Tlie Battalion
01.82 No.l 14 QSPS 045360 8 pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, March 9,1987
Ags capture SWC tourney championship
A&M to face Duke in NCAA 1st-round action
%
d a big lead
jack as the
University
Southwest
Basketball
By Hal L. Hammons
Sports Writer
If Texas Christian University
Head Football Coach Jim Wacker
lad been there, his word undoubt-
dly would have been, “Unbelieeee-
/able!”
Texas A&M opened ut
arly and never looked 1
\ggies defeated Baylor
71-45 Sunday for the
inference Post-Season
lassie championship at Dallas’ Re-
jnion Arena.
The win gives A&M an automatic
rth in the NCAA Basketball Tour-
lament. The Aggies are seeded No.
12 in the Midwest Region and will
'ace the No. 5 seed, the Duke Blue
Devils, Thursday at the Hoosier
ome in Indianapolis.
Tournament Most Valuable
Player Winston Crite led the way for
the eighth-seeded Aggies in the fin-
niei[ ish to the prototypical “Cinderella
story.”
A&M Head Coach Shelby Metcalf
aid, “This was the Aggie version of
inderella where you take a group
jf good guys and turn a pumpkin
into a coach.
“I feel very foolish. I should have
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gone to Las Vegas this week instead
of wasting my time on a basketball
tournament. We were just fortunate
to be here.”
The game was much like the first
two A&M victories in the tourna
ment against TCU and Texas Tech.
The Aggies built a big first-half lead
with Crite at the helm and then held
off late charges to grab the wins.
The main difference in the final
game was Baylor’s inability to put
anything resembling a comeback to
gether. The Bears never led and tra
iled by 15 points or more for most of
the second half.
Aggie guard Darryl McDonald led
all scorers with 17 points, and Crite
and Todd Holloway added 16 points
apiece as Baylor suffered its lowest
point output and its worst defeat of
the season.
Crite and McDonald were named
to the All-Tournament team. Darryl
Middleton and Michael Williams
represented the Bears on the team.
eys
the Aggies was shutting down Mid
dleton, Baylor’s high-scoring center.
Middleton averaged 18.9 points per
game for the season.
Report: Investigators
hired by SMU boosters
FORT WORTH (AP) — Southern
Methodist University boosters hired
private investigators to gather infor-
aJj i n . mation on possible recruiting viola
tions by the University of Texas and
exas A&M, the Fort Worth Star-
^Telegram reported Sunday.
I Sources told the newspaper that
■investigators were hired last Novem-
r and December to look for possi
ble violations of NCAA rules by the
state-supported rivals.
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in
k!
i
See related stories, page S
One source said William Stevens,
identified as one of the nine boosters
facing a lifetime ban from any asso
ciation with SMU, was in charge of
raising money to pay the private in
vestigators.
Stevens would not say whether he
was in charge of financing the inves
tigation, but did confirm that the
purpose of hiring the investigators
was to bring out possible rules viola
tions against Texas and Texas A&M,
the newspaper said.
Stevens said he attended several
meetings with the investiators.
“The Pis were told that SMU
boosters are bad, but we want to get
the NCAA going on Texas and
A&M,” a source told the newspaper.
“The boosters said they could not
understand why state schools seem
to ‘slide through’ with the NCAA
and discussed ‘selective enforce
ment.’ ”
The NCAA suspended SMU’s
football program for the 1987 sea
son and limited its schedule to seven
road games for the 1988 season.
On Saturday, NCAA enforcement
director David Berst cited Texas
Gov. Bill Clements as an example of
what he called the dark side of col
lege athletics. Berst cited Clements’
acknowledgement last week that
when he headed the SMU Board of
Governors, he and some members of
the board were aware of illicit pay
ments to football players and had
authorized the payments to be con
tinued after assuring the NCAA the
practice had stopped.
However, the Aggie defense com
pletely took him out of the Baylor
offense. Middleton only managed to
get three shots, all in the first half,
and he only hit one. His two misses
in as many attempts from the free-
throw line gave him a total of two
points for the game.
The primary responsibility for
guarding Middleton fell on Aggie
center Mike Clifford, and the senior
responded in exemplary fashion.
Metcalf said, “We’ve done well on
Middleton all year, and Clifford is
the best defensive player in the con
ference.”
Speaking about the defense A&M
played against Middleton, Baylor
Head Coach Gene Iba said, “They
obviously did a good job on Darryl,
but I thought they did a good de
fensive job on everybody on our
team.”
