 1978, a field goal that was kicked out of bounds was placed in play at the point the ball went out of bounds. Some coaches used their field goal kickers as "coffin corner punters." That rule changed, however, at the same time the rule changed concerning the placing of the ball following missed field goals that came outside the 20. "Field goal kickers ought to be more accurate than punters," says one coach who often used his kicker in the aforementioned manner. "I found they could kick the ball out of bounds from long distance better than most punters, and the other team often was unaware of what we were doing." Who are the most important players on the special teams? On the punting team, they are obviously the snapper and the punter. Long snapping is a football art form, one that is practiced often by players who otherwise might never have an opportunity to play college ball "I remember one year when we lost our season opener because of two bad snaps from center on punts," a coach recalls. "The following Monday, I tried just about every player on the team to find a long snapper. I didn't have a single one. I put the word out on campus that anyone who had ever been a long snapper in high school could try out the next day. We found one, and he made every road trip. That's all he did all season. But a team cannot live without a good long snapper. If I didn't have one, I'd use one of my 30 scholarships to find one, even if he was 140 pounds." Not surprisingly, the punter himself is regarded as the next-most-valuable player on the punt team. But linemen protecting the punter are considered more valuable than the speed-merchant specialists who fly downfield to cover the kick. The punting teams are regarded as the most important of the special teams, since teams usually punt more often than they kick off or attempt field goals. "If you figure you are going to punt six to eight times per game," one coach figures, "then you are probably going to use that play' more often than most single plays your offense runs. It's certainly worth giving one of your most frequently used plays an adequate amount of time in practice." But how can special teams actually be responsible for the outcome of a game? How can they enable a poorer team to defeat one with better overall personnel? "No matter how poor a team's offense is,' explains one college coach, "if it can somehow get to the opponent's 25- or 30-yard line, and if it has an adequate field goal kicker, it's got a chance to score. Field position alone can enable a team to do that. "Look at it this way. If a team has a solid defense, but a poor offense, and has a great punter and excellent punt coverage, it can control field position throughout a game. "Sooner or later, it is going to start a possession near midfield, and then it needs only to string together a couple of first downs to have a shot at a field goal. Have you ever seen a game won by a 3-0 score? Sure you have. Nine times out of ten, that field goal has come about after a game-long battle of field position. And it was the punting that determined the outcome of that battle." Of course, don't forget the admonition that special teams and field position can win games all things being equal." On that November afternoon in Colorado last fall, when Weil and Wyoming had the better of the special team's play and field position, it was Colorado State quarterback Steve Fairchild who provided the inequality. He completed 28 of 35 passes for 406 yards and three touchdowns. Which just goes to prove that the best field position of all is in the opponent's end zone. >•' The punting units are regarded as the most important of the special teams because they usually see more action during a game. ' ^ W * <*<"L*'%. "Snerdley appears to be a step or two behind in the pursuit of excellence? .re on the ball. They're the very independent men and women who don't really work for nan's Rind or any other insurance company. Thev pick and choose from all the companies they represent Sometimes they pick Fireman's FUnd. Sometimes they don't But whoever they choose, they do it for just one reason: lb provide you the very best insurance for the veiv best price. If it happens to be ours, that's even better. Fireman's FUnd Insurance Companies. Home Office San F ^ Heisman continued from 6t In addition, he led the fight to divide the game into quarters rather than halves and he pioneered with such formations as the Heisman shift and the hidden ball play (in which his quarterback at Tech actually stuffed the ball under his jersey to deceive the opposition). Heisman