11
Sports
Thursday, January 17,1991 • The Battalion Sports Editor Alan Lehmann 845-2688
Wilson poised to leave Aggies for NFL
JAY JANNER/The Battalion
Robert Wilson (20), Texas A&M’s three-year starter at fullback, has decided to skip his senior year in Aggieland so that
he may enter the NFL draft.
Barring Rose
from the Hall
hurts baseball
Even the terrible destruction in
the Persian Gulf can’t keep my mind off
Pete Rose.
Already
banned from
baseball for his
association with
| gambling, Rose
recently suffered
another blow to
his hopes for a bust at Cooperstown,
New York.
The Hall of Fame executive
committee, by a 7-3 vote, passed a
resolution last Thursday prohibiting
S ' yers to be named on Hall of Fame
lots if they have been banned from
the league.
So the all-time hit leader in major-
league baseball history will be
remembered as nothing but a petty
criminal by the same people that
cheered his game winning singles, his
4,000th hit, and his infamous third-base
slide.
But I know several people that have
done worse things than gambling. Is
gambling that serious a crime?
I have heard that gambling is a disease
of sorts; something like addiction that
takes over and gives one a distorted
belief that he will win more than he loses
after the betting Finally ends. In fact,
when the betting ends the gambler is
usually broke.
Rose obviously suffered from this
j sickness.
My roommate, an avid baseball fan,
j said that Pete Rose was the “Nolan Ryan
of hitting.”
He also commented that Rose is being
blasted for gambling while others have
done comparable wrongdoings and sit
majestically in stone at Cooperstown.
My girlfriend, a baseball fan, couldn’t
believe that baseball’s all-time hit leader
could be kept from the Hall of Fame.
So, after considering these opinions
from knowledgeable, yet imperfect
individuals, I made some general
; conclusions.
• Rose is being persecuted by the
Hall of Fame committee, who, in an
obvious attempt to protect the image of
the game at all costs, has disregarded the
qualifications of getting into the Hall.
• It is ironic that last week Gaylord
Perry, a proven cheater and baseball
scuffer, was voted in.
• It is ironic that last week Ferguson
Jenkins, a convicted drug trafficker, was
voted in.
• It is ironic, on a less criminal but
more moral note, that exposed
adulterers Steve Garvey and Wade
Boggs will likely make the Hall at some
time.
The Hall is taking a hard line
approach at the Rose case because of the
wrongdoings during the 1919 Black Sox
scandal, when Shoeless Joe Jackson and
seven other players attempted to throw
the World Series. Thus, gambling is still
not tolerated.
But where is the line drawn? Is it
acceptable to ban Rose from the Hall
simply because he bet on other baseball
games?
Sure, that’s cause for a suspension
from the league. But to allow the Perrys
and Jenkins of the league to be
See Wilson/Page 13
By ALAN LEHMANN
Of The Battalion Staff
It’s too late for R. C. Slocum to close the
gates at Kyle Field. The Bull is already
gone.
Junior fullback Robert Wilson an
nounced Wednesday that he would forgo
his final season of eligibility to enter the Na
tional Football League draft.
“It’s been a tough decision,” Wilson said.
“I just felt it was time for me to move on
and help my family financially. I really ap
preciate everything Coach Slocum and
Texas A&M has done for me and I wish
them well.”
Slocum said that the team will miss Wil
son, but he understands the decision.
“This was a personal decision Robert had
to make,” Slocum said. “We visited at length
and he has decided to apply for the NFL
draft.
“We’re disappointed Robert will not be
with us next year, but I support his deci
sion.”
Wilson, nicknamed “Bull” for his bruis
ing running style, is projected by many ana
lysts to be drafted very high, possibly in the
first round.
But Wilson’s running talent is fiot the
only thing that should have professional
teams drooling. His blocking skills are ideal
for pro offenses and his speed is superb
considering his size.
For three years, the 6-1, 245 pound Wil
son paved the way for Darren Lewis with
bone-crunching blocks. Together, the two
combined for 7,779 yards and formed the
most vaunted Aggie running tandem since
Curtis Dickey and George Woodard
roamed Kyle Field in the late 1970s.
