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JSPORTS
7
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FORT WORTH (AP) — The
Southwest Conference basketball
race neared the midway mark with
out an unblemished team thanks to
dm Penders’ run-and-gun Texas
Longhorns.
Texas, the nation’s sixth highest
scoring team, proved Wednesday
night that a good offense can demol-
sh a good defense in college basket
ball.
The Longhorns ran away from
the defense-minded Texas Christian
Horned Frogs 94-84 to create a vir
tual three-way tie for the league
lead.
TCU, which will be idle until next
A&M v Texas Tech
♦ What:The Texas A&M men’s
and women’s basketball teams host
Texas Tech in Southwest Confer
ence basketball action.
♦ When: Saturday. The women's
pme tips off at 1 p.m. while the
then's game starts at 7:30 p.m.
♦Where:G. Rollie White Coliseum.
♦ Radio/TV:'I he women’s game will
be broadcast by WTAW-AM 1150
with Chuck Clements calling the ac
tion. The men’s game can be heard
on KTAM-AM 1240 with Chuck
Coopersteiu handling the play-by-
play ami Duke Keith on color com
mentary.
Mfcl...... *
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Wednesday, is 6-1 while T exas and
Arkansas are 5-1.
The Horned Frogs’ biggest weak
ness, poor free throw shooting, con
tributed to the loss before a sellout
crowd of 7,200 fan in Daniel-Meyer
Coliseum.
TCU was last in the conference in
free throw shooting and could hit
only 11 of 27 against Texas.
“I knew it would reach up and bite
us sooner or later,” said TCU coach
Moe Iba. “And it bit us good.”
Penders, who brought his high
scoring offense from Rhode Island,
said the ’Horns did their job by get
ting the game into the 90-point area.
“We got the game into the 90’s
and that’s where we wanted it,” Pen
ders said. “This is really a big win for
us. To win on the road by 10 in this
league is really something. This was
a character builder for us.”
Until Wednesday night, TCU
hadn’t allowed an SWC team more
than 64 points.
Travis Mays scored 25 points for
the Longhorns, including four
three-point baskets.
“We’re the worst free throw
shooting team in the league and I
knew some night it would come back
to haunt us,” Iba said. “I thought
one of the keys was that Texas got us
out of running any kind of offense.”
Iba added: “Texas is a real nice
team. They’ve got some fine athletes
and did an excellent job of doing
what they wanted to do.”
Iba said the loss to Texas at home
almost negated the Horned Frogs’
four victories on the road against
SWC opposition.
“Maybe this will will wake us up.
Maybe we thought we were getting
too good.”
Arkansas hosts Rice on Saturday
night and Texas entertains Southern
Methodist on Sunday. Victories by
the Hogs and ’Horns would throw
the SWC into a three-way tie at the
top.
By Jerry Bolz
A&M almost finished
with Smith investigation
Texas A&M is almost finished
with an internal investigation of
its football program, but school
officials say they won’t release re
sults until after the first day re
cruits can sign.
“Anything that should come
out from this point should come
from the school,” said David
Berst, the NCAA’s chief enforce
ment officer. “But I don't think
anything will come out before
then {Feb. 8).”
National signing day' is Feb. 8.
The internal investigation be
gan in the wake of allegations re
vealed in a story by the Dallas
Morning; News that former head
coach and athletic director Jackie
Sherrill paid a former player
"hush money.”
Sherrill has since resigned, and
two assistants previously sanc
tioned by the NCAA have been
fired.
School officials have said they
hope the changes in personnel
and action taken by president
William Mobley will prevent any
additional NCAA sanctions.
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Last year when Mike Stulce won
the NCAA outdoor shotputting
championships as a freshman, it was
clear that he was something special.
Then the fact surfaced that it was
only the third year that he had truly
pursued the sport — something spe-
Profile:
Mike Stulce
cial just doesn’t do it.
There are no words to describe it.
And with the better part of three
seasons to go at A&M, you can bet
on a lot more such moments before
he graduates.