The Aggies out-rebounded the
Bears 35-27 in the game. That in
cluded 11 first-half offensive re
bounds that provided 12 extra
points.
At 10:49 of the first half, Williams
banked in a 12-footer for Baylor to
make it 15-10 Aggies. But then the
Bears went into a hole, going well
over three minutes before scoring
again. The score was 22-12 by then,
and the Bears were never closer than
10 points after that.
Baylor tried to make a game out
of it in the second half, but couldn’t
get close enough. Two jump shots by
Williams cut the Aggie lead to 11
with 15:05 to play. But then the
Bears went into hibernation again.
By the time they awoke 4 , ?2 min
utes later, two Holloway free throws
and four Aggie layups had boosted
A&M’s lead to 18, and the game was
all but decided.
The Bears only were able to con
vert three out of 16 shots from the
line, for an 18.7 percent conversion
rate. They shot 20 out of 47 from
the field for 42.5 percent.
Members of the Aggie basketball team display their Southwest Conference tournament trophy.
Photo by Dean Saito
Relatives say suspect bragged about killing
By Carolyn Garcia
Staff Writer
Two cousins of capital-murder
suspect Terry Washington were the
key witnesses for the prosecution
when they testified Friday that
Washington bragged about killing
Beatrice Huling.
One of Washington’s cousins,
Mary Sandies, told District Attorney
Bill Turner during the writ of ha
beas corpus hearing that Washing
ton told her and four others that he
“beat the white man at his own
game.”
“Yeah, I killed the bitch,” Sandies
testified that Washington said dur
ing a visit to her home a few days af
ter the murder.
“He said that he hated white
folks,” she said. “For enough money
he said he would kill any of them.”
Sandies said she and the others
were not sure whether Washington
was serious.
In light of the testimony given,
state District Judge Carolyn Ruffino
denied bail for Washington.
On Wednesday Ruffino issued a
gag order which prevents attorneys
and witnesses from talking with the
press about the case.
Washington, 23, has been held in
Brazos County Jail without bond
since his Feb. 25 arrest in connection
Mardi Gras parade brings color to A&M
By Amy Couvillon
Staff Writer
It was five minutes until 6 p.m. in
Friday’s perfect parade weather as
the participants in the first “Mardi
Gras at Texas A&M” parade lined
up behind the MSC near Cain Hall.
Ross Volunteers straightened
their hats with impeccably gloved
hands. TAMU Jazz Band saxaphone
players ran through their scales, and
twirlers from A&M Consolidated
High School chattered and giggled
their flags arced yellow and
orange through the air. Fish Drill
Team members stood at rigid atten
tion waiting for the signal to begin
marching.
Around the corner, spectators
were beginning to gather along the
parade route, sitting on curbs and
car trunks. Representatives from
Off-Campus Aggies, sponsor of the
parade, scurried around taking care
of final details and last-minute en
tries.
Then, as everyone began wonder
ing when the parade would start,
BOOM!! A deafening cannon blast
from the howitzer usually seen at
A&M football games signaled that
1987’s Mardi Gras at A&M had be
gun.
flashing, led the procession. Close
behind came the Marshal and Grand
Marshal of the parade, riding in con
vertible black Porshes and tossing
out plastic beads and doubloons.
The RVs, who marched last Tues
day in the King Rex Mardi Gras pa
rade in New Orleans, came next —
each member poker-faced and every
foot together. The sharp military
demonstration drew scattered ap
plause and whoops from the crowd.
The first float carried the “king”
of the parade — Dr. John Koldus,
vice president for student services.
Accompanying King Koldus were
Reveille V, who seemed to be enjoy
ing herself, and “Mr. Aggie Spirit”
— 6-year-old Tommy Kunkleman of
College Station. Tommy has ap
peared beside the yell leaders at two
Photo by Bill Hughes
tie Texas A&M Sports Car Club’s entry in the Mardi Gras parade Friday was the “Death Mobile.”
seasons’ worth of A&M sports func
tions in his mini-yell leader outfit.
As the king’s float passed, the
brassy strains of “When the Saints go
Marching In” — courtesy of half a
dozen colorfully-dressed members
of the Texas A&M University Jazz
Band — added a New Orleans flavor
to the festivities.
Residents of Hobby, Moore,
Keathley and Hotard halls yelled,
laughed and threw plastic beads
from their float, and riders on the
Residence Hall Association float
practiced their best parade waves.
Three unicyclists chased each other
in circles and encouraged the crowd
to get rowdy. “You’re no fun!” one
of the them teased a spectator.
