Thursday, February 5, 1987/The Battalion/Page 9
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Sports
rite shows high-flying style on court
&M senior forward down-to-earth off court
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Crite
By Anthony Wilson
Reporter
■ The body and the dunks.
■ When watching Winston
play basketball for the Texas Aggies,
those two things stand out.
BThe on-court Crite is intense and
aggressive. He uses quickness, jump
ing ability, and a thickly-muscled
physique, which has gained the at
tention of professional football and
lc h le ,, basketball scouts, to outplay often
j Vfr f taller opponents.
stew * easl once a R an,e > combines
■ these for a crowd-pleasing, grav
ity-defying rim rattler.
have to admit, sometimes I will
get into the open court and I won’t
try to do just a regular dunk,” Crite
said “I’ll try to kill it. I’ll try to break
the backboard. That’s the way I am.
-- I feel like if you can do those kind of
things, you should do them. That’s
/ ^ what people pay their money to see.”
rN/feBut the on-court Crite differs
U/ greatly from the off-court Crite, who
is modest, humble and down-to-
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"I do try to keep it in perspective,”
Crite said of his playing. “I don’t
■nt to appear too flashy. I work
hard to be where I’m at. And that’s
what I want to appear to be, just a
person who works hard.”
i mari?*Crite said he doesn’t have one fa-
. kinc vorite move.
in ISlbp just like doing it all,” he said. “I
at \ like blocking shots and dunking
y fan about the same.
aeni::R'‘In my mind I always try to best
illier, man and any way I can is a thrill
totne. If I can block his shot, or get a
ravel rebound over him, or beat him to
ides the basket, that’s what makes me
ma g°-
id hpiMror most players, maintaining in-
lokes: teh se exertion throughout an entire
nth; g 31 "' 1 would seem to be emotionally
Hi physically exhausting, but not so
said tfor t rite. He consistently plays at
ar dia least: 35 minutes of each 40-minute
ieartt8 anR ‘-
acutett-Hl really don’t think about it (play-
I (em fog time) ’til the game is over,” he
0 f #aicl, “During the game I’m so busy.
I'm so focused on what I’m doing
Liber: ■I
out there. I don’t really think about
being tired or hurt. I’m just out
there concentrating on my man, on
what offense we’re in, and what de
fense we’re in.
“Coach (Shelby) Metcalf has con
ditioned me pretty well because I
don’t really get that tired. I love
playing and I don’t think about
things like fatigue when I’m on the
court.
“The only times I really come out
is when I’m in foul trouble and when
that happens, that’s my own fault.
When Coach takes me out, I sit
down and watch.”
However, having to take a seat on
the bench doesn’t bother Crite.
“Maybe it would bother me if I
was selfish and wanted better stats,”
he said. “I like to watch the others
play. I like to see (Darryl) McDonald
go down the court. He’s exciting.
And Todd (Holloway) and Trez
(John Trezvant) are exciting. I love
to play and I always want to be in the
game, but I try not to be selfish.”
But watching the others play
when the game is on the line never
sits well with Crite. He said he feels a
responsibility to the team to be in a
close game in the final moments.
“When it depends on us winning
or losing, I feel like I should be in
the game,” he said. “And usually
when I’m not, it’s when I’ve fouled
out or when Coach has taken me out
for some specific reason. Then I un
derstand.”
Crite has established himself as
one of the Southwest Conference’s
better players during his four years
at Texas A&M. He has been named
to the All-Tournament team in the
conference’s postseason classic the
past two years.
Yet Crite still does not get the me
dia attention some people believe he
deserves. But this lack of recognition
doesn’t seem to bother him much.
“I feel that talent makes itself
known,” the native Californian said.
“I just like to say that I had an im
pact.
“As far as publicity, I know they
publicize the players from Texas
more than the players from out of
state. But I never got anything easy.
It doesn’t matter to me.”
Although Crite said opposing
players and coaches give him re
spect, he would rather not talk about
that. When it comes to a good game
of basketball, he’d rather play it than
say it.
“I’m kind of modest,” Crite said.
“I hate to say I’m a force in the con
ference. I just like to go out and
show it. “I don’t really like to talk
about that much.
“I just like to do things. I’ve
known a lot of people who talk a
“I have to admit, some
times I will get into the
open court and I won't try
to do just a regular dunk.
I’ll try to kill it. I’ll try to
break the backboard.”
— Winston Crite
good game, but they never go out
and play one. I just try to play one.”
At 6-foot-7 and 227 pounds,
Crite, a post player, is often smaller
than the opponents he guards. By
using his quickness and jumping
ability, he can often compensate for
his lack of height.
One man he had to help guard
stands out as being nearly impossible
to stop — Akeem Olajuwon, an All-
Star center with the Houston Rock
ets.
“He was the toughest because he
was so quick,” Crite said. “He just
dominated the game whenever he
was in. He made you feel sort of
helpless.”
Because Crite is a senior, the
A&M fans seem to appreciate him
more this year than in the past three
years, as he often receives rousing
ovations at home games.
“Sometimes I notice it,” he said.
“It feels good, you know. But like I
said, I try to keep it in perspective.
I’ve got a job to do and I can’t sit
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back and think I’m the best, because
nothing ever comes that easy for
anybody. But it does feel good and I
appreciate it. Really for the first time
in a long time I feel appreciated. I
really like our fans a lot.”
Crite knows the fans play a big
role in the outcome of games. He
said the fans at A&M can account for
at least 30 percent of a win by mak
ing noise and firing up the team.
As a college athlete, Crite feels a
responsibility, especially to children,
to serve as a role model.
“You can’t help but have that fee
ling,” he said. “They really admire
you and watch everything you do. It
breaks a kid’s heart when they find
out their star player is out for the
season because of drugs.
“You become a symbol to them
and then you let them down. That is
something that would hurt me as
much as it hurt the kids if it ever
happened to me. That’s why I
wouldn’t let it.”
Even at 21, Crite still looks up to
the same role model he did as a kid.
“I was a Dr. J (Julius Erving) fan,”
he said. “I’m still a Dr. J fan. I’ve al
ways thought he had a Tot of charac
ter and he was such a spectacular
basketball player. He made every
body’s imaginations run wild. He
made you think he could do any
thing. He’s a great person. He’s still
a role model for me.”
Next season, Crite hopes to get a
chance to play professional basket
ball. Although he tries not to think
about it, he knows it will be tough
and the odds are against him. If he
does make it to the professional
level, he vows not to waste the op
portunity like many players have by
using drugs and playing below their
potential.
“I don’t have any pity for them be
cause guys like me work really, really
hard just to have the opportunity to
do something like that,” he said.
“Then you have guys with such great
athletic talent and skill who waste it.
Photo by Bill Hughes
knnw«; 0l mavhe Texas A&M senior forward Winston Crite goes for one of his paten-
ted sUm dunks over Ba > ,lor cen,er Darr y l Middleton.
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