Stulce got into shotputting not be
cause of great interest in the sport,
but to keep himself in shape for
football at St. Pius High School in
Houston.
He had injured a knee in football
his sophomore year and track coach
Archie Hayes convinced him to give
the solo sport a try. When Stulce’s
doctor suggested he not go back to
the gridiron, his interest in shotput
ting grew.
But it’s not that Stulce was switch
ing to track only because football was
out of the picture — he didn’t feel as
if he was forced to compete in a
lesser sport. His love for shotputting
grew quickly.
The environment of shotputting
fit Stulce’s personality like a glove.
“I’m not really that sociable,” he
said. “I like to kind of keep to myself
—just do things on my own, I guess
you could say.
“(In shotputting) you get to do a
lot of things on your own. You win
by winning it yourself and not by
having to cover for everybody else.”
In coming to A&M, Stulce has put
himself in a position for comparison
with former Aggie shotputting
greats Randy Matson and Randy
Barnes, both Olympic medalists.
But Stulce isn’t driven by a desire
to beat these guys. He doesn’t deny
that it would be a great accomplish
ment to beat their school bests, but
it’s not his drive.
The big goal he has is to just com
pete against himself. That attitude
kind of reminds one of the countless
hours Matson spent out on Kyle
Field by himself.
In high school, Stulce was one of
very few students to put a lot of time
into track. When his enjoyment for
the sport blossomed, during his se
nior year, his performances im
proved.
Stulce said you have to be serious
about shotputting to compete for
A&M. A&M realized he was serious
when he uncorked a throw his senior
year that ranked him fourth in the
nation.
The University of Houston and
Texas were already on Stulce’s trail.
But, fortunately for A&M, the Ag
gies’ draw was pulling harder on the
high school All-American.
Stulce’s success in high school had
a lot to do with Hayes, who was will
ing to put as much time and help in
as Stulce needed-. Hayes had also
coached another high school All-
American, sprinter Tony Jones, who
also chose Aggieland.
Fortunately for Stulce, the quality
of coaching didn’t drop a bit when
coming to A&M. Throw Coach Rob
ert Parker has taken Stulce under his
wing in much the same way Hayes
did. And the results are the same —
progress.
Stulce dominated the Southwest
Conference outdoor season by tak
ing first in six of the nine meets. But
the climax of the season was his vic
tory at the NCAAs.
He was only the second freshman,
and the youngest ever (age 18) to
win the event. He was also the first
Aggie to be the top collegiate shot-
putter since Matson in 1967.
He also qualified for the Olympic
Trials, but chose to compete in the
Junior World Championships in
Canada. He said the international
experience was better for him at the
time.
Stulce also gives much credit for
his success to Strength and Condi
tioning Coach Keith Kephart, who
has put an increased amount of time
and effort into Stulce.
“I’ve never met anyone with as
much knowledge as him,” he said.
“He understands the physics prin-
Most people think of
shotputting as whoever’s
the biggest and strongest
— the biggest hulk — can
win ... but having the
technique helps you to get
the most of your strength.”
— Mike Stulce,
A&M shot putter
ciples. It’s allowed me to get one
heck of a lot stronger, and better
technique.”
Photo courtesy A&M Sports News Office
Mike Stulce with A&M Throw Coach Robert Parker
At 6-4, 265 pounds, Stulce has the
strength, although he says his top
throwing weight is a lean 275. Size is
important to Stulce, but he insists
that he needs to have a quality
weight, with low body fat and good
tone.
“Most people think of shotputting
as whoever’s the biggest and strong
est — the biggest hulk — can win,”
he said. “If you’ve got bad technique,
you can still muscle it (the shot), but
having the technique helps you to
get the most of your strength.”
Stulce’s training consists mostly of
weights and pliometrics (jumps and
leaps) to make him highly explosive,
he said. There is also a limited
amount of running.
His technique is not to step into
the ring and throw on instinct.