reached his coaching zenith at Tech, with undefeated teams in 1915 and 1916, although each tied once, and a perfect 9-0 mark in 1917. Under Heisman the Golden Tornados authored the worst mauling ever on a gridiron, drowning little Cumberland College of Lebanon, Tenn. 220-0! Lest that sound inhuman and merciless, understand that the game was shortened to only 50 minutes. Little Cumberland might have been an unusually weak victim that October day in 1916, but from 1914 Heisman's teams won four straight southern championships. Heisman's greatest achievement, how- Heisman received football letters from two colleges. ever, was becoming "the father of the forward pass." He didn't throw the first pass, but he certainly saw one of its early flights in 1895. Heisman had long been fighting against such overwhelming power plays as the flying wedge, and when he saw the pass he realized that here was the answer to those formations) which he felt the human frame couldn't withstand. Heisman became the staunchest supporter for legalizing the forward pass long before its acceptance in 1906. Staying away from athletics was impossible for Heisman, and upon leaving Rice he became one of the organizers and the first athletic director of the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City. The Heisman Trophy is sponsored by the Downtown Athletic Club and given in John W.'s memory. On Oct. 3, 1936 John W. Heisman died of bronchopneumonia at the age of 66. <•• Year 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 HEISMAN MEMORIAL TROPHY WINNERS Player, College, Pos. Jay Berwanger, Chicago, HB Larry Kelley, Yale, E Clint Frank, Yale, HB Davey O'Brien, TCU, QB Nile Kinnick, Iowa, HB Tom Harmon, Michigan, HB Bruce Smith, Minnesota, HB Frank Sinkwich, Georgia, HB Angelo Bertelli, Notre Dame, QB Les Horvath, Ohio State, QB Doc Blanchard, Army, FB Glenn Davis, Army, HB John Lujack, Notre Dame, QB Doak Walker, SMU, HB Leon Hart, Notre Dame, E Vic Janowicz, Ohio State, HB Dick Kazmaier, Princeton, HB Billy Vessels, Oklahoma, HB John Lattner, Notre Dame, HB Alan Ameche, Wisconsin, FB Howard Cassady, Ohio State, HB Paul Hornung, Notre Dame, QB John Crow, Texas A&M, HB Year 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 Player, College, Pos. Pete Dawkins, Army, HB Billy Cannon, LSU, HB Joe Bellino, Navy, HB Ernie Davis, Syracuse, HB Terry Baker, Oregon St., QB Roger Staubach, Navy, QB John Huarte, Notre Dame, QB Mike Garrett, Southern Cal, HB Steve Spurrier, Florida, QB Gary Beban, UCLA, QB O. J. Simpson, Southern Cal, HB Steve Owens, Oklahoma, HB Jim Plunkett, Stanford, QB Pat Sullivan, Auburn, QB Johnny Rodgers, Nebraska, FL John Cappelletti, Penn State, HB Archie Griffin, Ohio State, HB Archie Griffin, Ohio State, HB Tony Dorsett, Pittsburgh, HB Earl Campbell, Texas, HB Billy Sims, Oklahoma, HB Charles White, Southern Cal, TB George Rogers, South Carolina, RB 14t by Dave Dorr, St. Louis POST-DISPATCH Alabama-Birmingham of the 329 different coaches who have piloted their teams to the 43 NCAA tournaments, none got there quicker from point zero than did Gene Bartow with his UAB Blazers. That's not to say Bartow is an overnight sensation. He had been to the NCAAs before with Memphis State 11973) and UCLA (1976 and 1977). His reputation as a program-builder crystallized when, in UAB's fourth season, the 23-9 Blazers stunned Kentucky and then scared Indiana in the Mideast Regional. He's O-for-5 vs. Bobby Knight, but that'll change. What has remained constant through it all is Bartow: He still likes his steaks well done, still doesn't smoke or drink, still doesn't swear. The Kentucky win put the Blazers on a pedestal, though it was a struggle. A tough schedule, a deep bench, muscle up front (6-10 Anchrum, 6-8 Chris Giles, 6-6 Craig Lane, 6-8 Donnie Speer) and a dazzler at guard, Oliver Robinson, will prepare hungry UAB for another rush toward the NCAAs and the high drama that goes with it. This time, as fate has it, the Mideast Regional will be at Birmingham. Southern home-cooking can't hurt Bartow's chances of becoming the first coach to take teams from three schools to the Final Four. C o n n e c t i c u t Cornelius Thompson, a 6-8 inside player blessed with multiple skills, is so good that they'd designate him a state treasure if it was possible. Interest in basketball is, in fact, on a par with oil prices in Connecticut. "It's not unusual," said one observer, "to see the front of the sports pages read, 'Huskies Win; Super Bowl Today Thompson (call him Corny) led his high school team in Middletown, Conn., to 76 successive wins, then