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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 1979)
THE BATTALION TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 1979 Page 9 the sports viewpoint By SEAN PETTY Battalion Sports Editor fe. by Mary A nr* * making rq of gasoline loi ■ tanks. ters, Clemei ■en favorable stalling $25! legislature’s itions bill. l g Carter to Moscow? You may have heard of Roger Bannister. If not, he was the first man to break the seemingly impossible four-minute barrier in the mile run way back in 1929. “No big deal,” you might say, “besides, the present record in the mile is 3:49.4 which is held by John Walker.” O.K., fair enough. If you can’t appreciate that achievement then maybe you have heard of Bob Beamon. Yea that’s right, he jumped an incredible 29-feet-2 1 A inches in the long jump in the 1968 Olympics. No one has even come close to spending that much time in the air without wings. Many athletes may whittle away at records over the years and slowly bring the times down on the track and increase the distances and heights in the field events. But every now and then, you get to see a super-athlete who dominates his event like nothing you ve ever seen and blows the record books to shreds. This person, male or female, captures the spotlight and does some thing no one thought was ever possible like the sub-four-minute mile or jumping 29 feet or running the 100-yard dash in nine seconds flat. They set a record that may not be broken for many years or even during your lifetime. Well, if you head up Highway 6, take Interstate 35 to Dallas and find the directions to the neighborhood of Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, you may just stumble upon one such super-athlete. His name is Michael Carter. He is a solid 6-2, 250-pound 18-year- old shot putter-football player who has crashed onto the world shot put scene in much the same way he crashed through offensive line men playing defensive tackle for Jefferson high school last year. In fact, Carter crashed through linemen so well in high school, he grabbed Texas blue-chip honors and signed to play football in his own backyard for the SMU Mustangs. But compared to Carter’s shot putting abilities, his talent on the gridiron seems almost meaningless. If you haven t already heard, Carter threw the 12-pound shot put 81-feet-3V6 inches at the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento, Cal. last Saturday. That’s 12 pounds of steel going 27 yards, without a cannon. Carter spent this spring breaking fellow Dallasite Sammy Walker s national high school record of 72-3Vi over and over. Walker held the record for 11 years before Mr. Carter decided he would throw the dern thing farther than the measuring tapes would measure. He was and is, in a class all his own. At the beginning of the year he wanted to break Walker s record and did. He wanted to throw 80 feet and he did it. He wanted to throw the 16-pound shot 66 feet and did. In fact, at a meet on May 5, he won the high school and open shot put events winning the high school part with a then record breaking 77-fbot heave and then win ning the open division with a toss of 66-4 beating, you might have guessed it, Walker. And now Carter wants to go to the 1980 Olympics. And he proba bly can and will if he can break loose of Mustang Mania for one year. It seems Mustang head football coach, Ron Meyer may have Mania on the brain and wants Carter to play football next year instead of concentrating on making the Olympic team. The defensive line is no place for a world-class shot putter. Besides, if he is that good of a football player, he will still have three more years left at SMU to make his shot at pro football. Maybe Meyer is worried Carter will do so well in Moscow that after he comes back, you will see him sitting next to Bruce Jenner, eating Wheaties and telling how he got to the Olympics. Or holding up his American Express card. Shot putting may not be the nationl pastime and will never bring in many fans, but hey Ron, football isn’t everything. Nissalke rockets to Utah to coach Jazz United Press International SALT LAKE CITY — The own ers of the Utah Jazz ended two months of speculation Monday, naming Tom Nissalke as head coach of the newly moved NBA franchise. Jazz General Manager Frank Layden had been attempting to woo Nissalke away from the Houston Rockets since April, to succeed Elgin Baylor. Layden was at first rebuffed by Rockets owner George Maloof. But when Layden officially became Jazz general manager June 1, Maloof changed his mind, allow ing Layden to talk with Nissalke. Nissalke is returning to the state where he coached the Utah Stars of the defunct American Basketball Association four years ago. He has been with Houston for the past three seasons, coaching the Rockets to a 47-35 record last year and a berth in the 1979 NBA Eastern Con ference playoffs. Maloof purchased the Rockets at the end of the season and had named Nissalke s assistant Del Har ris as coach, offering Nissalke the general managership. But Nissalke declined, saying he could not accept a one-year contract. The terms of the Jazz contract were not disclosed, but the 44- year-old coach said it was a multi year pact that was the “best and fairest” in his 12 years as a profes sional coach- He named Gene Littles and Hal Wissel as his Jazz assistants. Littles is a former ABA player with Carolina and Kentucky and comes to Utah after two years as head coach at North Carolina A&T. Wis sel was head coach at Florida South ern and had been an assistant for the Atlanta Hawks. “It was not just a question of get ting another job in basketball,” Nis salke said. “Salt Lake is a great town. And I