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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1983)
Texas A&M LIK nt of tbejl n Febman •stified tkl; >se of thes u- ief Deputy® suspensions •d a paid't The Battalion Sports Wednesday, November 2, 1983/The Battalion/Page 13 I is inn ty. laintainingi! unship w arsity Level II 5 New classification gives ‘minor sports chance to compete for NCAA championships by Tracey Taylor Battalion Staff ontrary to most Texans’ be- jrprise j there is life outside offootball :ven at Texas A&M. tbly wou fexas A&M, and other Texas (the adm: ; g es anc l universities, offers a least nt e ty of varsity sports for men id. women. develop! lut some of these sports — this he dairy r designated as riflery and He on Tu« nen s soccer — are considered les Com ity sports of a different kind, .'ommitto . participants don’t get special endraenl e tic dorms, they don’t get e Houst jlarships, they don’t get to fly being tl ir-away competitions and they hie. ’t often hear the roar of large • Agricul vds. ct. 18 to hese teams are classified as and go teel II varsity sports — part of • confert: Athletic Department, but at d that at same time separate. , paving arsity Level II is a classifica- •ral ainc; distinct from the other three passed dsi of athletic competition at lairy fan VI (intramural, club sports and in. ;ity). The special status was ire woul roved last month after two cry 100| rs |of study by the Athletic 130 perc ,ncil and an ad hoc committee uld asse ointed by the Texas A&M [00 poui iident Frank E. Vandiver, its of the die committee’s goal was to try SS thpm 1 : airyp d also rds y 50 cents and provide an opportunity for certain club sports to compete in NCAA competition. Varsity status gives all teams the chance to compete in national tournaments at the NCAA level. But for level II teams that’s about all the status guarantees. The approved policy statement on the Varsity Level II status states that no athletic scholarships will be given and room and board for players of Varsity Level II sta tus will not be provided. And yet they’re called varsity teams for scheduling purposes. Dr. Tom Adair, director of the Texas A&M Athletic Council, said the distinction is the amount of money available for the two levels. “Promoting a team to varsity status can cost anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000,’’ Adair said. “If a team is competing nationally and we don’t feel the Athletic De partment can take on the financial responsibility of a new varsity sport, what can you do?” What they did was create Varsi ty Level II. But the money for level II sports does not come from the $6 million dollar athletic budget. It comes partly from the Intramural Office and partly from ‘Scholarships and funding are not the purpose. Level II is a way for the student body to become involved as a student athlete ~~~ rather than a scho~ on the new Level II student activities funds. “Funding was our only prob lem,” Adair said. “So, our goal was to create a level responsible to two organizations in the University System. The Athletic Department is responsible only for seeing that the players meet NCAA eligibility rules — the Intramural depart ment handles the daily adminis tration.” The two committees also set some guidelines that a team must meet before it can be considered for Level II status. The adopted guidelines state that a team must have participated as an extramural club sport for four years, have the recommendation of the Director of Intramural- Recreational Sports, and have ac cess to “adequate facilities without interfering with the other univer sity programs” before being consi dered. There must also be an NCAA championship offered for that sport and the team must receive the approval from the athletic director, the Athletic Council and the University president. John David Crow, the associate athletic director at Texas A&M and A&M’s only Heisman trophy winner, said that sports like riffery are chosen because they offer something extra to Texas A&M. “A team like the rifle team, while not exactly a spectator sport, offers many things to this Univer sity,” he said. “They’re competing on a national level, and they’re good. “And with the emphasis on the military in this school, I was kind of surprised when I found out we didn’t already have one. ” Crow believes that money should not be a factor in creating Level II sports. “Scholarships and funding are not the purpose,” Crow said, “Level II is a way for the student body to become involved as a stu dent athlete — rather than a scho larship athlete. Adair also agrees that scholar ships are not the key to competi tive sports. “The more we stay away from scholarship things — the better off we ll be,” he said. There are people, however, that think differently. One of them, rifle team coach Maj. Richard M. Pitts, says the new status his