Sports
University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, September 27, 1989
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Goodbye,48 Sayers' jersey to be retired
By Paula Parrish
Kansan sportwriter
Gale Sayers and 10 other former Kansas players will be honored at Saturday's football game.
Kansan sportswriter
Former Kansas All-American Gale Sayers will have his jersey, number 48, retired this weekend at Memorial Stadium.
But for him, the honor comes with a slightly bitter edge to it.
"I enjoyed all the game days," Sayers said. "I remember the fans, the band, the cheerleaders. I remember many good games."
Sayers, along with 10 other former Kansas players, will be honored at a special halftime ceremony during the game against Lawrence. Lawrence Mayor Bob Schumann, who has been as Gale Sayers Day in Lawrence.
Sayers played for Kansas from 1962 to 1964 and was named All American twice, in 1963 and 1964. With 2,675 yards, he is second in the Kansas record books for rushing, and in 1963 he set the record for the longest run from scrimmage, 99 yards.
Sayers said that he had a lot of good memories from playing at Kansas and that leaving after graduation was sad.
After leaving Kansas, Sayers played for the Chicago Bears from 1965 to 1971. During his seven seasons with the Bears, he set 23 club records and seven National
Football League records. Sayers still holds the NFL record for most touchdowns in a rookie season and was named Rookie of the Year in 1965.
Sayers was selected to play in the Pro Bowl five times. He played in four of them and was named the most valuable offensive player in the league. He was voted into both the College and National Football Halls of Fame in 1972.
Although Sayers is a little distressed by the fact that nobody will be seeing his number on the field for Kansas anymore, he said he would feel the same way if the Bears wanted to retire his number.
"When the number is off the field, you can't say anything about that player." Sayers said. "For example, whenever I see the number 51, I always think of Dick Miles. I don't think of anyone else."
Sayers said that college football had changed since his time at Kansas.
"The players are probably a little bigger, especially the linemen," Sayers said. "I'd say they're bigger by 15 to 20 pounds."
Although Sayers played on artificial surfaces in the NFL, they were not around when he was in college.
"Artificial surfaces were made for Gale Sayers," he said. "Artificial surface makes you a little faster."
Sayers also said the rules that collegiate players had to follow, both during recruitment and in
"You still had to pass your courses to be eligible," Sayers said. "But when I was being recruited and the coach came into all go out, and family could all go out." The kids dined, You can't do that today."
college, were much more stringent than rules in effect when he was playing.
Sayers said that when he went on trips to other schools, he could take a friend.
"You could go to 82 schools if you wanted to, because you could do that back then," he said.
NCAA regulations today permit only five visits by high school
athletes to colleges for the purposes of recruitment. Sayers said he visited 25 schools as a recruit.
Sayers also said he agreed with NCAA regulations for the most part but bought they needed to be more concerned concerning money for athletes.
"I think they deserve to get spending money" he said. "A regular student can work during the school year. The athlete can learn how to play better and think eventually the NCAA will put something in for the student."
Sayers received $15 a month for necessities such as "soap powder," and he said he thinks that it
should be about $150 today.
Sayers said he kept informed on Kansas football and tried to get to at least one game every year.
at least one game every year.
He also said that he thought one component that Kansas was missing now is continuity.
"You need somebody who loves Kansas and is going to stay there and build the program up." Sayers said. "You can't have continuity if coaches leave every three or four years."
As for this weekend and the contest against Oklahoma, Sayers said he had no favorites.
"I just like to see talent on the field," he said.
Soccer popular for foreign students
By Andres Caveller
Kansan sportswriter
For many students at Kansas, football is the most popular team sport, but for foreign students, soccer is that and much more.
Soccer has been the world's most popular sport for more than a century.
tapes of Bolivia's games that his parents send him.
At the University of Kansas, most foreign students know how their countries are doing at the World Cup rugby games, and others live for the sport.
Jorge Luis Gumucio, La Paz, Bolivia, junior, knows more about the Bolivian national team's qualifying games at the World Cup race than most people could imagine. Gumucio said he telephoned his parents in La Paz every weekend to get the scores. At his home in Lawrence, he has a video cassette recorder to watch the
"I am getting the next videotape in three days," he said. But Gumulo said he was dispatched. On October 14, he was qualified for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
"It was not fair," he said, "Bolivia had the best team ever."
Since this summer, the Latin American countries and the United States have beer. playing qualifying games for the World Cup. In Europe, where the qualifying games are just starting, only two teams have already qualified — Italy, the host, and Yugoslavia.
In the Americas, 14 national teams are divided in four groups, from which five teams will go to Italy, plus France, Germany, and Cup. Cup and is automatically qualified.
In the group of Uruguaq, Peru and Bolivia, Uruguay qualified after
beating Boliva 2-0. The only other World Cup Bolivia attended was in Brazil 1958.
