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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 1978)
the sports THE BATTALION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1978 Page 9 Sean Petty y durii It s been a long year in Aggieland Hello everyone. 1 was reminded of the television commercial with Lowell Thomas | standing in the snow in Alaska as the cold wind blew right threw me while I scurried around campus yesterday. As I hurried to make up quizzes here and there and get ready for I finals in general, I thought of what kind of year it had been for sports Aggieland. I thought of the great success the 1978 Aggie baseball and track ret "cC*! teams had, both winning Southwest Conference championships. How great it was to have some real winners around campus. But that did not last long as the Aggie baseball team went out in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Then, the track team, which had so overpoweringly won the conference track crown, was hit with injuries and made a poor showing at the NCAA meet in Oregon. WHILE BOTH TEAMS had problems immediately after their conference championships, they did have some outstanding perform ances on the way to those respective crowns. Mark Thurmond pitched his first collegiate no-hitter against Texas Tech while Curtis Dickey won the NCAA indoor 60-yard dash, the 100-meter dash at the SYVC meet, and placed second in the 100- meter dash at the NCAA outdoor championships. While the track and baseball teams were busy stirring up excite ment week after week, the football team started its spring football drills. The Aggies had “a new look. Somehow someone had talked then head coach Emory Bellard into using the I-formation along with the Wishbone, which would still be the Ags’ main offensive weapon. WE WERE TOLD that the I would give Dickey the chance to use his outstanding speed and get outside. We also knew that we had Texas A&M s all-time leading rusher in big George Woodard who would surely keep the opposing teams honest up the middle. We knew that with Dickey at halfback and Mike Mosley at quarterback, the Ags might just have to add another digit to the Kyle Field scoreboard and install computers to keep up with the yardage the Aggie offense woidd churn out. Oh, we had heard championship talk before but somehow it seemed feasible this year. A more balanced offensive attack made a lot of sense. The Ags only problem seemed to be the defense. Sure we could score tons of points we thought but woidd the other team outscore us like we had seen USC do in the Bluebonnet Bowl? Would our scores look like basketball scores? w tomata consideri ists." M^rimes: tliegarfe elieved tl staved off! nearby have to In he said. ies, livesta fann. Calti are bredi ^s valued n cattle wi arylandd; "they« she sai 1 as oxen d milk, i. which la give ir, wereii ' pigs wen c swine a g variety > sen es a ixirtedby endowmei nd contril ir foundaS e a $300,! ■partmenl funding, mg andt DK HDQRS RE WELL, IT WAS HOT early in the spring and we would just have to wait until football season in the hot, early fall to see how the defense would come around. August rolled around and the Ags took to the gridiron once again. But, there was the first of some major changes that would befall the Aggies before the season was over. Woodard was lost for the season with a broken ankle he suffered while playing softball. So much for keeping them honest up the middle. The season finally started and the Ags soon showed just what they were made of, or so we thought. The offense was explosive as ex pected, rolling up tons of points. The defense established itself early by keeping opposing teams out of the end zone for several games. Wow, it’s true we thought. I think we’ve made it. Aggie fans be- ofitsgoi came cotton-mouthed, fe, complit BUT WHAT’S THIS? Houston who? Thirty-three to what? Oh no, our hopes started to fade more rapidly than they had climbed earlier in the year. From then on, Texas A&M football history became very bleak. The school lost a man who everyone but the alumni seemed to love and respect, win or lose. Emory Bellard s resignation would be a scar that Texas A&M University would have to bare publicly. It seemed odd at a university that boasts of sticking together through thick and thin, that a man with Bellard’s record would be forced to resign. The Aggies had to face reality. College football is big business and in business you must keep the stockholders happy. Yet, all was not lost. The Aggies rallied behind a young, sharp man named Tom Wilson who took over the reins in the middle of the season and coached the team to a victory that same week. Things changed and they changed rapidly. We heard that there would be no more wishbone at Texas A&M University. This was hard to believe because Texas A&M was where the wishbone lived and eventually, died. Change is good. And it is good for Texas A&M. All we can do is wait and see...again. So long. Lemon’s bunch favored 1979 conference race in United Press International This is the sixth in a series of arti cles profiling Texas Ai?M's 1979 Southwest Conference basketball opponents. AUSTIN — The season before Abe Lemons came to the University of Texas the Longhorns posted a 9-17 basketball season. Two years later they went 26-5 and won the championship of the National Invitation Tournament. And with four of the starters back from the 1977-78 team Lemons’ bunch has to be a runaway favorite to win the Southwest Conference. Most everybody' agrees with that, except Lemons. “We are having a hard time re capturing the spirit that we had last year,” Lemons said. “Last year no thing went wrong. This year w^ have had a lot of little piddling things go wrong. ” Among them is a back ailment suf fered by Ron Baxter, the chunky, 6-4 Californian who averaged 19 points a game. “It’s expectable that Baxter’s back is hurting,” Lemons said. “He