Sports
Thursday, Nov. 14, 1985
13
University Daily Kansan
Brown forced to look ahead
By Frank Hansel
Of the Kansan sports staff
A Kansas men's basketball team without Ron Kellogg, Calvin Thompson and Greg Dreiling is not something Jayhawk fans want to start thinking about. But it is at the top of head coach Larry Brown's priority list right now.
Brown and the rest of the college coaches are ready for future collegiate stars to commit to the college of their choice during the early signing period that began yesterday and runs through Wednesday.
Brown said yesterday that Kansas' needs for next year included a guard, a swinger and a center to replace the three seniors.
"I look for kids who are good athletes, but also for players who are versatile and can play more than one position," Brown said.
Kansas has four scholarships to offer right now, and Brown said he had oral commitments that four players would sign during the early signing period.
period.
Brown said he wouldn't reveal names of prospective recruits, because it would be unfair to the athletes who hadn't decided on a school.
"We expect to sign some players." Brown said. "I would be very disappointed if we didn't. Once a kid says he's coming that good enough for me. The papers (letter of intent) are for their protection."
One of the players who has given an oral commitment to the Jayhawks is 6-foot-3 guard Carrick DeHart from Santa Monica, Calif., High School. DeHart averaged 15 points a game last season.
DeHart's teammate, 6-foot-6 forward Keith Harris, is also considering Kansas along with New Mexico and Texas El-Paso.
and Texas El Paso.
Martin Howell, a 6-foot-9 forward
from Ladue High School in St. Louis, had narrowed his choices to Kansas and St. Louis, but he has decided to simn with St. Louis.
Doug Vance, KU sports information director, said the athletic department had not received any signed letters of intent in the mail yesterday.
Coaches are prohibited by National Collegiate Athletic Association rules from actively recruiting athletes during the signing period, so all letters of intent have to be mailed to the schools.
Schools
Athletes who do not sign by
Wednesday must wait until April
before they can sign with a college.
Brown said the players who signed in the early period were at an advantage, because they could then enjoy their senior years without worrying about college recruiters.
The early signing period also benefits the schools. Brown said it allowed them to concentrate on high school sophomores and juniors.
Once Kansas fills its needs for next year. Brown said he would concentrate on the younger players in high school.
school.
"With all the regulations set by the NCAA, the emphasis is to sign seniors early and concentrate on scouting freshman, sophomores and juniors." Brown said.
There are also disadvantages to the early signing period. Brown said there was always a chance that a current player in the program could develop to fill the needs of the recruit. Teams also have gone after recruits that weren't their first choice.
"I've seen teams take kids that maybe weren't their first choice." Brown said. "But they signed their second or third choice so they wouldn't be left out. Then their top choice is available later on, but they don't have a scholarship to give him."
Norseth suffered mild knee sprain
Sports editor
By Chris Lazzarino
Kansas quarterback Mike Norseth suffered a mild knee sprain yesterday in practice, but head trainer Lynn Bott said he should be able to play Saturday when the Jayhawks face Nebraska in Lincoln.
The game was originally scheduled to be televised, but those plans have been canceled. Game time will be 1:30 p.m.
As part of their radio contract, the Cornhuskers are limited to five regular season television appearances. ABC chose to televised the Oct. 26 Nebraska-Colorado game, which put Nebraska's TV total at six. Raycom Sports chose to drop the Nebraska-Kansas game to satisfy the Cornhuskers' radio contract.
Norseth was rolling right on a practice play against the scout team when he was injured yesterday afternoon in Anschutz Sports Pavilion. He continued to play for a few minutes before leaving the field. Bott said that a doctor would take a closer look at the knee, but that it didn't appear to be serious.
Gottried said that in the event Norseth was not able to play Saturday, Tom Quick would be KU's quarterback. Quick, also a wide receiver, spent most of yesterday's practice at quarterback
Head, coach Mike Gottfried said that Norsesth wasn't hit very hard, but that he caught his toe in the artificial turf.
The Kansas place-kickers are competing for the start job against the Cornhuskers. Regular starter Jeff Johnson missed field goals of 21 and 39 yards last Saturday against Colorado, and freshman Chase Van Dyne missed a 28-yard attempt.
Administrative assistant Al Woolard, who also coaches the kickers, said that Johnson made 46 of 50 attempts yesterday in Memorial Stadium, and Mike Goldman made 45.
Tailback Lynn Williams, center Paul Oswald and free safety Wayne Ziegler are all out with knee injuries and won't play against Nebraska.
Woolard said the starting job would not be decided until game time Saturday.
