SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY. OCTOBER 10, 1994
SECTION B
Royals hire former catcher as manager
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bob Boone walked onto a major league baseball field one day in 1972 and knew that someday he would be a big league manager.
On Friday, he became one. The Kansas City Royals made him the 11th manager in their history.
In between came 19 years of learning the ins and outs of the game as one of the most hard-working catchers ever to play the game.
He appears to bring to the Royals the combination of baseball experience and savvy and the communication skills to pass it all along to the younger players on whom Kansas City is basing its future.
"Every new challenge is feeling through the woods," Boone said after signing a two-year contract as the successor to the fired Hal McRae. "There is not a lot of stability. But I felt ready to manage in the big league five years before the end of my career.
"Unfortunately, most learning experiences come from screwing up. Five years from now, I'll be better. Fifteen years from now, I'll be better. But at some point you just have to jump in and see if you are qualified."
It is Boone's first major league job after serving as bench coach for the Davey Johnson and the Cincinnati Reds last year. He managed an admittedly woeful Triple-A team at Tacoma to a 125-161 record in the two seasons before that.
"I have no problem with people criticizing what I do," the 46-year-old Boone said. "I've lived through that. I was the one who had to put the finger down (as a catcher). Ultimately, it's my decision."
The Royals, who jump in first ahead of Baltimore and Boston in hiring a manager, had made it clear they were after someone who could reach the players better than McRae, whose blow-ups were well publicized.
There was always an undercurrent of dissension in the clubhouse under McRae.
Boone, 46, clearly had made all the right points in his interview with the front office.
General manager Herk Robinson introduced Boean as "bona leader who has led all his life."
Boone said that he had prepared for this assignment almost from day one.
"Every game, I wondered what I would do in a particular situation," he said. "I learned how to deal with people. Where did I see things that worked. Where did I see things that didn't work. It's a matter of relationships."
"I don't think you handle people. You don't handle a Bo Jackson. You development relationships with players as a team."
Boone finished his 19-year playing career with the Royals in 1990 after two seasons. He held the record for most games caught at 2,225 until it was broken by Carlton Fisk.
"I don't think of it as teaching," he said of passing his baseball knowledge along. "It happens subtly. The player doesn't know he's being taught. It happens over breakfast. It happens on the plane. You have to have the right situation."
Boone replaces a McRae who was an old4line player who expected the players on his team to motivate themselves. Boone may be a little more hands-on.
"When I was a player, I considered myself a warrior," he said. "What the fans will see is a team of warriors. My players will do or die every single night."
"Any team that Bob Boone is associated with, they will give everything they have."
Swimmers refresh basic skills at clinic
By Jenni Carlson Kansan sportswriter
It was pay back time Saturday at Robinson Natatorium.
No, the Kansas swimming team was not competing against their Big Eight nemesis Nebraska. Rather, the team was repaying the swimming community that has supported it, Gary Kempf, Kansas swimming coach, said.
"There's a time to pay back what you've been given," he said.
Kempf was joined by members of his coaching staff and members of the swimming and diving squad to sponsor an all-day swimming clinic for master swimmers.
Master swimmers range from 20 years old on up, Kempf said, and many of the participants in Saturday's clinic are competitive in club swim meets or triathlons.
Now in its eighth year of existence, the masters clinic was started to help people, who often have little instruction, learn to swim better.
"Younger kids, whether it be grade school, junior high, high school or college, have coaches with them all the time," Kempf said. "For people who want to swim and are out of that level, there isn't much instruction for them."
The clinic's participants attended stroke schools, conducted by Kempf, that covered the backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and butterfly.
Kempf said it was important to cover the basics during the stroke schools.
"You could talk to Roy (Williams)
or Glen (Mason) or Dave Bingham or any of those guys. Usually when somebody is not doing something right, they're missing a basic concept," he said.
After being taped, the participants went through an in-depth analysis of their stroke with a member of the coaching staff.
Participants also had the opportunity to have their stroke videotaped with underwater cameras, Kempf said.
"We feel like this is one of the better clinics offered for masters swimmers," Kempf said. "They get more one-on-one attention than anywhere else."
In addition to the coaching staff, members of the swimming and diving teams gave instruction anytime the participants requested it. After hearing repeated instructions from Kempf, the athletes had to be the teachers Saturday.
Many of the swimmers and divers said they had taught private swimming lessons to children before, but never adults.
Kansas freshman Heather Page discovered she could teach adults, and it was easier than teaching children.
"They really responded quickly," she said. "I had a lot more to offer than I thought I had."
Senior Ronda Lusty has taught in the masters clinic for four years. She said that she returned because of the satisfaction she received from helping the masters swimmers.
"If they learn something, you grow with them." Lusty said.
And learn they did, said Lori Marshall of Topea. Sometimes they even learned too much.
"It's a lot to think about at once," she said.
Marsall shaw on the collegiate level at New Hampshire, but now swims on the Topeka Masters Club to keep in shape. As a first time-par
ticipant, Marshall said that she attended Saturday's clinic to reinforce herbasics.
"I just wanted some instruction on technique," she said. "I know I've gotten sloppy, and it's easier when someone can critique you."
Unlike Marshall, Anna Lea Roof of Liberty, Mo., was not a new face at the clinic.
Roof said that she has attended the clinics for eight years.
I pick up something new every year, though," she said.
The participants' willingness to learn made the clinic one of Kempf's favorite weekends of the year, he said.
"We work a lot, laugh a lot and have a good time," Kempf said. "They are absolutely wonderful."
Top left: Floyd Evans, 55, of Bates City. Mo. left, receives a swimming instruction from Kansas freshman swimmer Heather Page. Members of the KU swimming and diving team sponsored an all-day swimming clinic on Saturday. Top right: Anna Lea Roof, Liberty, Mo. practices her backstroke.
Photos by Brian Vandervliet