8B
Wednesday, April 23, 1997
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The following are messages received via e-mail by the sports desk. Comments and questions can be sent to sports@kansan.com
Selected messages will be printed.
In response to Spencer's Duncan column about his meeting with Jim Rypin:
■ Hey, I give you credit for standing up and telling people what happened to you in 1981 and not backing down after receiving hateful e-mails from Ryun's friends and family. I'm also glad you make amends with Ryun, but I'm sorry he couldn't admit that he had to accept money in order to give you an autograph. Great article! Keep up the good work!
"I'm glad that you had the guts to run that story. From what I've seen, the general public is tired of seeing the Ryun family portrayed as All-American, Christian, Bible-reading folks when it's obvious that he is quite close-minded and only interested in his own agenda (politically).
Just thought you might like to know that you're not the first to mention Jim Ryun's aversion for autographs in print. In an article from December in The Wichita Eagle, one of Ryun's former coaches said something about how Ryun used to be indifferent to signing autographs. It
is only a sentence or two buried in the article, but definitely interesting considering the responses you've been getting saying that Ryun never turns down autographs.
In a response to Talk Back asking for a follow up piece on Duncan's column:
To the reader who asked about whether Jim Ryun had contacted Spencer Duncan about his column: Why is this an unfinished story that could leave a very wrong impression? How many chances does a famous person get to treat his fans with respect? Ryun refused to sign an autograph for a 5-year-old fan because the boy didn't have the money to pay for it. When asked to sign the poster later, he handed the fan a request for a campaign contribution. Suppose Ryun is shamed into signing Duncan's poster for free now. Will that make it right that he refused to sign it when Duncan was 5 years old? People don't get endless opportunities to make an impression — sometimes a first impression is it. Ryun chose to cherish money higher than the feelings of a kindergartner. What's unfinished about the story? Even if he gives Duncan a free autograph now, the story is still the same. The only difference is that Ryun now gives autographs for TWO reasons: for money and because he's shamed into it.
Olympic committee under fire
NEW YORK — A nine-month struggle about how millions of dollars in amateur boxing grants were spent has the U.S. Olympic Committee stewing again.
The Associated Press
U. S. Sen. John McCain sent a letter Monday to the committee's president asking why former USA Boxing officials linked to the misuse of at least $1.3 million remained on their jobs with the Olympic Committee.
"This is not a case of minor management errors or a series of administrative oversights," said McCain, an Arizona Republican, in a letter to committee president Bill Hvbl
Hybli said he intended to respond promptly to McCain, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which is holding hearings on the federal law that gives the committee control of Olympic sports in this country.
But he noted that the Olympic panel recently doubled its audit team, from two accounts to four, and ordered the boxing federation to repay the money, part of a $3.18 million lump that committee auditors
Hybl also raised the question of motive behind the letter, released from Washington while McCain's committee was holding hearings about the Amateur Sports Act in the committee's hometown of Colorado Springs, Colo. McCain did not attend that hearing, which was led by Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
labeled as questionably used during reviews last fall.
"When you have congressional hearings, it will draw comment, and I don't mean Senator McCain, but the people who have contacted Senator McCain," Hybl said. He declined to speculate about who those sources might be.
In the letter, McCain called for a substantive Olympic committee penalty against former leaders of USA Boxing. He said failure to do so would set a harmful precedent.
"It would definitely not comport with the high standards of integrity and accountability that athletes, USOC members and the American public deserve and expect," he said.
The letter mentioned three former USA Boxing officials involved in the scandal and targeted two — Jim Fox,
a former boxing executive director and now head of the Olympic committee's broadcast division; and Steve Ducoff, a former boxing treasurer and currently volunteer chairman of an Olympic subcommittee.
McCain said he would appreciate being informed of the rationale for allowing individuals allegedly involved in the misallocation of more than $3 million in USOC funds to remain with the USOC.
Fox remains in his job while the district attorney in Colorado Springs considers bringing charges in the case.
Olympic committee executive director Dick Schultz said no administrative action would be taken against Fox as long as the investigation remained open.
Fox, reached at his office in Colorado Springs, declined to comment. Phone calls to Ducoff's office were not answered, and a number for Mathis was not available.
While acknowledging that the case had been a difficult and painful situation for the committee, McCain said he hoped his intervention would lead the committee to strengthen its oversight procedures for all sports governing bodies.
Last February, after lengthy and often heated negotiations, USA Boxing agreed to repay more than $1.3 million, about 40 percent of the questionable spending of $£.18 million in committee grants uncovered by an Olympic committee audit.
The amount was reduced after accountants agreed that $1.9 million been spent on valid athlete programs but not originally reported. USA Boxing has an annual budget of about $2.8 million.
The improper payments occurred during the tenures of federation executive directors Bruce Mathis, who was fired last year, and Fox, his successor.
Mathis also was mentioned in McCain's letter, Ducoff, treasurer of USA Boxing during most of the time when the improper spending took place, also served as interim executive director of USA Shooting. He is now executive director of the Colorado Springs Sports Corp., and cochairman of the committee's Pan American Games review committee, a volunteer position.
Kentucky Derby to lack D. Wayne Lukas entry
String of 16 starts will end next week
The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It's even more rare than having a Super Bowl without the Dallas Cowboys or an NBA championship without the Chicago Bulls.
For the first time since 1980, trainer D. Wayne Lukas won't have an entry in the Kentucky Derby.
Lukas, who has trained the winner of the last two Derbys and seven of the last eight Triple Crown races, said Monday he would be just a spectator at the 123rd Kentucky Derby on May 3.
"It serves no purpose for me to try and be in the race. I think there are times in a trainer's life — mine
Sixteen in a row to be exact. Lukas has started 31 horses in the nation's premier thoroughbred race. He's had three firsts and four thirds. Twenty-four of his entries finished in the top four.
He was riding one of the most illustrious winning streaks in thoroughbred history. A Lukas-trained horse won all three Triple Crown legs — the Derby, Preakness and Belmont stakes — in 1995. Tabasco Cat started the streak with wins in the Preakness and Belmont in 1994. Lukas set a record when Grindstone won the 1996 Derby to make it six Triple Crown wins in a row.
year's Preakness by Nick Zitotrain trained Louis Quatorze, but Lukas rebounded with a victory in the Belmont with Editor's Note.
included — when I wanted to be in the race. That's long past for me. I've been in 16 or 17 of them," he said during morning workouts at Churchill Downs.
Lukas nominated 23 3-year-olds for the 1997 Derby. His top contender, juvenile champion Boston Harbor, broke his left foreleg in February, dropping him out of the Derbv picture.
His highly regarded filly, Sharp Cat, finished sixth out of 10 contenders in the Santa Anita Derby, her first race against colts. Lukas said Monday that Sharp Cat would start in the Kentucky Oaks, the Derby for fillies, on May 2 at Churchill Downs.
His final hope, Deeds Not Words,
finished a disappointing third in the
Lexington Stakes on Sunday at
Keeneland.
after having some success, I want to be very competitive or at least feel like I have some legitimate chance to win," he said. "When one of those horses didn't show up, I think that made the decision for us."
Lukas also denied rumors Monday that he might purchase interest in a Derby-bound horse.
"I am at a point in my life, where
"When you stop and look at it, I've been so blessed with this race and other races in the Triple Crown," he said. "I think I can sit back and watch it and cheer for some of the other guys without having it affect me one way or the other."
Lukas' first Derby entry, Partez, in 1981, finished third. He won his first Derby in 1988 with the filly Winning Colors.
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