When will
women play
with men ?
Why aren't there any professional
women athletes?
Oh sure, there is Jennifer Capriati,
Gabriella Sabatini and all the rest of
the women's tennis superstars, but
there aren't really any well-known
female athletes outside of Wimbledon.
There's a few in golf and
gymnastics, but the only other women
athletes anyone is likely to recognize
star on American Gladiators. Even so,
it would stand to reason at least a few
women would make it into the "high
profile" sports.
Football is not traditionally known
as a women's sport, and it's easy to
understand why. Steroid use aside,
most women are not physically
capable of competing at the same level
as most men — their bodies just aren't
designed to be linebackers or
fullbacks. Many women are in
excellent shape, and it stands to
reason they could be successful at
positions where sheer physical size
isn't necessary, like at wide reciever or
place kicker.
Baseball's a bit harder to explain.
Afterall, a person doesn't have to be
seven feet tall and weigh 400 pounds
to shag grounders. Baseball is a
physical sport that demands a lot of
stamina, but after watching all the
pot-bellied pitchers and second
stringers puffing around the
diamond, one begins to wonder if the
male body is that much better
equipped to play the game.
Basketball doesn't have that excuse.
It seems incredible that in all the
years of the NBA, not one woman has
ever scored a basket. Nearly every
university in America has a women's
basketball program, and every year a
women's national champion is
crowned, but no one from the
championship team is ever drafted.
It can't be because women are too
short. Spud Webb ruined that
arguement. Female basketball players
hustle as hard as men, and shoot with
the same percentages.
Just a few years ago, a woman by
the name of Nancy Leabermann tried
out for the Boston Celtics, and made
the first cut. Imagine that, a woman
making the first cut.
The most disappointing aspect of
Leaberman's tryout is the fact she was
not the most talented of women
basketball players at the time. Yes, she
was good, but she wasn't the best.
In any case, it probably wouldn't
have made any difference how well
she played. Professional sports are
simply incapable at this point of
integrating the sexes.
Remember the New England
Patriots' locker room scandal? Imagine
all the problems that would stem from
co-ed locker rooms across the nation.
Even Jackie Sherrill, the man who
never turned down a challenge, sent
home women who showed up to try
out for the 12th Man. After all,
separate showers would be too
expensive to install.
Until men and women can learn to
act like adults around one another,
male-dominated sports will continue
to dominate sports.
Bellard: Still coaching after all the years
Emory Bellard coached the Aggies to a 48 - 27 record from 1972 to 1978, including three con
secutive bowl appearances. Bellard resigned under pressure midway through the 1978 season.
By David Leahy
The Battalion
Former Texas A&M head football
coach Emory Bellard is back doing what
he has always had a desire and love for,
and that's coaching football.
Bellard has been the head football
coach at Westfield High School in Spring
(Tx.), since 1988. In his second year as
coach, he brought the schdol its first ever
district title.
"It's really good to be coaching again,"
Bellard said. "I've got a great bunch of
kids on this team that really give it their
all."
Success isn't new to Bellard. Besides
being well-known in the collegiate ranks,
he is also one of the most successful high
school football coaches in the history of
Texas.
Prior to joining the collegiate ranks in
1966, Bellard won a total of 3 state titles
and 12 district championships in his 15
years of high school coaching. His overall
record is 139-34-4.
In 1976, he was voted into the Hall of
Honor of the Texas High School Coaches
Association.
At the age of 44, Emory Bellard was
named Texas A&M head football coach
and athletic director in December of 1971.
In assembling his coaching staff, Bellard
named a relatively unknown freshman
coach from Kansas State as offensive
ends coach, a man by the name of R.C.
Slocum.
Bellard took over a program that had
won only 13 games the previous 4 sea
sons, but it didn't take him long to turn
the program around. After two tough
seasons in which A&M went 3-8 and 5-6,
Bellard led the Aggies to 4 straight win
ning seasons that included two 10 win
seasons and three straight bowl appear
ances.
The Aggies posted the nation's second
best defensive team in 1974, and the na
tion's best defensive team in 1975. That
same year, Bellard was named The Sport
ing News National College Coach of the
Year, as the Aggies went 10-2 and tied for
the SWC Championship with Texas and
Arkansas.
