Page 10 THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1978
Football is Sims’ profession
United Press International
NORMAN, Okla. — Oklahoma
Sooners running back Billy Sims,
one of the top candidates for the
Heisman Trophy, takes more of a
pragmatic view of football than many
of his teammates do.
To Sims, football is not just a game
to be played win or lose — it’s his
profession. He likes to do other
things in his spare time, even if it’s
just listening to jazz.
“It’s just another job,” Sims said.
“Of course, there’s no cash salary in
volved yet, but it’s still just another
job.”
While football is not exactly a
9-to-5 routine for him, he says pre
paring for games is hard work, much
of it the disagreeable kind.
“I hate practice, in fact, everybody
hates practice,” Sims said, noting
that a day last week was the first one
he had had “off since coming to OU
in 1975.
To break the pressures of the
game, Sims takes to drag racing and
riding horseback at his great
grandmother’s farm in Hooks, Texas.
He lives with his great-grandmother
during the summer and says he will
never really enjoy city living again
after life on the farm.
Sims started school in St. Louis,
but he says he is glad he left. He also
found he preferred running to fight
ing. While he working a newspaper
route for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
he once was an intended robbery
victim. He said he held his money
and ran, leaving the newspapers be
hind.
“Maybe that’s why I got so fast,”
Sims said, noting he always pre
ferred to run than fight in the tough
St. Louis ghetto.
Even though he dislikes the prac
tices and long hours that cause him to
see football as work, he says it’s
worth it ifit pays off. This year, it has.
Sims’ meteoric rise to the top
ranks of college running backs is
somewhat of an anticlimax for Okla
homa fans. His rise to prominence
comes two years after the Hooks
High School star was among the most
heavily recruited athletes in the
country, but he failed to show any of
his talents in his first two years with
Oklahoma.
Sims’ first two years were disap
pointing for many Oklahoma fans,
who now often modestly describe
him as the best running back in his
tory.
Oklahomans take pride in their
football players.
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But even Sims admits this was a
good year for him — he was finally
able to shake off leg injuries that
stifled his performance for his first
two seasons.
He broke the Big Eight and Okla
homa rushing records for a single
season with 1,762 yards, a figure four
times as great as his 1977 rushing
total. He led the nation in rushing
with 163.4 yards per game, averag
ing 7.8 yards per carry.
Adding to those accomplishments,
he scored 20 touchdowns and
romped for more than 200 yards in
four games this season.
Two factors will be working
against Sims in winning the Heis
man. First, he is a junior and only
five juniors have ever won the
award.
Second, Sims fumbled twice
against Nebraska in a nationally tele
vised game. The last fumble allowed
the Cornhuskers to score a fourth-
quarter field goal and knocked Okla
homa out of a No. 1 ranking.
Even though he played well
against Oklahoma State the following
week, scoring four touchdowns and
gaining over 200 yards, the Heisman
committee may not be able to forget
the Nebraska game.
“I have my bad days and my good
ones— I’m human just like everyone
else, but when you play football,
people seem to forget,” Sims said.
The standout yardage figures have
brought the modest 6-foot junior
some publicity, but Sims sees the
attention as another distasteful part
of his job.
“Sometimes you get too much
publicity,” said Sims, who claims he
likes to spend much of his time alone
"just to think things out.”
He says he even goes into hiding
sometimes, heading for a friend’s
house where he cannot easily be
found.
Sims may appear ungrateful for
the publicity, but he says he is not.
For example, during a 25-minute
interview session, television camera
crews moved into his spotless dormi
tory room for a later interview, a
local civic club president dropped by
to ask Sims for a speaking engage
ment and the telephone rang six
times with various callers, including
an Oklahoma student who wanted to
know if Sims was related to any of his
West Coast relatives.
“I kind of wish the Heisman would
be a surprise, without all that public
ity,” Sims said.
Lineman Greg Roberts has been
Sims’ roommate and friend since
they were freshmen — a room any
college coach would not mind mov
ing to his school considering Roberts
won the Outland Trophy Sunday
naming him the country’s outstand
ing lineman. Sims was also selected
as the Walter Camp Football Foun
dation’s 1978 player of the year.
Stamp takes a Little licking
Battalion photo by htO®
TCU quarterback Steve Stamp gets pressured
by Texas A&M linebacker Mike Little late in
Saturday’s game. Little and the Aggie defense
stopped a last-minute drive by Stamp and the
Horned Frogs as Texas A&M defeated TCU
15-7. Friday the Aggies travel to Austin to meet
the Texas Longhorns in a game that will 1*
nationally televised with an 8 p.m. kickoff
This will be the 86th game in the Texas-Texas
A&M series, which the Horns lead 60-20-5.
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