like what I knew about Frank, and felt we could work to gether in any situation.” Nissalke said if Pete Maravich can come back from knee surgery, and if Rich Kelley and Spencer Haywood “play the way they were at the end of last season, we have three solid fall, “but we’ll play exciting basket ball. And, if the players we have don’t want to work hard, we ll get players who do.” “When I was at Atlanta the fans knew we didn’t have a chance for the NBA title, but they loved the Hawks because they played hard in every game. That’s the kind of bas- players from which to build.” Layden said the Jazz probably ketbalfteam we want next fall will not be an NBA contender next “First we have to develop a solid organization,” Layden said. “But it may take three years before the Jazz will be consistently competitive.” Earlier Monday Maloof said he had reached an agreement with Nis- salke’s attorney on ending his Hous ton contract, which had one year remaining. Details of that settle ment also were not disclosed. Martin Yankee back at conrols LOW COST FLIGHTS EUROPE-ALL CITIES (212) 689-8980 Outside N.Y. State See 1-800-223-7676 "The Center for Student Travel' 1140 BROADWAY. N.Y.C.. N.Y. NATURALLY LIGHT LUNCH Come to the Sbisa Dining Center Basement. The fresh crisp salad items are almost unlimit-^ ed and the superb sandwiches are made with big loaves of bread baked daily for this special purpose. If you are dieting you may also wish to try a bowl of natural freestone peaches. No sugar has been added to these beautiful peaches. Q(ja|ity Rrst . Open 10:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m. Mon.-Fri. .ester Rolofil sing of hishol ;e his battle a Astros win in 18th rallies andiM United Press International HOUSTON — Craig Reynolds singled down the right-field line to ledge thatlit ,l r j ve j n j u ii 0 Gonzalez from third ies. base with none out in the 18th in permit staki jjj n g \fl onc [ a y night to lift the Hous ton Astros to a 3-2 victory over the nith fexasttj New York Mets. her statesWB Pinch-hitter Reggie Baldwin sin- y had gati»! gl e d to open the 18th off loser Tom dondayquol'pHausman, 0-2. Terry Puhl then s saying the drew a walk and Gonzalez was in- iroundthel serted as a pinch-runner for Baldwin. Both runners advanced on repared to i* |r tate govern* | care facility date on -affiliated hoff: ate. ; and even to' support his i: f state contw what a passed ball by John Stearns before Reynolds delivered the game winning hit past a drawn-in infield. The contest was the longest in the majors this season. Bert Roberge, 1-0, pitched the final three innings for the victory, yielding three hits and striking out two. Alan Ashby’s single to right- center field in the fifth inning drove in Jeff Leonard from second base and tied the score 2-2. United Press International NEW YORK — The New York Yankees Monday officially reap pointed Billy Martin as their new manager six months ahead of schedule. Martin was supposed to return as the club’s manager under a two-year contract starting with the 1980 sea son but will replace Bob Lemon immediately in an effort to rally the World Champion Yankees from an eight-game deficit in the American League East. After a secret meeting between Martin and Yankee owner George Steinbrenner in Columbus, Ohio, Sunday, a move was set in motion to elevate Lemon to the position of general manager and make Martin the manager in the homestand start ing tonight against Toronto. Martin was in Columbus on a scouting as signment and Steinbrenner was there for business purposes. Steinbrenner announced Martin’s reappointment in a brief statement. “The past few days have been ex tremely difficult for all of us,” Stein brenner said in the statement. “Bob Lemon is a very close personal friend and a fine man. He and I sat together in Texas to discuss the entire situation. He was in agree ment with my assessment and felt as I did that in the best interest of the team, perhaps a change was in or der. We will welcome him into our front office family. He did a magnifi cent job for us in 1978 in a miracle finish which will probably never again be duplicated.” Martin will take control of the Yankees starting with tonight’s game against the Blue Jays. “Billy is prepared to assume command of the team tomorrow night and I am hopeful that he will be able to turn the ballclub around and make a run at the cham pionship,’ said the Yankees owner said Monday. “We have had several meetings and while at times our dis cussions may have seemed repeti tive to each of us, I feel that we are on the same wavelength for what will be necessary to turn the team S CLEANER&J /E AS AN E® NE RS BUT WE; ALTERING !#■ G DRESSES, TAJ EAN HEMS, * ETC. E JUST A FE ; NORTH Of mart.) ers , UNK 1 A few million miles went into the making of this music. Qnemileatatime. “One for the Road,” the new double album from Willie Nelson and Leon Russell. Listen to it, and if by chance there comes a tear, it’s just a speck of dust in your eye... from the road. around. I am confident that Billy can get the job done. I have made a decision which I felt was necessary for the team and for our fans. Time will tell whether it was the right one.” Lemon, who has three more years to go on his contract, was relieved. “My only concern is remaining in baseball in some capacity,” he said. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be in uniform.” Martin’s first change is expected to be the return of Art Fowler as pitching coach. McKenzie-Baldwin BUSINESS COLLEGE Inquire About Our Term Starting July 10 Phone 822-6423 or 822-2368 Xlu-ee favorite nestiiuf grounds all close to A&M. J£ Professional management by Brentwood Properties ‘AVAILABLE AT YOUR FAVORITE RECORD STORE