weighs 235 pounds.” Baxter will be joined by Jim Krivacs, John Moore and Tyrone Branyan — all starters off the NIT title club. But Lemons is having a hard time settling on who the fifth starter will be. “We don’t have a pivot man,” said Lemons. “Well, we have one, but he’s not very good. I think we might wind up going with Phillip Stroud (6-7).” Texas assistant wants OSU job United Press International AUSTIN — Texas defensive coordinator Leon Fuller said he has applied for the head coaching job at Oklahoma State University but has not been contacted by the school about the position. Fuller, Joe Morrison of Tennesee-Chatanooga and Hayden Fry of North Texas State all have been mentioned as possible suc cessors to Jim Stanley who was fired as OSU coach two weeks ago. Fuller was an assistant coach at Oklahoma State in 1964 and 1965 and said he sent in his application for the head coaching job after he was encouraged to do so by a friend at Oklahoma State. “I haven’t heard from them since, he said. Fuller said "Most coaches’ goal is to eventually be a head coach. It’s getting time. . .I’d sure be in terested in talking if it’s the right place. But I’ve got the best assistant coach’s job in the country now.” THE BATT DOES IT DAILY Monday through Friday { HATE DOING * LAUNDRY? t * - - ----- LAUNDRY? ^ Let Frannie's do it lor you * Aunt Frannies £ * Laundromat * fcHolleman at Anderson 693-658/Jr r L n. Rapid Reduce NOW Muscles Future Bar 693-7431 'ALTERATIONS' IN THE GRAND TRADITION OF OLD TEXAS WHERE MOTHER TAUGHT DAUGHTER THE FINE ART OF SEWING — SO HELEN MARIE TAUGHT EDITH MARIE THE SECRETS OF SEWING AND ALTERATIONS. “DON’T GIVE UP — WE’LL 11 MAKE IT FIT!" V AT WELCH’S CLEANERS, WE NOT ONLY SERVE AS AN EXCEL LENT DRY CLEANERS BUT WE SPECIALIZE IN ALTERING HARD TO FIT EVENING DRESSES, TAPERED, SHIRTS, JEAN HEMS, WATCH POCKETS. ETC. . _ . (WE RE JUST A FEW BLOCKS NORTH OF FED MART.) WELCH’S CLEANERS 3819 E. 29th (TOWN & COUNTRY SHOPPING CENTER) Eleven extraordinary men have earned the world’s most prestigious award. An exclusive broadcast TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, ON MOST PUBLIC TELEVISION STATIONS * Made possible by a grant from wm Rockwell International (Check your local listings) Lemons did not recruit all that heavily after the championship sea son. He went after a few big men and when they did not sign he eased off the recruiting trail. There will be only three freshmen and one sophomore transfer who will he new to the squad. “That New Orleans kid we got (6-6 Wade Blundell) is better than good,” appraised Lemons. “He is an outstanding shooter. He will be playing some. But that’s the only real newcomer we’ve got. Last year the Longhorns sort of creeped up on people. They played a tough non-conference schedule and lost three games, but then stunned the Arkansas Razorbacks in Austin, 75-69. That got people’s attention and the Longhorns went on to post a 26-5 record. Texas won every home game last year in the first campaign played in the 16,231-seat Super Drum arena and with almost every seat already sold for this year the Longhorns will no doubt have an excellent homecourt advantage. “I figure they went ahead and sold all the tickets ahead of time so they could go ahead and do some thing else, said Lemons. “It’s just too bad the coaches don’t get any of the money. “But I’m glad all those people are going to be there to see us. I can remember a time when they didn’t care. Lemons has riled some of his fel low coaches during the past two years because his off-handed com ments sometimes are not all that complimentary. So this year they have a chance to get back at him — by picking him first. “Texas has to be the favorite, said Arkansas coach Eddie Sutton in what has been a typical comment. “They ve got four people back so they should be favorite. “Sutton has never known to be wrong,” Lemons retorted. “He studied under the Amazing Kres- kin. ” The Longhorns have a 3-2 record so far this season, losing to Long Beach State and Oklahoma. Trade Your Books for Christmas Gifts — Aggie-Style! We Buy All Books UNIVERSITY BOOK STORE NOW 2 LOCATIONS 409 UNIVERSITY DR. & CULPEPPER PLAZA TEXT BOOKS CALCULATORS SCHOOL SUPPLIES AGGIE GIFTS & SOUVENIRS POOL TABLES Services This Sunday December 10 at A&M Consolidated H.S. Cafeteria Bible Study 9:30 a.m. Worship 10:45 a. (enter Welch St. Lot) m. South College Station Lutheran Mission Stan Sultemeier Mission Pastor Student & other residents in the Southwest Parkway apart ment area will enjoy the friendly atmosphere and conven ience of our new fellowship. Join us this Sunday! Before Christmas . . . Come Shop at CARNABY SQUARE LTD. 14K gold sale on selected items Bracelets re g. $19.00 15" chains reg. $25.00 >1400 now $ 20 00 Culpepper Plaza 693-4522 10-8 Weekdays 10-6 Saturday Aloha! from Pizza Express Pizza Express is saying Aloha with a Hawaiian special on their newest pizza . . . Ham & Pineapple! Offer good through Sun., Dec. 10 16” Ham & Pine apple Pizza, Plus Four 16 oz. Drinks, only $C50 WANTED: THESE BOOKS!!! Loupot is buying all your used books right now, but some books we really NEED so we’ll buy them at a PREMIUM PRICE!! (over & above our reg. 20% in trade) WE RE PAYING A PREMIUM PRICE FOR THESE TEXTBOOKS: MGMT. 211 MGMT. 312 MGMT. MKTG. 363 321 RHYS. RHYS. RHYS. 207 219 306 C.E. 201 C.E. 302 C.E. 205 MATH. 308 MATH. 151 M.E. 210 M.E. 212 M.E. 328 M.E. 404 M.E. 344 ACCT. 229 ACCT. 327 ACCT. 329 BIO. 351 GEN. 301 STAT. 301 CHEM. 316 C.E. 348 ECO. 203 ECO. 322 E.E. 305 E.E. 307 E.T. 310 (Mention this ad when you bring in your books) Trade your used books for the books you’ll need this spring, beat the fall book rush and if you need a different book later we’ll give you a full refund the first 2 weeks of the semester!!! LOUPOT’S BOOKSTORE WE WANT ALL ENGINEERING AND BUSINESS TEXT BOOKS i * ir * 1 * Northgate - Across from the Post Office