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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1983)
Making the grade Academic policies paying off for A&M athletes er h\: ' Ui by Frank L. Christlieb Battalion Staff r During the past few years, graduation rates of Texas A&M student-athletes have been high- eijthan those of other South west conference schools. Fig ures released annually by the diversity and the SWC show that approximately half of the athletes who enter Texas A&M f'eceive their degrees, whereas about 30 percent of those who enter the eight other confer ence schools wind up finishing Mir degree work. J°to*B)r. Don Hunt, the athletes’ academic counselor, says ef forts n 8 mf are being made by the Texas AiM Athletic Department to ity Cor improve those statistics — and ,^ the academic achievement of all lined W' e stu d ent-at hletes. cAnfriJjfl nder the guidance of Athle- anauQ^Bhirectoi and Head Football mbersuBirh Jackie Sherrill and Hunt, academics have taken a position of increased importance unexpl autopsv ibodvol DS is of increased importance at Texas A&M. With the enforce ment of study halls, monitoring of class attendance and im provement of the athletic tuto- ntroreraH program, positive results have been the norm, mtrol b® or exam ple, of the 10 foot- )all players who finished their ithletic eligibility during the iveprulidfil season, six graduated in nancies i he spring of 1982 and one gra- i onedfuated in December. And more the Lt'eccntly, the Aggie freshman ee childpotbali class of 26 players , suppos urned in a fall performance over hat included an overall 2.6 Naeve. pride point ratio. The GPRs feathsh anged from just one below 2.0 Health md the highest — a 3.69. Blunt said the strong grades sed asp'eren’t unexpected, since the hebreal 1982-83 freshman class of foot- tafterkB players entered Texas A&M n thehcforting an average high school dPR of 2.93 and an average idicated iclolastic Aptitude Test score ^ : .if7l; dies, buiBt was a combination of fac- )S pjtal3tB, but it really comes down naldsaiiBn the top,” he said. “Coach perrill expects them to do well, fetlk 1 they responded to what we sked them to do.” .hi addition to working with tilent-athletes currently en- cd, the Athletic Department encouraged former Texas ^ athletes who haven’t Ihed their degree wcxrk to do mong those who have re- Don Hunt says academics being stressed for athletes turned to the University to con tinue pursuing their degrees are former Texas A&M football players Curtis Dickey, Jacob Green and James Zachery and former basketball player David Britton. Zachery, who’s been playing for the Montreal Concordes (formerly the Alouettes) in the Canadian Football League since his Texas A&M athletic eligibil ity expired after the 1979 sea son, said he expects to get his physical education degree next spring. “Football isn’t something you can depend on your whole life, because you can only play so long before you have to quit,” Zachery said. “It’s always wise to have something to turn to when you’re through playing, and a degree can really help you be come a regular citizen again.” Zachery said he needs 10 more hours to become eligible for his degree. “It’s a completion of a goal, because that’s what I set out to do when I entered college,” he said. “That’s really the most im portant thing, because when people set goals, they like to meet them.” Hunt said Athletic Depart ment officials would like to see all former Texas A&M athletes who are involved in professional sports return to finish their de gree work. “Were making a conscien tious effort through personal contact to invite the kids to come back to school, and to provide them with w r hatever services they may need,” Flunt said. “We’re just letting them know that it’s available and that we would be willing to help them.” Hunt said, however, that more important is the academic performance of current Texas A&M student-athletes. “We’re letting everyone know that just because their eligibility is up doesn’t mean we’re casting them aside,” he said. “We’re still interested in what they’re doing and in their graduation. We want them to graduate from Texas A&M. “But in all of our dealings with prospects, the first thing our coaches stress is academics. We’ve had 94 (football) pros pects visit this year, and the First thing our coaches tell them is that we’re going to have a win ning football team, but it’s going to built from the bottom and built correctly. “We’re not in the football business at Texas A&M. That’s part of it, but we’re in the busi ness of educating people. If we don’t build our program with that in mind, then