Thursday, June 13, 1985TThe Battalion/Page 7
PORTS
“Guns’, Gamblers’ USFL futures look
^ ^ I Associated Press
-DlAlt I SAN ANTONIQ — n Clinton
Manges is a superstitious man, he
E would have had a sense of doom the
light of March 5, 1984, the night the
Ignts went out while his USFL team
playing a nationally televised
ante.
Manges’ newly organized San An
tonio Gunslingers had to wait in the
ark for about 20 minutes before
the lights were restored at Alamo
Itadium.
J Then they took a 35-7 beating at
the hands of the Houston Gamblers.
■ That night has proven a harbin-
^ |er of what was to come for the ill-
Hited Gunslingers, who have had
; few bright moments since.
■ Things haven't been rosy for the
W(Jv Houston Gamblers, either, who have
/ | suffered from plummeting atten
dance and financial problems. All
this, despite a winning 9-7 season so
far.
San Antonio, never a winning
lnli) |n alm ) < )t hal| team, last year finished 7-1 1
I and this year has,struggled to a dis-
mal 4-12 record.
h anno J, But ( | n the S ri ^ ron ha , s
\eat aiiddH mwst ' )cen ^e least of the team s
. |„ ‘ , . worries this year,
i, ■ , ■ leam members have been bat-
i fling the front office for their pav-
, %4 | checks since the season began.
d 5.5 on li
ound mote
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lo.
Paychecks have bounced and have
been as late as five weeks. Finally in
May, the USFL Players Association
stepped in and filed grievances,
forcing payment on two past clue
paychecks.
But that’s just the tip of the ice-
berg.
Manges’ USFL franchise has been
the target of countless lawsuits —
most of them seeking collection on
bad debts.
Fan support has steadily dimin
ished f rom a season-high of 21,800
in the March 10 game against
Tampa Bay to a paltry 4,900 last
Sunday against Los Angeles. The
team sold only 9,700 season tickets.
The Gunslingers have had trou
bles since the franchise was born. A
South Texas oilman and rancher,
Manges stirred up intense opposi
tion when he convinced the San An
tonio school board, in a hastily called
meeting, to grant him a 30-year lease
on Alamo Stadium.
The aging facility for years has
been used for high school athletic
events.
The district still is able to use the
stadium, to which Manges claims to
have added millions of dollars worth
of improvements. He has, in fact,
added artificial turf and a new track.
Manges’ lease on the stadium so
angered residents living near the fa
cility that they filed suit seeking to
have the lease nullified.
A district judge upheld the val
idity of the lease, but the case is still
unaer appeal.
The school board since has had a
change of heart (and of mem
bership) and now is arguing in court
that the lease should be torn up be
cause it was granted during an illegal
meeting.
The controversy, payroll prob
lems and confusion surrounding the
Gunslingers have taken their toll on
the team members, coaches and the
news media.
Head coach Jim Bates resigned
May 18, hours before the team was
to play Oakland.
Players, who San Antonio sports
columnist Kevin O’Keeffe says “lead
the league in patience,” have held
countless stormy meetings where
they discussed walkouts.
Last weekend, the team came
within hours of disbanding before
Manges came up with two overdue
paychecks and preserved his players’
contracts.
The players association had filed a
grievance on behalf of the players
and an arbitrator had ruled if they
were not paid by June 8, all 50 play
ers would become free agents.
Manges has taken many of his
troubles out on the media, banning
certain reporters from the press box
for what he terms “negative” report
ing.
He has blamed San Antonio’s “es
tablishment” for many of his woes,
refusing to get more specific than
saying he is referring to “Republi
cans.”
And he has vowed the team will
survive.
“It’ll be here when all the rest are
gone,” he once said.
Curiously, some team members
still express faith in Manges.
“I know him a little better than the
other players,” linebacker Putt
Choate said. “This football team is
his baby. He really loves it.”
Even though management has not
always run the team in a conventio
nal manner, Choate said he “always
felt like they were doing the best
they could.”
Fans are not so charitable in their
assessment of the team.
Choate said he could not predict
what lies ahead for the Guns.
“Mr. Manges has said he’s going
to have a team next year and it’s
going to be here,” Choate said.
“I don’t think it would do the
league any good for this team to
fold,” he said. “It could be the first
domino,”
shaky
The situation is nearly as shaky
with the Gamblers, where there is
talk of a move.
“There doesn’t seem to be much
incentive for hanging around here if
we can’t get the support,” said owner
Jerry Argovitz.
Argovitz has used the possibility
of moving to chide fans into attend
ing more games.
In a highly publicized promotio
nal effort, the Gamblers offered a $ 1
million annuity to a winning fan if
40,000 people showed up for a May
20 game in the Astrodome against
the Jacksonville Bulls. The drawing
never came off because only 17,127
fans attended.
Gambler team members might
have gone unpaid if not for a $1.5
million loan from the USFL.
The Gamblers have taken a turn
to the worse this year after winning
their division title and making a
playoff appearance last season.
The team made a name for itself
with the imaginative run-and-shoot
offense and a go-for-broke quar
terback Jim Kelly.
The Gamblers appeared headed
for a repeat performance this year
when they won their first five games.
But suddenly the wheels came off
with dwindling attendance and fi
nancial problems.
TANK MCNAMARA 1
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Hip pains won't stop Zoeller at U.S. Open
Associated Press
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I BIRMINGHAM, Mich. — Last
wear Fuzzy Zoeller waved the white
Iflag of surrender at Greg Norman,
hen beat him for the American na-
ional golf championship.