signed to attend UConn in the midst of a raging blizzard. It didn't chill the program. Mike McKay followed, 6-11 Chuck Aleksinas transferred from Kentucky and UConn was off to the races. Corny, the hub of the club, is a household word in this state. A private person who prefers not to dunk, he is definitely a force. UConn is 61-26 in the three seasons he's been in the lineup. When his buzzer shot beat St. John's last season, 14,587 spectators at the Hartford Civic Center went berserk. There could be more of the same kind of jubilation if guards Karl Hobbs and Vern Giscombe continued (top) Terry Cummings, DePaul (bottom left) Eric Floyd, Georgetown (bottom right) Randy Wittman, Indiana Cap Off Your Tailgate EST. RETAIL VALU $6.50 COLLEGE SPORT CAR OFFER ® Order your Sport Cap with choice of college emblem from the list below. • High-shaped smooth front with nylon mesh for comfortable fit • Adjustable, allowing for proper headsize • Perspiration-absorbent, colorfast "V-8" Cocktail Vegetable Juice.a delicious, healthful way to cap off your tailgate party.or "V-8" Spicy-Hot Vegetable Juice with a special spicy sizzle that puts more spirit in the spirits. Here's how to order your College Sport Cap: For each cap ordered send $3.25 (check or money order) and two labels from any size "V-8" Cocktail Vegetable Juice or "V-8" Spicy-Hot Vegetable Juice (Wisconsin residents send $3.25 and label facsimile only) along with your name, address and zip code to: "V-8 COLLEGE CAP P.O. Box 9720, Clinton, IA 52736 Offer expires 3/31/82, or while supplies last. Please allow 8 weeks for delivery Offer good only In U S A Void where taxed, restricted or prohibited by law. Wisconsin residents send facsimiles plus money required Do not mall to Campbell Soup Company, Camden NJ08101 D Alabama • Air Force D Arizona D Arizona State • Arkansas • Army D Boston College D B.Y.U. D California D Cincinnati D Colorado State n Delaware DDuke : Florida State D Georgia D Georgia Tech D Harvard D Idaho PLEASE CHECK COLLEGE(S) DESIRED D Idaho State D Illinois l i Indiana D Iowa D Iowa State D Kansas State l i Kentucky DL.S.U. D Maryland D Memphis State D Miami D Michigan D Michigan State D Minnesota D Mississippi State D Missouri D Navy D Nebraska D New Mexico State D North Carolina D Northwestern D Notre Dame D Ohio State D Oklahoma D Oregon D Oregon State DPenn D Penn State • Pittsburgh • Princeton • Purdue D Rice D Rutgers D Slippery Rock D Stanford D Syracuse • T.C.U. D Temple D Tennessee D Texas D Texas A&M Tulane • U.C.LA. a u.s.c. D Utah D Utah State D Vanderbilt D Virginia D Wake Forest D Washington D Washington State D Wisconsin • Yale BASKETBALL continued ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dave Dorr has been a sportswriter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch lor 15 years, covering basketball, football, track and field and golf. A 1962 graduate of the University of Missouri, he served as president of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association in 1979-80. Dorr has won numerous writing awards from different organizations and is the author of the nonfiction book, Running Back. get the ball to Corny so he can keep UConn close in the Big East title chase that surely will be frenetic again. D c P a u l A lot of folks feel certain that Ray Meyer, a gentle panda of a man who has been coaching this Catholic school on the north side of town for 39 years, will find the peace he has been yearning for and it will come because his best player, Mark Aguirre, a young man of many moods, elected to leave as a junior Oliver Robinson, Alabama-Birmingham for the NBA. The chunky Aguirre, a.k.a. the Muffin Man, he of the wonderful moves, was so dichotomous that he wore Meyer's psyche to a frazzle. Aguirre led the Blue Demons from oblivion to the Final Four in 1979. And then, in 1980 and 1981, they were ambushed in the first round of the NCAAs. These are no pa-looks that the legendary Meyer will trot out anew-not Terry Cummings and Teddy Grubbs and Bernard Randolph up front with quicksilver Skip Dillard in the backcourt. The newcomers should help mightily, especially 6-9 frosh Walter Downing, a Chicagoan who did an about-face in one day's time, leaving Marquette in the lurch and choosing instead DePaul, and 6-1 Raymond McCoy, a transfer from San Francisco who is home again. If perplexing DePaul will play as a t-e-a-m, the winter nights won't be so long and Ray Meyer will smile once more. G e o r g i a Because Dominique Wil-kins did not bolt to the NBA, the Bulldogs will be in the scrap for the Southeastern Conference championship