The Battalion
Vol.88 No. 5 CiSPS 045360 20 Pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, September 2, 1988
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Ex-A&M quarterback pulls baby from Delta crash
By Tim Stanfield
Reporter
A former Texas A&M quar
terback has been called a hero for
helping save three lives in the af
termath of the jetliner crash at the
Dallas-Fort Worth International Air
port Wednesday.
Joe Mac King and two of his
friends helped pull two elderly
women and a baby girl from the bur
ning jetliner in the moments after
the crash.
Contacted Thursday night at his
home in Farmer’s Branch, King said
that there wasn’t time to think about
anything other than getting every
one out of harm’s way.
“It’s just one of those things that
you do because you were there.”
King said. “We — Troy Prater. Dan
Walker and myself — were on our
way to Montana to do some trout
fishing.
Alter the plane stopped moving,
everybody lined up to get out the
hole in the fuselage. The pilot was
telling ns to he calm but hurry."
King, who has a son, Ryan, 6, and
daughter, Rachael, 3, said that a
young woman with the baby was
right behind him in line.
“She w 7 as extremely anxious to get
the baby off the plane,” he said. “O-
riginally they had been seated across
the aisle from us. Troy and I helped
one of the elderly ladies get out,
then we got the baby.
“Troy had remained in the plane
and I was actually outside it when he
handed the baby to me.
“We were just glad to be able to
get those people out and ourselves,
too. The three of us talked about it
looking hack at the plane, which was
covered with black smoke and fire.
“Somebody obviously was looking
out for all of us.”
King, his two friends, the mother
and baby were among the 94 people
who survived the crash.
Thursday King met the grand
mother of tlie baby he helped save.
The grandmother said it was a
miracle her granddaughter was
saved and that King is a hero.
King said that he knew something
was wrong almost immediately after
the pilot began the takeoff.
“As we took off, there was a bump
Joe Mac King
— not like the usual one
one,” he said. “The strange
a loud
thing
was that after we were airborne the
plane didn’t pick up any more alti
tude.
“Instead of the nose going up, it
stayed level at about 30 feet off the
ground. It tilted to one side, then the
other, causing us all to wonder what
happened.”
King said he had hoped the plane
would right itself, but it hit the
ground just off the end of the run
way.
“It was a long time after the plane
hit the ground before it came to a
complete stop,” he said. “We were
seated in row 12 — about three rows
back of first class.
“The first folks were getting out
of the hole in the front, but it was
hard due to the smoke. We had to
get on our knees in order to crawl to
the opening.”
Because of the smoke and fire,
King said he felt that eveyone seated
beyond about row 15 was not going
to escape the wreckage.
“I couldn’t really see much be
cause of the smoke,” he said. “Later
I found out that several of those
people were badly burned either in
the plane itself or when they jumped
on the the wings.”
Delta officials saw to the needs of
the injured who needed to be imme
diately taken to hospital, then the
others were taken to a special room
in the airport.
King was taken to a hospital
shortly thereafter, which caused
some concern for his wife, Louise.
“I hadn’t been able to call her be
cause all the phone lines were busy,”
he said. “She had heard about the
crash on the radio and came to the
airport at once.
“We didn’t see each other at the
airport, but some friends were there
and told her that I was OK. I didn’t
see her until she reached the hospi
tal.”
King’s only injury was a severely
cut index finger sustained while
pulling the baby from the plane.
In a telephone interview, former
A&M Head Football Coach Gene
Stallings said he was concerned
when told of King’s plight, but Stal
lings said he was proud of King’s ac
tions.
“You tell him that I am super
proud of him,” the coach of the
Phoenix Cardinals said. “What he
did doesn’t surprise me at all be
cause that’s the kind of person Joe
Mac is.
“He was enrolled in Vet School as
an undergraduate at A&M and
didn’t see much playing time, but
Joe Mac’s biggest quality was his
leadership.”
Former teammate Mike Park, who
is an attorney in Huntsville and one
of King’s closest friends, reiterated
Stallings’ statements concerning
King.
“He’s a terrific guy —just one of
the best,” Park said. “Joe Mac had a
wonderful mother who raised him in
Mineola after his father died when
Joe was a child.
“After being a super quarterback
in high school, he was a great leader
•in the huddle at A&M and got the
most out of his ability.
