Section B · Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, August 26, 1998
Wisconsin tailback gets fit to gain speed
The Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. — By shedding 12 pounds, Ron Dayne is lighter than he has been since he was an eighth-grader in Berlin, N.J.
But the real burden that has been lifted from Wisconsin's 250-pound junior tailback is the Heisman hype that bothered him last year.
"He's been through it, and that helps." Badgers coach Barry Alvarez said. "He's more relaxed with a microphone in his face and a bunch of people around him. He's accustomed to that, and he's also learned to handle it much better."
Painfully shy during his first two seasons, Dayne decided he was going to relish his final year in Madison — barring an injury-filled season like last year, the 20-year-old runner will turn pro in April.
"I feel a lot more confident. I didn't like sitting around talking to the media, but it's all right. It grew on me." Dayne said. "I got used to on you. You've got to make it fun."
Gone, too, are the billboards in which he posed with Great Dane dogs in the school's biggest Heisman campaign ever, one that was scuttled by neck and ankle injuries.
"We haven't put the big hype on him this year because it's not necessary," Alvarez said. "People know who he is, and his productivity will determine how well he'll do with all the awards at the end of the year.
"That's just how he likes it. He just likes to go out and play."
The Big Ten's preseason offensive player of the year rushed for 2,109 yards as a freshman — despite not starting until the fifth game — and 1,457 more as a sophomore, when he missed 12 quarters with injury.
Being sidelined helped Dayne mature, both as a person and an athlete.
"I wasn't used to being hurt," Dayne said. "While I sat out, I learned to be a leader. I couldn't help the guys on the field. When I was on the sidelines, I always was encouraging the guys, even when it was fourth-and-1 and we didn't get
it, I was saying, "Come on, we can get it next time."
Dayne, who needs just 144 yards to become the school's career rushing leader, scoffs at the notion that the Badgers have become too predictable in handing him the ball so often.
"Wisconsin is a running team," he said. "It's not like all of a sudden we're going to start imitating BYU or Florida State. We're a big team that's going to run the ball and try to run you down."
Last year, Dayne could not run through tackles because he sustained a neck stinger during camp, which led to a miserable debut against Syracuse.
"IIf can make you miss, I'll try," Dayne said. "But if I can't make you miss, I'll run you over. Last year, I had just one option: make you miss."
And when that did not work,
Dayne was toast.
"Because I was hurting, I was trying to ease through the hole instead of pounding it in up there," he said.
Alvarez and his staff decided Dayne needed to trim down, and they had him run a steep hill behind strength coach John Dettmann's house last summer.
Just when his shoulder injury began to heal, Dayne sprained an ankle against Iowa, and the Badgers lost all three of their games after that, following a promising 8-2 start.
"The lightest he played for us was right around 255, and that was in the Copper Bowl (Dec. 27, 1996)," Alvarez said. "And we thought he was much quicker."
Dayne, who last year joined Herschel Walker as the fastest players to reach 3,000 career rushing yards
— in just their 20th games — also feels better with a more experienced offensive line, which featured three first-year players starting at the interior spots in 1997.
I feel good about my guys up front," Dayne said. "I felt good about them last year, and I feel better about them this year. I mean, those are my guys. I love watching them play, and I love running behind them more."
Hunt withdraws Royals bid
Out-of-state lawyer remaining bidder for baseball team
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt announced Tuesday he was withdrawing from the bidding for the Kansas City Royals, apparently clearing the way for New York lawyer Miles Prentice to buy the team
The group led by Hunt bid $25 million for the Royals — who have become perennial money losers — with another $27 million to be paid after improvements are made to Kauffman Stadium.
Hunt had bid on the Royals with Western Resources Inc., the utility based in Topeka, but the bid fell short of the $75 million set by the baseball team's board of directors.
Royals president Mike Herman last week said Prentice had made the superior bid.
Prentice's bid is thought to be close to the minimum set by the board, which is trying to juggle the twin priorities of ensuring the team remains in Kansas City under its new owners while getting as much as possible from the sale.
night after an exhibition game between his Chiefs and Jacksonville that he was still interested in the Royals.
Hunt had said as late as Saturday
But on Tuesday, Hunt said the Royals had clearly indicated they now are going in a different direction, and that his group respected that decision.