we won’t have solid program both in athletics Wholesale Gems Authenticity Guaranteed Proceeds go to Company S-2 2604493 for personal show ing booth in MSC Feb. 14 8t 15. Quantity Discount. rge. \bu gotta love McDonald's special Valentine. and academics.” Hunt said if student-athletes aren’t provided with a strong academic atmosphere, it could have a harmful ef fect on recruit ing of potential athletes. “In a preview of what (pros pects’) stay at Texas A&M will be like,” he said, “we want to emphasize the academic aspect of it. If we break someone in here and they play for four years and then we just send them off into the sunset, they’re not going to have anything good to say ab out Texas A&M. “You just don’t pluck some one out of a particular area of the country, bring them here and see them forget about where they’re from ... and those people involved in their recruit ing, whether it be high school counselors, principals or coaches. It’s all meshed together. If an institution takes advantage of a young man’s athletic ability and he doesn’t reach a certain level of academic success, then the school will have a hard time going back into his neighborhood again (to re cruit).” Of the Aggie football players whose athletic eligibility expired See ACADEMICS page 13 Sampson destined for NBA stardom Ralph Sampson will be the greatest hasket- ball player who ever lived. Ralph will be the flagship of the National Basketball Associa tion. But it won’t happen overnight — it’ll be five or six years down the road. The reason for this is that he comes from a very small town in Harrisonburg, Va., and has been relatively cloistered at the University of Virginia. He’s never had the opportunity of a -Collet —Basketball —flewiew- by Al McGuire Kareem Abdui-Jabbar in the Big Apple, a Wilt Chamberlain in the City of Brotherly Love, or a Bill Walton in Tinsel Town, where they play ed against college and pro players on local playgrounds while still in their teens. That kind of competitive edge matured them to reach their potentials early in life. But once Ralph gets his competitive edge through pro ball, he’ll be the greatest big man that ever played hoops. Great basketball players are made from April through October, not November through March. That’s when they get the edge on the competition. That’s why it’s called “The City Game.” Another reason Ralph is going to need some time is because his upper body strength is only now coming through weight training and age. When you’re 7-feet-4-inches, all the vitamins go vertically rather than horizontally. But Sampson is awesome. There is no glar ing albatross in his arsenal. He’s mobile, quick off his feet. He intimidates. He can one-man zone the paint (free-throw lane), and on the offensive end he can bottom it out from 18 feet. He can play facing or with his back to the basket. And, he can put the ball on the floor. Personally, as a friend, I think Sampson was wrong in not going pro last year, because he lost one of his chess tools, which was his final year in college. Now he has to go pro. He will not get one of the media cities, the glamour cities, like New York or Los Angeles. But give the kid credit. He’s living in the age he’s at, enjoying the moment he’s in. Not enough people do that. For years, people went to see Thomas Jef ferson’s university, Monticello and all that goes with it. Well, Sampson has pushed Jefferson off the lawn. For four years, it has become Ralph Sampson’s — not Thomas Jefferson’s -r— university. After he leaves, Virginia goes back to a nice, comfortable, academic environment again. They’ve had their run, they’ve won the NTT and been to the Final Four of the NCAA. And I believe they’ll be taking their last heavyweight trip to Albuquerque, N.M., for the Final Four in late March. -drive 1 fiieqdfy^ Texas Office of Traffic Safety If you are a man or woman who has or is about to receive a degree in ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING why not put that degree to work in the Air National Guard? Upon completion of the Academy of Military Science, you'll be commissioned as an Air National Guard Officer. Consider the Air National Guard as you think about your future. We re a modern service with an interest in the future. Contact your Air Guard Recruiter by calling collect (713) 727-2336. THE AIR GUARD — THE MOST IMPORTANT PART TIME JOB IN AMERICA. E-Systems continues the tradition of the world’s great problem solvers. Developing the ana lytical theory known by his name, Joseph Fourier gave the world a basic tool for engineering analysis and system design. 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