“He won the Aggie Heart Award
after the 1971 season. (King’s ac
tions) make me proud of him.”
King, who played at A&M from
1969 until 1971, said, “At a time like
this, football doesn’t seem all that
important.”
Computer glitch
ends astronauts’
simulated flight
SPACF CENTKR, Houston (AP)
— A real-life computer crash halted
a mock shuttle mission-in its final
hours Thursday just before the five
Discovery astronauts prepared for a
simulated landing on a flat tire.
Oi llcials said Discovery com
mander Rick Hauck, pilot Richard
Covey and mission specialists David
Hilmers, Mike Lounge and George
Pinky” Nelson handled all the prob
lems tossed their way during what
was to have beeitfc 56-liour dress re
hearsal.
But computer glitches prompted
NASA officials at the lohnson Space
(•enter to cut short the mission be
fore the simulated flight returned to
earth.
NASA spokes m a n | a m e s
I Hartsfield said. “I’m sure they’ll be
I looking at it to see why it went down.
J hut nobody here considers it to be a
I hig problem that the simulation
™ ended early.”
“The problems that the crew
worked through were good training
and they exercised just about every
flight condition. The fact that it
ended early was really a minor point
for everyone involved," he said.
“They had worked through all the
problems and everything was pro
ceeding toward the landing when
the problem occurred.”
NASA officials stressed that there
was no problem with any kind of
computer used in actual flight con
trol.
But other glitches faced by the
Discovery crew were intentional, as
the astronauts were placed in situa
tions designed to test their ability to
solve a multitude of problems that
could occur on an actual mission.
The flight crew and mission oper
ations staff were scheduled to spend
most of Friday discussing the simula
tion and studying performance.
About 300 people took part in the
final long-term rehearsal before Dis
covery’s four-day mission.
T he mission will be the first shut
tle flight since the Challenger explo
sion 2'/a years ago.
The launch is slated for late Sep
tember or early October if sluggish
oxygen valves and a hydrogen leak
are repaired in time.
Photo by Kathy Ha vemail
Reflection
In the MSC Gallery on Thursday afternoon, Manisha Shah, a sopho- live look at “Hide and Seek,” a huge oil on canvas by Lynn Ann Gur
more biochemistry from Richardson, gives a questioning yet apprecia- ney, the featured artist.
Mobley readies to face issues at A&M
with positive outlook for future events
Polish strikes end,
discussions begin
ll
(Editor’s note: The following is
the second in a two-part series whit h
gives Texas A&M President William
H. Mobley’s views on issues, prob
lems and challenges facing A&M
during his presidency and beyond.
The interviews for this story were
conducted on Aug. 18 and Aug. 31.)
By Stephen Masters
Senior Staff Writer
After former Texas A&M Presi
dent Frank E. Vandiver’s announce
ment that he would step down, the
Board of Regents began a search for
the next president.
The search was officially closed
July 18 when former Senior Ful-
bright Scholar William H. Mobley
was named the 20th president of
A&M.
Mobley took office on Aug. 1
Q: Athletic programs all over the
country have come under fire for
recruitment violations. What role
should athletics play in a university
environment?
I think intercollegiate athletics are
a positive part of the college experi
ence. They are a source of great in
volvement and pride for the student
body in general, former students
and the community. I think they can
play a big, positive role. They are an
opportunity to showcase the univer
sity around the country with half
time and pregame shows, so we have
an opportunity to tell the A&M story
with respect to our students, our tra
ditions and our research programs,
so it’s positive in that respec t.
The NCAA (National Collegiate
Athletics Association) has been
looking at A&M for seveVal years
now and I think all of us think it’s
time to get it over with and behind
us. If we've got problems, then let’s
address them; let’s strengthen
William H. Mobley
wherever we’ve got weaknesses; let’s
take whatever actions are necessary
to rectify wrongs of the past, if they
exist. Let’s get on with having excel
lence in our academic and athletic
programs and impeccable standards
we have for everything we do. I’m
looking forward to the NCAA hear
ing and to getting on with it.
Q: How important are winning
sports programs to A&M?
A: I think anything we do we
ought to do well. Athletics are not
my number one priority, hut we are
Battalion File Photo
a major university. We have a major
athletic program and we need to see
that we run it well and do it with in
tegrity and we abide by NCAA rules
and regulations.
