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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1982)
Battalion/Page 11 November 16, 1982 sports Experience Kowal’s tennis partner Jities ? off the table rs X-amountofi iber of downs|i inkings on ')• We told then: ange the more, k the incentives; iged severance; third-year plaw because the n’t change, we he back end. .It , severance pi r players up to As it reads nm up to 10 yean. 1 roney from thel ear players arnil >ney and gavet rr players/ on Kowal, a senior member of the Aggie men’s tennis team, has emerged as one of the top players jin the Southwest Conference during his Texas A&M career. Here, Kowal hits a backhand against an op ponent during the 1981-82 season. by Joe Tindel Jr. Battalion Staff The weather was abominable three years ago when a highly confident young tennis prospect arrived in College Station. Ironically, the reason Ron Kowal wanted to play tennis at Texas A&M lie in the nature of the weather — more specifically, varmer climate. And like almost everyone else, he liked the people here. Kowal didn’t figure tennis at Aggieland would let him down a few notches, though. In Naper ville, Ill., he was the big man on the high school campus. At Texas A&M, he was that new guy with the Midwestern ac cent. “When I came here, I just got off winning the Illinois state men’s singles title,” said Kowal, now the captain of the Aggie tennis team. “I was ranked in the top 35 in the nation. I was the king of the hill back home as far as the first state champion out of our high school. “I was real popular. I’m not being conceited, I mean (tennis) was just a popular thing, and I came down here with a head that probably couldn’t fit through the coach’s door.” Kowal was quickly humbled. His new surroundings were enough to stifle his first few attempts at showing the local fans he was for real, as the com petition turned out to be a little tougher than he expected. “I got down here and started playing college ball and all of the sudden, you found me at the bottom of the barrel,” Kowal said. “I mean it was a very big adjustment. The competition was so much tougher. The pressure they put on you from coming out of a place like that and then coming in to college tennis is so much more' stre nuous.” It was David Kent, the Aggies’ head coach, who let Kowal know that his case of “freshmanitis” was a completely normal thing and that it would pass with ex perience. As it turned out, Kent’s treat ment was the remedy for the ail ment. Kowal finished his fresh man season as half of one of the SWC’s champion doubles teams. “I established myself as a doubles player,” Kowal said. “At that time, I had so much press ure on me in singles, I couldn’t accomplish any part of my full game because I was so tight and so tense. So when I’d go on the doubles court, I had someone there to talk to and someone there to get all this pressure off me.” He returned for his sopho more year recognized as a dou bles player but still lacking some thing in singles. In fact, it wasn’t until last season that Kowal made a name for himself as a singles player, making it all the way to the Southwest Confer ence No. 6 singles finals last spring. As Tom Judson’s partner Mustangs’ initial goal victory from reality appears the S’ igenow is agree! , Garvey said® gone back on v promises. He vuncil withdre* istate certain pb i*rp rut hefotf: United Press International Lou Holtz and Bobby Collins egan preparations Monday lor - Ire game a lot of people have ^ I Been waiting for and F.A. Dry A I r J S Began work for the game he ^ "idn’t want to see — his last at exas Christian University. TCU Chancellor William E. ucker, saying his school was lot a “win at any cost institu- |on,” fired Dry Monday, the vcond dismissal in as many tch at windoiv’S«Bears in the Southwest Confer- e in front of Cl pice. “We do, however,” said ucker, “want to enjoy winning day and sopli :asons and to become a consis- o so betweenM( ;ntly tough competitor.” Texas A&M was the last jue school to fire a coach, urchase dckeist lumping Tom Wilson and then day may buytl 0 oming up with more than $1 8 a.m. and million to hire Jackie Sherrill (way from Pittsburgh. Speculation as to Dry’s suc- lessor centered around a num- ler of coaches already in the rea — chief among them for- ner TCU quarterback Chuck urtis, currently a successful fech at Cleburne High School. | Dry’s firing came as no sur- rise ( since he had been under Iressure to produce a meaning- ul improvement in the win col- imn this year. Don’t have any long faces,” )ry told meeting yith Tucker early Monday. !You don’t have to feel sorry for He.” Dry has two years remain- [igon his contract and TCU is ibligated to pay him for that leriod of time. In six years at TCU, Dry Hade obvious gains in the com- witive level of the Horned fogs. Nevertheless, they have ton only 12 games during Dry’s