Suzy Meat/KANSAN
Special K
Kansas forward Ron Kellogg fired a pass during practice in Allen Field House yesterday, Kellogg and the rest of the Jayhawks are preparing for the National Invitational Tournament against Pepperdine next Friday in Denver.
Kansas loses recruit war for prep star
By Frank Hansel Of the Kansan sports staff
Of the Kansan sports staff
Kansas lost the recruiting war to Georgia Tech for the services of point guard Michael Christian of Mullen High School in Denver.
Christian signed a letter of intent with the Yellowjackets yesterday and announced his decision at a news conference at his home last night.
Stan Dodds, Mullen High School head coach, said Christian's interest in computer science may have been a big factor in his decision. He also said Christian wanted a program in which he could step in and play immediately or by his sophomore year at the latest.
Christian is considered one of the top prep players in the country even though he is still recovering from a broken leg suffered during a basketball camp in June. Dodds said the break would keep Christian off the basketball court until January, at the earliest, but would have no long-term effect on his game.
Kansas head coach Larry Brown said yesterday that he was notified of Christian's decision by phone about three hours before the official announcement.
"it's a disappointment, but you have to hope it works out best for the kid," Brown said.
Brown said Christian had narrowed his choice to Kansas and Georgia Tech. Illinois was also recruiting the 6-foot-3, 185 pound point guard, who has a vertical jump of 41 inches.
Christian said he made his choice yesterday afternoon after talking to it over with his brother
"I'm sure I can contribute something to the Georgia Tech program," Christian said.
He will receive a full-ride four-year scholarship to Georgia Tech.
"He can shoot the ball extremely well from the perimeter, and he has a good eye for shooting and passes the ball really well." Dodds said.
United Press International supplied some information for this story.
Christian averaged 21.1 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals a game as a junior last season in leading Mullen High to a 16-3 record and the Centennial League title.
Gooden wins NL Cy Young award
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Soft-spoken but hard-throwing Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets became the youngest player ever to win the Cy Young award, receiving unanimous acclaim yesterday as the best pitcher in the National League last season.
Gooden, who turns 21 Saturday,
also became the first pitcher to win
Rookie of the Year and Cy Young
awards in successive seasons. The
right-hander had a record of 24-4 and
led the National League in earned
run average, strikeouts, complete
games and innings pitched.
Gooden received 120 points, including all 24 of the first-place votes cast by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, becoming the seventh pitcher to receive the award unanimously.
John Tudor of St Louis, 21-8 during the season, was second with 65 points, followed by Orel Hersheris of Los Angeles with 17, Joaquin Andu
jar of St. Louis with 6, Fernando Valenzuela of Los Angeles with 4, Tom Browning of Cincinnati with 1, Jeff Reardon of Montreal with 1.
The other unanimous winners were Sandy Koufax in 1963, '65 and '66; Denny McLain in 1968; Bob Gibson in 1968; Steve Carlton in 1972 and '77; Ron Guiry in 1978, and Rick Sutcliffe in 1984.
Votes are cast by two members of the BBWAA from each National League city with a first-place vote counting five points, three for second and one for third.
"I'm honored to have my name listed with the other Cy Young winners," said Gooden. "So much has happened to me in such a short period of time — Rookie of the Year last year and now this. Still, I would gladly trade both of these awards for one World Series ring. That's what I will be shooting for next year."
The award came to Gooden three days before his 21st birthday, making him 13 years younger than Valenzuela
when the Dodgers' southpaw won his Cy Young Award in 1981. Valenzuela was 10 days past his 21st birthday when he won the award on Nov. 11 of that year.
Though he consistently downplayed his own ac-complishments in relation to those of the team as a whole, Gooden had the kind of season that made him stand out from the rest.
His ERA of 1.53 was a team record, and he led the league with 276 2-3 inning pitches, 268 strikeouts and 16 complete games. He also had eight shutouts, second in the NL to Tudor's 10.
Gooden was the first pitcher since Sandy Koufax in 1966 to lead the league in the pitching triple crown categories of victories, ERA and strikeouts. Six pitches besides Gooden — Koufax, Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Dazzy Vance, Lefty Grove and Hal Newhouser — have led the majors in those categories, and all but
Newhouser are in the Hall of Fame.
Newhouse.
With a 17-9 record in his rookie season of 1984, Gooden has a career record of 41-13.
Gooden had the season's longest winning streak — 14 straight victories from May 30 to Aug. 25 — breaking the club mark of 10 by Seaver in 1969. He went 31 consecutive innings without allowing a run and put together a string of 49 consecutive innings from Aug. 31 to Oct. 2 without allowing an earned run.
