Thursday, September 19, 1985/The Battalion/Page 9
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Texas A&M quarterback Kevin Murray takes a deep breath before
reading his prepared statement at Wednesday’s press conference. In
the statement, Murray said he would not comment further on the al
legations against him — accepting money and a car from an alumni.
By KEN SURY
Sports Writer
A concern over journalistic ethics
was voiced by Texas A&M Head
Football Coach Jackie Sherrill and
Sports Information Director Tom
Turbiville during Wednesday’s press
conference.
“We’re dealing with a serious
problem,” Sherrill said of Dallas tele
vision’s WFAA allegations against
A&M quarterback Kevin Murray.
“But also I think we’re dealing
with . . . ethics,” he said. “There are
ethical questions (involved here).”
Sherrill was referring to a taped
interview, broadcast on WFAA-TV
Tuesday night, in which reporter
Gerry Oher showed Murray a signed
leasing contract for a Nissan 300ZX.
The station said the car, with pay
ments of $749 a month, was being
paid for by Rod Dockery, an A&M
alumnus. Dockery tilso owns the Dal
las leasing company in question,
PELCO, Inc. Murray has denied
that the signature was his.
Sherrill wasn’t aware of Murray’s
interview with Oher.
“I wasn’t there,” Sherrill said. “I
can’t tell you what transpired. I can’t
comment on how it was handled.”
In order to try and answer those
questions, Sherrill asked Turbiville
to explain the situation surround
ing the interview.
“The sports reporter involved
(Oher) called me around 10:30 a.m.
yesterday (Tuesday) morning and
told me that he’d like to come in and
talk to three or four players and
Coach Sherrill,” Turbiville said.
“And as is my custom, and many
SID’s (Sports Information Direc
tor’s) customs, I asked him just
briefly about the nature of the story
— ... the angle, so I could be a little
better educated as to what he wanted
to do.”
Turbiville said Oher told him he
felt A&M played well in its 23-10 loss
to Alabama and he wanted to talk to
some of the players and Sherrill
about the game.
“He arrived on campus around
1:45 p.m. yesterday (Tuesday) af
ternoon,” Turbiville said. “When I
greeted him I asked him again,
‘What’s the angle of the story?’. . . he
said to me, . . . ‘This is kind of a dull
week in the Southwest Conference,
so we thought we’d come in dnd do a
little feature story on your home
opener.’”
Oher then was led to speak with
Murray, since Murray had a good
game Saturday and was from the
Dallas area, Turbiville said.
A&M Coach Jackie Sherrill
Murray and Oher were outside
the Cain Hall athletic dormitory, he
said, and Oher was making small
talk to set Murray at ease before the
interview. Oher then asked Turbi
ville to go inside Cain Hall because it
would make the interview more
comfortable for them.
Turbiville said he began to get
suspicious about the reporter, and
saia he only would go inside if Oher
assured him that he was not doing a
“rip piece,” or a negative article on
the A&M program.
He said Oher told him he was
there to talk football.
“(So) I went inside,” Turbiville
said.
After Murray told him about the
incident, Turbiville said he asked
Oher to leave campus because Oher
had “misrepresented himself’ in or
der to get the interview. Oher left
the campus.
This was not Oher’s first embar
rassment of a SWC player, however.
During the SWC Press Tour at
SMU in August, Oher, with cameras
rolling, asked Mustang quarterback
Don King to spell “audible.” King
spelled it incorrectly and the seg
ment ran on a WFAA-TV newscast.
But near the end of the press con
ference, Sherrill softened the crit
icism toward the media when he was
asked if he was angry at sports re
porters in general due to this inci
dent. He replied:
“No. I’ll tell you one thing — if I
get angry with the media every day,
there’s no way that I could work.
“You (sports reporters) have a job
to do, and I feel that sometimes
when you do that job, I don’t have to
agree with it. But you don’t have to
agree with me.”
r
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Ag spikers hope history repeats self in California
A&M spiker Margaret Spence
By CHAREAN WILLIAMS
Assistant Sports Editor
SAN DIEGO — Oct. 26 of last
year was a significant day in
Texas A&M volleyball history.
Terry Condon’s Aggies re
member that day well.
“Before that match, we were
petrified of California teams,”
said A&M setter Lesha Beakley.
“One thing I remember about
that day was we walked out on the
court and said, ‘Let’s just play and
have fun.’ Once we got out there,
we just concentrated and played
our game. Essentially, we aid ev
erything right.”
The No. 18 Aggies walked out
on the G. Rollie White Coliseum
floor and destroyed No, 8 San
Diego State. Most of the A&M
players say that match exempli
fied their 33-4 season.
“Everyone remembers that
(match),” said outside hitter Mar
garet Spence. “It was an emo
tional match. The California
teams always had a advantage
over us. They are always ranked
and other teams outside Califor
nia always feel they are better.
They have all this stuff they carry
in their back pockets.
“That match, we just played
our game. We found out we
could play with these guys. We
surprised ourselves and made
history.”
Although the A&M players re
member the San Diego State
match well, they are hoping that
the Aztecs have forgotten.
Thursday, the Aztecs (7-2) get
a chance at revenge. In the San
Diego State Tournament, the No.
15 A&M meets No. 10 SDSU at
9:30 p.m.
“They came down here on a
tour,” Spence said. “They beat
Texas and then lost to us and
Houston. I think they had the
wrong attitude. They came here
thinking, ‘We’re from California.
We’re going to win.’ They will
definitely have a chip on their
shoulder. There will be a revenge
factor on their part.”
But, Beakley said the Aggies
will be just as ready.
“I think they’ll have a different
prospective,” said the A&M co
captain. “They know there’s a
Texas team that can compete
with them. I know they’ll give us a
hard match, so we’ll have to be
that much more ready. I think
we’re going to do it again.”
The Aggies didn’t start the ’85
season memorably.
A&M played weakling Sam
Houston State in a match the
players said they would just as
soon forget.
“We don’t want to remember
that one,” said Spence about the
Aggies loss to the Bearkats.
“We’ve left that match in Hunt
sville. We had something to prove
to ourselves this past weekend
and we did.”
The Aggies of new played like
the Aggies of old last weekend as
they waltzed through the South
ern Illinois Tournament, taking
first and upping their record to 4-
1 on the season.
“We were ver)/pleased with the
way we played in that tourna
ment,” Beakley said. “We got off
to a bad start against Sam (Hous
ton State). No one did anything in
that match. In the (Southern) Illi
nois tournament, everyone
played well. Things ran more
smoothly.”
)
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WHERE: The Wesley Foundation
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