GREAT START...
Tiger Woods, one of the most heralded golfers ever to enter the pro ranks, shot a 4-under-par 67 in his first round in the Greater Milwaukee Open yesterday.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
"I thought I got off to a really good start." Woods said. "I think it was a perfect start." After winning his third consecutive U.S. Amateur title, Woods decided on Tuesday to forego his junior and senior years playing at Stanford.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1996
CALLING IT QUITS
Randall Cunningham, after spending 11 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and falling to get signed by another professional team, decided to retire from pro football.
"Although it saddens me to leave, I am looking forward to spending more time with my family and pursuing other interests that have been on the back burner for some time," Cunningham said.
See page 8B
Fast BREAKS
Brook Shields to wed Andre Agassi soon
'We haven't
NEW YORK — Brooke Shields said she and Andre Agassi would be married in the near future.
"We haven't set a date, but we will not be one of those perpetually engaged couples," Shields said in an interview for Sunday's Parade magazine.
Agassi
Shields is a
fixture at her fiancee's matches
— although that could change
as she embarks on her new NBC
television series, Suddenly
Susan.
Colts player to sponsor stock car racing team
LINCOLN, NEB. — Former Nebraska linebacker Trev Alberts hopes to put his beloved Cornhuskers on the racing circuit.
Alberts plans to sponsor two stock cars for the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup racing season. The cars will be painted in Nebraska red.
"I guess the longer I've been out of the university, the more I've realized how much it has given to me and my future," said Alberts, now a linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts.
The proceeds will be divided between academic scholarships and the athletic department, said chancellor James Moeser.
Nebraska athletic director Bill Byme said the university would benefit from proceeds generated by the sale of racing merchandise. He said licensed NASCAR products generated more revenue than professional baseball or football items.
Marge Schott visits Denver's Coors Field
In an interview broadcast on KOA radio yesterday, Schott said authorities should concentrate on crack, dope, knives and guns.
DENVER — Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott thinks the federal government ought to be more concerned about teen drug abuse than teen smoking.
"If I had a child, not that you want kids to smoke, I think rather than drugs I'd rather see them smoke," she said. "We smoked a peace pipe with the Indians, right?"
Schott was in Denver Wednesday to examine Coors Field as a possible model for a new stadium in Cincinnati.
In June, Schott agreed to a mandate that she give up day-to-day control of the team for 21/2 years.
She said her Denver stadium visit was the first she had made out of Cincinnati in a long time.
GR Gordon-Ross / KANSAN
"We're supposed to be building a new stadium, and it's good to see what other people have done," she said. "You have to get ideas."
Washington comes home
The Associated Press
Women's head coach returns from Olympics with golden memories
Kansas women's basketball coach Marion Washington was an assistant coach for the U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball team, which won the gold
By Adam Herschman Kansan sports writer
Three-year-old Lauren Nicole McQuay from North Whales, Penn., has nicknames for some of her favorite members of the 1996 gold medal-winning USA women's Olympic basketball team.
She could be heard this summer at the women's games in Atlanta calling out to players such as four-time Olympian Teresa Edwards, whom she calls "T," and Katrina McClain, whom McQuav refers to as "Tree."
McQuay, however, could most often be heard calling for "Mum Mum," her favorite member of the team. "Mum Mum" is what McQuay calls her grandmother, USA women's assistant basketball coach Marian Washington.
"She is the cutest little thing, and she really loves her grandma," Kansas senior guard Angie Halbleib said. "Lauren is the, not to sound cliché, the apple of her eve."
Washington said that along with the gold medal game, which was the last event of the Olympics, having her family members in Atlanta with her was the best part of the experience.
medal. Last season, Washington coached the Jayhawks to a conference championship and a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA tournament.
"To have my family members be so happy and so proud of what you were doing, that made me feel really good," Washington said. "I'm so thankful."