and, maybe, much more. Had Wilkins, an explosive player of astounding abilities, bitten at a Dominique Wilkins, Georgia $1.2 million package offered by the Detroit Pistons, Georgia would have been left in disarray. Now, Codch Hugh Durham has a hatful of talent, including starters Wilkins, 6-8 TelTy Fair, James Banks and Vern Fleming, both 6-6, and 6-1 leaper Eric Marbury. The 6-7 Wilkins is the SEC's premier player. He led the league in scoring (23.6), getting the green light from Durham. Wilkins launched 582 shots, 200 more than anyone else in the SEC. The Dogs of Dunk were 19-12, finished fifth in the SEC's regular-season race and got to the NIT. "We were thinking tournament," said Durham. "Next it would be the NCAA and if Wilkins (a junior) doesn't apply for hardship in the fourth year, we could make a run at it." With Dominique shouldering the load, Georgia might make the mountaintop one year early. G e o r g e t o w n All-America guard Eric (Sleepy) Floyd might wake up to find he's the king of the hill, the top of the heap. Indeed, all eyes will be focused on the Hoyas, a team that Mike Frazier, the lone departing senior, said would be "the Beast of the East." His warning was not bravado. The Hoyas return every starter and had a sensational recruiting campaign, grabbing 7-0 Pat Ewing, 6-7 William Martin and 6-6 Anthony Jones. Ewing, who has unlimited potential, was the nation's most celebrated high school player. He'll step in at center with any combination of 6-9 Ed Spriggs, 6-5 Eric Smith, 6-7 Mike Hancock, 6-7 Jeff Bullis, Martin and Jones. Floyd's running mate is Downtown Freddie Brown, Rookie of the Year in the burgeoning Big East, a league that is getting so good so fast it'll knock your socks off. In the face of cer-tain unparalleled pressure on Ewing, Hoyas' Coach John Thompson says, "I haven't let myself think about the season as much as some say I should." Give him time. His union with shotblocker Ewing completed, he'll like what he sees of his beasties. Guarantee it. I n d i a n a Asked if Coach Bobby Knight madie him a better person in his two years at IU, Isiah Thomas said, "I thought I was an OK guy when I first got here," a glistening smile crossing that cherubic face of his. The smile never disappeared, nbt even while he was being tugged at from every direction in a dressing room that was swelled with people following IU's 63-50 victory over North Carolina in the NCAA championship game at Philly. In two magnificent years at IU, Isiah had a lot to be happy about. His presence brought two Big Ten tides for IU and a gold medal for the U.S. in the Pan American Games. He was the play-maker on the U.S. Olympic team and now he has taken his wondrous act to the NBA. His departure leaves the Hoosiers more vulnerable than they were, but not by much. IU will storrii the Big Teh again with three returning starters, Landon Turner, Ted Kitchel and Randy Wittman, and another "Thomas, this ^one Jim by name. Though hot related to Isian he played like him as IU ripped its five tournament foes by an average margin of 22.6 points. Look for 6-10 newcomer John,Flowers, a remarkable athlete, to play a lot. He'll bloom in Jate February, just about the time Knight's teams begin turning it on. I o w a From the Fabulous Few of the Final Four in 1980, Iowa's cup runneth over again with players and an erti-b. ellished tradition that is propelling the Hawks onward in the land of the brawny Big Ten. Coach Lute Olson continues to recruit nationwide, enticing 6-2 Todd Berkenpas, 6-10 Greg Stokes, 6-10 Michael Payne and 6-9 Jerry Dennard, a junior college standout. The Hawks won seven of nine games on an early-summer tour of South America, a trip that firmly fixed the positions of Kenny (Iceman) Arnold at the point, 6-6 Kevin Boyle, a gamer, and 6-5 Bob Hansen. Still to be replaced are the Twin Towers, 6-10 Steve Krafcisin and 6-10 Steve Waite. If Olson wants a big lineup he can use either Stokes, Payne, Dennard, redshirt Mike Heller or Mark Gannon, whose career has been slowed by a bum knee. To add quicks to the lineup Olson can call oh 6-2 Steve Carfino or 6-2 Dennis Johnson. Iowa was derailed en route to the Final Four last season when Olson erred, calling an illegal timeout that gift-wrapped a continued 19t BASIRITBALL continued win for Wichita State. That bitter pill might make Iowa stronger. If so, it'll be seashells and balloons for the Hawks. K a n s a s S t a t e What you see isn't always what you get. Ask those teams that underestimated Kansas State last season and, splat, went to the sidelines. From the day that he