University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, March 29, 1988
Sports
9
Mark Pellock, Parsons junior and former Kansas basketball team center, and Sean Murphy, Coffeyville junior, print some Final Four T-shirts. They and a handful of other KU students are producing shirts to sell on campus and at the Final Four in Kansas City.
Students sell KU T-shirts celebrating the Final Four
By Elaine Sung
Kansan sports writer
While the Kansas men's basketball team dreams of playing a championship game just down the road in Kansas City, three KU students have taken the opportunity to capitalize on an enormous market that has a definite case of Final Four fever.
Greg Scott and Don Snellback, coowners of Aristocratic, and Jon Hofer, owner of T-Graphics, joined forces and sub-contracted with Larry Sinks, the owner of Midwest Graphics in East Lawrence, to launch a massive T-shirt selling campaign.
Each shirt is selling for $10. About 4,200 shirts were sold yesterday, and the company was printing about 750 shirts an hour. Snellback estimates that a total of 12,000 to 15,000 shirts could be sold by the end of the tournament.
So the two companies pooled their resources and talents for one hectic week before the Final Four. They enlisted the aid of Sinks, who is not a KU student, and will use his facilities to produce thousands of T-shirts day and night to sell on campus and in Kansas City.
Kansas' 71-58 victory over Kansas State on Sunday in the Midwest Regional championship game. After the initial celebrating, they soon started laughing as they realized the potential in selling Final Four T-shirts in Kansas.
The idea came to the three after
"We had no anticipation of KU getting into the Final Four," Snellback said. "There was no way we could get ready for it. Everything was thrown together after KU won. This week is our week."
ing group on campus and off.
They laid out their strategy yesterday morning. Using friends as sales representatives, the temporarily merged company is hitting every liv-
"We are dealing in major volume." Scott said. "We're working together, and it's become just one huge company."
Three designs have been made, with two of them specifically focused for the Kansas market. The first one, designed by Brad Sneed, Newton junior and a KU art student, reads "Kansas City Here We Come". The second design, created by Carmen Waldmann, Silver Lake senior, reads "Jayhawk Basketball Wearing The Glass Slipper," playing off the "Cinderella" theme that Kansas is the only team in the Final Four that was not ranked in the final Associated Press poll.
Big Eight's dream season brings money, priceless exposure
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the Big Eight Conference said it would be playing host to this year's NCAA Final Four, no one dreamed how right that would be.
For years, Big Eight basketball was a joke, even to Big Eight players. Basketball, they ruefully agreed, was just something the conference did between football and spring
A free-lance artist was brought in early yesterday to create the third design, which includes the mascots of all the Final Four teams. The shirts with that design will be sold primarily in Kansas City later this week.
What's more, they were right. Most of the league's arenas were small, cramped and outdated. Nobody in the Big Eight except Kansas and Kansas State, spent any money
on the sport for years and years.
It seemed that few nationally recruited players ever spring from high schools in the Big Eight area and the ones who did quickly fled to the Big Ten or the Atlantic Coast Conference and the like. Football was absolute, undisputed king in Middle America, where Oklahoma and Nebraska challenged year after year for national championships.
But then, slowly, the winds of change began to blow. Coaches such as Larry Brown, Billy Tubbs and Johnny Orr were hired at places such as Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa State. Players such as Wayman Tisdale "...
Danny Manning were coaxed into signing Big Eight letters-of-intent.
New arenas were built at Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa State, Nebraska and Colorado. Other facilities were upgraded. More money was spent on basketball than ever before.
Now, with the Final Four back in Kansas City's own Kemper Arena, the so-called football conference has not one but two Final Four teams.
Kansas, with two-time All-American Manning, will face Duke of the ACC in the first semifinal Saturday and then Oklahoma, once a basketball doormat, will meet Arizona in
"Watching two Big Eight teams get into our own Final Four was the most exciting thing I ever saw," said Bill Hancock, associate commissioner of the Big Eight and one of the major figures in planning and running this 50th anniversarysv Final Four.
semifinal No.2.
"It's just a dream come true for us after all those years of struggling so hard." Hancock said. "We hoped against hope we would get a team in the Final Four. Now we have two. It's just unbelievable. Coaches and athletic directors from all over the conference have been calling each other and offering congra-
tulatons."