enure (three this year) with a Inal chance for No. 13 coming text Saturday in College Station J fgainst Texas A&M. Collins, meanwhile, has a bancefor 12victories in his first eason at SMU — taking a 10-0 eoord into next Saturday’s ittraction with Holtz’ Arkansas I AfiGIE CMEMAJ M S C PRESENT "This school is our home, we think it's worth defending" I scb iseum. Juniors® etween 7 a. ic same day. and other stud# s host TCU while Texaspl*l co at 2 p.m uy S $ 3 to the $Q00 $K75 es Razorbacks. The game will be televised by ABC-TV from Texas Stadium beginning at 2:50 p.m. “This one is for the outright Southwest Conference cham pionship,” said Collins, “and that was our goal from the start. And with that goes the Cotton Bowl trip and that is something our players felt they were dep rived of last year (being ineligi ble for the bowl game because of NCAA probation). “But we know the only way we can win a national champion ship is to win this game and the next one. That means this game is very important. But in the context of the national cham pionship, all the other ones were important, too.” Collins was facing the task of calming his players after their frantic 34-27 win over Texas Tech. That victory, SMU’s 14th in a row, came about only be cause of a trick kickoff return after Tech had tied the game with 17 seconds remaining. The SMU coach admitted Monday that things got out of hand on the SMU bench after Bobby Leach had run 91 yards for the winning score. “I started screaming for peo ple to get off the field (after the score),” said Collins, “and I real ized that there were 45,000 peo ple in the stands, 200 football players, cheerleaders, band members and an awful lot of other people around. “And not one soul was paying any attention to me. “I was trying to get the extra point team on the field and I turned around and asked one of my assistants where they were. He said, ‘coach, they are in the end zone.’” NOTICE Our retirement planning cre dentials are impeccable. 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It was a season of near misses, as the duo fell in three sets to both the eventual NCAA champs and the runners-up. They missed the NCAA tourna ment “by a hair,” Kowal said. “We just played so much together that it just wasn’t there any more,” he said. “It was like getting a divorce, as the coach put it.” Last season, Kowal teamed with Greg Hill to form the duo that made it to the semifinals of the SWC tourney. Being part of a doubles team perhaps goes along with Kowal’s philosophy of the game. He’s a team player, he said, and not so much an individualist. It’s his team perspective that’s helped him be the team captain for the past three years. Off the court, he uses his leadership abilities as a resident adviser in Cain Hall. But he said he’s still con cerned about setting an example by improving his own game. “As far as where I would like to be right now, 1 don’t ever think I really punched through as well as I should in singles,” Kowal said of his accomplish ments. “I think I’m trying to make a come-through now. I’ve had some good matches and played well, but I don’t think I’ve been as consistent at win ning as I would like to be. “That’s something that I’m trying to work on this year. I’d like to come through and make a strong performance — at least play at the level that I think I should be playing every time I go out onto the court.” Kowal and the Aggie men’s tennis team have finished their fall competition, but still ahead are this weekend’s NCAA in door qualifying matches in Fort Worth. ZETA BETA TAU FRATERNITY ZETA BETA TAU Fraternity is forming a new chapter here at Texas A&M University. Z(3T offers these advantages: NO PLEDGING BECOME AN ACTIVE NOW SCHOLARSHIP AIDS JOB PLACEMENT SERVICE For more information call: Jay R. Gotlieb National Rep Tonight Organizational Meeting 6 p.m. Room 100 Holiday Inn ZETA BETA TAU FRATERNITY - FOUNDED 1898 A Brotherhood of Kappa Nu, Phi Alpha, Phi Epsilon Pi, Phi Sigma Delta, Zeta Beta Tau 3rd Annual Miller Lite/92 KTAW Radio/United Way 10,000 Meter Road Race The Brazos Center Sunday, November 21,1982 2:00 pm In consideration of acceptance of this entry, 1 waive any and all claims for myself and my hiers against officials or the Brazos Beverages, Inc./United Way/92 KTAW RADIO, race sponsors of the 1982 Miller Lite 10,000 Meter Road Race, for injury of illness which may result directly or indirectly from my participation. I further state that I am in proper physical condition to partici pate in this event. $5 entry fee payable to Road Runner Club. ..FIRST NAME: ,CITY: LAST NAME: MAILING ADDRESS:: HOME TELE: ( )- - //OFFICE TELE: ( )- T-SHIRT SIZE (50/50): S, M, L, XL (circle) // Est. TIME. SIGNATURE: (parent if under 18 years) ., SEX: M/F AGE: .(on race day) MAIL TO: 3rd ANNUAL MILLER LITE 10,000 Meter Road Race//Race Director 1408 Lemon Tree, College Station, Texas 77840