INSIDE: Colorado no longer formidable foe. SEE PAGE 7A INSIDE: Volleyball team heads to Oklahoma. SEE PAGE 6A
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SPORTS
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TALK TO US: Contact Jay Krall or Sarah Warren at (785) 864-4858 or editor@kansan.com
Commentary
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2001
Doug Pacey Columnist sportsksans.com
Athletes risk it all for game
Marshall Chiles knows the risks.
He knows that one hit at the wrong angle could put him in a wheelchair.
But he still plays. He plays because it's what he's done all his life. Football is what he knows.
He plays because he doesn't know any better.
Chiles, a freshman running back from El Reno, Okla., has a narrow spinal column—something that, if he continues to play football, could leave him paralyzed or worse.
His condition was discovered during the football team's mandatory newcomer physicals. He told team doctors that he had suffered from neck and shoulder stingers in high school, and after checking him out, they noticed the problem with his spine.
He saw specialists in Lawrence, Oklahoma City, Okla., and Los Angeles. More pictures have been taken of his spinal cord lately than his face. After Chiles met with all the specialists, Lawrence Magee, director of sports medicine for the University of Kansas Athletics Corporation, spoke with Chiles.
"What we did was sit him down and talk about the decisions he had to make," Magee said. "Some specialists encouraged him not to play anymore, and some cleared him to play. We told him he is possibly at a more increased risk for a neck injury than other football players."
Chiles chose to play. You can understand his choice. He's had this condition his entire life. Nothing happened to him when he ran for 2,008 yards and 44 touchdowns during his senior season in high school and was named Oklahoma's 5A Player of the Year. Why would anything happen now?
"They say I was born with it," he said as he shrugged his shoulders. "If nothing has happened by now..."
But all it takes is one hit.
A single moment was all it took for Devaughn Darling.
Darling collapsed and died on Feb. 26 after an off-season workout at Florida State University. The freshman linebacker carried the sickle cell trait, which doctors say can lead to sudden, unexpected death if a body is pushed to its physical limits.
Devaughn had an identical twin, Devard, who played for the Seminoles last year, too. But because Florida State team doctors worried that Devard could suffer the same fate as his brother, they refused to clear him to play. Devard was granted his release from the school and transferred to Washington State University.
He passed Washington State's medical tests, and its team doctors cleared him to play. But if he keeps playing football, doctors say, there is a possibility that he could fall victim to the same condition that took his brother.
Yet Devard is still running pass-routes, and Chiles is awaiting his first carry as a Jayhawk, something that coach Terry Allen said will almost certainly come against Colorado tomorrow.
Away win is road less traveled
To contend with Buffs, 'Hawks must bolster running attack
SEE CENTERPIECE PAGE 5A
By Brent Briggemann Kansan sportswriter
A week after the worst tragedy in U.S. history, the Kansas football team had a lot on its mind.
Team discussions this week centered on the terrorist attacks. Other topics included the ongoing quarterback controversy between sophomore Zach Dyer and redshirt freshman Mario Kinsey, changes to the running game and the rescheduling of last week's game against Wyoming.
Seemingly lost in the shuffle was the Jayhawks' Big 12 Conference opener at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow in Colorado, their first road game of the year.
Kansas has struggled on the road in the past five years with coach Terry Allen. His teams are 2-18 away from Memorial Stadium, including a 1-15 mark in conference games.
Senior defensive back Brandon Wier said this year's team hadn't paid attention to the past performance on the road.
"The thing we have going for us now is we have a lot of new guys playing for us, a lot of juco guys who don't care where we play," Wier said. "They haven't seen the road troubles, and they're not worried about it."
Kinsey, who will start at quarterback.
is one newcomer Allen expects to thrive on the road.
"If anybody can do it, Mario can," Allen said. "He's got a little of that savvy about him, and he's been in big-time arenas before."
Kinsey's only Kansas football experience came last week as he split time against UCLA. However, he made his basketball debut last season for Kansas at New York's Madison Square Garden against St. John's and UCLA in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
Although Kinsey will start, Allen said that Dyer, who started the season's first two games, would also see action.
Allen has also adjusted personnel at other positions. Junior Barry Goodrich has been pushed into the starting lineup at wide receiver in place of injured senior Harrison Hill. To bolster the running attack, junior Mitchell Scott will play fullback, and sophomore Adrienne Jones will line-up at tight end. The Jayhawks played without a fullback or a tight end in the season's first two games, and they averaged 94 yards per game rushing.
