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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1995)
fBk >ajuwon, Maxwell rr > if making road trip OUSTON (AP) — Hakeem on and Vernon Maxwell, both ing from iron deficient anemia, not accompany the Houston :s to Sacramento for Tuesday game. two players have missed three :'xua: AH since they were diagnosed last ith the ailment. "Robert Horry, who left Saturday’s 5oi ime against Milwaukee after a-.v filing his back, will make the four- ad trip. ker takes show New York Giants frav EAST RUTHERFORD. N.J. (AP) — ihf v.ifsct'el Walker might be more than a re; Ird-down back and special teams kyarfor the New York Giants in 1995 •a lot more. ^ lOn the day that Walker signed a rae-year, $4.8 million contract with Hi i (Hants, coach Dan Reeves said he considering playing Walker and y Hampton in the same backfield ming season. aven’t seen Herschel in the I ition) since Dallas,” Reeves said y in a telephone interview from o, Fla. “He’s done some of that and on, and that's basically where )use Rodney." Reeves said the idea of putting ! alker and Hampton in the same Kkfleld intrigues him. “IJust think it’s unlimited when a guy orr jllhe ability to do the things Herschel »s. You want to use his skills to ,,ij pit," he said. more:.®!'. tobinson chosen as n« IBA Player of Week 545 NEW YORK (AP) — David ^ jjblnson, who led the San Antonio an< Mrs to a 14-2 record during March, a* sk.» been chosen the NBA’s player of | inonth. He also was selected as ll f c ' r lyer of the week for last week. Robinson averaged 28.2 points, alli‘rl.9 rebounds, 4.2 blocks, 2.9 assists id 1.6 steals during the team’s 16 imes in March. Last week, he averaged 29.8 )ints and 13 rebounds as the >urs went 4-0. ohnson trial hears ilosing arguments . ■ The Battalion • Page 5 mi w ■ r m Dynamic duo blazing trails on court S„ r g“ s □ Learning to live with each other, Rico Rodarte and Eric Horan are striving to succeed on and off the tennis court. By Jim Anderson The Battalion Tennis is a sport that people often associate with individual suc cess. Such is not the case with the Texas A&M doubles team of Rico Rodarte and Eric Horan. This dynamic duo has blazed the way for the success of the A&M men’s tennis team over the past two years. “Coach Kent was skeptical when he first paired us as a doubles team because of the fact that we had played together as freshmen and had limited success,” said Horan. “However, when we reached the semi-finals of the first tournament we played together, that skepticism disappeared.” One thing that leads to the duos success on the court is their re lationship off the court. The fact that they are roommates and close friends has helped their success on the tennis court. “Your partner in doubles is n't always someone that you get along with,” Horan said. “This is definitely not the case be tween Rico and I because he is someone that I greatly admire and can turn to with problems about anything.” The two came from distinctly different backgrounds to reach this point. While Horan is from Texas (Lake McQueeney), Ro darte hails from Mexico City. “When Eric first came here we put aside the fact that we came from different backgrounds and have formed a lasting friendship on and off the court,” Rodarte said. “Not only is he my double partner but is also my close friend. Another key aspect to their doubles success comes in the commu nication that they perform on the court during a match. Certain signs alert the other player what is going to happen and what the opponents are going to do. “We have hand signals that we use to communicate with each other on the court,” Rodarte said. “Of course, we have played togeth er for so long that we know most of the time what the other player is going to do.” See Tennis, Page 8 Robyn Calloway/The Battalion Eric Horan returns a serve during match earlier this year. ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Doug Melvin and Johnny Oates assembled the best replacement team in American League, and it hardly even matters. It’s what they do next that counts. Melvin, the xookie general manager of the Texas Rangers, and Oates, the team’s new man ager, paxled ways with the fill- ins Monday a few hours before the subs were to have opened the season against the New York Yankees. As soon as Melvin finished his one-on-one meetings, he seemed almost confused as he tried changing his focus back the big leaguers. “I think we have — what is it? — eight players signed,” Melvin said. “It’s been a while since I looked at our 40-man roster.” The only names he'll find al ready on dotted lines are the few free agents he brought in before the moratorium on sign ings and a couple of players with no other options. Melvin expects to double or triple the number of signed players within the next few days because so many players don’t have enough time in the majors to be eligible for arbitra tion or free agency. “There’s not going to be a whole lot of negotiating,” Melvin said. “It’s going to be, ‘Guys, this is what we have for you to play for this year.’ I hope we can make one phone call, talk with each other and just go forward and play ball.” The most important order of business is dealing with pitch ers Kenny Rogers and John Burkett, third baseman Dean Palmer and All-Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez. Game on: real baseball is back WACO(AP) — A jury heard *ilng arguments Monday in the eral trial of former Baylor sketball coach Darrel Johnson, , Jio is accused of helping several i^tlior college recruits pass courses c jcessary to enroll at Baylor. 1 Three former assistants also face P wire fraud and conspiracy larges with Johnson, who was tticted in November, one day after Sylor fired him because of the eged irregularities. Two junior college officials had fced wire fraud charges, but U.S. jstrict Judge Walter Smith Jr. ■missed charges against them on Way After the prosecution rested Friday, rneys for Jeanetta Hargrow of elton State (Ala.) Community liege and Humphrey Lee of utheastern College of the tsemblies of God in Lakeland, Fla., ^ ade motions contending that the h/ernment had failed to prove its isa against their clients. □ Major leaguers are already strolling into spring training camps. (AP) You knew the big lea guers were back as soon as the Rolls-Royce rolled into train ing camp. The strike was over and All- Star Lou Whitaker had arrived to play ball. All over Monday, there were signs the rest of baseball was springing to life, too. In Cincinnati, Reds owner Marge Schott sounded a horn on a fire truck that started the city’s traditional opening day parade, even though opening day is still more than three weeks away. In Florida and Arizona, play ers began showing up for spring training, even though camps don’t officially open until Wednesday. Detroit manager Sparky An derson, who left camp rather than work with replacements, was set to arrive Tuesday; Toronto manager Cito Gaston, who had been coaching minor leaguers, prepared to take over the real Blue Jays. In Baltimore and Boston, fans lined up outside Camden Yards and Fenway Park to buy tickets, and the Minnesota Twins offered them at half-price. President Clinton even said he might throw out the first ball, something he said he wouldn’t do if replacements were on the field. “We’ve been waiting for today for a long time,” Boston Red Sox manager Kevin Kennedy said at camp in Fort Myers, Fla. spokesman Chuck Schupp said. “We still have plenty to make.” Even bigger is the issue of 800 unsigned players and 200 free agents. Dennis Eckersley became the first player to make a deal since the 232-day strike ended, re-sign ing with the Oakland Athletics. Several swaps are close — the Montreal Expos expect to trade either Marquis Grissom, Ken Hill or John Wetteland this week, while St. Louis may send Mark Whiten to Boston for Scott Cooper. “There’s going to . be good deals avail- — Kevin Kennedy able,” Montreal gen- Boston Red Sox manager Mi'oSfsMd 6 ’’ KeVm The No last minute heroics for Arkansas this time "We've been waiting for today for a long time." “We're already prepared,” he said. “It’s going to be fun now.” And hectic. With exhibition games sup posed to start April 13 and the opening day set for April 26, there’s plenty of work to do and not much time to do it. The folks at Louisville Slug ger are scrambling to fill new or ders for 6,000 bats that major league teams need right away. “It’s nuts in here today,” situation with the umpires is equally un settled. They were locked out by owners Jan. 1 because of a con tract dispute, and amateur fill- ins called the replacement games. “I don’t think there’s any question that now that the regu lar major leaguers are back, it’s more likely we will be able to make a deal,” said Bob Opalka, an associate of umpires’ union head Richie Phillips. arship tests true heart of athletes Robert Rodriquez il L "" Jl SpORTSWRITER III very high school ath lete dreams about one. A few get some and those who do not, are ’tC^left with the thought of why they did not get an athletic scholarship. As every college coach frill tell you, athletic schol arship are hard to get these days. Not only are they hard for the athlete to get, but