Second Section
Lady arm wrestler is no conformist
Dannv Rav/KANSAN
Cheryl Frisbie displays some of her wrist-wrestling trophies, stained glass artwork, and a ceramic monkey she created.
By TIM HAMILTON
No one has ever accused Cheryl Frisbie of being a conformist.
Staff writer
From her name to her hobbies.
Frisbie is different from the rest.
Frisbie earned her title as women's lightweight — 145 pounds and under
Not exactly what state champion arm wrestlers are supposed to look like.
But her appearance is not unusual for a 22-year-old woman. Frisbie's 121 pounds are spread thin over her hair and she flies off when her falls untamed down her shoulders.
Besides being the Kansas state champion women's arm wrestler, Frisbie also is an accomplished, versatile artist and a single mother. As an artist, Frisbie's mediums include paintings, ceramics and paint. An 8-by-30 mural she painted has been displayed in museums in New York and Chicago.
"Everyone said I was crazy to go. They said, 'Lots of big, scary people hang out down there.' " she said.
rightweight — 145 pounds and older
— state champion last year at the
Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. The
title earned her a chance to compete
this June at the Arm Wrestling Inten-
tional World Championships in Las Vegas, which will be televised on ESPN.
Frisbie, who has been arm wrestling for more than four years, became interested in the sport as a child and arm wrestling shows on television.
Frisbie's mother, Elaine Frisbie, said Cheryl's childhood on a farm near Grantville helped build her daughter's muscle. Farm chores such as baling hay and driving a tractor helped build strength in her hands and arms, she said.
Frisbie said she didn't become really interested in the sport until her first year at the University of Kansas in 1982.
Frisbie and her 17-month-old daughter, Sanamtha, live with her family in Grantville.
That year, Miller Beer sponsored an army wrestling tournament in New York.
Frisbie went to one of the preliminary competitions at the Time-Out, 2408 Iowa St., to see what it was like.
Frisbie won that night's competition and went on to compete in the finals against its other women at the Notre Dame football game, at Ninth and Mississippi streets.
Again, she reached the finals.
In the final match, Frisbie and her opponent wrestled each other for four and a half minutes before Frisbie's arm touched.
"After that we hugged each other with our 'left arms,' she said. "I couldn't get my arm to move for two minutes, the most time I ever had arm wrestling."
In all the tournaments in which Frisbie has competed, she has never placed lower than third. And, the third place finished came at the World Championship in the Basketball Association's World Championships in October 1966 at Las Vegas.
Frisbie said that arm wrestling, like any sport, had its secrets to success.
"There's all kinds of tricks people will do if they see they're going to lose," she said. She said those tricks include letting one's arm slip on the table to restart a match and wearing very high-heeled shoes to stand taller.
Frisbie said her main advantage over her competitors was the dexterity in her hands, which also benefits her art.
"Some people have more dexterity in their hands than others." Frisbie's mother said. "I think there's a correlation between the dexterity in her hands and her abilities as an artist and arm wrestler."
Frisbie said she thought women were more competitive than men.
“Sometimes the women get carried away,” she said. Although men pump themselves up before matches by jumping around and yelling, Frisbee players hardly ever tried to intimidate their opponents as women sometimes would.
One girl came up to her before a match and told her to drop out right away.
However, one of the main reasons she likes arm wrestling is because of the people involved. Arm wrestlers often bring together after tournaments to party.
Last October in Las Vegas, Frisbie said she and a friend met two male arm wrestlers from Canada who were deaf.
"It's something that does not take a special ability," she said. "Even
Frisbie said she also arm wrestled men outside of competitions.
"If they are about the same size as me I can usually beat them," she said. Frisbie said she performed better against bigger women because the women underestimated her because of her size.
Elaine Frisbie said, "It's not obvious how strong she is."
Frisbie said her job repairing imported souvenirs helps her prepare for her competitions.
"At work I do a lot of sanding so it keeps my hands toned up. I had a fencing class at KU so I decided to lift some weights, too," Frieisie said. "I've always been able to work well with my hands."
Editorials cause rift between schools
Bv ROGER CORFY
Staff writer
Some students at the University of Kansas call Kansas State University "Silo Tech" or "Moo-U."
And some K-State students call KU "Snob Hill."