In another attempt to help the running game, Allen said freshman Marshell Chiles would make his Kansas debut tomorrow at tailback behind sophomore starter Reggie Duncan. Chiles, a prize recruit from Oklahoma, missed much of the preseason two-a-day practice regimen after a narrowing of the spinal column was diagnosed.
Modified travel plans were another
detour from normalcy for Kansas.
city on the Friday afternoon before a road game, but the late flight will force the team to have an early practice in Lawrence today. The Jayhawks will arrive early at Folsom Field tomorrow to walk the grass playing field and get a sense of the environment.
The team will arrive at the airport in Kansas City two hours before its 4:15 p.m. flight today to allow time for security precautions.
Contact Briggeman at 864-4858
Martial arts club teaches nonviolence
Jason Ziegler, Topeka sophomore, takes a fall after being thrown by Stan Haehli, Lawrence resident and faculty adviser for the Ki Akido Club. The club has 20 members and meets Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, Ziegler said.
By Kevin Flaherty
Kansan sportswriter
The next time a violent situation presents itself, KU Ki Aikido Club members will know how to handle it—without aggression.
Ki Aikido is a discipline of martial and internal arts that stresses handling situations without violence. Students of Ki Aikido are taught a manner of self-defense that involves using the momentum of an attack to put a hold on an attacker and force him or her into submission
The internal art of Ki Aikido places importance on a calm demeanor and the unification of mind and body. Both meditation and breathing arts are practiced to create a more calm existence.
Jason Ziegler, Lawrence sophomore and president of the Ki Aikido Club, said learning the sport had many benefits.
"It's different from other martial arts in that there is never aggression in your actions," he said. "The self-defense part of it gives you a sense of security, and the internal part teaches calmness in everyday life and mind and body coordination."
The club meets three times a week: from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays. The club has about 20 members.
Kyle White, Lenexa sophomore and club member, said he enjoyed the break Ki Aikido offered.
"I've been taking it for about a year now, and it's a great way to relieve stress and unwind after classes," he said. "I've always been interested in martial arts, and I felt that Ki Aikido had the most interesting aspects of them all." ANTHONY REYES/KANSAN.
Contact Flaherty at 864-4858
Transfer golfer brings commitment, confidence
By John Domoney
Kansan sportswriter
The search for the silver lining her mother talked about has brought Jill MacDonald more than 830 miles from her previous school.
Last spring the Calgary, Alberta, junior, packed up her apartment in Kent, Ohio. She wasn't going to return to Kent State after her sophomore year.
Although MacDonald had plenty to pack, she didn't take her memories from her two years as a member of the Kent State women's golf team.
"I wasn't pleased with my golf game," MacDonald said. "I didn't get along with the coach, but I wanted to stick it out. My brother told me that I was so much better than they were letting me be."
As she is beginning her career as a Jayhawk, MacDonald couldn't be happier with her decision to transfer to the University of Kansas and finish her collegiate career.
That fateful day, MacDonald's mother told her that there would be a silver lining for her. To MacDonald, these encouraging words from her mother seemed hard to believe.
MacDonald:
Transferred from
Kent State
"I came on a visit, but I had several other offers," MacDonald said. "Coach Hollingsworth had a passion for the game and a dedication to the players. Coach has given me a chance that the coach at Kent never gave me."
The chance that MacDonald has is to become one of Kansas' best players this season.
Coach Nicole Hollingsworth said
MacDonald's future at Kansas was unlimited, based on what she has seen of her since practice began.
"You can't measure what she can accomplish," Hollingsworth said. "She's one of the hardest workers I've seen as a coach. With that work ethic, she's unstoppable."
MacDonald said this summer she played 18 holes a day and practiced on the range every night, coupled with two to three hours in the gym a day to gain strength in her back that causes her severe pain.
"I've had a bad back for the last three to four years." MacDonald said. "The doctor said the only way to let it heal is to stop playing for several months."
Although MacDonald never hit her stride at Kent State, she had continuous success on the international circuit. She finished 18th at the 2000 Canadian Ladies
Championship, followed by an 11thplace finish at the 2001 Alberta Amateur.
"It helps in the fact that I've played against great players," MacDonald said. "I'm not intimidated anymore because I know I can play with the other girls."
As the Jayhawks prepare to enter the heart of their fall schedule, the silver lining that MacDonald's mother promised seems attainable.
"I would like to see my game improve to the level I'm capable of playing," MacDonald said. "It will take a lot of work and time, but I'm prepared to do it."
and time, but I'm prepared Kansas has announced that it will play a meet against Kansas State on Wednesday at Colbert Hills golf course in Manhattan.
Contact Domoney at 864-4858
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