team received changed some things for the team, but he could still use additional help. “The varsity status allows us to compete in the NCAA champion ships,” Pitts said. “And that’s what we need to be considered a nation al competitor. “But we re not getting any more money because of it, and lack of funds is critical to us. Right now, I don’t have enough air rifles to shoot two (three-man) teams. The money we’ve got won’t even cover travel expenses.” As for support from the athletic- department, Pitts said it’s great from a moral standpoint. “We get a lot of ‘Thatta boys’ and Keep it ups’ from them, ” Pitts said. “They like us because we win — last year we were first in the Southwest Conference, and 17th in the nation. Right now we re sit ting at about 13th overall.” “But sometimes it’s hard to compete with the top 10 universi ties, because they all can give scholarships,” he said. “Eastern Kentucky offers $6,000 worth of scholarships to their shooters.” Adair said that there are no plans to offer scholarships to the Level II participants in the im mediate future. In fact, there are no plans to include the teams in the athletic department budget. The teams will be granted their $7,500 from the Intramural Office on a year-to-year basis. Overall, however, rifle coach Pitts said he is thrilled with the opportunities the varsity status offers his team. “The rifle team will keep com peting, keep winning,” he said, “because we’ve got the talent. Sure, money would be great, but we ll take what we can get. ” •ella >chram: Halas greatly influenced NFL or ns Intemilio ■United Press International )ALLAS — Dallas Cowboys sident and general manager Schramm said Tuesday Na tal Football League pioneer trgc Halas should be remem- ed most for simply keeping the rt alive in the years before rid War II. PON, t fhe Chicago Bears owner, who leaf pla- 1 Monday night, had a strong tbrelfastri; W ith the Cowboys since he years ago the team’s sponsor when it e's a gari trying to gain admission into table cold: Ni-’L ant i since he agreed to hape, riklas ploy of signing quarterback , 18 inchtti Meredith and running back in diamelih Perkins to personal service r shaft ( tracts in 1959. the bastThe last coach Halas fired, Neill ize it. nstrong, is now employed by me can be- Cowboys. plantsi: His greatest contribution to ing, to ^National Football League was f seedling! he kept it going from 1920 to w early 0,” said Schramm. “Nobody [la Cold )ws h ow much money he id, fromC-ned people. He even kept the Flynn Avticago Cardinals going and they :01. re in the same town.” Dallas was granted an NFL chise in 1960, at the same eting which resulted in the hir- of Pete Rozelle as the league’s missioner. But before the hut W-prchise was awarded, Schramm led Meredith and Perkins to MG RITA'jttracts that committed them to “;i Oif*" , ^ying with the Cowboys. HRISTW “\y or d W ent out to all the clubs to draft those players,” said irarnm, whose team was not ~wed to participate in the 1960 ft. “That word came from ■. He was the leader of the uSW league. He even drafted Meredith in the third round I think it was to make sure nobody else would do so. “Halas also stayed out of the commissioner’s fight at that same meeting. That fight (over the hir ing of the new commissioner) lasted seven days an it caused a lot of acrimony and split the league into camps. “But Halas stayed out of the de bates and even passed on some of the votes because he didn’t want to create any ill feelings that would reflect on the expansion.” Schramm got his start in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams, where he rose from publicity director to general manager. “The thing I remember more than anything else about Halas,” said Schramm, “was actually a very little thing. This was in a league meeting when I was with the Rams and you have to realize in those days there were only a few teams and everybody was very close. “I got up and was talking, trying to defend a point or whatever it wqjs, and some of the peopje started jumping on me. Halas got up and took my position. And I knbw he did it because he thought it was unfair that they were doing something to somebody who was scared to death and hadn’t been in there for very long. “I always remembered him doing that. He got up and said something and all of a sudden the attitude changed. Armstrong was dismissed as coach of the Bears in 1981. He is now a part of . Dallas’ research team, which is charged with pour ing over films of the opposition in search of weaknesses. “Every meeting I ever had with Mr. Halas was good except the last one,” said Armstrong. “That meeting (in which Armstrong was fired) was the last time I saw him. That day was hard on him and hard on me. But it was held in a businesslike manner. “He was respected and feared. His teams were always feared. 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