Stulce is a thinker — considering ev
erything that needs to be done, while
keeping his cool and being con
stantly under control.
“Several times I’ve stepped in the
ring and just gone blank,” he said.
“Being focused and under control is
the main thing you want to do.”
Stulce said he reached a time as a
shotputter when everything just
came together. For him, that time
came when he first threw over 62
feet.
“You reach a certain barrier and
it’s like something snaps,” he said.
“Once those things come together
you can throw farther.
“A lot of it is confidence in your-
See Stulce/Page 8
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| In the wake of the most recent Super
Bowl, almost as many dramas have evolved
after the game than occurred during the 60
minutes of football played in Joe Robbie
Stadium Sunday.
Two stories competed tor the center
stage.
The first of these actually broke on Sun
day morning. It was the Stanley Wilson
Story. Wilson was found by Bengals’ staff
members in his hotel room in a daze after
he had missed a team meeting that Satur
day.
A source close to the team said that he
had found Wilson “crumpled on the floor,”
with cocaine lying next to him. When those
who discovered him went to call an ambu
lance , Wilson took flight and was not seen
until Wednesday.
This event in itself was not at all surpris
ing. Wilson had been suspended for the en
tire 1985 and ’87 seasons for violating the
NFL substance-abuse policy. And, if you
believe Brian Bosworth’s book, his problem
may date back to his Oklahoma Sooner
days.
What was surprising was that he trans
gressed the day before the biggest game of
his life. But Bengals coach Sam Wyche put
the unfortunate event in proper perspec
tive.
“The tragedy for Stanley Wilson is not in
a football sense,” Wyche said.
“That was a precious life lost.”
It is encouraging that a coach who had so
much on the line, just THE world
championship of professional football,
could suppress his own concerns and feel
for the human side of an unfortunate hu
man tragedy.
But that’s just the first big drama to come
out of the football events in Miami.
Coming in at 1A on the list of big news is:
Bill Walsh, will he retire or won’t he?
At this point in the week, who cares?
This story started out lame and by now it
is just tired. We should all have such prob
lems.
“Let’s see. Should I retire now with three
world championships and a reputation as a
football genius or should I return next year
and make 1.3 million dollars.”
You’ve got to admit, it’s a real dilemma.
Give it up. Hit the links. Cruise the
beach. Or: Get back to work like the rest of
us.
Then there’s the huge story that broke
yesterday about Roger Craig and Tom
Rathman lining up in the wrong places on
the game-winning play.
Now that’s the kind of news that merits a
really big “Who cares!?”
But the biggest “who cares” story of all
lies on the horizon.
Yes, they’re actually going to play the Pro
Bowl again this year.
I hate to imagine how few of the NFL’s
elite would show up if the game weren’t
played in Hawaii. How many would play,
risk injury and get a free trip for their fam
ily if the game was played in Dallas.
At least it would give the locals a chance
to see their first real professional football
game since SMU got the deep six.
A real indicator of how unimportant the
Slow Bowl is that the big boys allowed them
selves to be outbid for the TV rights by
ESPN.
What a lineup the cable crusaders must
have planned.
First, there’ll be seniors Tarpon fishing,
then a seniors LPGA tournament then the
Blow Bowl, because you know Lawrence
Taylor was voted to a starting position.
I can hardly wait.
HELP BUILD
A NEW TRADITION
The Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity announces its new beginnings at
Texas A&M. We are looking for men who want to leave their
mark at A&M, men willing to accept a challenge.
*Jan. 28 DATE PARTY 8-1 a.m.
Pi Kapp House
*Jan. 29 SMOKER 7-10 p.m.
Pi Kapp House
Jan. 30 BID HOUSE 5 p.m.
MSC 224
Jan 30 GENERAL MEETING 8 P.M.
BLOCKER 105
If you are interested in starting a new fraternity, a chapter of Pi Kappa
Phi please call:
Bryan Hutson Bruce Hyvl Pi Kapp House
696-5962 846-5647 822-1301
* invitation only
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