However, not reaching the Cotton
Bowl and two successive disappointing
losses to Houston and Baylor drove Bel
lard to suddenly resigning halfway
through the 1978 season.
"There was a misrepresentation of
facts to me, and at that point I made the
decision I didn't want to operate anymo
re," Bellard said. "It wasn't the players or
students, but strictly administration."
Before being named head coach at
A&M in 1971, Bellard served as offensive
backfield coach under Darrell Royal for 5
years at the University of Texas. It was
during his years at Texas when Bellard
designed what was to become the Long
horn trademark: the famous Wishbone T
formation.
In May of 1975, he received the Aca
demy of American Football's gold cup
award for his role as the originator of the
formation.
After leaving A&M in 1978, Bellard
was named head coach at Mississippi
State in 1979. In his second year as coach,
he achieved one of his greatest victories
ever, when his Bulldogs defeated the de
fending national champions Alabama, 6-
3. The victory snapped the Crimson
Tide's 28-game winning streak.
Bellard retired in 1985 after 7 years at
Mississippi State, but discovered retire
ment didn't fit well.
"I was retired for three years, and it
was yery boring," he said. "I was so
bored that I decided to get a bunch of
kids together and have fun."
What Bellard will do after coaching at
Westfield is anyone's guess, including
Bellard's.
"I don't know what I'll do (after West-
field). I'll coach until I no longer enjoy
it," he said. "I won't go into any other
business. Everything is relative. Coach
ing is a hard job. I've never known an
easy coaching job."
Bellard's intense love for the game and
love for each individual member of his
A&M teams was what distinguished him
as an outstanding football coach. He has
very fond memories of A&M.
"A&M was a great place to coach. It
had good people and great support," Bel
lard said. "We took a program that was
down and built it into a national power.
"We changed a lot of things: atten
dance dramatically increased, resulting
in the expansion of Kyle Field," he saicL
"I believe in all the traditions there, but I
really do miss the people."
A&M's Trap and Sheet team shooting for the stars
By John R. Martin
The Battalion
According to Texas A&M Trap and
Skeet team member Tom Marrs, skeet
shooting, like all target sports, is 98 per
cent mental, one percent skill and one
percent luck.
"Skeet shooting requires one to be very
focused, because snooting sports are
very mental," Marrs said. "Hitting the
target is easy. It's hitting the target con-
sistantly that makes it a sport."
The sports of trap and skeet are ver
sions of the earlier sports Box-bird shoot
ing and Around-the-Clock. The sports
evolved from live targets to the clay tar
gets, which are refered to as birds or pi
geons.
The differences in the two sports lie in
the way the contest are run. Trap shoot
ing is a single station with a wide open
shooting range. It requires quicker re
flexes than skeet, and has more room for
error.
On the other hand, skeet is known as
the more as a social sport. It involves
eight firing stations and a controlled tar
get area.
Team member Ty Pendergrass said
many people are involved in trap and
skeet before they come to A&M.
"I became involved in skeet while I
was working at a gun club in Amarillo,"
Pendergrass said. "I am facinated with
shotguns and I really enjoy the sport. I
love to destroy targets.
M.J. Schult, another member, said the
variety of competition makes trap and
skeet challenging."! enjoy shooting In
ternational (Olympic style contest) skeet
because it is faster," Schult said. "I like
,the speed and the action and it is harder
RICHARD S. JAMESAThe Battalion
Ty Pendegrass demonstrates the skill which helped him and the Texas A&M Trap and Skeet team place at last year’s national collegiate competition.
Other than the team tournaments,
there are many solo tournaments at va
rious clubs, said Vincent May.
1 "I like trap because of the thrill of com
petition," May said. "Trap shooters have
an attitude they seem to be more cocky
and self-centrered.
"I also enjoy seeing the target smo
ked," he said. "I like shooting trap tour-
to be consistant."
The team is made up of six to eleven
members that earn a spot by participat
ing in the club tryout. The team then rep
resents the University in various tourna
ments.
The Texas A&M Trap and Skeet team
placed fifth this past April at the colle
giate Nationals in Peoria, Illinois.
naments more than skeet because there
is more money to be made."
The team practices at the Arrowhead
Gun Club on Hwy. 6, south of College
Station. The club is open to anyone who
wishes to join. Although the team does
not have a coach, Marrs is currently
working on his certification to teach skeet
shooting.
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