Page 12 THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 1979
Baylor Invitational
Tracksters travel to Waco
By SEAN PETTY
Battalion Sports Staff
It’s that time of the year when
times on the track should get lower
and distances in the field should get
higher. And the Texas Aggies men’s
track team is doing just that as the
time draws nearer to the Southwest
Conference championship meet in
Austin.
Coach Charles Thomas’s troops
will run in the Baylor Invitational
this afternoon and tonight, hoping to
improve their performances as they
prepare to defend their conference
title in three weeks.
“Everyone is finally coming
around,” Thomas said. “It’s going to
be a tough meet but I think we have a
chance to win several events and
possibly, the whole meet.
“I guess our best chances to win
will be in the 440-yard relay and the
mile relay.’’ The sprint relay will
consist of Steve Willis, Leslie Kerr,
Vernon Pittman and Curtis Dickey
while running on the mile relay will
be Willis, Kerr, Pittman and Ron
Wilson.
“Tim Scott could win both the shot
put and the discus,” Thomas said. “I
think Kerr and Willis both have a
chance to win the 440-yard dash.
Randy Hajl should win the pole vault
and I think Curtis can win the 100-
meter dash if he runs it.”
Dickey, who is through with
spring football for the year, is still
Spurs, 76ers meet again
United Press International
PHILADELPHIA — The
Philadelphia 76ers had change on
their mind Thursday as they pre
pared to get back into their NBA
Eastern Conference semifinal series
with the San Antonio Spurs.
The Central Division champion
Spurs shot the lights out of the basket
on their home court to take a 2-0 lead
in the best-of-seven series and the
Sixers must come back with a pair of
wins tonight and Sunday to have any
chance at all of advancing in the
playofis.
Sixers Coach Billy Cunningham
said defensive ace Bobby Jones, who
guarded league-leading scorer
George Gervin Tuesday night with
out much success, would go back to
E laying Larry Kenon, who had 13 of
is 27 points in Game 2 during the
fourth quarter.
Even though they’re moving away
from their home court, the Spurs
were confident they could win at
least one game in Philadelphia to
allow them to wrap up the series next
Thursday in San Antonio.
“We’re going to get one up
there,” said guard James Silas. “It’s
possible we could get both. ”
sore from the hard-hitting practices.
Thomas said Dickey has a hip
pointer, a sore hamstring and a
slightly pulled quadracep muscle in
his left leg.
“I’m more beat up than last year
because we’re doing a lot more hit
ting this year,” Dickey said of the
spring drills. “I’m just glad to be out
of football. I may not run the 100-
meters this week but I’ll be ready for
the Drake Relays next week. I’m just
really sore.”
The Aggies are coming off an im
pressive dual victory over Baylor last
week much to the surprise of the
Baylor coaches.
“They didn’t have a couple of guys
running but it wouldn’t have made a
difference if they had,” Thomas said.
“Our guys just got after it and are
really performing now.”
Thomas said one of the meet fa
vorites would have to be Missouri
which has an outstanding sprint
medley team and several strong in
dividuals.
“They have a guy who’s run a 46.1
quarter mile and a high jumper
who’s cleared 7’3”,” said Thomas.
“And they’re sprint medley won at
the Texas Relays so they’re are going
to be very tough.
“But you never know, we could
just come away with the whole thing
if we do as well as we can.”
The running events start at 2 p. m.
with the field events start at 3. The
finals will start at 7:05 p. m. in Waco.
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Lorfctr Room
“SPORTSHOES UNLIMITED"
One last shot at the buzze
One year ago this week, I took my
seat in the worn, gray oftice chair
that, several volumes back, had been
designated The Sports Editor’s
Chair. It sat, appropriately enough,
in front of a desk known as The
Sports Editor’s Desk. A piece of
labeling tape reading “Sports” clung
to the wall above the desk, presum
ably to prevent any confusion as to
who the furniture belonged to.
The Chair, I was certain, had ac
commodated in its time some quite
famous and possibly some quite in
famous persons, all trying as best
they could to present an accurate,
fair and entertaining account of ath
letic activities in Aggieland. Surely,
they had all followed their fair share
of winners and losers, angered their
fair share of fans and bathed in their
fair share of fleeting moments of
glory.
