6B
Wednesday, September 18, 1996
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Joyner-Kersee jumps into pro basketball
Track celebrity signs with new women's league
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS— Jackie Joyner-Kerse is certain she can make the switch from heptathlon to hoops, although she doesn't know how much her track training will help.
"I can run up and down the court forever," Joyner-Kersee said yesterday at a news conference confirming that she would play in the new American Basketball League. "But it's different when you've got
a ball in your hand."
Joyner-Kersee, who won Olympic gold medals in 1988 and 1992, will play for the Richmond (Va.) Rage.
Her husband and track coach, Bob Kersee, was confident his wife could compete in both sports.
"She's been the queen of track and field, and now she can return to her true court — basketball," he said.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Joyner-Kersee said she would play between 28 and 35 games of the 40-game regular-season schedule. That would allow her to compete in the long jump and to make public appearances.
"I'm just finishing where I started," said Joyner-Kersee, 34. "Many people don't realize that I started out playing basketball."
Joyner-Kerse, 5-foot-10, was a four-year starter forward for UCLA before she became an Olympic star. She averaged 9.6 points and 6.2 rebounds and was a firstteam all Western College Athletic Conference choice in 1985.
Kersee said his wife had been approached about playing basketball a number of times through the years, including an offer in 1989 to play in Europe.
"This year, prior to the Olympic Games, we started thinking about it again," he said. "When we heard about the ABL and what it was doing for women's sports, we decided to consider it."
Actually, the ABL came courting Joyner-Kersee after she said during a television interview at the Atlanta
Gary Cavalli, co-founder and vice president of the eight-team women's basketball league, was watching the interview and couldn't believe it.
Olympics that she would like to play basketball again.
"The next morning we got on the phone with her," said Cavalli, who is counting on Joyner-Kersee to add credibility and attention to the fledgling league, which begins play in mid-October.
Joyner-Kersee said she looked at four teams, including Atlanta, Portland, Ore., and San Jose, Calif., but decided on Richmond after watching the Rage practice last week.
"The chemistry was there," she said. "And the trip was easy back and forth to St. Louis."
Rage point guard Staley, who helped lead the United States to a gold medal in Atlanta, also was influential.
"She told me that if I decided to play on a team to come to Richard," Joyner-Kersee said. She is to report to Richmond this week and begin practice next week.
Tammy Holder, general manager of the Rage, said the team's coach liked Joyner-Kersee's competitiveness.
hould said rebounds, leadership, defense and putting the ball in the hole were the things the Rage thought Jackie could help them with.
"We want to show the world that some of her best moves are yet to come," Holder said.
Joyner-Kersee won the heptathlon in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and the gold medal in the long jump in 1988. She won a silver medal in the long jump in 1992 and a silver in the heptathlon in 1984.
Recovering from the hamstring injury, she abandoned her bid for a third straight heptathlon gold medal in Atlanta last month. She withstood the pain to capture the bronze in the long jump.
"I feel pretty good," she said. "I have been doing a little bit of running, jumping and weightlifting."
The basketball venture, however means postponing plans to have a child.
New faces adorn Kansas tennis
"I think it's still going to work out pretty well for me," Joyner-Kersee said. "I still want to start a family."
Jayhawks try to adjust to University and team
By Tommy Gallagher
Kansan sportswriter
While the experience-laden Jayhawk tennis teams prepare for the upcoming season, four players still are trying to adjust to new surroundings at the University of Kansas.
Two players on the women's team are living away from home — and on another continent — for the first time in their lives.
As the women trained at Anschutz Sports Pavilion, Julia Sidovia, Rigo, Latvia, freshman, vented some frustration after climbing out of the leg press.
"I hate lifting weights; it's stupid," Sidorvia said. "Steff Graf would never do this; Monica Seles would never do this."
"Right now, I miss my parents a lot." Sidovia said. "We were only allowed to travel to play in
Sidovia never weight trained until she arrived at the University last month, and she said that some European tennis players from various countries didn't lift weights to improve their performance. Another thing she never did until last month was move away from home, a dramatic change for any freshman, but perhaps even more so for Sidovia.
tournaments when the USSR had control, so me being here is quite a change."
Teammate Brooke Shiller, Warnnambool, Australia, freshman, has undergone many of the same changes that Sidovia has experienced. This also is her first time living away from home.
Darcv Coles / KANSAN
"I was 100 meters away from the Pacific Ocean, which I miss a lot," Shiller said. "At home you can be casual with everyone, but here you kind of keep to yourself more."
To help calm some of the freshman jitters, Australian-born senior Kyle Hunt answered some of her concerns, making Shiller feel more comfortable at the University.
Julie Sidovia, freshman women's tennis player, will play in the Harvard Invitational on September 23 and 26 in Cambridge, Mass.
"I had a good talk with Kylie, and she told me what to do and what not to do about school, tennis and life, in general," Shiller said. "I'm happy to have another Australian on the team, but I think she was just as happy as I was."
But the Australian invasion doesn't stop there.
