Wednesday, Oct. 30, 1985
Sports
University Dailv Kansan
13
Williams doubtful for Oklahoma game
News Briefs
Kansas head coach Mike Gottfred said yesterday it was doubtful tailback Lynn Williams would play against Oklahoma Saturday. Williams, who missed the fourth quarter of the Oklahoma State game because he couldn't raise his hands above his head because of sore neck and shoulders, is doubtful for the 1:30 game in Norman. "I'll be surprised if he plays," Gottfred said, "even though Lynn savels he'll be ready."
Gottried said Williams 'absence would hurt the offense because he gave the Jayhawks depth by playing both running back positions.
If Williams misses the game, he will join center Paul Oswald, free safety Wayne Ziegler and defensive tackle David Smith, who are sidelined with injuries.
Eight Greek Rec-A teams advanced to the quarterfinals of the intramural football tournament yesterday, which is being held on the fields at 2rd and Iowa streets.
Kansas concentrated on defending the Oklahoma wishbone offense during the two-hour practice yesterday.
Rec teams advance
File photo
Infirst round play, Point Spread defeated Monkeychas by ioreft, Triangle shut Ducks 2-6, Alpha Epsilon Pi defeated Terminators 20-13, Phi Kappa Pi beat Zeeb 2-14, Sheeperders beat Acacia 20-14, Men shutout Studdbuckets 10-10, Pikes beat Theta Chel 14-0, and Fiji 1 shut out Zeb1 by the same score of 14-0.
Kansas tennis player Mike Wolf hit an overhead shot during a match last fall against Patrick McEnroe, brother of tennis great John McEnroe at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. The match preceded an exhibition match between John McEnroe and Biorn Borg.
In Men's Residential Rec-A. Elgins defeated Kamikazes by foreft.
Action today in the tournament will feature six first round games in Residential Rec-A, and three quarterfinal games in Greek Rec-A.
NEW YORK — Joaquin Andujar will miss the first 10 days of the 1986 season under a suspension imposed Tuesday by Commissioner Peter Ueberhorn for the Cardinal right-hander's outburst against an umpire in the sevent game of the World Series.
Anduiar suspended
"Such actions are damaging to the game and cannot be tolerated," Ueberroth said.
From Kansan wire reports.
KU's Wolf sets sights on top title
By Heather Fritz Of the Kansan sports staff
By Heather Fritz
KU tennis player Mike Wolf is already the best player in the Big Eight Conference, and now he's looking to conquer the country.
Wolf will begin play tomorrow in the ITCA Volvo All-American Tournament, as the team plays in singles, as well as doubles with KU teammate Michael Center.
Center was defeated yesterday in the first round of the singles qualifying matches by Dan Nahirney of UCLA, 6-4, 6-2. Head tennis coach Scott Perealman said Nahirney is a good player with a big serve — a serve Center was not able to break once during the match.
This will be Wolf's third All-American tournament. As a freshman, he lost in the qualifying matches. Last year, he qualified for the main tournament but lost in the second round.
"In comparison to the last two years, I've been confident going out there but didn't really expect to win." Wolf said recently. "Now I think I can put a string of matches together (and do well)."
Wolf isn't the only person who thinks so. Perelman also likes Wolf's chances.
The tournament consists of last year's 16 All-American singles players, plus the top two players from each region. 64 players compete for the remaining four spots. The top 16 finishes in the NCAA tournament in the spring will be named All-Americans.
"Since I've been in college, my primary goal has been to be an All-American," Wolf said. "This year it's within reach."
"If he goes into this national event as determined as he has been in our regional events, it will no doubt be an outstanding tournament for him," Perelman said. "He has beaten people as badly as he could. There was no messing around."
Wolf won the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association Indoor qualifier in Wichita earlier this month by defeating Oklahoma State's Pat Camon 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in finals. Wolf did not lose a set until the first round and was awarded for the national ITCA Indoor tournament in Houston in February.
In Wichita, Wolf showed that he has his concentration, which was one of his major concerns, under control. And Perelman said that Wolf's
backhand, which has been shaky at times, is better than ever.
"The key to Mike's success on the national level will be to string some victories together," Perelman said. "Wolf's been around the block now. As a junior or senior, you're a veteran, there's no surprises. This tournament will be a good indication of where Mike stands on the national level."
Wolf has stood at the top spot on the KU ladder ever since he came to Kansas from Stilwell. He was travelling alone to junior tournaments when he was 14, which he said kept him out of trouble. He won the Kansas state title in high school, and won the gold
At Kansas, he made the conference finals in No. 1 singles as a freshman, and last year he won the title. Now he is the 50th ranked college singles player, and he has grown into a leadership position for the Jayhawks.
"I've tried to a leader on the court," he said. "I tried to give the team the feeling that I was going to be up there trying my hardest. When I was young, we usually have the maturity to be a leader in the whole sense of the word."
