Venable keeps Wildcats laughing
MANHATTAN—As soon as Jerry Venable arrived at Kansas State, he started giving everyone nicknames.
First he called David Hall Buffarilla because Hall reminded him of a buffalo and a gorilla. He tabbed David Lawrence as The Duck because of his walk. Then, he named Jack Thomas Gentle Ben after the big brown bear, and named Eddie Smith
Chicken Little and Mike Barber Pin-Head, and on and on.
Then everyone else, having enough of Venable's fun, turned around and made him The Squirrel.
Venable is partly right. He does kind of look like a squirrel, especially when he flashes his frequent grin which protrudes big, white teeth. And there's also a little squirrel in his actions.
"Maybe, they mean The Squirrel as being fast and quick," he said, though knowing that wasn't the reason. "Or I hoped it was because I looked a little like a squirrel. I hope it doesn't mean that I act squirrelly."
"I'll tell you," testifies coach Cotton Fitzsimons. "He does a lot of squirrelly things out on the floor. And he's always saying crazy things that don't make much sense."
Venable, who bused in from
Ferrum (Va.) Junior College, has been the guy who has kept the K-State players loose before and between games this season.
"You have to have somebody around to keep 'em loose," he says. "Maybe that's my role on the team—keeping 'em loose. That isn't my only role, I hope."
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (UPI)—That big bear which blocked New Mexico State's way to the NCAA basketball championship two years in a row won't be around this year in the first round playoffs.
It isn't. He has his role on the floor, as well, scoring 15.3 points a game. And Venable keeps everyone loose by talking . . . constantly talking.
Cats may face Aggies
But Coach Lou Henson says his
8 KANSAN Mar. 5
1970
Aggies will probably have as tough a time with Rice University this year as they did with the UCLA Bruins in 1968 and 1969.
"We'll be playing in Fort Worth and about 85 to 95 per cent of the crowd at that game will be for Rice," Henson said. "It will be like playing before a home court."
In the last two years, NMSU
lost in the first round play to the Bruins. In 1968, UCLA beat the Aggies 58-49 and the Bruins came back last year to trounce the Aggies 53-38.
If the Aggies get past the first round of the NCAA, however, there's a better than average chance they will have to tangle with UCLA again.
For instance, a couple pro football scouts inquired about him earlier this year.
Henson, however, isn't worrying about UCLA right now.
jersey on inside out before the title-clinching game with Colorado here a couple weeks ago, and he eagerly points the finger at others who have done the same.
"I'm like John Carlos, I'll start at a million and work down," he says. "Naw, I might try it. I'll do anything once, especially for a million."
The senior forward also fashions himself as something of a ladies' man.
"I'll tell you what you can say. You can tell 'em that I'm not engaged or married. You can put that anyway you want to. Be sure they know that," he says.
As a final tribute to Venable's squirreliness, if there is such a word, there's the card from a fan that's posted on his door. It reads: "I'm Jerry Venable. I may not be the best, but I'm pretty darn good."
Venable concedes he put his
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