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?
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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.”
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(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 —
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We Buy All Books
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TEXT BOOKS
CALCULATORS
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
AGGIE GIFTS &
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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
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now
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Culpepper Plaza
693-4522
10-8 Weekdays
10-6 Saturday
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from
Pizza Express
Pizza Express is
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Offer good through
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Four 16 oz. Drinks,
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WANTED:
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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
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RHYS.
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306
C.E. 201
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MATH. 308
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M.E. 328 M.E. 404
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ACCT. 229
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BIO. 351
GEN. 301
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C.E. 348
ECO. 203
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E.E. 305
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E.T. 310
(Mention this ad when you bring in your books)
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