SOFTBALL The Kansas softball team dropped all four games against Oklahoma State this weekend despite a gritty effort. Page 2B
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 24, 1995
SECTION B
An all-star show at the field house
Kathleen Driscoll / KANSAN
Forward T.J. Pugh, a Kansas basketball recruit from Omaha, Neb., practices his dunk before the Converse All-American Game at Allen Field House. Pugh was named the Big 12 Conference's MVP for the game on Saturday with 20 points, nine rebounds and two steals.
Pugh, Robertson give fans preview
By Christoph Fuhrmans
Kansan sportwriter
It wasn't the ending that Kansas recruits T.J. Pugh and Ryan Robertson wanted for their first game at Allen Field House.
Pugh and Robertson watched in disbelief along with the rest of the players and the crowd as Louisiana Tech recruit Lonnie Cooper sank a 55-foot shot to win the Converse All-American game.
The National team, which was made up of college recruits across the country, defeated the team of Big 12 Conference recruits 143-140.
"I've played in hundreds of thousands of games in my career, and I've never seen anything like that," said Robertson, who had 18 points, six assists, three rebounds and three steals. "After a shot like that you say, 'Congratulations. That's really lucky.'"
Even Cooper had to agree with Robertson.
"I pushed it one-handed," said Cooper, who scored 28 points and was named MVP of the National team. "When it left my hand, I thought it was going to be short, but it had some arc on it. It probably never make a shot like that again."
The shots weren't as long, but Cooper made enough to win the three-point shooting contest before the game. National teammate and Oklahoma recruit Nate Erdmann won the slam-dunk contest. Despite being a Big 12 recruit, Erdmann played for the National team because he was a late addition to the roster.
Even though Cooper won the threepoint contest, Robertson and Pugh received the loudest responses from the crowd, despite not advancing to the finals of the dunk contest.
"I wanted to come out here and make a good impression," said Pugh, who was named the Big 12's team MVP after getting 20 points, nine rebounds and two
steals. "I didn't even expect this many people here."
The crowd of about 2,200 saw the Big 12 team lead by as many as 24 points early in the third quarter. But then Cooper and Erdmann began to heat up from behind the three-point line, combining for 33 second-half points. At the end of the third quarter the National team had cut the Big 12's lead to 109-100.
"Terrible is the only way I can describe it," said Kansas State recruit Manny Dies, who scored 16 points, grabbed seven
rebounds and blocked five shots. "We were up by so much, it's terrible we could lose."
The National team took its first lead since the first quarter at 133-132 when Erdmann scored. Robertson then started to take charge for the Big 12 team, scoring six of its last eight points, including two free throws for a 140-139 lead.
"I just wanted to go out there and give the fans a good show," Robertson said. "It is about giving the crowd a good show, but it is an all-star game and you need to
score."
Washington recruit Donald Watts of the National team then was fouled and made one free throw to tie the game at 140 with 18 seconds left. Watts missed the second free throw and after battling for the rebound, the Big 12 team pushed the ball up the court. Pugh got a shot off but missed.
"I just blew it, but it made for a better ending to the game," Pugh said. "I wish we would have won the game, but Lonnie wouldn't let it happen."
'Hawks honored at Relays
Kansas takes male female outstanding performer awards
By Tom Erickson
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas senior distance runner Michael Cox was less than a second away from joining some very elite company at the Kansas Relays on Saturday.
"I felt bad when I crossed the finish line and the crowd went, 'Ah,'" he said. "It would have been nice to break four minutes in front of the crowd.
Cox, attempting to run the mile in under four minutes at the relays as former Kansas runner Jim Ryun last did in the open division in 1972, finished with a career-best time of 4:00.93. The mark was good enough to win the race, but at the same time was a little frustrating.
"But I still had a good day."
sure."
For his efforts, Cox was named male outstanding performer at the relavs.
