Page 12
THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1978
polo
water
team anticipates
NCAA invitation
RESUME SERVICE
Sell yourself effectively. Hay f
professional resume prepare*
BUSINESS &
COMMUNICATION SERVIC;
Call 846-5794 for an appoii%.
By SEAN PETTY
Battalion Staff
Texas A&M University may not
have the best indoor swimming pool
around but it does have one of the
best water polo teams in the country
according to head coach Dennis
Fosdick.
The Aggies have a very good
chance to go to the NCAA water
polo championship in Long Beach,
Calif, on the weekend of Nov. 24.
The championship is set up as an
invitational tournament in which
eight teams are invited from around
the country. Although it is an in
vitational tournament, California
colleges have a monopoly on it be
cause four of the eight invitations go
to California schools. This is because
over half of the schools that are in
the NCAA and play water polo are
in California.
“We think we (Texas A&M) have
one of the top three teams outside of
California,” Fosdick said. “Bucknell
is number one, Loyola is second and
we are third by records.
“The way a team gets invited to
the tournament is by the teams they
play during the year. That is why we
played outside the state this year.
We went to California and stayed
with the best of them, we were not
blown out by any means.”
The Aggies have the best team in
the Southwest because water polo is
a club sport at most other schools in
the area. At Texas A&M, it is a var
sity sport and they are a member of
the NCAA. In fact, the Aggies are so
good, that it is hard to get teams to
play.
“We play all these water polo
clubs from the different schools and
we sometimes end up beating them
20-4,” Fosdick said. “It’s just hard to
keep the score down sometimes.
The bad thing about playing this
kind of team is that our team stops
having team unity because we don’t
need to.
“Our trip to the East helped us
immensely. Each game we got bet
ter and better and the competition
was good,” he said.
The Aggies swept through the
East coast undefeated winning six
games. Five of the games were lop
sided victories for the Aggies.
“The NCAA Committee will have
a meeting Nov. 19 to decide on
which teams will go to the tourna
ment,” he said. “I have already
made reservations in Long Beach
because it is over the Thanksgiving
holidays. If we are invited, we will
find out that Sunday and will have to
leave Tuesday so we will be rushed,
but I sure would like to be in that
position.”
Fosdick said the coach from
Brown thought Texas A&M “should
definitely go” to the tournament.
The Aggies defeated Brown 8-7 in
their only close game of the East
coast trip.
“Our biggest problem is that we
can’t play the caliber of teams that
are in California,” Fosdick said.
“Water polo is a big sport out there
and they have good programs.
“Our program is very good, also.
Our redshirts (players who are not
playing varsity) have been winning
tournaments over other clubs. In
fact, we are having a tournament
here this week and our redshirt
team will be in it and our varsity
team could end up playing our red-
shirt team for the championship.
“Our girls are doing very well
also. According to one of the water
polo magazines, our girls are fourth
in the nation. So I am very pleased
with the program,” he said.
The Aggies carry a 16-3 record
into this weekend’s tournament and
have had some outstanding play
from several individuals.
wir'irwirw'pr^wwww
f HATE DOING
LAUNDRY?
Let Frannie's do it for y
Aunt Frannies
Laundromat
%
^Holleman at Anderson
■
-
I .*»
In
Water polo team member Mike Newsom in action for the Aggies.
Battalion photo by Pat O’Mulley
“I think that Vincent Tavarez is
the best goalie outside of Califor
nia,” Fosdick said. “He has played
exceptionally well all year.
“Steve Sampson has one of the
best shooting arms in the country.
Mike Newsom and Bob Leland are
both outstanding. I’m just pleased
with the entire team, they have
played great all year and deserve to
go to the tournament. ’
So the Aggies are hoping to go to
the NCAA tournament for the sec
ond time in three years. This week
they host the Southwest Water Polo
Championship which will start at
3:00 p.m. Friday and the cham
pionship should be at approximately
3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Will the Aggies win?
“Sure we expect to win,” Fosdick
said, “if we don’t we don’t deserve
to go the NCAA tournament.”
HOUSE OF
Belcher faced tough fight to
YOUR SUPERMARKET FOR NEW AMERICAN CARS
The athletic career of Texas A&M
fullback Raymond Belcher is com
parable to Belcher carrying the
football for the Texas Aggies — he
has to put his head down and plow
forward for that tough yardage.
The 5-10, 200-pound senior has
come a long way from high school
dropout to starting fullback for
Texas A&M. Along the way there
have come many occasions when it
would have been easy for him to call
it quits but Belcher would not let
that be the case.
“I played high school ball my
sophomore and junior years at
Houston Sterling,” said Belcher.
“My grades fell off, however, and I
wasn’t eligible to play my senior
year. I transferred to Fort Worth
Poly that year and just sat out.”
After leaving high school, Belcher
tried out for the football team at
Cisco Junior College, which is lo
cated about 50 miles from Abilene.