After the Kansas women's basketball banquet on April 12, which celebrated the Jayhawks' Big Eight Conference title win and their trip to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA women's basketball tournament, Washington had only a couple of weeks to finish up recruiting and taking care of her responsibilities at Kansas before she left to join the women's Olympic team in Colorado.
Several days after meeting and working with the team, the entire squad flew to Australia for two weeks of exhibition games. The team then headed to Orlando, Fla., where members trained at the Disney Institute.
"That was one of the nicest parts of our entire three months," Washington said. "We stayed in villas and had golf cars to go back and forth to practice or to some of their commercial areas. Whenever we had a break, which was not often, we could go to visit some of their places, Epcot, MGM. They had a hostess for us so we didn't have to wait in line."
After one week in Orlando, the women's team met up with the USA men's basketball Olympic team for the first time in Indiana for
exhibition games. Following the games, both teams hopped on the Dallas Mavericks' private jet and flew back to Orlando.
"Every seat in there was first class. On the plane they had fresh shrimp waiting for us," Washington said. "The weird thing is, you're walking down the aisle, and you're walking past Shaq (O'Neal), Charles Barkley and David Robinson. They're just looking up, 'How you doing, coach?' It was great."
The women's team arrived July 17 in Atlanta and started their quest for a gold medal in their first game on July 21. The crowds were enormous, and the media and fans responded to the women's game.
She coached the USA women's basketball junior team to a 7-1 record in 1983, when it lost to a Canadian team in the finals of the Jones Cup in Taiwan. Prior to that tournament, Washington first coached a team in international competition at the Olympic Sports Festival in Syracuse in the early 1980s.
"To be a part of the Olympics that were held
here in this country was really an unbelievable opportunity," Washington said. "To see so many people, for me, respond to women's basketball, I will treasure for the rest of my life. We had over 30,000 people every game we played."
Washington went through a long selection process before she was picked for the assistant coaching job.
"Having coached at both those levels immediately puts you in a certain pool with other coaches who have done the same," Washington said.
Consequently, a staff selection committee presented a pool of eligible coaches to USA women's Olympic basketball coach Tara Van-Derveer.
"I was Tara's choice," Washington said. "In the past, coaches can just hand pick who they wanted, but the committees now are very involved."
VanDerveer first approached Washington at a July 1995 Sportfest in Denver and a second time at a meeting for coaches in California.
See Coach, Page 7B
Tennis star hunts success
By Tommy Gallagher
Kansan sportswriter
When Kylie Hunt visited the University of Kansas in Spring 1995, she had no intention of enrolling.
Hunt, a sophomore at the time, already had decided that she would transfer from North Carolina State to Alabama before her junior year. In fact, she was so sure of her decision that she called women's head tennis coach Chuck Merzbacher to tell him that she would become a member of the Crimson Tide.
"We did the best we could in recruiting Kylie when she was going to transfer," Merzbacher said. "If they choose you, they choose you, but we weren't
going to quit on getting Kylie he here because she said she was going to Alabama." At the time, Hunt was frustrated with
Kylie Hunt
"Ift in to a certain degree, but I wanted to concentrate on tennis a lot more than I did," Hunt said. "I wanted to go to a school that had players that cared about tennis, and Alabama was the best choice on paper."
conditions at N.C. State, especially in her role as a tennis player.
Hunt made a final trip to ensure that she had made the right decision. The visit did nothing to change her decision, although she also planned a stop in Kansas before returning to Raleigh, N.C.
What was supposed to be a cordial visit before becoming a member of the Crimson Tide soon set off a tidal wave of events for Hunt.
"I loved Lawrence the moment I got here," Hunt said. "I had a gut feeling about KU, forgot everything on paper that led me to Alabama and decided this was for我."
"It will be hard to repeat the success of last year," Hunt said. "I just want to have fun when I step onto the court because you have to enjoy what you're doing to succeed at it."
four college Grand Slam finals in singles competition as Kansas' No. 1 player. She won singles titles at the National Clay Court Championships and the National Indoor Championships and was runner-up in the NCAA singles championship game, in which she lost a three-set match to Jill Craybass from Florida.
