Making the grade
Academic policies paying off for A&M athletes
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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
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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
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Our Greenville Division will be on campus interviewing February 14, 1983.
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