This year, Zoeller refuses to sur
render to nagging pain as he heads
into the defense of his title in the
85th United States Open which be
gins Thursday.
I “I’m not 100 percent,” Zoeller
said Wednesday, “but I’m not bad at
all. I think I can be competitive. The
•hi; last three or four weeks I’ve been
hurting almost every day.”
I Zoeller, whose career was threat-
tried when he was forced to undergo
liajor back surgery alter his U.S.
R)pen victory last year, has made a
remarkable comeback this season.
irle won the Bay Hill Classic in only
mo seclusk' 5 his third start after the surgery.
hat|lt efl ' And that kind of success
coma, prompted him to attempt a string of
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five consecutive tournaments. That,
he said, was a mistake.
“There’s no doubt that some-
where in that string of five, I injured
myself somewhere along the line,”
Zoeller said.
He’s now experiencing pain in the
right hip “which radiates up into the
right shoulder.”
Despite his problems, Zoeller de
clined to count himself out of the 72-
hole chase for a $ 103,000 first prize.
“There’s probably 50 guys (in the
field of 156) who can win,” he said.
Asked if Fuzzy Zoeller was among
them, he grinned:
“Oh, yes. Yes, indeed. I’m there. I
don’t count myself out. If I can make
it to the first tee, I can win.”
Arrayed against him are the
world’s best players and an ex
tremely difficult golf course, the
Donald Ross-designed Oakland Hills
Country Club course that Ben Ho
gan called “The Monster.”
“The rough is up, maybe 4'/a
inches and the greens, they’re very
severe,” Zoeller said.
Contender Seve Ballesteros of
Spain, winner of two British Opens
and two Masters said he’s “playing
good, but not too good. Just right.
Moving up.”
“I’m quite pleased with the state
of my game,” said Bernhard Danger,
the West German who won the Mas
ters title two months ago in Augusta,
Ga.
Those two, along with Norman,
the Australian star known as “the
Great White Shark,” who took Zoel
ler to a playoff last year, provide a
strong foreign threat.
Jack Nicklaus, who owns a record
collection of 17 major professional
titles, has not won in more than a
year but insists that at 45 he remains
a threat to win a record fifth Ameri
can national championship.
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A Navy reprsentative will be on campus
18 June, 1985
Call (713)226-2445 collect
For an appointment
Get Responsibility Fast.
Sanctions against SMU
may rock Richter scale
Associated Press
DALLAS — The long, hot sweat
has begun for Southern Methodist
University and football may never be
the same again on the quiet little hill
top campus off Mockingbird Lane.
The 26-month investigation in the
Mustangs’ football program is now
in the appeal stage with the full
NCAA Council weighing the evi
dence.
The Council meets in mid-August
with a verdict expected by sometime
in early September.
It’s difficult to find many SMU
alumni who believe the Mustangs
will escape NCAA sanctions.
In fact, the rumor mill is grinding
full force that the Mustangs could be
hit with some of the severest blows
on record.
Example: A participant in last
week’s American Football Coaches
Association Golf Tournament who
has well-placed NCAA sources
hinted darkly that he had heard the
Mustangs might even lose all their
scholarships for at least one year.
If that happened, it would take
SMU’s football program a long time
to recover. You can’t play a major
college schedule with walk-ons.
The NCAA is looking at SMU as a
five-time loser and repeat offenders
have always paid a heavy price. An
other probation would be the Mus
tangs’ sixth probation period since
1958. Wichita State is the all-time
leader of the dubious “on-proba
tion” award with seven.
Loss of television and bowl ap
pearances are other possible penal
ties. It’s happened to Clemson,
Southern California and Florida and
it certainly could happen to SMU if
the Mustangs are found guilty.
However, should the Mustangs’
television power be turned off it
would not come until next year.
SMU has already set a date on Dec. 7
over ABC-TV with Oklahoma.
SMU is not likely to take any pun
ishment without bucking back.
. Supposedly, SMU boosters have
established a war chest to be used to
thke the NCAA to court should that
action be deemed proper by the
school’s Board of Regents. Also,
SMU has been gathering evidence
on other Southwest Conference
schools and their recruiting prac
tices.
A suit against the NCAA could
have a far-reaching impact on colle
giate athletics in this country.
In fact, the Mustangs only re
cently were encouraged to do so by
the Dallas Times Herald in an edito
rial.
It said in part: “...Our advice to
SMU is to go ahead with the suit. We
think such an action might provide a
substantial public service because a
court hearing on the entire issue of
shoddy recruiting practices would
let the public find out, once and for
all, just how widespread such im
proprieties are in college athletic
programs.”
It continued, “We suspect that a
full airing of the issue would show
just how rotten the whole system of
recruiting college athletes is and just
how weak-kneed the NCAA has
been in trying to go after violators.
“Go for it, SMU.”
The NCAA is wrestling with an is
sue called “Gas Chamber” legislation
and will consider it at a special con
vention June 20-21 in New Orleans.
The so-called “Gas Chamber” pro
posal would make it mandatory for a
school caught cheating to be forced
to drop the sport.
There are numerous other propo
sals to be decided including giving
college athletes a weekly salary to
stop under-the-table payoffs. Some
coaches such as Baylor’s Grant Teaff
are in favor of such legislation.
A suit by SMU, claiming it was be
ing singled out by the NCAA while
other institutions run free, could be
a legal donnybrook that would rattle
the foundation of collegiate football.
The sport is no longer strictly the
fun-and-games for which it was in
vented decades ago. It’s a big, se
rious, money-making, dirty business.
You’ll be able to measure the out
come of the SMU investigation on
the Richter scale when this one is
over.
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