SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, September 16, 1992
11
Redskins named in coalition's lawsuit
$ ^{1} $By J.R. Clairborne
gKansan sports writer
1 KANSAS CITY, Mo - The Redskins,
2 Indians and Chiefs will be
3 pickwrakes of the past in professional
sports if a national organization has
its way.
The National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media announced its filing of a classaction lawsuit against the Washington Redskins on Monday night. The lawsuit, filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C., also gives attention to the monikers used by the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, and Kansas City Chiefs.
The coalition, which focuses on racism in the sports industry, hopes to eliminate what it considers negative images of American Indians. b Our best defense is a good offense because I think we’re right," said Michael Haney, the Second Chief of
The Semirole Nation of Oklahoma
Harvey, who filed a discrimination
complaint against the Kansas City
Chiefs in December 1991 after experi-
the word game," said Siffert, in a letter to the newspaper.
Karagus City because of the Chiefs'
name and the popularity of the tomahawk chop, Indian chants and fans in mock Indian attire at its football games.
He also said he commended the Chiefs' decision to stop the promotion of these and other items, including the scoreboard displays that contained phrases like "warpath" and "scalp' em." However, he said that like former chemical dependents who tended to slide back into old habits, the Chiefs would need constant attention in order to avoid using these displays again.
"Maybe we ought to treat them as recovering racist," Haney said. "Sometimes you have to pull recovery alcoholics by the arm, and maybe that's what we'll do."
The coalition announced the suit during a planning meeting of the its steering committee in Kansas City, Mo. The committee met to prepare for the Second Summit Meeting on Combating Racism, Nov. 12-15 in Kansas City.
Johnie Young, staff member at the University of Kansas Office of Minority Affairs and coalition steering committee member, said she hoped the lawsuit would bring about a change for the benefit of children.
"Things are the same now as they were 20 years ago," Young said. "Why would we want our children to grow up in the past?"
Using the 1978 decision against Sambo's of Rhode Island, Inc., the coalition seeks to cancel the trademark registration of the name "Redskins" used by the Washington, D.C., football team. The 1978 Rhode Island case proved that by using the name "Sambo," the restaurant chain conveyed the message that African Americans were not welcome.
in the Rhode Island case, the restaurant chain was ordered to stop using the name, which is a derogatory term for African Americans.
If the coalition wins its lawsuit, it will set a precedent that may force Washington and other professional sports teams to drop nicknames that refer to American Indians. If trademarks on the their names are canceled, teams will no longer have exclusive rights to the nicknames and will not be able to profit from them.
When questioned about the suit, the Chiefs declined comment. The Redskins could not be reached for comment.
Lack of depth hurts team, but runners eye success
By David Bartkoski
Kansan sportswriter
Although Kansas junior Julia Saul crossed the finish line first at the Jayhawk Invitational Saturday, the women's team could finish no better than third.
Coach Gary Schwartz said there was no reason to worry about the results of the first meet in which
Holly McQueen/KANSAN
Kansas cross country runner Ashley Ace, who placed 10th in the Jayhawk Invitational on Saturday, warms up at practice in Memorial Stadium.
Kansas lost to NCAA cross country powerhouse Arkansas and Pittsburg State, a Division II school.
"There's no doubt we got beat," he said. "I'm not so concerned about being beat by a Division II school."
Arkansas finished second in the NCAA championships last year, and Pittsburgh State's Christie Allen won the Division II individual title.
Schwartz said that success in cross country could not be judged as in other sports because the results of the final meets had more influence on the team's success than the results of the earlier meets.
A surprise for Kansas at the meet was junior Ashley Ace, who finished 10th in the race with time of 19:44.7, had the second best time for the Jayhawks. She also tied her career best record.
Ace said her performance boosted her confidence, which had been down somewhat in the last two years.
"It's a big switch coming, out of high school and running with people that have more talent than you do," said Ace, who was an all-state runner at Emporia High School.
During Saturday's race, Ace looked for ways to keep focused as she ran with sophomore Kristi Kloster.
"I talked to myself the entire way to keep me going," she said. "I ran with Kristi the entire way. It helped to have someone running with me."
Schwartz said he wanted to see more Kansas runners finish closer to Saul as the season progressed.
The weakness of the team at this point, Schwartz said, was that they
Sophomores Melissa Swartz and Rachelle Gundy and junior Daniela Daggy, who are recovering from injuries, could be key runners for the team late in the season, he said.
lacked depth, a problem partly due to the number of injuries on the team.
The muscle in her leg progressively became larger last season as she continually put pressure on the nerves in her leg, causing her feet to feel numb when she ran.
Gundy, who had surgery on a leg muscle last spring, had the fifth best finish on the team Saturday.
"I felt like my leg was going to blow up," she said. "I ran my last two or three meets with the condition."
She said that the team's injuries were frustrating for the runners and the coach but that the women's team could place higher this year in the Big Eight Championships when the team would be healthier.
Gundy finished fifth on the team in the Minnesota Invitational last year but fell to sixth and seventh places on the team in later meets due to her injury.
He said the women's team had come a long way since he first came to Kansas, when he had a hard time finding people to participate in the program.
Schwartz said that despite the team's lack of depth, he was still optimistic about the season.
"I literally asked girls I saw running on the street if they were interested in joining the .eam," he said. "We also advertised in the student newspaper to find runners."
During the off season, former Kansas basketball player Mark Randall spends time relaxing in Lawrence before he returns to the Minnesota Timberwolves training camp in two weeks.
Former Kansas forward Randall reflects on past, anticipates future
By David Dorsey
By David Dorsey
Kansas sportswriter
Former Kansas forward Mark Randall said that when he was in kindergarten, his class was asked to bring in a picture of what they wanted to be when they grew up.