introduced his guard, Walt Frazier, to the world, Jack Hartman has been placed up there among the sharpest coaching minds of the sport. Be that as it may, Hartman gets miffed when his Cats, landlocked in the Midwest, are not accorded the recognition he thinks they should be. "We can play out here, too, you know," he says. Yes they can, and they did, these Cats who are purple puppets on a string. They move as one, frustrating and wearing down one opponent after another. Favored San Francisco, Oregon State and Illinois tripped over the string in the NCAAs. The K-Staters aren't the sleek gazelles you associate with powerhouse hoop teams. Ed Nealy, at 235 pounds, has a vertical jump of, it seems, 10 inches. Randy Reed, at 6-7, is the tallest player. Forget it. Tyrone Adams, Tim Jan-kovich and Brazilian Eduardo Galvao are unselfish, disciplined and if you dare laugh, they'll burn you. These five, even without graduated Olympian Rolando Blackman, will make the Cats formidable again. A summer tour of Japan polished their game. K e n t u c k y The word was out on Kenny Arnold, Iowa Randy Reed, Kansas State UK long before the first center tap of last season. Weeks of intense weight-lifting had built the Wildcats into a muscle machine that appeared capable of bulldozing anyone that got in its path. The Cats did that, ripping Ohio State, Indiana and Kansas in that order and then a most curious thing happened. The machine began to wheeze and clank. The players were doubting themselves and seemed puzzled as to what their roles were to be. Coach Joe B. Hall experimented and prodded, switching his players around while he sought to establish definition and consistency. UK was bounced out of the NCAAs by upstart UAB, but Hall is certain his young Cats have grown up. Another experiment could move Mount Melvin Turpin, a 7-footer, into the pivot with 7-1 Olympian Sam Bowie and 6-6 Derrick Hord at the wings. Dirk Minniefield, a 6-3 guard, was the 'Cats' spiritual leader, capable of playing the point when 6-4 Jim Master, the Kentucky Rifle, was on the floor, or taking over at shooting guard when 5-11 Dicky Beal was at the point. Those six return and have been told by Hall: Strength is believing in yourselves. L o u i s v i l l e A desultory beginning to a season that was expected to be another ho-hum mop-up for the Cardinals put everybody in shock. A 2-7 getaway during which the Cards lost at Oklahoma State on a last-second heave from half-court and shot 33 percent against Minnesota was the worst start ever for a defending NCAA champion. Through it all, Coach Denny Crum kept his composure. "I never got down on them, never bad-mouthed them or screamed much at them," said Crum, who turned finally to a pair of freshmen, 6-8 Charles Jones and 6-3 Lancaster (Flash) Gordon. They glued the pieces together and the Cards took off, winning 19 of 20 games and preserving a tenth straight 20-win season and a Metro title for Crum. Alas, it ended as it began. Arkansas guard U.S. Reed ousted Louisville on a 49-foot bomb in the Midwest Regional. Happily, the deck is stacked again for the Cards, who'll have Jones, Gordon and three other starters back-Jerry Eaves, Olympian Rodney McCray, a 59 percent shooter, and Derek Smith. Add the Pine Boys- four reserves-and dynamite newcomers 6-7 Manuel Forrest and 6-5 guard Milt Wagner and it's not likely the Cards will fall apart again. They went from chumps to champs. M i n n e s o t a The way Jim Dutcher figures, his Gophers could win the NCAAs this season if only he could work out a slight change in the rules, that being the elimination of overtime games. No wonder. Minesota lost four Big Ten games last season in OT or double OT and three of them were at home, of all places. Reverse those OT defeats in a season of exasperation and the Gophers would have been playing in the NCAAs, not the NIT. As it was, Minnesota made a second straight trip to the NIT (having lost to Virginia in the 1980 championship game) and got to the quarterfinals. Minnesota could wrap up games early this season with a diverse collection of talent that includes the return of its top eight players. The cornerstone of this promising crew is 7-2 Randy (Brew) Breuer, an imposing 9-6 with his arms outstretched on defense. Then there are 6-5 Darryl (Top Cat) Mitchell and 6-5 swingman Trent Tucker, seniors who are survivors of a Gopher freshman class that was considered the nation's best, and 6-2 Mark Hall, a 61 percent shooter last season. Breuer says his size is a hindrance only when he encounters low ceilings. "I wor-ry about the roof falling in on me," he