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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 1982)
sports Battalion/Page 15 March 25, 1982 harles Thornton Associate AD wants winners in every sport TANK MCNAMARA K . .WlK, How ARE TUlN&e? COWKl AT 5>PRlNi6 by Jeff Millar & Bill Hinds _ id Fishti first irow ^eep. by Gaye Denley Battalion Staff New associate athletic dire- |tor Charles J. Thornton’s leasons for coming to Texas ll&M sound a little like Jackie I herrill's, and his goals for the Ichool’s athletic programs bring mind the familiar “pre- |mmence” sought by H.R. Bum” Bright. “In all sports, we want to be ational in scope,” the former I diversity of Alabama assistant liD says. “We want to be com- etitive to where we’re a nation- ‘ (contender), and we want, for ic average year, for our team to in the top three in the confer ee in every sport, and to be in e national picture also.” Texas A&M, he said, perhaps iore than any other school in e country, has that kind of tential. “When Jackie called, I felt like was probably the best ipportunity in America at this :ne in the area of football and hleticadministration,” he said. Certainly Thornton, 45, ings with him the administra- ve qualifications to make the ggies winners. Since early in |is college career he has been mtinuously involved in some ret of athletics — as sports edi- r of the Arkansas State Uni- rsity newspaper for four ^ “ars, as the chairman of the CAA public relations commit- 1 e, and as an athletic adminis- | ator for Arkansas State, | ulane University, the Universi- of Miami, and, of course, Ala- ^ TU6. CATCHERS' AMP PnCUERS- HAVE AEEl\/EP. TME 8XKIES AMP tVWE ARKIVEP. ^ AMP TOPAY TMG A12RWAU OP TVA6. EXPCMfHv/E. PKCT AAEMT Nuggets win 129-115 Denver’s defense beats San Antonio Associate Athletic Director Charles J. Thorton ma. His 18-year affiliation with I lahama ended Jan. 23, when Texas A&M head coach and AD ickie Sherrill announced that hornton would replace in terim associate AD Wally Groff, who now acts as associate AD for f uance. It was during 1964, his first Bear with Coach Paul “Bear” ryant’s Crimson Tide, that he number fccame acquainted with Sher- menii better "1 kir t out 2 ialance^ senk* L SlUltl welt' n wouH for tl* rience i ranked ; edge: io. to conK ignored ingbat o will bt nationi trips owdoes favored i career us’ firf e to pi? he said id were lals cap iwn t* , are Pj lexas A&M ouisw r “I knew Jackie for two years there as a player,” Thornton Said. “The thing I remember ab- I at Jackie is that he was not a great athlete, but he was a super competitor... “Jackie and I have remained quaintances over the years, in close friends particularly, it I think it was a mutual Imiration thing from a dis tance. When this opportunity came along, I knew enough ab- I at Jackie Sherrill to know that the man is a winner and a class person, the type of person I Jould want to be associated After years of hearing Bryant I fid former Aggie football play- |rs talk about the traditions |ere, Thornton said he felt a school he Muld want to be associated I ith. T’ve known so many liggies...” he said, “...and they ill speak with that little special learn in their eye when they talk jut A&M, and it holds a spe- al place in their heart.” One unique aspect of Texas A&M, he said, will make hisjob a lot easier — the role of the Aggie Club. “Most schools today have a se rious financial problem in that they’re having to get out and raise two or three million dollars when they haven’t been used to doing it,” Thornton said. “A&M is used to doing that. They have the Aggie Club.” “It takes it out of Jackie’s and my area of responsibility — of having that tremendous load on our shoulders — of having to raise money before we do any thing else.” While the Aggie Club raises funds and Sherrill runs the foot ball program, Thornton will be running the day-to-day opera tions of the athletic department from former head coach Tom Wilson’s old office. A few of his concerns are assembling the entire depart ment in one set of offices — cur rently, the football offices are in Rudder Tower and all other sports offices are in G. Rollie White Coliseum — and looking into a special events center for the campus. “Basketball would not be the lone reason, or possibly even the most important reason (for a center),” he said. “I think the students of this university de serve a place to have concerts and things we bring in, main attractions.” In addition, Thorton said his office will re-organize some areas of the department as soon as the evaluation of all coaches and staff has been completed. All of which is geared to make Texas A&M the nationally feared power that a school like Alabama is. And Thornton adds his name to the list of qualified personnel who are in some position to see that the Aggies do it. Thornton guarantees it. “Very few people will ever go through the era that Alabama enjoyed during the 1970s,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to ba a part ol five national cham pionship teams... “Basically, the Alabama fan is very complacent. An 8-3 record is a disaster for Alabama. “We’re going to make y’all complacent." United Press International DENVER —r- An aggressive defense and accurate shooting from the foul line gave Denver a 129-115 win over San Antonio, narrowing the Spurs’ Midwest Division lead to SVh games. Dan Issel and Alex English had 25 points each Wednesday and Glen Gondrezick and Ced- rick Hordges combined for 28 more to pace the Nuggets to their eighth straight win and im prove Denver’s record to 38-30. “The key was our defense, we were really aggressive,” said De nver coach Doug Moe. “We did a great job on the defensive boards, especially in the second half. We fought over screens and forced turnovers. It wasjust extraordinary.” Denver trailed 30-21 late in the first quarter. But the Nug gets closed the gap to five after one period and used a 41-point second quarter to take a 69-60 halftime lead. “1 thought we might blow them out a couple of times, but we couldn’t make a couple of shots,” Moe said. “We had a good game and they didn’t. And we’ve become a little more phy sical recently and that’s helped against teams like San Antonio. Earlier this season we let ourselves get pushed around. But we’re holding our ground now.” George Gervin paced San Antonio with 25 points and Mike Mitchell had 22. T.R. Dunn, saddled with the job of guarding Gervin, said it was impossible to keep him from scoring. “George is such an outstand ing player, he’s unbelievable,” said Dunn. “You can put two or three guys on him and he still scores 25. I just tried to overplay him, and fortunately the guys on the weak side helped out a lot.” Denver also hit 37 of 46 free throw attempts, with Issel drop ping 13 of 14. Spurs coach Stan Albeck wasn’t happy with the 37 fouls whistled on his team. “There’s a license in the league for the Nuggets to get fouled when they go to the hoop,” Albeck said. “You have to keep them off the foul line to win. If you don’t do that, you don’t have a chance.” But he said he still felt “De nver can’t catch us.” V. Highlighting, Perms Free Consultations 505 University Drive Suite 805 College Station 846-4771 ^ 3r<f Jlftbucil flyjie SoftWl lovrney *~Jeam Irophte^ individual 'Trophies JLst-'Tlh rTVP 'Trophty on T/2 -fcclds (Jcih TTl Umpires [Ejltrces Open Plarcli '.ali UlcO-HUH or come bp dSH OuVN MILLER HIGH LIFE and TAMU TRAP & SKEET INVITATIONAL March 27 Saturday 10 a.m. Bryan-College Station Gun Club All Proceeds Will Go To Benefit the United Way! Sponsored by UNITED WAY Brazos Beverages Inc. 505 Hwy. 2818 822-3623 CELEBRATION OF COLOR Anniversary Sale iamond Room 3731 E 28th S46-4708 — Bryan 707 Shopping Village 693-7444 College Station V