Cox ran the final leg in the four-mile relay on Friday for a time of 4:00. The last college athlete to run the mile in under four minutes at the Kansas Relays was Ryun with a time of 3:59.74 in 1967.
"It was exciting to hear the crowd get progressively louder in the race," Cox said. "It was a charge for
Setting the pace for Cox for a half-mile was Kansas senior Dan Waters. Waters dropped out of the race after running two laps at a time of 2:00. Cox said he felt the chilly weather in the final two laps.
"It was really windy today," he said. "It was nice to have Dan pacing it, but when he stepped off, I could really feel the wind in my face."
Kansas junior spinner Dawn Steele-Slavens placed first in both the 400-meter hurdles and as a member of the 400-meter relay team. Steele-Slavens topped her perfect Saturday with the female outstanding performer award.
Steele-Slavens' time of 59.69 in the hurdles was an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Provisional qualifiers are not guaranteed a spot in the NCAA meet but may go if their time is not beaten.
In the men's high jump, Kansas senior Nick Johansen won with a jump of 7 feet 1 3/4 inches, also good enough for an NCAA provisional qualifying score.
"I was very excited today," she said. "I felt really strong."
The Jayhawks also won three relay events on Saturday, enough to win the university men's and women's team championships for the second consecutive year.
Johannsen, who almost lost at 6-11, won the event on his third and final attempt.
Other relays highlights came in the open divisions, which featured the world's fastest man and a pole vault duel between two former Kansas All-Americans.
Maurice Greene of Kansas City, Kan., who beat Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis in the 100-meter dash on April 8 at the Texas Relays, ran the final leg for Nike Central in the men's 400-meter relay on Saturday. Greene said his life had changed a lot since the race with Lewis.
"I definitely talk to more reporters," he said. "I don't want to think about that one race. I just put it behind me and prepare for the future."
Former Jayhawks Pat Manson, 27,
and Scott Huffman, 30, finished first and second, respectively, in the invitational pole vault, another crowd favorite on Saturday.
"We had a great day," Manson said. "The crowd was fantastic. Here more than anywhere else, we cheer for each other."
"I won't ever say it's a dream come true, because I never thought it would happen," he said. "If I miss the Kansas Relays, I have a broken leg or I'm dead."
Huffman, who holds the American record at 19-7, was inducted into the Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame before competing with Manson.
Both vaulters cleared at 18-6 1/2,
but Manson won because he had
fewer misses.
Kansas senior distance runner Michael Coxcrosses the finish line of the Kansas Relays' mile run at Memorial Stadium. Coxmissed by .93 seconds in his attempt to run a four-minute mile but still won the event.
Cosell dies at age 77
Broadcasting great 'told it like it was'
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Howard Cosell, whose caustic "tell it like it is" personality made him the most celebrated sportscaster ever and turned "Monday Night Football" into a national institution, died yesterday. House 77.
Cosell, who underwent cancer surgery in 1991, died at 4 a.m. at NYU's Hospital for Joint Diseases, his grandson Justin Cohane said.
Cohane said Cosell died of a heart embolism after a long illness.
He was the student, colorful voice of ABC radio and television from 1953 to 1992. It was a phenomenal period
Howard Cosell
of growth and change in America's pastimes, spurred by television's cascading millions and increased greed among athletes and promoters.
Cosell chroniced it that way, revolutionizing a broadcasting industry that most often parroted the establishment's party line. He was one of the first sportscasters to acknowledge Muhammad All by his new name after he changed it from Cassius Clay and stood up for All when the heavyweight champion refused to enter military service during the Vietnam War and was stripped of his title.
"Howard Cosell was a good man and he lived a good life," Ali said after hearing of Cosell's death. "I have been interviewed by many people, but I enjoyed interviews with Howard the best. We always put on a good show. I hope to meet him one day in the hereafter. I can hear Howard now saying. Muhammad, you're not the man you used to be. I pray that he is in God's hands. I will miss him."