The black KANM-FM van and a
midget Air Force plane escorted by
four cadets were followed by a
troupe of belly dancers known only
as “Nancie and the Winds of Magic.”
The women danced with finger cym
bals and tambourines, and their cos
tumes — or lack of costumes — drew
catcalls, applause and whoops from
parade-watchers.
The gypsy music was followed by
an ominous pause. People craned
their necks through an enormous
cloud of smoke to see the “Death
Mobile,” a black car with fins and
teeth modeled after the “Animal
House” version. Entered by the
A&M Sports Car Club, the entry
won the judges’ “Best Overall”
award. Toga-clad club members in
and around the car danced to
“Shout” and threw beads and doub
loons.
Next came the winner of the
“Most Colorful” award — The Stu
dent Y float. Complete with bales of
hay, crepe paper streamers and rid
ers in matching shirts, the float was
pulled by a pickup truck sounding
its horn to the rhythm of “Hullaba
loo Caneck Caneck.”
No parade is complete without a
marching band, and the A&M Con-
solidated High School Band did it
self proud and won th~ award for
being closest to the parade’s theme,
“Catch the Spirit.”
The Kappa Alpha fraternity’s
float consisted of a pickup truck
jammed full of rowdy students in T-
shirts and shorts, a scene that looked
like it was a week early for spring
break on Padre Island.
The Fish Drill Team, which won
“Best Marching Unit,” gave a crisp,
military performance, and Miss
Texas A&M, Melinda Fritz, waved
from a red convertible. The Aggie
Wranglers, accompanied by a pick
up truck playing country music, two-
stepped and jitterbugged their way
down the street.
Half a dozen cars entered by “La
Compania Low-Rider Car Club” of
Bryan stole the show. The crowd
laughed and clapped as each driver
lowered the tail of each car until it al
most dragged the pavement.
OCA’s float was a replica of the
Dixie Chicken with a wooden porch,
a mounted ram’s head, a table,
benches, beer cans and domino play
ers. Spuds MacKenzie of beer-com
mercial fame (not the real Spuds,
but a costumed person) waved from
under the “Dixie Chicken” sign.
Parsons’ Mounted Cavalry,
dressed informally in baseball caps
and yellow T-shirts, rode by with
several horse-drawn wagons and the
cannon.
Then the University Police car
bringing up the rear behind the cav
alry suddenly stopped and reversed
hurriedly to get out of the range of
the cannon, which was being readied
to sound again. Parade-watchers
held their ears as the howitzer’s
boom brought the Mardi Gras pa
rade to a close.
with the murder of Huling at Julie’s
Place Restaurant.
Huling, a mother of two and the
night manager of the restaurant
where both she and Washington
worked, was found stabbed to death
Jan. 15 in a pool of blood with her
head resting at the base of the open
office safe, restaurant manager Scott
Milton said.
Washington, who was on parole
from the Texas Department of Cor
rections after serving part of a
seven-year sentence for the unau
thorized use of a motor vehicle, was
employeed as a dishwasher at the
restaurant until shortly before Col
lege Station Police arrested him in
connection with the Huling murder.
Washington has been charged
with capital murder, which carries a
possible death sentence. The district
attorney’s office will seek a grand
jury indictment against Washington
when the Brazos County grand jury
meets Thursday.
Dr. J.C. Lee, a local pathologist
who performed the autopsy on Hul
ing, said Huling had been stabbed
85 times and that at least five of the
stab wounds, not counting the abdo
minal slash, were fatal.
Sandies said the subject of the
murder arose when the group asked
Washington if he had heard any
thing about the murder. At first
Washington said he didn’t know any
of the details about the case, but he
later admitted killing the night man
ager, she said.
Testifing under a summons, Billy
Sandies, Mary Sandies’ brother, said
he also heard Washington’s
statement but decided he should not
to do anything about it. He then said
he was not sure if Washington was
telling the truth or just “running his
mouth.”
Billy Sandies also said he saw
Washington a few days after the
murder at a convenience store with a
$100 bill in the front pocket of his
shirt and what he said appeared to
be several hundred dollars in his
wallet.
Milton testified that Washington’s
take-home pay for the week of the
murder was $78.25.
Washington’s court-appointed de
fense attorney, Tyler Moore,
pleaded with Judge Ruffino to allow
bond since there had been “no con
fession.”
“Your honor, there was no confes
sion,” Moore said. “There may have
been some statements that qualify
under the hearsay rule, but there
was no confession.”
Moore did not seem surprised by
the judge’s decision to deny bail and
Washington appeared expression
less.