"I was hoping that Peru tied with Uruguay so that we still had a chance," Gumucio said.
Peru, which has a strong soccer history, scored no points in the qualifying games. Two years ago, eight players of the national team and the coach died in a plane accident, and the team has been rebuilding since then.
It is not possible in Lawrence, Gumucio said, to receive Univision, a Spanish-speaking network that transmits the games.
"But I bought the most expensive short-wave radio," he said. He could not set it up in time for the game and returned it to the store, he said.
In the group of Brazil, Chile and Venezuela, Brazil already qualified. Marcus Villaca, Petropolis, Brazil.
junior, said that he was always informed about Brazil's games. He said that when he was in Brazil this summer, he watched three games on television.
"Soccer is the national sport," he said.
Villaca said that he used to get rain on short-wave from Rito de Janeiro.
"There is a lack of information about soccer in the United States," he said. "You rely on friends to call their parents in Brazil."
In the group including the United States, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, El Salvador and Guatemala, the Costa Rican and the U.S. national teams are the most likely to qualify, said Rodolf Mendez, San Jose, Costa Rica, senior.
"What matters to us is that we make it to the Cup," he said.
about 20 other fans went to St. Louis. To, see Costa Rica play the U.S. team. The U.S. team won 1-4, he said
Mendez said that last April he and
In this group, the top two team advance to the World Cup. Costa Rica is first with 11 points and all games played; second is Trinidad and Tobago with 9 points and one game to play against the U.S., which is third, with 7 points and three games to play.
Mendez said he wanted the U.S. to play in Italy, to gain experience for the 1994 World Cup, which the U.S. will host.
In the group of Colombia, Paraguay and Ecuador, Colombia qualified and has to play Israel. The team that wins that match will go to Italy. Colombia went once to a World Cup in 1950.
Jorge Gumucio said, "Brazil is the best in South America. It's like a machine."
Chiefs may use new QB
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Steve DeBerg has thrown four times as many interceptions as touchdown passes for the Kansas City Chiefs and Coach Marty Schottenheimer said yesterday that Ron Jaworski may start Sunday against Cincinnati.
The Associated Press
But then again, Schottenheimer carefully added, Jaworski may not.
"I've examined it and will continue
to examine it throughout the course of the day," Schottenheimer said yesterday. "Tomorrow we'll go ahead and identify what we're going to do."
DeBerg, 35, is no stranger to interceptions. He's thrown eight this year, compared to his two touchdown passes.
Several times during last year's 4-11-1 season he ruined long drives with goal line interceptions.
JAYHAWK FOOTBALL: Injuries to key players still plague the KU football team.
Sports briefs
"I tired of guys being injured," said Coach Glen Mason.
Guard Marino Vidiol, who started in the Baylor game in place of the injured Scott Inwalle, was injured in Monday's practice. Mason said that he may be forced to start Smith Holland, another lineman that has missed playing time because of an injury.
"He might be ready to play, but there is no way he is ready to play every down," said Mason about Holland.
Running back Maurice Hooks is also questionable for the Oklahoma game.
Strong safety Deral Boykin didn't practice yesterday because of an ankle injury he suffered in the game against Baylor.
Mason said that if Boykin did not practice today he would not start
Saturday. He also said that Boykin probably would not play unless he was at full strength.
Linebacker Lance Flaschbarth did not play in the Baylor game because of an injured knee. Mason said Flaschbarth would not play unless he was at full strength.
COMMISSIONER WANTED: NFL owners will meet Oct. 10 in either Chicago or Dallas to elect a new commissioner, the league said.
Kent Gilbert/KANSAN
Pete Thomas, St. Louis junior, keeps his eye on the ball. Thomas was playing tennis at Robinson Center yesterday.
Game set match
Royals eliminate Angels,4-0 must win last 5 for league tie
Kansas City remained barely in contention as Oakland beat Texas 4-3. The Royals would have to win their last five games and the Athletics would have to lose their last five for Kansas City to tie.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Bret Saberhagen pitched a six-hitter to win for the 19th time in 21 decisions, leading the Kansas City Royals past California 4-0 last night and eliminating the Angels from the American League West race.
The Associated Press
Saberhagen, 22-6, pitched his fourth shutout and extended his scoreless streak to 27 innings with his major-league leading 12th complete season, who walked two and struck out all but allowed 11 hits in his last 27 innings.
Bo Jackson singled in two runs for the Royals, giving him a career-best 101 RBIs.
Kirk McCaskill, 15-10, allowed nine hits in his ninth complete game. Kirk got five consecutive hits in the first six on infield and broken-hat singles.
Kevin Seitzer was hit in the back by a pitch. Willie Wilson's single and George Brett's infield hit loaded the
bases for Jackson, who cracked his bat on a blooper to right that scored two runs.