But the Australia business class Matt Snowdon, Los Angeles freshman, was born in Sydney. The difference between Snowdon and his female counterparts is that he moved away from his family the final two years of high school and so is used to settling into unfamiliar territories.
"I like it here because the attitude is much more relaxed than in Los Angeles," Snowdon said. "The people here are friendly; nobody really looks down on anyone and everyone has been helpful, so the move here isn't a big change."
Another new face on the men's tennis team is Andrew Lumpkin, who transferred to the University from Colorado State after his freshman year when the Rams dropped their tennis program. The sophomore said the loss of Ram tennis was a blessing in disguise.
"When Colorado State dropped the tennis program, it allowed me to become part of something better," Lumpkin said. "When I visited Kansas, I was sold on the program. I wanted to come here and they wanted me, so the decision was a no-brainer."
Jazz gets an assist from point guard; Stockton will sign for three more years
will ever tell."
The team said yesterday that the 34-year-old All-Star guard is to sign when he arrives in Utha for the beginning of training on Oct. 5.
The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — John Stockton has agreed to a three-year, $15 million contract with the Jazz. He is forsaking the millions more he might have been paid elsewhere so that he can finish his career in Utah.
"We're pleased things have worked out, and John plans to sign what will likely be his final NBA contract with the Jazz," said team owner Larry Miller. "He has contributed more to this franchise than numbers alone
The value of the contract is millions less than what Stockton could have made on the open market. But Stockton has said money is less important to him than other considerations.
The Jazz did not disclose terms of the contract, but The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News reported that it was $15 million.
Few teams believed Stockton would change his mind and, as a result, there was little bidding for his
Last season, Stockton said that he intended to re-sign with the Jazz and that he hoped to finish his career with the team that drafted him out of Gonzaga University in 1984.
services. Only Miami inquired about his availability, the Tribune reported.
"John's commitment to this organization is so strong, so-focused and so fair," Miller said.
The owner said that during negotiations Stockton put the well-being of the team on a par with his own needs.
"There just aren't a lot of guys like John Stockton around any more," Miller said.
Stockton has missed only four games in his 12-year career. He is the league's all-time leader in assists and steals. He is an eight-time All-Star and has won gold medals at the 1992
and 1996 Olympics.
Miller said negotiations on a new contract were suspended mid-season last year so Stockton could concentrate on playing. Talks resumed after Stockton helped the United States win the gold medal in the Atlanta Olympics.
Stockton and Karl Malone have been the main reasons the Jazz have won at least 51 games in seven of the last eight seasons and have reached the Western Conference finals three times since 1992.
Stockton was spending the final weeks of his summer vacation in his hometown of Spokane, Wash., and could not be reached for comment.
Tigers'home opener lacks fans'support
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo. — There were more empty seats in the stands at this year's home opener for the Missouri Tigers than at any other opener with coach Larry Smith.
It seems that Missouri can't catch a break, even on its home turf.
Fans are turning out in increasingly smaller numbers — almost 14,000 fewer at this year's home opener than in Smith's first game at Faun Field in
1994. And if the past two seasons' trends are any indication, there will be more seats empty than filled by the end of the season.
Larry Smith
"You know the only thing that controls fans' emotions and support and enthusiasm and all that stuff is winning," Smith said after Saturday's 19-16 loss to Memphis.
That made the Tigers 3-10 at home since Smith came on board. Missouri has not had a winning season since 1983.
"Maybe there's a hex around Columbia," said safety Terrence Binion, who saw his team lose an opportunity to force Memphis into overtime when an extra point kick faded wide right.
Hometown fans were unabashed in their disappointment, and the team paid the price.
Someone in the stands threw a whiskey bottle onto the field, and Missouri was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. That penalty came after
two previous warnings to fans about throwing debris.
"It would have been lovely if we could have won," said Bionin, who had the game's only interception. "It's like there's an outside factor there that doesn't want us to win."
Or it could be the lack of offense.
in any event, fans have been leaving their cat paws and tiger tails at home and finding other things to do on Sundays.
There were 55,263 people at the Tigers' home opener in 1994, a 20-17 loss to Tulsa. Last year, 47,214 turned out to see Missouri beat Texas, 28-7, but by the final home game of the season, attendance had fallen to 33,299 in the 62,000-seat stadium.
Last Saturday, 41,543 turned out for the home opener. And the Tigers know they will need even more support this weekend against Clemson.
"Fan support is important, but how can you blame them for the lack?" said tailback Brock Olivo, who had been touted for All-Big 12 honors before being outgained by two teammates in the opener, a 40-10 loss to Texas. "We need to produce for them. We need to give back a return."
Some fans still believe Smith has what it takes to turn the program around and will come out to support the Tigers no matter what.
"The effort those kids make out there in that field — they're doing the best they can," said David Gohn, of West Plains, Mo., who was sipping a glass of red wine and smoking a cigar outside the stadium Saturday after Missouri's loss.
Gohn has attended Missouri games since he was a student there in 1959.
"Someday they'll get over the hump," he said. "I'm going to be here when that happens."
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