Wolf plays a serve and volley game
and uses more finesse than power.
Stepping back helps punter improve
Bv Frank Hansel
Of the Kansan sports staff
There are times when it's best to step away from a problem in order to correct it.
Kansas punter Rob Dickerson can testify to that. The junior from Pretty Prairie said he was in a punter's slump, and the cure was not to keep kicking footballs until he was blue in the foot. Instead Dickerson cut back his work load, and the problem went away.
Dickerson was averaging 39.1 yards a punt for the first five games. He said he just wasn't in the game.
“Sometimes the leg can get stale, and I didn’t have the whip in my leg that I needed to punt well.” Dickerson said yesterday. “So I had a real light offense in the Iowa State game, and I didn’t overdo it.
Now he punts mainly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Thursdays and Fridays are reserved for working on form, not distance.
Since his change in work habits, Dickerson has averaged 42.6 yards a punt. Against Kansas State he averaged 50.8 yards for four punts, and was named the Kansas special team player of the
week. He has seen his season average jump to 42.5 yards.
Kansas administrative assistant AI Woolard has been working with Dickerson. He said Dickerson's improvement came from meeting the ball closer to the ground. Instead of kicking the ball at an 80 degree angle, Dickerson is kicking the ball at a 45 degree angle.
"He had tremendous hang time before, but his pants were only going 40 to 45 yards." Woolard said. "Now he is kicking the ball about 15 yards farther, and he is getting even more trajectory."
The early-season slump was not the first for Dickerson. He suffered through a slump at Hutchinson Junior College that almost ended his career.
Kansas head coach Mike Gottfried said Dickerson's improvement could prove vital to the Jayhawks during the rest of the season.
"To win in this league, you need good specia
team play. Gottfried said, 'I couldn't be bappert
himself.'"
Dickerson said he didn't have a good season punting, so he decided to quit punting. He sat out his sophomore year and just went to school. But
Dickerson soon found out how much he missed football.
"I really missed punting, and my brother (Wayne) suggested I take a look at the KU campus," Dickerson said. "I came and looked at the campus and decided to enroll."
Dickerson was enrolled and living in Lawrence before his brother persuaded him to try out for the football team.
Dressed in a business suit and sporting the trademarks that made him easily recognizable to National Football League fans — bald head and neat beard — Mel Blount had a special message to deliver to the University of Kansas football team.
"I thought he had a pretty good chance of making the team, since Bucky (Scribner) had left and there was really no one to take his place." Wayne Dickerson said.
Dickerson said he talked to Bud Ratliff, KU recruiting coordinator, who said the punting position was open. It was then that he decided to try out as a walk-on.
Players impressed with Blount's talk
By Liz Maggard Of the Kansan staff
He punted in five junior varsity games before getting a chance to punt for the varsity team against Nebraska and Missouri. His first punt went 64 yards against the Cornhuskers, and he finished last season with a 36.8 yard average in 14 punts.
Standing 6-feet-3 inches tall and appearing not an ounce over his playing weight of 205 pounds, the former Pittsburgh Steiner cornerback still displays the power and grace he used for 14 years to carry unwelcome messages to opposing NFL coaches, quarterbacks and receivers.
Dickerson said his goal this season was to average around 45 yards a punt and to lead the Big Eight Conference.
These days, he's a man with a different message. Now director of player relations for the NFL, Blount travels to universities around the country to play college football players and stresses the importance of education and clean living.
Monday afternoon he delivered his message to the KU football team.
He was here, Blount told the players at a team meeting, because he was tired of reading about athletes in trouble - athletes with drug and money problems.
"You are special," he told the players. "You're men who influence others. People watch you even when you don't think they're watching.
"You have a responsibility to yourselves, the school and the community to do well."
Blount said that getting a good education should be the players' first priority because football success is temporary.
"I don't care how great you are, you can't play football all your life," he said. "If you could, I'd still be playing."
Blount retired in March 1984, ending a career that included four Super Bowl championships, five Pro Bowl appearances and the honor of being named the NFL's most valuable player in 1975. He holds the Steeleers' team record for career pass interceptions with 54.
KU offensive guard Paul Swenson said Blount's success made his message more meaningful.
"Fourteen years doesn't even begin to tell the story," he said. "I played football for 22 years — since the eighth grade."
"He's here are right now and beyond that," Swenson said.
"There's no one who can give college football players better advice."
Wide receiver Johnny Holloway said he thought Blount's comments impressed the players because they knew he was speaking from experience.
"He's been that route." Holloway said. "He's a walking example of what he's talking about."
Blount told the players that football was a good education for life because what they learned on the football field held true in other areas.
'You have to be intelligent to play football. You just need to apply the same discipline you do on the football field to the classroom.'