"My mom still has that picture of me in a basketball uniform," Randall said. "This is something I've wanted to do since I was six years-old."
In the spring, Randall finished his rookie season in the NBA as a small forward for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He has been in Lawrence since April, and said he was in the process of signing another contract with the Timberwolves. His first contract was good only through his first season.
understand that life goes on."
"One thing I learned early is that it is a business," he said. "In college, your worries are going to class, doing your schoolwork and then playing basketball. In the pros, you're worried about your paycheck and worrying about your contract. I like being independent, but the business part of basketball I'd rather do without."
"I'd rather be playing college basketball than pro basketball just because of the atmosphere," Randall said. "I miss the 16,000 rocking fans at Allen Field House, but I
Randall, who played for Kansas from 1987 to 1991, including a 1988 redshirt season, said he liked getting paid for doing something he enjoyed, but that he missed the college game.
In the spring of 1901, Randall was picked in the first round of the NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. He was waived by the Bulls in December but was immediately picked up and signed by the Timberwolves.
"I started out with the Bulls, and I was very appreciative of the fact that I played with the World Champions for three months," Randall said. "But I honestly felt once I got up there that it wasn't the situation for me. The position I'm playing now in the pros is different from where I played in college. I've been playing small forward whereas here at Kansas I was playing power forward and center some."
NBA All-Star Scotty Pippen plays the small forward spot for the Bulls, which gave Randall few opportunities for playing time. Randall said he had to adapt to the small forward spot, a position he had not played since his freshman year at Kansas.
"It was a matter of refining my skills," he said. "When you play most of your college games with your back to the basket, I had to get used to facing the basket more. It's an adjustment, but it's something I feel more comfortable with."
Randall said he also had to adjust to playing on a losing team. The Timberwolves finished 15-67 last season.
"It was tough last year," Randall said. "I'm very competitive, and I want to win as much as the next guy. Of all the teams I've played on, that's been my first losing season. I
hated that, but that's just something that's made me work harder." ___
Randall's younger brother Dave,
said that he was proud of his brother,
regardless of whether he won or lost.
"Just getting a chance to watchmy brother play in the NBA is a thrill for me." Dave Randall said.
The Timberwolves have made numerous off season moves. Pooh Richardson and Sam Mitchell were traded to the Indiana Pacers for Michael Williams and Chuck Percus last week. The team lost Tony Campbell, who signed a contract with the New York Knicks, but they picked former Duke forward Christian Laetner in the first round of June's NBA draft. Laetner has not signed a contract yet.
Mark Randal and Laetner have known each other for several years and played against each other in the 1991 NCAA Championship game, which Duke won 72-65.
Randall said Laettner would make the Timberwolves a better team.
"The opportunity to play with him, I'm looking forward to it," Randall said. "It's a situation where everybody is always down on him, and everybody always questions what type of person he is and what kind of player he'll be. Everybody likes to compare him to Danny Ferry, and that's not fair at all. I think Christian's going to be a great player. He's going to help the team a lot."
Randall will be in Lawrence for two weeks before returning to Minnesota for training camp.
McClain still in serious condition
Jeremy McClain, a KU cross country runner who was struck by a car two weeks ago, remained in serious condition yesterday in the intensive care unit at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Kansas cross country coach Gary Schwartz said McClain was scheduled yesterday to be taken off a respirator that he had been on since the weekend after the accident.
BRIEFS
"Things are looking better," Schwartz said.
Chiefs release Paige, sign Mickell The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY. Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs said yesterday they have signed defensive end Darren Mickell, taken in the supplemental draft last month, and released holdout wide receiver Stephone Paige.
Paige, a 10-year veteran and the Chiefs' fourth all-time leading receiver, never joined the team in training camp and was one of 10 unsigned NFL players who asked a court in Minneapolis on Monday to declare them total free agents.
Women's golf team starts season
The Kansas Jayhawk women's golf team kicked off the fall season with a seventh place finish in the Diet Coke Roadrunner Invitational last weekend in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Oklahoma took first in the tournament, which consisted of 14 teams.
Kansas coach Jerry Waugh said the team played about where he thought they would.
Waugh called this season a rebuilding one. Only junior Holly Reynolds and sophomore Michelle Uher return with tournament experience from last year's team, which had three seniors.
Reynolds led the team and was tied for second overall with a 228 in the tournament.
Uher finished in a four-way tie for 40th with a 252 and sophomore Tracy Belisle tied for 45th with a 254.
Oklahoma won the tournament with a combined score of 926. Kansas tied Kansas State with a 991. The Jayhawks' next tournament is Sept. 21-23 in Bend, Ore., in the Oregon Fall Invitational.
Royals loss puts team at season low
The Associated Press
BALTIMORE — Pinch-runner Steve Scarsone dashed from first to third on an unusual single, then beat the throw home on Brady Anderson's sacrifice fly in the 14th inning last night as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 2-1. Baltimore got 14 hits, nine of them with two out, stranded 12 runners and was 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. The Orioles have not scored more than four runs in a game since Sept. 4. Kansas City has lost six of seven and 10 of 13 to drop 18 games below .500, its low point of the season
Baltimore starter Arthur Rhodes took a four-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the eighth, but Gary Thurman singled with one out and pinch-hitter Mike Macfarlane tripled off the wall.
The Orioles got a run off Luis Aquino in the second inning when Cal Ripken doubled, took third on a fly ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Hoiles.
Closing in on 3,000
George Brett is getting closer to reaching the 3,000 career-hit mark:
Source: 1991 Kansas City Royals Media Guide