Recent articles in the Kansas State Collegian, the Lawrence Daily Journal World-and even the Wall Street Journal publication between the two universities.
In a March 31 article about the farm crisis and K-State, the Journal said: "Prying more money out of donors and the hard-pressed legislature is one of the tasks facing President (Jon) Wefalid, who must compete with the arch-rival University of Kansas — "Sobn Hill" to generations of Kansas State basketball fans — and four other major schools."
And the Journal-World, in an April 6 editorial, said: "Up at Manhattan, numerous students at the esteemed agricultural college, often show frzened delight in referring to Kansas University as 'Snob Hill.'"
The Collegian, K-State's student newspaper, printed a column March 9 by Patrick Muir under the headline "Real students don't go to KU."
That column sparked a letter to the Collegian editor by KU student Mary Lorson, Hope junior.
In her letter, Lorson said: "If it weren't for Muir, I wouldn't have known that all us Jayhawks graduated from Johnson County. Stupid me. I believed everyone when they told me they were from Salina, Wichita, Tulsa, Chicago or St. Louis."
Officials and students at both universities, while mostly acknowledging the rivalry, say it is nothing big, and nothing new.
But Chancellor Gene A. Budig said earlier this week that no conflict with the bill has occurred.
"Kansas State is a first-class land-grant university," Budig said. "We're working on a number of issues together and striving to cooperate on a whole host of programs in the curriculum, computer science and health."
Budig said K-State had widespread respect among the KU's academic community.
"Whenever you get 11 people out there going head to head, it gets
And Wefaid said, "You have to be a sense of humor about the hilarity."
Wefald said most of the competition between the schools occurred in the spring.
He agreed with Budig that a feeling of cooperation and good will was growing between the two universities. He and Budig met in February to discuss ways the two schools could work together on projects.
competitive." he said.
Ann Eversole, KU's director of organizations and activities, said the rivalry had gone on for a long time at both institutions.
"It's a typical kind of competition," she said.
And competition usually exists between land-grant and liberal arts universities, Eversole said. She mentioned the competition between Purdue, a land-grant university, and Indiana University, a liberal arts university, in a similar rivalry; between Michigan State and the University of Michigan.
Land-grant universities were established with the Morrill Act, signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. Their purpose is to to teach agriculture and offer higher education to common citizens. Kansas State, the oldest land-grant university in the United States, was founded in 1863.
"Some of that competition is also part of the folklore of the campus," Eversole said. "Various help students identify with their schools."
Deron Johnson, the Collegian's editorial page editor, said Mur's column had reflected the muris personaliate of the K-State representative of the K-State student body.
"If there is a rivalry, it's more from the K-State side than from the KU side." Johnson said. "I think students here are trying to overcome the label of K-State being an agriculture university."
He said the Collegian also had received letters from K-State students critical of Mur's column. The students said columns like Mur's were not a good way to strengthen ties between the two universities.
"We don't always agree with KU on various issues," Johnson said. "But obviously the University is doing something right. Enrollment is increasing and that has created problems in those kinds of problems are enviable."
Lorson said she wrote to the Collegian because her brother goes to K-State and gave her a copy of Muir's column.
"I get the impression they think we have a holier-than-thou attitude at KU," Lorson said. "That we think we're better. But I don't think we do."
She said both universities had strong points.
Mike Kadel, a K-State student senator, said no serious conflict existed between the two universities.
"Any conflict is just done in a joking manner," Kadel said.
He said one problem with being a land-grant university was being labeled as an "agriculture school" or something, and he is envious of KU's image, he said.
Stanton and Milligan reflect on their work in Student Senate
Bv LISA A. MALONFY
Staff writer
Kelly Milligan, outgoing student body vice president, sat back in a booth at the Wagon Wheel Cafe, put down his third Bud Light can and said, "This is where it all began."
Milligan and Brady Stanton, outgrowing student body president, said that they had planned the Cheers coalition to meet in their projects at the Wheel: 507 W., 14th S.
Monday, the two were back at the cafe to reminisce about the birth of the coalition and their six-month Student Senate term, which will end April 22.
Watching the election process showed them how to run a campaign, and while serving as senators, they saw ways that they could help students. Milligan said.