When the season opened, Big Eight coaches told anybody who would listen that their league had come of age. By the season's end, three of the league's four all-time leading scorers were winding down brilliant careers, Manning at Kansas, Jeff Grayer at Iowa State and Derrick Chievous at Missouri. It is commonly thought that most of this year's second-team all-Big Eight squad would, in the lean years, have been prime candidates for conference Player of the Year.
KU rugby team ready for Spring postseason
Bv Keith Stroker
Kansan sports writer
or the first time in eight years, the KU rugby team will play in the Western Rugby Football Union tournament, April 16 and 17, in Las Cruces, N.M.
Kansas defeated Kansas State 9-6 last fall to advance to the tournament. The Wildcats had defeated Kansas every year since 1980, preventing the Jayhawks from reaching postseason play.
Kansas has been preparing for the tournament this spring by competing in weekend games. The Jayhawks collegiate team is 4-1, losing only to Kansas State's club side two weeks ago.
Kansas has three rugby teams: a club-side team, composed of college and graduate students with a lot of rugby experience; a collegiate-side team, with just college students; and a reserve-side team, composed of first-year players.
On Sunday, the Kansas collegiate-side team defeated Topeka's club side. 24-0. Jayhawks coach Louie Riedierer said the game was a good one for tournament preparation.
"I think the college match went
really well, especially considering we played their club team." Riederer said. "The forwards did a very good job, and they scored a lot, which doesn't happen often in a rugby game."
In other games, the Kansas reserve team lost twice, 12-10 to Washburn and 34-0 to the Kansas City Blues, and the Kansas club team defeated Oklahoma's club team, 34-8.
Eight teams will compete in each of four regional tournaments, and the winners will meet in rugby's final four, April 30 and May 1, in Monterey, Calif. Kansas is in the Western Regional, and the other three regionals are the Pacific Coast, the East, and the Midwest.
The Jayhawks are the No. 3 seed in the West, and the Air Force Academy is No. 1 in that regional. Air Force won the national tournament two years ago but lost in the championship game to San Diego State last season. The Axtres are favorites to win again this season.
Kansas rugby player Pat Roberts said the team worked out five days a week, including running and a workout program.
Volleyball team adds 6
By Tom Stinson
Kansan sports writer
when recruiting, Kansas volleyball coach Frankie Albitz does not look strictly for blue-chip players.
She does look for athletes with blue-chip attitudes.
Albitz completed her recruiting this year by signing six players. All of them, she said, have attitudes that fit into the Kansas system.
The Jayhawks signed April Chavey, Concordia; Kim DeHoff, Tonganoxie; Woodluffrust, Castle Rock, Wash.; Mary Beth Bella, Oak Forest, Adrian Powell, St. Louis; and Kris Kleinschmidt, Prairie Village
"I try to get players who fit into the situation here," Albizt said. "I doubt these players are real blue-chippers. I think they are blue-chip mentally."
"I'm to the point that I don't like blue-chips. They expect a lot more. In our situation, we have to have kids who are student-oriented and who want to be at Kansas."
All six recruits will have full scholarships. Albitz said.
Chavey attended Cloud County Community College, where she was named a second-team junior college All-American last year and an honorable mention All-American her freshman year.
DeHoff was a Kansas All-State selection and played for Penn Valley in Junior Olympic volleyball, which
Albitz said was important for gaining experience.
Woodford was a Washington All-State selection from Spirit Lake High School. She has a 4.0 grade point average and played on a Junior Olympic team that traveled to Japan.
Bella played for the Second City Junior Olympic team in Chicago. Last year, the team ranked in the top 10 in the country.
"It is one of the best junior teams in the nation." Albitz said. "There is strong ball in Chicago. There is a lot of competition there."
Powell attended Clayton High School and played three years of Junior Olympic volleyball for St. Louis County.
Kleinschmidt attended Bishop Miege, where she was a Kansas All-State selection.
"This is a good bunch," Albitz said. "They have good, competitive attitudes and are serious players. They will get down to business." But they will get down to business.
Albitz said that she failed in her search for an all-around player but that the recruits had specialized skills the team needed.
Kansas also has received a verbal commitment from a United States Olympic Team Handball player who will attend Kansas if she does not make the final Olympic cut, Albizt said.
