Wednesday, September 15, 1976
University Daily Kansan
Anonymous punter wins KU job
By GARY VICE Assistant Sports Editor
Mitch Dougherty watched the Kansas Jayhawks first four offensive possessions Saturday from the sidelines. He wasn't needed.
On those series, Kansas' offense had either hit pardt or coughed up the ball to Washington State with one of its six fumbles of the afternoon.
But early in the second quarter, number five, was different.
On third and 16, KU fullback Norris Banks slammed into the middle of the Cougars' defensive line for a three-yard gain. But his jumper unit were sent onto the playing field.
As the scoreboard in its Memorial Stadium debut flashed, "the leg", spectators thumbed through their programs to watch the haykaw in the unfamiliar uniform No. 48.
But Dougherty, a freshman walk-on from Russell, was also making his debut for the Jayhawks and No. 48 wasn't listed. Instead, the punter who had joined the team only earlier in the week, was erroneously listed as No. 40.
He received the snap from center Al Shank and booted the ball 35 yards, a distance equal to his average on his eight kicks that day.
Many of his teammates were as unfamiliar with the walk-on as the fans. On the
Staff photo by GEORGE MILLENER
Dougherty takes a break during yesterday's practice
KC wins, pads lead to $ 4 ^ {1 / 2} $
CHICAGO (AP) — Andy Hassler stopped a game-two KANSAS City skid with a five-hitter and the Royals backed him with three runs in a sweep over the Chicago White Sox yesterday.
Hal McRae scored the decisive run in the fourth inning off reliever Terry Forster, 21. He led off with a double and raced to third as Al Cowens outplayed a bouncer in the fifth. Cowens stole second and McRae scored on a wild throw by catcher Jumis Essian.
The Royals took a 1-4 lead in the first innning off Larry Monroe, making his first major league start. Amos Otis singled, stole second, continued to third on another throwing error by Essan and scored on Monroe to face. Forster replaced Monroe in the third.
The White Sox tie it in the bottom of the three on singles by Essan and Ralph Garr
The Royals, who had dropped 11 of their previous 16 games, are now four and one half games ahead of the A's, who split with Minnesota yesterday. The A's whipped the 10th inning with a ninth-inning running scoring single enabled Minnesota to squeak by, 4-3, in the nightcap.
Andre Wakefield, a KU basketball recruit, has quit school and will transfer to
Wakefield quits basketball team
Wakefield, a 6-2, 170-pound guard, left school Labor Day weekend and didn't
Wakefield played the last two seasons at the College of Southern Idaho, the national junior college champion last year. He earned 12.2 points a game there last season.
Hassler, 5-10, also snapped a personal three-game losing streak. He walked two and a half innings.
Dougherty, who averaged 44 yards a kick in high school, had been around only since Tuesday when he yielded to the urging of Jim Fender, former KU split end who now is an undergraduate assistant coach, and came to practice for a try out.
day before the game, several players, who had assembled around the team roster, poined at Dougherty's name and asked, "Who's he?"
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After surviving the analytical gaze of KU's coaching staff, Dougherty was issued a uniform, a locker, and the anonymity of being one of 115 Jahyaw football players.
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"A lot of players came up to me and asked me if I was the new pointer." Dougherty said, and I said 'yeah,' I was, and then they started talking. "I was not ready to everyone." I but I still don't know everyone."
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"I wasn't really that psyched to go up to football after high school," he said. "I figured I'd have a tougher time in classes if I played football and I was determined to hit the books more. But, the situation presented itself."
Fender, who also is from Russell, had talked to him during the summer about trying out for the team, but Dougherty just wasn't interested. But after KU's season opener against Oregon State, when quarterback Nolan Cromwell doubled as punter but averaged only 31.2 a boot, Dougherty was persuaded to give it a try.
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Dougherty had, in fact, turned down interested recruiters from Kansas State, and Garden City and Dodge City community colleges.
"I had my mind set up to come to KU because a lot of Russell people were coming here and I thought it would make the adjustment to college easier," he said.
"It still doesn't matter much to me if I get a football scholarship. I just like getting it."
Against Washington State, Dougherty averaged 35.2 yards—an average hindered by turnovers.
"They told me I was punting just before the game and I was really nervous," he said. "I'm used to a couple of hundred fans in high school and then I saw all those thousands. You don't really know what it's like until you get out there."
"On those two big ones I tried too hard on getting it high, for good hang time. I wanted to get them stuck back in their end zone but it went too high and I lost all my distance." He said that he wasn't as concerned with distance as he was hang time.
"Distance is the farthest thing from my mind right now," he said. "I think a high point that allows no return is best. I must average anything over 40, that I'll please me."
What worried him most Saturday, he said, was having to punt out of his own zone. During the pregame warmups, he fumbled a snap from Shank and the possibility of that happening had him quaking in his cleats.
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"I just wanted to be sure I caught it and got it off," he said. "If I would have dropped it, I just don't know what I'd do. I try to get it off if I had the slightest chance."
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