And now here sat the tall, skinny
country boy trying to get comforta
ble in the old, gray chair — con
templating the year ahead. Little did
I know that it would be one of the
most interesting years for sports at
Texas A&M in some time.
As my tenure began, I could al
most hear Jim McKay’s voice echo
ing in the background: “The thrill of
victory!”
Mark Thurmond pitched a no
hitter against Texas Tech in the Ag
gies’ brand new baseball stadium on
April 22. A few weeks later, in Fayet
teville, Mike Hurdle caught a fly ball
to center field, ending a game be
tween Texas A&M and Arkansas and
giving the Aggies their second
straight Southwest Conference
championship.
Aggies and championship seemed
viewpoint
By DAVID BOGGAN
Battalion Sports Editor
to be synonymous that spring. The
young Texas A&M track team won
the SWC track and field cham
pionship in Austin by an almost un
believable 44-point margin.
“This is going to be great,” I
thought. As every sports writer soon
learns, it is much easier to listen to a
winner than to try to interview a
loser.
But the good fortune of spring
soon turned into the bad omens of
summer. During the off-season, the
Aggies lost George Woodard, Eddie
Hardin and Karl Godine, the first
two to injury, the last to opportunity.
The -summer yielded to the fall,
and fall in Aggieland means only one
thing — football.
graduated from high school and the
day Emory Bellard resigned as Texas
A&M’s head football coach and ath
letic director.
Following losses to Houston and
Baylor, Bellard said that he was told
he was going to be relieved of his
duties at the end of the season. Bel
lard decided to beat the powers that
be to the punch; he resigned on Oct.
24.
What followed was a week of emo
tional press conferences, upset
players and, finally, the naming of
Tom Wilson as new head football
coach. The Aggies finished the sea
son with an 8-4 record.
The Texas A&M football team
picked up where the baseball and
track teams left off. The Aggies won
their first four games of the 1978 sea
son, outscoring their opponents
170-21.
But then I heard of Jim’s voice
again, echoing the inevitable: “The
agony of defeat. ”
There are three days in history
that I’ll never forget: the day John F.
Kennedy was assassinated, the day I
The Aggie basketball team
finished an exciting 1978-79 season
with a 24-9 record. Shelby Metcalf s
young team (all five starters will re
turn next year) made it to the quar
ter final round of the NIT before its
season ended.
And, to complete the cycle, the
baseball team is fighting the rain and
the opponents, trying to win its third
consecutive conference title.
Now it is time for me to surrender
The Sports Editor’s Chair to the next
man in line. What kind of year can he
expect:'
It promises to be anotlie;
sports mixed with politico
canny combination that mi
lege athletics the interest
nomenon that it is today.
You see, I believe thatl
A&M athletic de
feeling the aftershock of j
resignation a half a year(
only did Bellard take hist
offense with him wheniisJ
also took his leadership.
The athletic departmeilj
had a permanent athletic!
six months. Instead, i
power-happy group ol
are running the show.'
been several resignationsijj
partment recently andsevei
rumors of job termination
come. While no onei
being pressured by then
and-white-leisure-suit I
Brister hinted at the p
faces Aggie athletics.
“Everybody can’t site
yard line,’ the formerexec
president of the Aggie (
he resigned last month,]
words, you can’t please il|
alumni all of the time.
And it is too bad thattl
situation has to exist. Itis||
that people are runnings:
athletic department
have heard that the alumnij
ling in their direction,
that an athletic program h
marred by possible NCAAl
tions because of outsidei
ence.
It is too bad that thenextui
in the old, gray chair mus
only a sports reporter, buti|
analyst as well.
Spaghetti Dinner all you
can eat for 025
Comes with salad and garlic toast.
Every Sunday Evening 5-10
in the Aggieland Inn
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Saturday April 28 - Johnny Rodriguez
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A short course in
Bonded Bourbon.
First lesson:
Bonded Bourbon is so
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