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THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1979
Godine
Former Aggie says he made wise decision
By SEAN PETTY
Battalion Staff
It was February 3, 1976. Then a
freshman, Karl Godine was prepar
ing to play against the Texas Long
horns in another Southwest Confer
ence basketball game for the Texas
Aggies. Godine scored 24 points
that night to lead the Aggies past the
Horns.
It was a year the Aggies would
win the SWC championship and
Godine and his fellow high school
teammate, Jarvis Williams, would
help lead the Ags to the title.
That was three years ago. It
seems so long ago when the an
nouncer would say, “At guard, from
Houston Kashmere, No. 24, Karl
Godine.” It was a time when the
two high school all-America sensa
tions Were living up to expectations
and Texas A&M fans were drooling
in anticipation of the next three
years of Godine and Williams.
BUT THE GLORY YEARS of
the Kashmere tandem were not to
be. Even their premier season was
marred by investigations of recruit
ing violations and eventual suspen
sion from conference play just be
fore the SWC post-season tourna
ment. The Aggies would lose the
championship game of the tourna
ment by two points to Texas Tech
and thus, end an otherwise great
season.
But the problems had just started
for Godine and Williams. The SWC
forced them to sit out their sopho
more year.
Then came the 1977-78 season.
Godine and Williams began working
their way back into the Aggie bas
ketball picture. Midway through the
SWC schedule, the Aggies were
playing Baylor at G. Rollie White
Coliseum. Late in the first half,
Godine brought the ball down the
left side of the court and quickly
broke to the lane. But as he drove
in, he turned his knee and in great
pain, limped off the court. It was the
last time he would handle the ball
for the Texas Aggies.
FEBRUARY 1, 1979. Karl
Godine was in Huntsville preparing
to play the Sam Houston State
Bearkats in another Lone Star Con
ference basketball game for the
Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks.
The road to SFA was not a pleas
ant one for the young man from
Houston. Knee surgery followed his
injury against Baylor and he had to
do a lot of work to get back to his old
form. But the important thing is that
Karl Godine, a junior in eligibility,
is happy and playing a lot of basket
ball for the Lumberjacks.
“I made a wise decision when I
left A&M, I don’t regret it all,”
Godine said before the game in
Huntsville. “I didn’t want to sac
rifice a year on the bench at A&M
because I knew that they (the
coaches) would be telling me my
knee wasn’t ready and I knew it
Battalion file photo
Godine last year as an Aggie against SMU.
would be. I just couldn’t have
played enough at A&M.”
Godine is the only bright spot on
a rebuilding team with new players
and a new coach at SFA.
“I’M HAPPY I’M PLAYING a lot
now,” he said. "My knee’s doing all
right. It’s not exactly where I want it
to be but it will come with more
work. I worked all summer to get it
right. I think next year will be my
year; I’m gonna be ready.
“We got a new group of guys from
all over and a new coach. We’ve
gone through a lot of adjustments
and really haven’t had too good
luck. A couple of our best players
quit and things haven’t gone too
well.” Godine has gone from a team
that won the SWC to a team that is
5-15 for the year and is struggling to
keep out of the cellar of the LSC.
“It’s a lot different playing in the
LSC,” Godine said. “They don’t
have the real tough players like the
SWC. There’s not the same quality
of player either. I guess you could
say they play a more controlled type
of game in the LSC.
“When I was at A&M, there were
a whole lot of real good athletes on
the team, ’ Godine said. “It’s not the
same here. You have a few good
athletes in the conference but no
one like Vinnie (Johnson) or Sidney
(Moncrief).
“BUT THERE IS ONE THING:
the LSC may be as physical as the
SWC. if not more physical. The refs
let you get away with a lot more
here.
Godine showed signs of the old
flash against the Bearkats Thursday
night scoring 12 points for a losing
cause.
But it was Saturday night in
Nacogdoches when the “Go” was at
his best. He made a layup with 19
seconds left in the game to secure
the 76-74 victory over Texas A&I.
Godine was the game’s leading
scorer with 26 points.
Godine is the floor leader and you
can tell by watching the Jacks play
that the team revolves around him.
Therefore, most teams double team
the former Aggie the whole game.
“I guess they focus on me a lot
around the conference. They double
team me pretty much. But I really
don’t feel any pressure from the fans
to perform or anything. I got quite a
few fans who like to come out and
watch me, he said laughing.
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GODINE HAS BEEN ABLE to
laugh a lot more now because his
situation is more relaxed. He
doesn’t hear all the razzing from fans
around the conference like he did in
the SWC. And the environment of
the 11,000 student school suits his
slow, easy going style just fine.
“I really get off to the environ
ment at SFA. You could say they
have more of my type there,” he
said laughing in reference to the
number of blacks on the A&M cam
pus compared to SFA. “They have a
lot of fraternities and sororities here
and just more things to keep people
satisfied. It’s really nice.”
Things are going well for Godine
now but he still has some bad feel
ings about his past and some posi
tive feelings about his future. If Karl
Godine was a senior in high school,
what would he do differently?
“I would have stayed in Hous
ton,” he said emphatically. “Yea
man, I would have stayed in Hous
ton and gone to the University of
Houston to play ball there.”
Of course, anyone that went
through what he and Williams went
through at Texas A&M would prob
ably say the same.
“IT WAS SOMETHING they
had to do and something we had to
abide by,” Godine said of the SWC
action taken against him and
Williams. “They had a job to do and
I guess they thought they were
doing their job. I just don’t think it
was right but that’s all behind me
now.”
What does Godine think about his
former coach Shelby Metcalf?
“Metcalf is an all right coach,” he
said. “I just don’t think he was doing
me justice sitting me on the bench
so I had to go.
“Jarvis is pretty upset he’s not
playing but he will be graduating
this summer so at least he’s getting
something out of the whole deal.”
Godine has another year of eligi
bility left at SFA and will graduate
after that.
“I’m hoping I can get a shot at
playing pro ball somewhere if I’m
lucky,” he said. “But if not, I’ll be
graduating in a year and maybe I
can coach basketball at a junior
high. We ll see how it goes.”
After that sentence it was time for
Godine to put on his uniform and
play another game. Yet as he walked
away, it seemed like there was
something he hadn’t done, some
thing he would have done differ
ently and something he could never
have again.
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