After Jackson was thrown out trying to steal second, Jim Eisenreich singled off the glove of third baseman Jack Howell, and Danny Tartabull singled, resulting in a 9-0 lead.
in the fifth, Seitzer's drive to right field was lost in the lights by Claudell Washington and went for a triple. Seitker scored on McCaskill's wild pitch.
Oakland clinches tie
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland Athletics clinched a tie for their second straight American League West title, beating the Texas Rangers 4-3 Tuesday night on Dave Henderson's two-run homer in the eighth inning.
Oakland leads the American League West by five games with five games remaining.
Champion Cubs
The Cubs took advantage of the Cardinals' 4-1 defeat in Pittsburgh and became the first team to guarantee a spot in the playoffs.
The Chicago Cubs clinched the National League East championship in six seasons, beating Montreal 3-2 last night with an unearned run in the eighth innings after second-place St.
Ryne Sandberg's dash home in the eighth made Don Zimmer a champion for the first time in 11 years of managing and also made meaningless a season-ending, three-game series in St. Louis.
Louis already lost
Chicago will open the playoffs tonight at Wrigley Field, all but certainly against San Francisco. The Giants and Giants split 12 games this year.
Dodgers rookie Ramon Martinez, 6-4, allowed four hits in 2-3 innings and Jay Howell got the last out for his first. Martinez struck out 11 and walked two.
Giants lose
The Giants' magic number for clinching their second division title in three years remained at one as second-place San Diego beat Cincinnati 3-1 earlier in the night to move within four games of San Francisco.
The San Francisco Giants missed a chance to clinch the National League West championship for the second straight day, losing 2-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night.
KC fans ditch team at the end
My friend and I need to get done with work here last week. The object of our furry — a Royalts game against the Chicago White Sox.
Granted, not the A's, nor the Toronto to Blue Jays, or any other "respected" team. But it was one of the last two series at home, and I had to work the rest of the week. This was the only night I could go.
We kept our eyes out for the cops and ignored all the speed limits, and we were still an hour late. A quick stop at the hot dog stand (I opted for the Gondola sandwich), a desperate search for the cotton candy man (it was bad stuff that night) and since the escalator to the view level seats had already stopped running, we had to climb up that God-awful ramp with the Royals ushers screeching, "Don't run, please!"
Elaine Sung Sports editor
We settled in our seats, propped our feet up to annoy the people in front of us, and scanned the crowd around us.
Some crowd. A grand total of 19,748 people showed up.
Royals Stadium can hold as many as 42,000.
We were shocked. Half of the view level was empty, a lot of the club and field level seats were bare, and general admission was a sad sight indeed—only three rows were filled.
OK, it was a Wednesday night, and the game featured the ever-overwhelming White Sox. I can understand a small crowd on a weekday. But Sunday, the last home game of the season, only 24,518 showed. The night before, it took a big promotion (Fan Appreciation Night) to get 35,102 to go to the game. Friday night the attendance was 29,286.
Another friend rationalized to me that because the Royals didn't have a prayer in the pennant race, no one was going to show up, final home game or not, especially when the last two home series were against the White Sox and the Seattle Mariners (whose idea was it to schedule those two teams for the end of the season anyway?).
I've lived in this region three and a half years, and from what I have observed, I can come to only one conclusion — it's I'm-a-fan-only-we're-wining syndrome. And it has hit hard.
Obviously, interest will drop when the home team is out of the race. But I would assume there's some loyalty involved, even if the team is just hanging on for pride. I would use St. Louis fans as an example, but they still had a chance a week ago. So I called around both leagues, and finally settled on the New York Mets.
Shea Stadium holds about 55,000. The public relations man I spoke to (who had a horrible Bronx accent) said all last week's games against the Expos were sold out, even with Hurricane Hugo in the way. He explained that only 16,470 showed up Friday because of the pouring rain; Kansas City didn't have the luxury of that excuse. Even the next day, with Hugo still in the area, 36,844 attended the game. And let's face it, neither the Mets nor the Expos were playing for anything but third place in the National League East.
Population? Sure. New York has about 18 million people, but it doesn't really matter how big the city is when the remnant of a hurricane is dumping rain all over the place. More than 16,000 showed up anyway, and can't imagine that many Royals fans would be willing to undergirl that.
What I find most disappointing is that many people don't realize they may never see two great players again after this season — namely, George Brett and Frank White.
Brett probably will return next season, but with injuries and his age as factors, it's not inconceivable that he will do an about-face and not come back. The Royals have not mentioned White's contract or exercising their union on it. It's likely that the Sunday game was his last as a Royal.
And anyway, what happened to watching a game just for the pleasure of it? Who cares if the player wanted to go just because it was fun.
Sometimes I wonder . . . what if Royale co-owner Avron Fogelman did end up selling the team? What if he would try to force his hand and take the team?
The Memphis Royals? Ugh. But by then, it will be too late. As the saying goes, no one appreciates what he has until it's gone.
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