I think there’s nothing incompati
ble with having first-rate academics
and top-quality athletics. It’s not my
number one priority, though.
Q: How important do you think
the core curriculum is?
A: 1 think that’s important. I was
talking earlier about the “global vil
lage” and I think there is a core disci
pline that ensures breadth, no mat
ter what one’s chosen field or
discipline. I think that breadth is es
sential.
You’re not going to learn a set of
facts, skills or techniques that are
going to last forever. We can’t be
about the business of training for a
specific entry career position. What
we have to be about is the job of
really developing lifelong learners.
You ought to leave A&M with
enough breadth, with a real ability to
analyze, to communicate. You
should have a real critical thinking
so that you can be a lifelong problem
solver and lifelong learner because
the facts as we know them today are
going to change and the tools as we
know them today are going to
change. What you need is a core ed
ucation that provides you with the
analytical skills. You need to read
broadly with comprehension an in
teresting variety because we’re all
going to face an increasing rate of
change. Students need to be lifelong
learners who recognize the quality of
individual specialties but be sure that
they don’t become overspecialize
and miss the broad base that is nec
essary, so I’m in strong support of it.
Q: What are the disadvantages of
the core curriculum?
A: Its disadvantages are that we
have X number of credit hours,
usually between 120 and 140, and if
you have breadth, then you reduce
the opportunity for more specializa
tion. There’s a constant tension be
tween breadth and specialization. I
think that’s particularly true in engi
neering and business and those cur
ricula that are more focused in on
specific areas.
Students and some faculty may ar
gue that specialization makes stu-
See Mobley, page 20
GDANSK, Poland (AP) — Ship
yard and steel workers ended strikes
Thursday, and Lech Walesa urged
other workers to stop the worst labor
turmoil in seven years now that the
government has agreed to discuss
Solidarity’s future.
Walesa met with ranking officials
Wednesday for the first time in six
years and the government agreed to
discuss the outlawed union and
other issues.
Restoring Solidarity’s legal status
was the main demand of the strikers.
Workers at the Stalowa Wola steel
mill in southern Poland began leav
ing the plant.at 7 p.m. after receiv
ing a telephone appeal from Walesa
and a message from the Roman
Catholic episcopate, a strike commit
tee spokesman said.
At least 3,000 strikers were in the
Lenin shipyard, where Walesa works
as an electrician, including workers
from other yards in this Baltic port.
They hoisted Solidarity banners as
members of their strike committee
led them out.
About 2,000 onlookers chanted,
“Thank you, thank you!” and
“There is no freedom without Soli
darity!”
Strikers and the crowd outside
joined in singing the national an
them just before the shipyard gates
swung open.
Other people lined the route to St.
Brygida’s Church, a headquarters of
sorts for the men of the shipyard
where Walesa led a strike eight years
ago that gave birth to Solidarity.
Poland’s communist authorities
recognized Solidarity in an
agreement signed Aug. 31, 1980,
but declared martial law in Decem
ber 1981 to suppress the first inde
pendent union in the Soviet bloc and
outlawed it the following year.
In the packed church, the Rev.
“We appreciate any posi
tive and reasonable step.
The appeal to stop the
strike is such a step. It
should be especially va
lued when it comes from a
participant in the strikes. ”
— U.S. statement
Henryk Jankowski declared: “In
your wisdom which you showed to
day you decided about suspending
the protest, hut it is only the end of
the physical protest. The strike goes
on through dialogue.”
Shipyard workers gave up their
strike after an appeal by Walesa,
who said an end to the labor turmoil
would will open the way for talks the
government promised.
The strikes began Aug. 16 and at
their height idled 20 sites through
out Poland that employed over
100,000 people.
One group of Gdansk port work
ers complained of bad faith by au
thorities. They said they were told
not to return to their jobs because
they had been fired for striking, said
Antoni Graberczyk, a member of the
Gdansk port strike committee.
He said the men would continue
rallying outside the port Friday to
protest the action.
A statement from government
spokesman Jerzy Urban said of Wa
lesa’s efforts to end the strikes:
“We appreciate any positive and
reasonable step. The appeal to stop
the strike is such a step. It should be
especially valued when it comes
from a participant in the strikes.”