Page 10
THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1973
WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 21, 1973
Trainers and Managers Play Mom to Aggie Athletes
By MARY RUSSO
“We’re a lot like the football
players’ mothers,” said Mike De-
Witt, senior manager for the
Aggies.
'fvpfnamba
Eddie Dominguez ’66
Joe Arciniega ’74'
If you want the real
thing, not frozen or
canned .. . We call It
"Mexican Food
Supreme."
Two Dallas locations:
3071 Northwest Hwy.
352-8570
2131 Ft. Worth Ave.
.946-0645
The managers and trainers are
the men behind the scenes who
comfort the players and look
after their equipment, their in
juries and occasionally their
morale.
Managers basically take care
of the equipment, spot balls and
“make sure Coach Bellard doesn’t
have anything to gripe about.”
Trainers care for the players’
bodily needs. “We tape ankles,
pass out salt and vitamin tablets,
and work under Dr. Henry Mc-
Quaide,” senior trainer A1 Cooper
said.
“These students are usually
high school athletes who want to
stay close to the sport,” said Billy
Pickard, supervisor of all the stu
dent trainers and managers.
There are 16 positions held by
the students which means there
are four from each classification
and two in each of the different
jobs.
“There’s kind of a caste sys
tem,” DeWitt said. “The fresh
men do most of the picking up
after the team, who happen to
be pretty neat as far as athletes
go.”
“Here’s where the difference
between managers and trainers
really counts,” Pickard said. “A
senior trainer will do more than
a freshman trainer when it comes
to actual taping and treatments.
A senior manager will be sure
the freshmen managers get their
work done.”
“Freshmen mostly get the first
aid things out and put them back.
They observe and learn,” Cooper
commented.
Watching is a major responsi
bility of both the managers and
the trainers. Trainers watch dif
ferent parts of the field. Cooper
watches the offensive half, while
Rick Evans is responsible for the
defensive portion. As seniors,
these two have ultimate rsponsi-
bility for anything that should
happen to a player on the field.”
“When we take water out, we
always ask how everyone is,” said
Cooper. “Sometimes there’s a
case like Alvin Bowers who
couldn’t tell us our names, the
day of the week and really had
to think about it before telling
us his name.
“We try to learn how a player
reacts to pain. Some guys have
really high threshholds of pain
and we’ve got to watch them close
because they don’t look like
they’re hurting,” Cooper said.
“The managers work with one
certain coach and watch those
players who are coached by him.
DeWitt takes care of the defen
sive players while Bob Owens
watches out for the offensive
players. “We make sure that the
guys have a ball to play with and
if they should throw it somewhere
we’ve got to retrieve it,” DeWitt
added.
“At the beginning of a season
we fit the shoulder pads, uni
forms and helmets. Throughout
the season we check the equip
ment, keep it in good repair and
watch for wear,” said Owens.
The trainers and managers
don’t live with the team this year,
but they do get to know the play
ers pretty well. “We can tell
what kind of game they are going
to play by the practices before,”
Cooper and DeWitt said.
The seniors travel with the
team and serve on occasion as
information sources. “At the Rice
game, we (DeWitt and Owens)
went out to watch the halftime
show. Well, we reported to the
team what had happened and it
LAKEVIEW CLUB
3 Miles N. On Tabor Road
Wednesday Night:
Tony Booth & Band
From 9 - 1 p. m.
HELP MOM—Blue Bomber Robert Dennis gets medical assistance from senior train
er Al Cooper. (Photo by Kathy Curtis)
// / DM
ismw
JOHNNY RIVERS
TAMU SPECIAL ATTRACTION
G. ROLLIE WHITE COLISEUM
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 21 — 8:45 P. M.
Tickets Reserved
A&M Student $3.00
A&M Student Date $3.00
Patron $4.00
Gen. Adm.
$2.00
$2.00
$3.00
Tickets On Sale At Rudder Center Box Office
Mon. - Wed. — 9 a. m. - 4 p. m.
Call 845-2916 for Information
Blue Bombers are
Power Behind Ags
cookin' and caterin'
country style
By BOB CHANEY
It has been said that behind
every great man, there is a wom
an. That every great accomplish
ment is merely the sum of many
smaller accomplishments. And
that every battle has its unsung
heroes. And what about those
unsung heroes ?
When you go to an Aggie foot
ball game you expect to see a
well trained machine which will,
in short order, devastate the op
position. But have you ever con
sidered how that machine goes
about becoming devastating ?
Who are the unsung heroes of
the Aggie football effort ?
They are known as the “Attack
Team,” or more appropriately
“The Blue Bombers.” George
Bohn is a sophomore pre-vet
major. He is also a “second year
all-pro member” in good stand
ing of the elite group which helps
prepare the Aggies for what they
will meet come game time.
Bohn is a 5-foot-ll, 210 pound
center from Victoria who has a
lot of pride in what he does. “I’m
responsible for how good our
team does,” he said. “How well
we perform determines how well
the Aggies play.
“Our job is to run the oppos
ing team’s offense and defense
against the first and second
teams,” he said. “This is not an
easy job.”