Mel Blount Former NFL All-Pro
"If you get knocked on your butt, you have to get right up or somebody will run over you," he said. "It's the same in life as it is in football."
Strategies learned on the football field also can be applied to academic success, Blount said.
"The same things you have to do on the football field, you have to do in the classroom," he said. "You have to stick to the basics."
Blount said athletes not only had to compete against other athletes on the playing field, but also had to compete with students who did nothing but study.
"I't hard, but not impossible," he said. "You have to be intelligent to play football. You just need to apply yourself." On the football field to the classroom.
Free safety Travis Hardy said Blunt obviously practiced what he BECRTED
Swenson said he was impressed by the fact that Blount had missed only one game in 22 years of playing football.
"He's in great shape," Hardy said. "That shows he has a lot of self-discipline and self-respect."
Buoniconti's injury may cause paralysis
The Associated Press
MIAMI — The son of former Miami Dolphins star Nick Buoniconi was flown here by Learjet early Tuesday from a Tennessee hospital and was admitted to a neurosurgery intensive care unit for treatment of a college football injury that may leave him paralyzed for life.
Marc Buonconti, a 5-foot-10,
185-pound linebacker, seriously
injured his neck as he was tackling an East Tennessee State running back in last Saturday's Citadel-East Tennessee game. He was hospitalized at the Johnson City Medical Center until his parents brought him to his hometown in the predawn hours Monday.
"He's going to have a battery of tests and examinations by the doctors. There's really not much else we can say at this time," said Brenda Perry, a spokeswoman for Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital.
She said the youth was listed in critical condition because of the
Buoniconti's parents, surrounded by police, clutched hands as they walked into the hospital lobby following the slow procession from the airport.
Top six unchanged in UPI coaches' poll
His father, a star linebacker on the Miami Dolphins' Super Bow队 teams of 1971-73 and now an attorney, earlier issued a statement that described his son's injury as a "Darryl Stingley-type injury." Stingley, a New England Patriots' wide receiver, was paralyzed from the neck down in 1978.
United Press International
The 19-year-old player, whose family members trailed in a second aircraft, arrived at a private terminal at Miami International Airport shortly before 5 a.m. Buoniconi was carefully lifted from the jet by a medical crew and taken by ambulance to Jackson Memorial.
NEW YORK — While the 1982 and 1983 national champions of college football maintain aspirations of duplicating that feat this season, last year's No. 1 team lost all hopes of repeating.
The defeat, the first to the Miners since 1970, gave BYU its second loss of the season and dropped it from No. 7 to 16 yesterday in the UPI Top 20 ratings.
Brigham Young, who overcame playing a weak schedule and being in the soft Western Athletic Conference to convince the UPI Board of Coaches to select it No. 1 in 1984, will not be able to prove his convincing ability to the football team year after losing 23-16 Saturday to previously witness Texas-Ell Paso.
The Nittany Lions, who improved their record to 7-0 with their most impressive triumph of the season, a 27-0 thrashing of West Virginia, held on the No. 2 ranking for the second straight week. Penn State had won its
Meanwhile, the efforts of 1982 champ Penn State and 1983 champ Miami (Fla.) continue to impress Board voters.
seriousness of his injury, but that his injury isn't considered life-threatening. He was admitted to the neurosurgery intensive care unit, she said.
The Hurricanes ruined the homecoming of the architect of their championship club, Howard Schnellenberger.
first six games by a combined total of 24 points,
UPI Top 20
1. Iowa (42) (7-0) 630 1
2. Penn State (1-0) 630 1
3. Nebraska (6-1) 630 1
4. Michigan (6-1) 498 4
5. Auburn (6-1) 498 4
6. Air Force (6-1) 498 4
7. Ohio State (6-1) 328 4
8. Oklahoma State (4-1) 328 4
9. Florida State (4-1) 328 4
10. Baylor (7-1) 277 11
11. Arkansas (6-1) 277 11
12. Illinois Fla (7-1) 159 13
13. Oklahoma State (5-1) 184 12
14. UCLA (5-1) 143 15
15. Alabama State (4-1) 143 15
16. Brigham Young (6-2) 44 7
17. Georgia (5-1) 14 7
18. Tennessee (5-1) 10 2
19. Texas A&M (5-2) 10 2
20. Alabama (5-2) 8 2
First place vote and records in parenthesis, total votes for each candidate, 14 for second, etc., and last week's ranking.
Others receiving votes: Arizona State, Army
Cavalry, Florida State, Georgia Tech,
Georgia State.
Note: By agreement with the American Football Coach Association, teams at NCAA or National championship consider the UPS national championship consideration by the UPS team. The teams currently on proba-tion are FIU and WVU.
Bryan Graves/KANSAH
Wise words
Read football coach Mike Gottfried gives his players words of inspiration in preparation for Saturday's game against Oklahoma in Norman.