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recognition in past years, with
two national championships
under its belt. The team is the
only one at A&M with such a
championship to boast of.
Playing 70 to 75 games each
season, plus several games
during the fall exhibition
season, the team travels
throughout the nation playing
other independent teams.
The team has 13 members,
11 of who are on scholarships.
Coach Bob Brach says the team
has been around since the early
1970s, but he has only been
with the team since the fall of
1981.
He says that the team is
among the top five in the nation
with regard to the combination
of budget and recruiting.
The Aggie football team is
not the only team to have won
a SWC championship in past
years. The women’s tennis
team has also proven to be a
strong winner. Last year, the
team placed first in SWC play
and 15th in the nation,
improving their previous year’s
record of third in the SWC.
The team began this year’s
season ranked 19th in the
nation and had a comparatively
strong season planned. But
Coach Bob Kleinecke says that
injuries are keeping six of their
13 team members out of play
this season. He says this stroke
of bad luck has really held back
his team and has kept it from
matching last year’s outstanding
performance.
Despite this year’s problems,
Kleinecke is optimistic about the
future of the team.
“Our goal right now is to get
back on track, ” he says. “The
next step is to win Southwest
Conference and to place in the
top 10 in the nation.”
All that’s left then, of course,
is to win the national
championship, a task which
Kleinecke does not feel is above
the team’s potential.
Bob Ellis has been coaching
the men’s golf team for twelve
years, during which time the
team has done extremely well
in SWC play and has qualified
for the NCAA every year but
one. In the past four years, the
A&M team placed within the
top 10, and at the present time
the team is ranked 20th in the
nation.
In 1982 the team placed first
in the SWC, and the team has
placed either third or fourth
every year since.
The men’s team currently
has nine golfers, five of whom
are on full scholarship and all
but one of whom are recruits.
But Ellis says that this is the first
year in many to have a player
earn a place as a walk-on.
The A&M team divides its 30
playing days allowed by the
NCAA each season among 12
to 13 tournaments in addition
to the SWC and NCAA
tournaments. The team is
playing well this season, Ellis
says, and hopes to be qualified
for the NCAA tournament in
June.
Individual team members
have also placed high in both
SWC and NCAA rankings. In
the past 12 years, A&M has
produced 12 All-American
golfers, many of which were
awarded the honor more than
once. In all, the school has
produced 18 champions
including national and
conference winners. This year,
two different team members
have had seven top 20 wins
and five top 10 wins, records
which Ellis says are outstanding.
The men’s tennis team is yet
another of A&M’s winning
teams. Currently ranked 24th in
the nation, the team has placed
in the top 20 for the last seven
out of nine years. Although the
team is not playing as well this
year as it has in the past, Coach
David Kent is excited about the
team.
He says that they have a
tough time winning in the SWC
because of the competition.
The nation’s second, fifth and
eleventh ranked teams all play
in the SWC.
Coach Kent has been with
the team for nine years, and
says he hopes to stay with the
team for at least another nine.
He says the secret to his success
is to keep moving and to keep a
low profile.
Kent is especially proud of
the team because of its
academic prowess. The overall
grade point ratio of the team
members is between a 2.8 and
a 3.0, which is extrememly high
for a college sports team. The
team also boasts a 96 to 98
percent graduation record,
compared with other schools’
records of less than five percent.
Kent says that he is
constantly being complimented
on the good reputation of the
team members.
“They represent A&M
extremely well both on and off
the court,” he says. “Every
place they stay always calls and
wants them back. ”
Although the team has had
trouble gaining a high ranking
in SWC play, individuals have
succeeded. Several players
have achieved All-American
ranking and many ex-team
members are now playing in the
professional circuit.
Women’s volleyball,
although one of the newer
sports at A&M, is quickly
becoming one of the best.
The team’s coach, A1 Givens,
arrived on the scene only last
May. Givens says that the team
came under the NCAA
umbrella five years ago and
since then has moved up in the
rankings and now ranks 18th in
the nation and first or second in
the regional division of the
NCAA. The team also
competes within the Southwest
Conference and for the past five
years has placed second only to
the University of Texas.
Givens says that volleyball is
not traditionally as popular in
this area as it is in other parts of
the country, but it is rapidly
becoming very popular. This
past year two recruits from
A&M were named in the
Volleyball Monthly Fabulous
Fifty, a survey published by
Volleyball Monthly identifying
the top fifty recruits in the
nation. The two A&M recruits
were the only two students from
Texas to be included in the
survey.
All in all, Texas A&M boasts
many conference and national
winners. Although they are not
revenue sports, all of the
sports mentioned above have
made A&M a notable home for
fans of all sports.
Despite the handicap of outdated facilities, the women’s
swimming team has placed third in the SWC the past two
years.