also, the athletic programs are having trouble with the NCAA reducing the her of scholarships. Nowadays, in order to get an athletic scholarship, one must run a three-second 40-yard dash time, bench press a house, and have not a single scratch on their body from a surgeon. I This points to an obvious question. Should someone who has not received a schol arship just give up on their dream or should they try to pursue on making the team and maybe get that scholar ship later on? Some would say to just to give up because of the risk of embarrassing oneself and because coaches only choose the walk-ons they have already contacted. Some just flat out believe the teams are set with their scholarship players and they will not choose anybody. Then there are those who can not take no for an answer. Those are the ones who are at Deware every night or doing push-ups and sit-ups in their room on a Friday night. They want to make sure they are at peak perfor mance when the tryout date comes. Those are the ones pursuing their dream. An example of this happened when foot ball tryouts were held last month. A friend of mine decided he wanted to tryout for the football team. Not only did he lift at Deware almost every night, but he cut back on his partying on the weekends and ate all that healthy food that looked like it still had roots and dirt from where it was picked. He didn’t play any other sports because he was afraid of getting injured and ruining his chances. Everything had to be perfect for that tryout day. All those sacrifices paid off as he made the football team. Even though he still has some more cuts See Scholarship, Page 8 □ Ed O'Bannon and Toby Bailey come up big for UCLA despite Tyus Edney's abscence. SEATTLE (AP) — With its starting point guard on the bench and its greatest coach in the stands, UCLA won its first na tional championship in 20 years and kept Arkansas from joining the select list of repeaters. The top-ranked Bruins won their record 11th NCAA title Monday night with an 89-78 victory that was even more im pressive considering senior Tyus Edney was limited to 2 1/2 minutes because of a sprained right wrist. Ed O’Bannon stepped up as he was supposed to, but so did fresh man Toby Bailey and Cameron Dollar, Edney’s replacement. It all meant the first title for the school since 1975, when John Wooden, who sat quietly in the stands of the Kingdome, won the last of 10 in a 12-year span. For Arkansas, it was the end of a tournament run of close fin ishes and it ended one game short of becoming the second re peat champion since Wooden’s Bruins won seven in a row, end ing in 1973. The Razorbacks had come to rely on its great defense and great player, Corliss Williamson, in the second half, but neither was there against UCLA. O'Bannon scored 30 points and had 16 rebounds in a game that certified his All-America credentials. Bailey, who had struggled to a l-for-2, two-point outing in the semifinals, fin ished with 26 points and nine rebounds. And Dollar, the backup point guard who played in the shadow of the lightning quick Edney, came up with eight assists. Williamson, who was 9-for-l2 in the second half of the semifi nal win over North Carolina, fin ished 3-for-l6 from the field against the Bruins, including a 1-for-10 effort in the second half. Instead of the Razorbacks swarming and defending as they had all tournament in the latter stages of the game, it was the Bruins who managed to hold Arkansas without a field goal for a 4:47 stretch that ended with Williamson’s first basket of the second half with 2:25 to play. That made it 77-68 and the Razorbacks were out of the last- minute miracles they had man aged in the early rounds. The Bruins built a 65-53 lead with 11:27 left on a rebound basket by Bailey. Arkansas managed to get within 67- 64 on a free throw by Williamson with 5:22 left, but O'Bannon hit a jump hook, Bai ley scored on yet another re bound and O’Bannon and Dollar each made two free throws and Bailey scored again and the lead was again 12 with 3:13 left. Clint McDaniel led Arkansas with 16 points, while Willamson had 12 and Scotty Thurman, the hero of last year’s title win over Duke with a last-minute 3- pointer, had five points on 2-for- 9 shooting. UCLA extended its lead in the title run, with Kentucky and Indiana second on the list with five each. The Bruins are 11-1 in championship games and this was their first without Wooden in front of the bench, rolled-up program in hand. SAME GAME NEW NAME Your Number One source for local sports has a new name. HSE is now Prime Sports. 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