says, sounding like Chicken Little. Breuer can rest easy. That won't be happening to the Gophers. Nevada-Las Vtegas it couldn't have been any worse if Frank Sinatra had gotten a frog in his throat at Caesars Palace. UNLV's Jerrv Tarkanian, America's winningest active (in terms of win/loss percentage, .810) coach, shaved his head and failed, for the first time in 13 seasons, to win 20 games. He set a record for towels chewed, one season. The Runnin' Rebels could regain their upbeat tempo if Tark's newcomers contribute, and they should. He has his top six regulars back, including southpaw shooter Larry Anderson and 6-9 rebounder Sidney Green. He can play. El Sid averaged 10.9 boards with a high of 23. UNLV's newcomers number four juco transfers among them. The bright lights could be 6-9 intimidator Richie Adams, who rejected an average of 10 shots in 31 games last season, 6-2 Danny Tarkanian, the coach's son, continued 20t "Clothing by Higgins . .it has to be good." rui muie uuunuuuuntuu toll free 1-80O-633-2422. in "abamacall 1-800-762-2496 or write Higgins Company, Lineville, Alabama 36266. continued Charles Jones, Louisville and 6-5 Dwayne Polee, a prep blue-chipper from Los Angeles. Little Tark was a Nevada high school all-stater in hoops shooting lefthanded and an all-stater in football passing righthanded. They might have to reijame Tark's Shark Tank, UNLV's home floor, Po-Lee Pavilion before Dwayne's promising career is over. There is one more reason for optimism: Big Tark is letting his hair grow. Bald was not better. North Carolina AI wood was speaking of Slammin' Sam Perkins, a spidery 6-9 center. "When he gets the ball down in there he knows what to do with it," said Wood. Does he. Like, float into the lane, take the pass, double-pump and JAM! Perkins' 42-inch wingspan gave him the appearance of a Boeing 747 on defense. He was the finest freshman in the land last season. He scored more points and grabbed more rebounds than any freshman in Tar Heel history, an achievement worth noting when placed alongside the prestigious talent that had preceded him at Chapel Hill. Perkins, Wood and James Worthy formed a devastating frontline, taking the Four Corner Heels to the Final Four for the sixth time in Coach Dean Smith's storied career. Wood's 39 points, an NCAA tournament semifinal record, and the manner in which Perkins blunted Ralph Sampson in the 'Heels' semis win over Virginia won't be forgotten, but what the 'Heel loyalists want more than anything is a Quintin Dailey, USF national championship for Smith and Carolina blue skies forever. He has been a runnerup twice, he has won 436 games at the collegiate level and he coached the U.S. to the gold medal at the 1976 Olympic Games. He's done it all but win an NCAA title. Worthy, Perkins, Matt Doherty and guards Jimmy Black and Jim Brad-dock and a superb group of recruits (6-5 Mike Jordan is the best) could help Smith unload that burden in 1981-82. S a n F r a n c i s c o In his first season as the head man at the Hilltop, Pete Barry saw to it that his Dons made the NCAAs, thereby erasing the agony of a 1980 season wracked by probation and giving credence to the Barry Byword: Don't look back unless you're going in that direction. Hey, with the great Quintin Dailey, 7-0 Wallace Bryant, John Heg-wood, Ken McAlister and 6-8 freshman John Martens available, it's a one-way street the Dons are traveling and who knows how far they will go? Dailey will determine that. A 6-3 junior, the Q is one of the very best guards in the land. His stats raise eyebrows. Try a 22.4-point average, 5.5 on the boards, 93 assists, 59 steals and six blocks last season. He shot 57 percent. He is fulfilling a vow to finish college; he made that promise to his pap-ents, both of whom he tragically lost to cancer when he was a 15-year-old high school freshman. One of those who has befriended him is Reggie Jackson. Like continued 22t BASKETBALL Reggie, the Q is the straw that stirs the drink. Bryant, unusually mobile for his size, anchors the frontline. Look for a sixth straight WCAC championship here and another 20-win season, the Dons' seventh in a row. T u l s a The extraordinary turnabout at Tulsa was a basketball bonanza, a transformation that whisked the Hurricane from 8-19 nobodies of the previous season to 26-7 champions of the NIT. It was executed with a new coach, a bunch of junior college transfers who could play and it was unprecedented. No team has ever, in one giant step, leapfrogged from a losing season to the NIT title. Nolan Richardso
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