Quick kick
Janine Swiatkowski/KANSAN
Kansas defender Chucker Luetje, No. 16, fights an Oklahoma State player for the ball. Kansas beat Iowa State 1-1 on Saturday and Oklahoma State 4-0 on Sunday.
Left, Jonathan Cohen, Mission Hills junior, and right, Joe McCauley, Chicago junior, practice kicks and punches yesterday in Robinson Center. They are members of the Vanguard Karate team.
Vanguard team learns secret of karate is dedication, daily workouts and pain
By Mario Talkington Special to the Kansan
Two rows of weary karate students file across the floor. They raise their left knees and sharply kick their legs forward, aiming their feet at the stomach of an imaginary opponent in front of them.
Their eyes stare intensely at their "opponent," reflecting the students' determination to execute the kick to perfection — or at least well enough to please the instructor who is pacing up and down the rows, closely watching their performances.
"You dropped your arms," he tells one student. "That'll cost you 10."
Ten push-ups. A similar mistake costs another student 15 push-ups. More kicks, another mistake and more push-ups. It's all part of a rigorous daily workout for the Vanguard Karate Team, a local nonprofit club open to Lawrence residents and KU students.
"Everyone wonders about the secret to karate, the magic and all that," said Dave Rank, business manager. "The secret is karate." "The secret to karate is hard work."
Vanguard karate students are familiar with hard work. They meet five times a week, kicking, punching and sweating their way through at least an hour-and-a-half of demanding exercise. The club meets twice a
'E
Everyone wonders about the secret to karate, the magic and all that. The secret to karate is hard work. It's exhausting, but it's also invigorating. You know you're in shape.'
-Dave Rank
business manager and treasurer,
Honored to
Vanguard team
week at the Community Building and three times at Robinson Center.
"It's exhausting, but it's also invigorating," Rank said. "You know you're in shape."
Rank said that the workouts usually began with 30 minutes of stretching, followed by karate drills. And push-ups.
"It's an intense workout and an intense club," he said. "We looked at as animals, the guys that do the push-ups all the time."
The tough workouts require dedication from the karate students, Rank said.
"Some people come in expecting to be a black belt in a year," he said. "Wrong. If you're going to take it seriously, you're going to go through pain and soreness."
"One KU student who started at this time last year lost 25 pounds," he said. "When he went home for spring break, his parents didn't recognize him. You can work out with Vanguard and expect to be in the best shape of your life."
The pain of the workouts eventually paid off for dedicated karate students, Rank said.
Vanguard's tough workouts were even tougher earlier this semester when the team held its four-week intensive exercise program. The program was open to people at any level of karate experience and was designed to teach flexibility, conditioning, and basic karate techniques.
"Fraternities have 'Hell Week',"
said Terry Cook, a Lawrence resident who attends classes twice a
week. "This is kind of like our Hell Week."
Hasan Naseer, Pakistan junior,
also began working out this semester
"The first week, I had to do pushups all the time for messing up."
“After being out for two years, I was crawling out of here,” Cook said. “I’m just an old-timer trying to get off the rust.”
Cook said that he began studying karate about 10 years ago but had not practiced for two years before he started working out in the conditioning program this semester.
Naseer said. "The instructor really pushes us."
"He looked like a martial artist. Like a warrior," Naseer said. "He was also very friendly, which was, surprising."
Naseer said that Vanguard's instructor, Duane Lewis, seemed somewhat intimidating when they first met.
Lewis' friendly attitude during the workouts made the tough exercises a little less difficult, Naseer said.
"He makes you feel energetic," he said. "His attitude is inspiring, and he makes you feel like doing it."
Lewis, a second-degree black belt, said his class had a less format approach than that of some karate clubs. For example, he teaches a combination of karate techniques and street techniques, he said.
"I don't teach passive defense," he said. "If some guy grabs you by the neck, I don't think you'll say, 'Oh come on, let go in between gasps.'"
Also, rather than wearing the traditional robes donned by many karate students, Vanguard members can wear T-shirts, sweats or other comfortable clothing, Lewis said.
Despite the informal atmosphere, Lewis said, he does have a few rules of behavior.
"you oow when you come in," he said. "And you don't swear — you do 100 push-ups."