He ran into more trouble his second
day there when he was dropped
from the team for smoking a cigar in
the dorm room.
“I thought I was a grown man and-
could do what I wanted,” explained
Belcher with a grin. “I guess I just
wasn’t too familiar with discipline.”
Belcher nonetheless finished the
fall semester at Cisco and trans
ferred to Tyler Junior College in the
spring. He was ineligible to play
football the following fall but was al
lowed to participate in spring drills.
During the fall he worked with his
grandfather in construction in Fort
Worth. He sent out applications to
various colleges and was accepted
by Texas A&M.
Although he was without schol
arship, Belcher came out for the
Aggie football team in the fall of
1976. Again he was ineligible to play
that fall but worked out with the
team as a linebacker.
“I felt I was too slow to play run
ning back so I worked at linebacker
that first year,” Belcher said. “A&M
had some great linebackers then but
I figured I’d get my chance sooner
or later. I’d come this far so I wasn’t
about to give up now.”
Belcher was moved to fullback
last year but did not play in any
games. Last spring, however, he
was the leading rusher in the annual
Maroon-White contest. By that time
he was on scholarship, even though
Texas A&M had a couple of good
fullbacks in George Woodard and
Eddie Hardin. After both Woodard
and Hardin were lost for the 1978
season with off-season injuries,
Belcher’s role suddenly became
more crucial. He started out the
season as No. 2 fullback but when
injuries befell the Aggie halfback
corps, Belcher was moved to a start
ing position. His first start was
against Baylor, a game the Ags lost
24-6.
“I was most concerned with just
holding onto the football,” said
Belcher. “I was getting pretty tired
because I was carrying the ball more
times but when Curtis (Dickey)
came in to play halfback, I got my
second wind. He had sat out the
first part of the game with injuries
but when he came into the game, it
picked me up a little. All afternoon
we kept believing we were going to
put the ball in the endzone sooner
or later but then the clock ran out on
The week that followed the
Baylor loss was hectic and emotional
time for the A&M team with the res
ignation of head coach Emory Bol
lard.
“There wasn’t any real tension
among the players after the loss to
Baylor,’ said Belcher. “We were a
little confused about why we weren’t
scoring more because we know
we are a good team with a lot of po
tential. It was a trying week for all of
us but we still knew we had a game
to play Saturday and that we had to
get back on the winning track.”
Can Broker any American made car straight
from Detroit & save you hundreds, possibly
thousands!
You can probably buy a ’79 model cheaper
than what you paid for a ’78!
AL GUTIERREZ - BROKER
Raymond Belcher is hard-set on
making good as Texas A&M’s No. 1
fullback — as if he’s making up for
lost time.
ALSO OWNER OF HOUSE OF
BOOTS & HOUSE OF TIRES.
CALL
822-7139
8:30-5:30 P.M.
(CORNER OF
COULTER &
TEXAS AVE.)
r uijiiHj a
(liamotul?
If you are, or even thinking about it, now is
the time to stop in and get our
comprehensive booklet, “Diamonds,”
which will answer many of your questions.
This 36-page pocket-size booklet, written by
the American Gem Society, is helpful and
informative. It’s free, of
course! We call it our
“Diamond Blue Book.”
We know it will help you
in your purchase. Buying
a diamond is a big step.
We want to make it
easier. Stop in soon!
Carl Bussells
^Diamond Room
3731 E. 29th 846-4708
Town & Country Center
MEMBER AMERICAN GEM SOCIETY
Disco Fashions
at the Bottom
Top to bottom: ‘Disco Steps’
by Doux in Grey, Navy, or
Black, 32.99. The Dexter
comes in Black or Tan, 32.99.
Street Cars available in
Antique Brown, 36.99. Am
bassador in Antique Brown or
Black, 38.99. These are just a
few from a wide variety of
styles, brands, and colors.
Build your disco image with a
solid foundation from Lewis’.
HUSTII
rwheh
*\Ized “t;
t sum m
|n and a
nstitutk
eturn
wed th
ored b<
■thirds
the ar
votes i
nt won
r a thn
\n ame
/ernme
ice con
s being
horizin;
nds for i
ire bein'
The “tc
pvide ta:
ihomeoi
lelderK
Jmburse
fenue 1c
ns.
he amt
^ of agrit
: hers thr
'vide tn
citizen
inus
Sitae. StosieA.
Downtown Bryan
dd]
By
The cj
gto a
day. Th<
tlieir ca
their at1
tributio
victory t
In a !
dates lea
had bee;
Went of
slice ti
Just o
tori'. Vi.
oiust no
Dr. P
econom
politieiaj
‘tiesday
•tow tun
"oil repr
ih’strict:
tives.
A ca
Gramm’.
proi
tog bis e
toi amei
stitutior
govenm
totced hi
With
County
a ll, Grar
•tonsidet
'nee ai
•prog
Since
•tomics,
hleknov
a power!
4 fresho