What followed in Hunt's first year as a Jahyawk was a season that caught players, coaches and Hunt off guard.
Women's soccer team faces rematch
Expectations will be high this year for the senior, who ranked sixth in the country at the end of last season but is projected to move into the top three once the season begins.
She competed in three of the
By Brian A. Petrotta Kans an sportswriter
Kansan sportswriter
It was the first game in the history of the University of Kansas women's soccer team. But the University of Evansville didn't care. The Aces handed the Jayhawks their first loss in a convincing 5-1 triumph.
That was in Evansville, Ind.
Tomorrow, the rematch will take place in Lawrence at 1 p.m. at the SuperTarget Field, just south of Allen Field House.
Despite their loss to Evansville, Coach Lori Walker and the team have not succumbed to revenge.
"We just want to compete with
Cook, midfielder, is serving a one game suspension for a red card she received during the final game of last season. Her replacement has yet to be decided.
them. Last year we didn't compete," she said.
With the loss of sophomore Denise Cook, last year's leading scorer, the women's soccer team may have a difficult time competing against the Aces.
"Whoever is healthy and ready to be in that position will start," Walker said.
That statement sums up the situation regarding the rest of the lineup as well. Various injuries to
returning starters and impressive practice sessions from the freshmen have left starting jobs up for grabs. Co-captains Amy Dyksterhuis, Omaha, Neb., junior, and Jackie Dowell, Germantown, Md., sophomore, are expected to lead the way for the second-year program.
"This year I'm looking for consistency, and that's difficult with a young team." Walker said.
Kansas sends 10 freshmen, nine sophomores and three juniors against Evansville's nine returning starters, 14 upperclassmen and 18 returning letter winners.
Although this may seem like a
mismatch, Walker does not want her squad to sit back and let the Aces attack.
Walker said she was impressed with the intensity the young players have shown and is happy with their overall training.
"We need to come out and be ready to play hard soccer," she said. "We need composure in the midfield, to play tough team defense and not be afraid to go after them."
"We're worlds apart from when we played the University of Evansville last year and from when we will play the University of Evansville this year," Walker said.
Texas, Missouri opener kicks off Big 12 conference
AUSTIN — The eight-ranked Texas Longhorns are still getting used to the idea that when they step on their new grass field Saturday night against the Missouri Tigers, it will be a conference game.
The Associated Press
It could take Texas a while to dislodge the teams normally associated with league play, such as Rice, Southern Methodist and Texas Christian. Call it Southwest Conference on the brain.
"It seems strange," said Texas linebacker Tyson King. "Texas vs. Missouri certainly doesn't conjure up a lot of images of tradition, but we're in the Big 12 Conference now."
The two teams have met 14 times, with Texas leading the series 10-4. The first meeting was in 1894. At the time of the last meeting — a 27-25 Longhorns victory at Columbia, Mo., in 1986 — the current players for both teams were still in grade school.
But this is the era of super conferences and megaback television deals, so everyone will be getting used to games like Missouri-Texas and Kansas State-Texas Tech, which is the first actual Big 12 game, kicking off Saturday afternoon.
texas coach John Mackovic was doing his best this week to get the Longhorns whipped into a frenzy over the game. Texas is considered the favorite to win the South Division of the Big 12 this year. Missouri is in the North Division.
"When you open with a conference game, you have to treat it like a championship game," Mackovic said.
Larry Smith, who begins his third year as coach at Missouri after records of 3-8-1 in 1994 and 3-8 in 1995, said an upset of Texas would be a huge boost for the Tigers' program. Texas is favored by three touchdowns.
"It's first most important to win the games that you figure you better win," Smith said. "Next, you figure a big upset would compel you to win more of those games you're supposed to win because it shoots your confidence up."