Milligan and Stanton met at a sorbity dance two years ago, but the idea of the Cheers coalition didn't begin to jell until fall of 1983, when they were elected as student senators and Epstein in Common Sense coalition.
Kelly Milligan, student body vice president, left, and Brady Stanton, student body president, reflect on the past year in student government.
"I like working for and with people, as cheesy it as sounds." he said.
"Those names all say. 'Hi, we’re all a bunch of resume-padding jellyfish and we’re out to change your world," he said. "This is student government. You’ve got to put it into perspective."
By April, they had half a coalition, but needed a name.
"I so I went off to my internship in Washington," Milligan said, "and late one night I got a phone call with this voice that said, 'Cheers!'
In the past, Senate coalitions had run under names like Vox Populi, Momentum, Fresh Vegetables, Priority and Frontier, Milligan said.
"I said, 'What?' and Brady said, 'Cheers. What do you think of it?' and I said, 'What do I think of what?'"
The main planks of the Cheers coalition were to set up a typing room in Watson Library; to create JyCredit, a student credit card system for the Kansas and Burge unions; to start a student notetaking service; to establish a new interest bank; to $15 to $100 student loan system, and to lobby the Lawrence City Commission to allow underage students into bars after 8 p.m.
Epstein's Senate term had been fairly successful, with little infighting between senators, Stanton said.
Many people thought that the Senate was entering a new era for student government, he said, and the name "Cheers" was meant to toast that era.
"We're not typical of your student politicos," Milligan said. "We were not out to kid anyone. We knew, though, that we were a couple of students who knew a little more than the average student about what was going on at this University."
But the peacefulness that was the Common Sense coalition's legacy didn't last. Two original members of the Cheers coalition, Betsy Bergman and Stephanie Quincy, broke off to form their own coalition, Initiative. Others were unsure how Stanton and Milligan would appear to voters.
"We were told that there was no way we'd win because we were two men."
Stanton is a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, 1621 Edgehill road, and Milligan is a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, 1301 W. Campus
Stanton and Milligan cited that division as one reason why they never fulfilled most of their campaign promises. But the main problem, Stanton said, was Gov. Mike Hayden's call for a 3.8 percent budget cut in all state institutions.
They won the election, but Initiative members won more than a third of the Senate seats, which created a divided Senate.
"We sat down and said, 'Hey, getting minors into bars, short-term loans and JayCredit are great and
valuable ideas, but how can we consciously work for that when the University can't afford classes? How would it have looked if we had blown off the problems of the state?" Stanton said.
"We had to set our priorities. With the recession, we had to cut the things we could not feasibly do in one semester," he said.
Stanton said he was proud of the way the KU campus group of the Associated Students of Kansas had joined in his fight for Martie Aaron and Eddie Watson.
"If there's one thing our term in office has done," Stanton said, "it's proven that students can make a difference.
"We had a bunch of lobbying days where we took 30 to 40 students to Topeka. We went right to the legislators, so they couldn't ignore us.
"Had the students not gone, the question of getting any percent of the fee release would have been ridiculous."
The Senate was able to finish revenue code and student organization financing, but lengthy meetings and controversy over the Black Student Union, KU Forensics, KU Crew and the Consumer Affairs Association also took time away from other projects. Milligan said.
"A lot of people on the Senate were new. New senators don't see a problem in handing out $37,000 like it's M & M.'s." Milligan said.
"They were afraid to tackle revenue code. But that's not responsible government. So we said, 'It's better, and we got it done,' Milligan said.
He said he and Stanton were expecting to accomplish the short-term loan program before leaving office. They also have been working behind the scenes to lobby for underage admittance, but the change won't come about in their term, Stanton said.
Although the two promised during their campaign that they would run again this spring, they later decided not to.
"We would be here for eight years if we did that," Stanton, a junior, said. "I'm not a professional student at the university I've involved with my world while I'm here."
Stanton said that his term in office had put him a semester behind in
credits, in addition to giving him two warts that he says he developed because of the stress of the position.
Milligan gave one piece of advice to the newly elected student body president and vice president, "Don't kid yourself."
"You won't have the Midas touch. You won't do everything right," he said. "This is not an excruciary activity. It's work, it's a job, it'n an
adventure, and if the new leaders treat it as anything different, they'll have a miserable time."
Stanton said, "Expect the unexpected."
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