Wilson’s career began on a bright note as
he started the last nine games of his fresh
man season and was named the SWC new
comer of the year in 1988. His rushing high
that season was 93 yards and two touch
downs against Baylor.
In 1989, Wilson averaged 4.7 yards per
carry and finished with 590 yards, second
on the team to Lewis.
But Wilson’s biggest contribution was in
the Hancock Bowl.
When Lewis could not play because of a
knee injury, Wilson bore the brunt of the
Aggie ground game. And he responded
like a bull in a china shop rambling for 145
yards on 16 rushes for an incredible 9.1
yards per carry.
Although A&M eventually fell to Pitt in
that game 31-28, Wilson kept the game
close and gave the Aggies a chance at a win.
Picking up this year where he left off in
1989, Wilson enjoyed the most successful
season of his career. He ran for 724 yards,
averaging 5.4 yards per carry, and scoring
five touchdowns.
Wilson’s blocks opened the door for Le
wis to claim the SWC career rushing title.
Wilson was used as a decoy on the play
when he should have been leading the
charge.
But no pro team will use Wilson as a de
coy for long. Quality fullbacks are scarce in
the NFL. He will be probably be drafted
high and used as a fullback/blocking back.
If there is any question of Wilson’s skill it
is in his ability to catch passes. He caught
only nme this season for 75 yards and a
touchdown.
His low totals were no suprise because
the Aggies abandoned the passing game
early in the season and Wilson had few op
portunities to be a receiver.
Even though Lewis was slighted in the Heis-
man balloting, Wilson’s performance did
not go unnoticed.
His stock continued to rise as he put on a
nationally televised blocking clinic against
the University of Texas. Play after play he
flattened Longhorns like pancakes for Le
wis to run over.
Perhaps the best testament of Wilson’s
worth was the play on which Lewis lost
yardage — the two-point conversion.
It was no coincidence that the one Aggie
rushing play all day that failed to gain yard
age was also the only play that Wilson didn’t
lead the blocking.
No team in the NFL will evaluate Wilson
on his receiving stats. Two of the NFL’s top
pass-catching backs, Tom Rathman and
Roger Craig, played their college ball at Ne
braska where passes are as rare as blue
moons.
Is Wilson mature enough to play in the
NFL?
Slocum seems to think so.
“He is an oustanding young man and an
outstanding football player,” Slocum said.
“We wish him all the best and I hope the
NFL works out for him.”
Defenders around the SWC would have
to agree.
Collegiate athlete/reservists leave for Middle East conflict
DALLAS (AP) — The Nicholls State basketball team
had just won its first game Dec. 5 at North Texas when
starting freshman point guard Ray Washington got the
call.
“His mother had called,” coach Ricky Broussard said.
“She said his commander was trying to get in touch with
him.”
Broussard and his players knew what that meant. Wash
ington was going to war. His next opponent could well be
Iraq.
It was something they had braced for but still were not
prepared to see.
“I thought everybody would be real excited after the
game,” Broussard said, after the 112-106 victory over
North Texas. “But everybody was just kind of slow-mov
ing.
“It was a very sullen mood on the way back. It really
hurt us.”
Nicholls State, in Thibodeaux, La., is among a handful
of regional college teams whose season — once full of
promise — is now full of prayer for a teammate who also
serves as an active member of the National Guard.
After the United Nations’ deadline expired Tuesday for
Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait or face attack from U.S.-led
forces, athletes like Washington are getting ready for
much more serious roles in Saudi Arabia.
The roll call includes:
— Kerry Dowlin, a Texas Tech golfer, became the first
and so far only Southwest Conference athlete to join Op
eration Desert Shield when she shipped out from Fort
Bragg on Friday.
— From the Southland Conference, Northeast Loui
siana diver Christina Readori and McNesse State baseball
player Greg Garner are at bases in California waiting for
travel orders.
— From the Lone Star Conference, Cameron volleyball
player Bettie Calloway is part of the 44th Medical Evacua
tion Unit from Fort Sill.
— The Nicholls State football team also lost tailback
Bennett Williams to the Persian Gulf conflict in late No
vember.
Craig
Wilson
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