On Aug. 25, at the age of 20 years, nine months and nine days, he became the youngest pitcher in modern baseball history to win 20 games. Before Gooden, Bobby Feller of the American League's Cleveland Indians won 20 games at age 20 years, 10 months and five days in 1939. The youngest previous NL 20-game winner was Christy Mathewson, who won No. 20 in 1901 at age 21 years, one month and nine days.
SMU defeats Hawk team by 10 strokes
Bv Frank Hansel
Of the Kansan sports staff
Kansas had three golfers, Madsen,
Chris Hutchens and John Ogden, be
for ninth place in the tournament.
Hutchens shot a final round 75 and
ogden shot 74. Brian McGreevy
finished with a 231 total after
shooting 79, and Dave Pettle shot 82
to finish the tournament with a 241
total.
weredund in Kentucky in Kansas which trailed the篮筐 by 10 strokes after two rounds, was unable to erase the lead in the final round. The Mustangs led the tournament all three rounds. The Jayhawks final round of 308 placed them three strokes ahead of third place Baylor's total of 909.
Southern Methodist shot a final team round of 308 and won the Hall Sutton Invitational men's golf tournament by 10 strokes over Kansas yesterday in Shreveport, La.
KU's Steve Madsen, who trailed by three shots after the second round, shot himself out of contention with a final round 80.
Southwest Louisiana finished in fourth place with a three-round total of 115 followed by, Centenary College of Louisiana, 917; Southeast Louisiana, 919; Pan American, 920; North Texas State, 923; McNeese State, 925; Southwest Texas State, 927; Louisiana Tech, 928; Northeast Louisiana, 934; Texas-San Antonio, 940; Tulsa, 960.
Suzv Mast/KANSAN
John Barr, Bethesda, Md., freshman, returned a serve during a game he and a friend played on the tennis courts behind Robinson gymnasium yesterday.
Tongue-tied
$4 million requested for site
United Press International
CLAYTON, Mo. — St. Louis County Executive Gene McNary will ask the county council to spend $4 million to secure a 100-acre site for a domed stadium for the football Cardinals.
McNary said that today he would ask the council for permission to buy the site near Interstate 70 and the Earth City Expressway from the Swerdrup Corp., the developer of the site.
Under the proposal, the county would spend $1 million on the land and $3 million toward the construction of a $7 million levy for the area.
McNary announced his plan during a news conference Tuesday. He said the county could recover its $4 million regardless of whether the
stadium is built by a group of private investors he has been courting.
A decision to build the stadium is expected by the end of the year, after a final feasibility report on building a stadium is completed.
William V. Bidwill, owner of the football Cardinals, has said he will move the team from St. Louis unless progress is made in building a 70,000-seat stadium.
Bidwill said in a brief statement that he thought progress was being made.
"We are pleased with the progress of the interim report and look forward to a final feasibility study" on the proposal for a stadium, Bidwell said. "Every step we've seen so far has been positive and in the right direction."
McNary said ground for a stadium could be broken in six months and the stadium completed within three years.
McNary said that for the stadium to be feasible, it would have to be used by four professional sports franchises — soccer, hockey, football and basketball — and by circuses, rodeos and conventions for a total of at least 160 events a year.
McNary said if the plan fell through, the Sverdrup Corp. had agreed to buy the site back at a fair market value. If the investors decide to build, McNary said, the county can sell the land to them or "take a share" in the development.
Cards replace third-base coach
United Press International
ST. LOUIS — Rich Hacker has been added to the coaching staff of the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals, replacing Hal Lanier, who resigned to manage the Houston Astros, the club announced yesterday.
yesterday.
Lanier was the Cardinals' third-base coach. St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog was not definite about Hacker's role on the Cardinal team next season, although he said the newly acquired coach would probably be at one of the bases.
Hacker moved back to Johnson City last season and his club finished.
Herzog said Nick Leyva, who coached first base for St. Louis this season, has been retained. However, it had not been decided whether Leyva would continue at first, or move to third.
Hacker originally came to the Cardinals organization in November 1981 to fill the role of minor league manager and special assignment scout. Prior to his stint with St. Louis he managed at Johnson City, Tenn., in 1882, 1983 and 1985 and at Erie, Pa., in 1984.
second, 10 games above .500.
Although Hacker's major league career was short-lived, he was drafted and signed by the New York Mets in 1967 following graduation from Southern Illinois at Carbondale. He had a brief stay in the majors in 1971 as a shortstop for Montreal.
hacker was a minor league manager and scout for the San Diego Padres in 1973 and 1980, and Midwest area scout for the Toronto Blue Jays throughout the 1981 season.
Hacker, 38, is a native of New Athens, Ill., which is also Herzog's hometown.