Cosell's acid tongue generated bitter feuds with not only the print media but also contemporaries in broadcasting. Few, high or low, escaped his often bitter sarcasm, including the institutions on whom his fame was based, boxing and the NFL.
"I never sacrificed truth in the name of friend- shin." he insisted.
But he could exhibit stubborn loyalty when his sense of right and wrong was outraged.
Cosell was vilified by many when he defended Ali, but the boxer went on to beat the government in the courts, reclaim his crown and become one of the most popular champions in history. Cosell held firm and emerged as an even more celebrated figure.
"It was a fight Ali had to make. He made it and won," Cosell said. "People said we, Ali and I, played off each other. That's partially true."
Cosell waged a similar battle to defend Curt Flood, who challenged baseball rules binding one player to a team for life unless traded or sold.
"Cosell was one of a kind," said Shelby Whitfield, a longtime colleague at ABC Radio. "He brought a new dimension to sports reporting. He was a showman and a journalist and a person always sensitive to the underdog."
"No doubt he would like to be remembered as the first sportscaster who told it like it was. Many loved him, many hated him, but everyone had an opinion. There will never be another Howard Cosell."
Cosell, a graduate in law from New York University, was a TV producer, author and lecturer as well as sportscaster. Cosell was best known for his role with ABC's "Monday Night Football," which began in 1970, as well as his broadcasting of big-time prize fights.
"My idea is that you must give every game a story line. My hero in broadcasting was Edward R. Murrow. I learned speech variety from him — when to raise and lower the voice. The object is to grab the greatest number of people."
NFL DRAFT
'Hawks taken in seventh
Twenty-two Big Eight Conference athletics from five schools were
draft. Two Kansas Jayhawks went in the seventh and last round. Defensive back Gerald McBurrows was chosen by the St. Louis Rams
Kansas men, women win conference tennis titles
drafted in this weekend's NFL
Detroit took guard Hessley Hempstead with the 228 selection.
More on the draft. Page 3B
Compiled from The Associated Press.
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Kansas tennis teams fought their way through wind, rain and the rest of the Big Eight Conference this weekend, winning both the men's and women's conference titles indoors at Woodlake Country Club.
Kansan staff report
The tournaments were moved indoors because of inclement weather.
The women's team opened the final round yesterday morning when the Jayhawks faced the Oklahoma Sooners. The match was a back-and-forth battle.
The Jayhawks opened with two singles losses. Wins by No. 1 Nora Koves and No. 2 Jenny Atkerson shifted the tide toward Kansas, however, and the Jayhawks swept all of the remaining matches, taking home a 5-2 win and the tournament title.
It was the fourth consecutive conference title for the Jayhawks, who now own a 17-11 overall record and are No. 28 nationally. The women beat Missouri and Oklahoma State in the tournament's opening rounds.
In the men's final, Kansas faced Colorado, a team the Jayhawks had beaten 5-2 earlier in the year. But there would be no revenge for the Buffaloes.
The Jayhawks dominated the match
The women's post-season fate is tied to the BYU Cougars. Should BYU lose in its conference tournament next weekend, Kansas will claim the final regional berth.
from wire to wire, winning 4-0 early yesterday afternoon. It was the second consecutive Big Eight title for the men, who are now 18-7 and ranked 19th nationally. Kansas earned a first round tournament bye, then defeated Oklahoma State, earning a spot in the final.
Next up for the men's team is the Region VI NCAA Regional tournament, which will be held May 5 at the Allen Field House courts. Kansas likely will be the regional's No.1 seed.
Tennis teams in Oklahoma City
The Kansas men's and women's tennis teams did more than just win their Big Eight Conference tournaments this weekend.
The Jayhawks got to experience first hand the destruction and confusion in Oklahoma City following last week's federal building bombing. In tomorrow's Kansas, sportswriter Robert Moczydlowski will describe the Kansas tennis team's trip to Oklahoma.