A typical week starts with a
pre-practice meeting where “The
Blue Bombers” learn the basic
defense of the week’s opponents.
Emphasis is placed upon how in
dividuals on the other team play
and react. “We have to present
a true picture so that there are
no surprises,” Bohn said.
“Offensively, we learn the op
ponent’s backfield set-up,” he
said. He went on to explain that
cards are used by the coaches to
outline specific offensive plays
which may be used against the
Aggies.
The Bombers then spend the
remainder of the week running
the various offenses and defenses
against the Aggie defense and
offense respectively.
There are approximately 40
people on The Bombers. They
are primarily freshmen and they
are all there because “they like
to play football,” said Bohn. “The
unit has a lot of pride and the
guys really put out. There are
very few slackards.
There is a great deal of talent
on The Bombers and you never
know when you will get a break,
he said. “Last year I was play
ing center for ‘The Blue Bomb
ers’ one week and the next I was
first string offensive center for
the freshman team against Texas
Tech.
Where did they get the name,
“The Blue Bombers” ?
“From our blue jerseys, where
else,” said Bohn.
Beef, pork, ribs and
sausage — not too smoky,
not to fat and not too fancy.
And all the fixin’s.
Tuesday nights after 5:00 the featured dish is
chicken ’n dumplin’s. You get a pot of juicy
chicken, plenty of plump, fluffy dumplin’s and
generous slabs of homemade cornbread f6r
s<pppin\
Elarbecue nearly made the Conlee boys famous
in these parts. And they’re caterin’ now, too.
3C BSE-B-QUE
Open 11 to 9:30 every day except Monday
across the tracks/nearly downtown Bryan
Homecoming
MUMS
Buy your date a 12th man mum from
Student Floral Concession.
Order yours inside the MSC & in the Floricul
ture Greenhouse any day before the game.
(Except the week-end) or buy one in front of
Sbisa Hall during the evening meal.
BEAT THE HELL OUT OF T.U.
seemed to be the thing to fire
the team up. The players hold
tradition important and don’t like
people mocking A&M. That was
reflected in their second half
play,” DeWitt said.
“Managers and trainers get
just as fired-up and involved in
the game as the players. We
surely do get excited but it takes
self-control,” Pickard said.
Pickard was hospitalized for a
bleeding ulcer from containing his
excitement. He has been a trainer
since ’52 and decided to “walk
across the hall and become a
trainer” after being a manager
his freshman year. Originally
Pickard wanted to be a coach but
realized there was no way to
really understand the game un
less he played.
“Training is a method of liveli
hood and we try to prepare the
students to take their exam for
licensing through the football
trainer activities,” Pickard added.
“I’m just waiting for Dec. 15,”
Cooper said. “It takes three
years of experience to even qualify
for the quiz.”
“Managers mainly like football
and can’t play on a college level.”
One manager is a 28 year old
Vietnam veteran who wanted to
stay in contact with athletics, the
rest applied for their positions
while still in high school.
Both managers and trainers
apply as high school students. For
next year, there are already 75
applicants. “Trainers should have
worked under a trainer in high
school and have a desire to be
come licensed. Usually they’re
enrolled as P.E. or pre-med
majors. The managers can be
just about anyone who isn’t en-
He
Po
Ifor
to
Bob
rolled in architecture or B Winne
school,” said Pickard. Ivard of
“We usually choose th{|Bember w
people for their interestin' Longhorn
job and their interest in,
An example of a lot of ii
is a young man from Pari
has been in contact with m f j
three years,” Packard sa
Being a trainer or a may
also means putting up witkj
tain things. “The
try your patience just to]
who’ll get away with anytkin
said Cooper.
“Most football players
onery. A bridge player i'
worry about his opponent r
ing across the table and I
him. In football it’s slap«|
slapped,” Pickard said.
The trainers are seniors|
Cooper and Rick Evans, jin
Jim Koteh and Mike Griij
sophomores Travis Cox i
Heath and freshman DavidPir]
Managers include seniors5
Owens and Mike DeWitt, jia
Paul Baker and Al AlexaJ
sophomores Bruce Miller ani^
Boenig and freshman
Thompson and David Rejeibiu|
These men are dedicatedtots
part of football and take its
ously. The managers repon
Kyle Field about two hoursk!l
any practice and four hoiltsi
fore a game. They often
finish their job until an
after work-out stops and n
get to dinner with the teatj
time.
The trainers and managersb
different jobs and performd®
ent functions, but they
thing in common they “war,I
be around football players aril
part of the sport.”
, you re
It wa
buntered
i Texas’ cn
|ell have
sever the j
lonny Lis
1 urday.
In per
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pshed for
had his tw
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WISHBONE PRACTITIONERS Emory Bellard arl T hf
Darrell Royal are ready to do battle Thursday on KyleFielF^her
Royal, in his 17th year at Texas, needs a victory overtls Sc h 0 °l p;
Aggies to tie Jess Neeley’s SWC mark of 144 victories
Bellard, in his second year at A&M, was hired awayfroi
pf the Ed
Edi
Texas where he invented the Wishbone offense in pility.
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