"We made an offer that we believe made financial sense, and we are appreciative that it was considered and certainly understand that the Royals board has its own set of objectives and time considerations to meet." Hunt said.
In throwing its support behind Prentice, the Royals told him that he needed an ownership group that included 50 percent local investors.
That requirement apparently surprised Prentice, but he has been in the city since Thursday trying to lineup local investors.
On board so far are two of Kansas City's most prominent families — banker R, Crosby Kemper and the adopted daughter and daughter-in-law of the Royals' late founder, Ewing Kauffman.
Under the unique succession plan devised by Kauffman, all money from the sale will go to area charities.
Hunt was a fan favorite to become the new Royals owner. Former Royals star George Brett, now a vice president with the team, was also a local favorit but acknowledged recently that the bid from the group he headed was not seriously considered.
The board's emphasis on local ownership was based on the wishes of Kauffman, who absorbed large losses from the franchise before he
died and insisted the team remain in Kansas City almost at any cost.
That was never a serious question for Hunt, whose Chiefs have grown into the
city's top sports draw — replacing the Royals - and regularly sell out Arrowhead Stadium.
Hunt makes his home in Dallas. He has local business interests, including a large and popular amusement park, and coupling his bid with the Topeka utility only strengthened the feeling of local ties.
But the low bid disturbed the Royals board.
John Hayes, chairman of Western Resources, has said that the utility was interested in owning the Royals because of the importance of having a major league team in Kansas City.
"Our community interest in keeping the Royals continues today, and
we wish the future owners of the Royals the best of luck." Haves said.
Kauffman founded the Royals in 1969 as an expansion franchise after Charles O. Finley moved the Athletics to Oakland.
The team was successful almost immediately, and the success continued into the '80s — the Royals won the pennant in 1980 and the World Series in 1985 by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
But the franchise has been a money loser in recent years and has finished last in the AL Central the past two seasons.
The Royals are committed by lease to stay in Kansas City through 2015, but no owner would be required to remain if the team is not adequately supported.
Kauffman, one of the city's most generous philanthropists, set aside more than $50 million to shore up losses until a local buyer was found.
Prentice, a lawyer with the New York firm of Eaton and Van Winkle, wears a cap with the logo of his Midland Angels Class AA team of Texas when he is in Kansas City.
He also owns the Odessa Jackalopes also of Texas, a minor league hockey team, and made an unsuccessful bid earlier this year with another group for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Prentice's wealth comes from investments, mostly in real estate.
Heisman seized from Rodgers
Former Cornhusker loses trophy to law
The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. — Johnny Rodgers may be sorry he ever dreamed up the Husker-Heisman Alumni Weekend.
The reunion ended bad for the 1972 Heisman winner, as sheriff's deputies seized his trophy Sunday night when disputing a food-vendor debt.
“This is bogus,” said Rodgers, who paid $6,000 Monday to retrieve the 55-pound trophy.
An attorney for Karnett-Venger Distributors presented the Douglas County Sheriff's office with a judgment against Rodgers and asked that the trophy be confiscated until he paid his debt, said Sheriff Tim Dunning.
"They saw their opportunity," Dunning said. "It's hard for him to do the event without the trophy."
The trophy was seized just after a roast of former Huskers coach Tom Osborne. Deputies waited until after the roast to take the trophy because it was a charity event, Dunning said.
"We didn't want to cause a disruption," he said.
Rodgers said he did not believe he
owed money to the food vendor.
"About 10 years ago, I helped some guys get concession stands at the University of Nebraska because I wanted to get minorities into the stadium," he said. "I signed for them to get some products into the stadium — $3,000 worth of products. I guess some way or another it slipped through the cracks, and they didn't pay."
Rodgers recently completed his degree at Nebraska and has been working with the Nebraska Alumni Association to get other former Husker athletes to do the same. He runs an events marketing company and also manufactures collegiate
clothing and bedding in association with J.C. Penney.
This weekend, he lured Florida State coach Bobby Bowden to Omaha, where he put together the Husker-Heisman Alumni Weekend. Heisman Trophy winners John David Crow, Joe Bellino, John Lattner, Mike Rozier, Tony Dorsett, George Rogers, Billy Sims and Archie Griffin; and former Nebraska stars Jerry Tagge and Junior Miller attended the event.
The roast raised money for the Tom Osborne Endowment for Youth, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Alumni Association and the Johnny Rodgers Foundation.