Injuries, apathy tumble gymnasts
If you ever spend your idle moments between classes practicing back hand-springs or cartwheels around campus, then you might as well challenge yourself with something new.
To begin with, try learning an Aranat dive roll or a full twisting somersault. Then introduce yourself to Robert Lockwood in New York. He'll be more than willing to meet you.
Lockwood, now in his 12th year as KU men's gymnastics coach, is faced with guiding a team that has been decimated by personnel losses.
His squad is so short of manpower that it was forced to cancel its season-opening wing with Iowa State last week and may not play in the NCAA tournament northern Northern Iowa and Western Illinois.
AND IF Lockwood can find enough gymnasts to round out his squad, it will only be because he has men who are willing to participate in events outside their specialty or to perform although hampered by injuries.
However, the team's problems are more extensive than just waiting for injured members to recuperate. A big problem lies less commonly of some the healthy athletes have quit.
A quick run down of the team's major losses reveals the departures of parallel and horizontal bar specialist Tim Mackie, still riving and vaulting specialist Dan Bowerman and all-around performer Les Kerr. All of them have served as philosophers with Lockwood as an important reason for their decision to leave the team.
KERR, WHO ranks fourth on KU's all-time record charts in the all-inward with a score of 51.40 of 60 possible, was the Jayhawks' biggest loss. As pommel horse specialist Bill Harris said, "Losing Les was like when the football team lost (Nolan) Cromwell. I don't know if we'll be able to recover."
When Kerr left the team with intentions of transferring to Oklahoma he was quoted as saying, "I have goals that I don't feel I can accomplish here. I feel I'm not getting what I need out of this program to become the kind of gymnasit that I want to be."
Speaking of his departed gymmasts, Lockwood said, "It's like a football coach moving his tight end to another position in the line—the player doesn't want to. But a coach do so what is best for his team and what his athletes are thinking just about themselves.
SINCE THE loss of Kerr, Lockwood has been struggling to fill his lineup with knives. When he was struck by a couple of tough breaks—one of them a knee and the other an arm.
The knee belongs to freshman Boel Teel, who was graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School a semester early and then transferred to the college vacation. Just before his arrival Teel broke his knee at the state championships where he be placed first in the horizontal bar and missed the finals.
And the arm belongs to freshman Scott Holman, another all-arounder, who broke his arm while playing basketball.
THE OTHER Big Eight teams have approximately 12 full scholarships available to their gymnasts, according to several of KU's team members. The equalization program becomes effective, only seven full scholarships will be allowed.
KU has had two or three scholarships divided among three who only offer KW on full rides.
"Everyone has seven right now but us,"
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ALL OF which makes the Jayhawks less competitive than ever before, especially in the Big Eight where they are expected to have their last (hfill) place finish of last season.
So what kind of motivation to excel will the gymmats have this season? For ringman John Munley it won't be the team spirit he had before.
"You start competing as a team of indi-
dividuals," he said. "It's against manm on
the field."
Jody Summers, the squad's leading all-around, agreed, saying, "You're not motivated as a team so much as you are for yourself."
With that thought in mind, Summer says he plans to skip the all-around at the conference championships and concentrate on winning a national title; he has a chance for an individual medal.
"We're not going to win anyway. My not competing in the all-out争霸 won't change everything."
“IT'S MY senior year,” Summer's said, and I haven't really attained what I had in mind when I came to KU. I had some good marks all right, but I haven't won a medal at the conference meet and I have a chance to place in high bar this year.
For the Jayhawks to challenge the other conference teams they'll have to have a tremendous recruiting effort for next season. And recruiting takes a financial investment to attract the top high school talent.
The 'Hawks lost out on attracting two all-around performers a year ago when they offered them only partial scholarships. The gymmasts chose instead to attend other universities that offered them better scholarships.
KU applies for entry in football association
The University has already mailed its application to become a member of the College Football Association (CFA), Clyde Walker, athletic director, said yesterday.
If all goes as planned, the University of Iowa has won a new football association effective Feb. 1.
Walker said the CFA would primarily provide a forum where schools with similar football philosophies and programs could exchange ideas and lobby for their interests before the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
an average minimum attendance of 20 people a game over a five-year period.
-a football team that plays 70 per cent of its games against other opponents in Division I, the major college division. It stadium with at least 30,000 open seats.
"WE HOPE to field four men per event this weekend—a full team," Lockwood said. "And everyone on the team knows we don't have room for mistakes if we expect to score well. They don't have any buffers and they know it. I think it might bring them closer together as a team trying to win." Nevertheless, the Jayhawks' enthusiasm
a total of 80 grants in football
soccer awards during the past three
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Schools invited to the CFA have until Feb. 1 to file their applications with a steering committee. Before a school is formed, however, it must meet four criteria:
At a January NCAA meeting about 173
All the Big Eight Conference schools meet the criteria and will probably join the CFA, Walker said. Overall, about 60 of the 78 members who would probably will probably become members, he added.
amendments were proposed to reorganize Division 1 to include any school with a broad-based athletic program, Walker said. The school is one of many leaving too many schools in Division 1.
Walker says impetus for forming the CFA is greater since the NCAA meeting. Even if a reorganization proposal had passed he said, the CFA would have been formed.
"None of the big schools would have subsided. We're trying to get some of these schools reclassified," Walker said. "We're going to have to reorganize ourselves and it doesn't look possible within the framework of the NCAA."
Soon after the filing deadline the potential members will meet to organize themselves, but the exact nature and direction of the CEA is still undecided.
Paul Mokesi, 7-2 center on the KU basketball team, will return to the squad within about two weeks, according to John Wertzberg, team physician. Mokesi suffered a broken ankle in the Jaywahks' win over St. Louis on Dec. 20. Wertzberg said the ankle was "healing at a satisfactory rate."
Nevertheless, the Jayhawks' enthusiasm is down.
Lockwood said. "Indications are that gymnastics at KU will reach that quota next year. In that respect our future looks a lot better."
"Yeah," Harms said, "it was the motivating thing. I had never seen the campus before and I wasn't too well set financially. Having scholarships available means everything when you're trying to recruit toop people.
Walker speculated that the scope of the CP A may some day expand to encompass a new range of services.
HARMS, WHO is from Addison, III, said the partial scholarship he received to compete at KU was what interested him in becoming a Jawkway.
Mokeski back soon
"If Lockwock has a good recruiting year it should turn this team around."
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But more substantial scholarships than the ones Lockwood has most recently been negotiating with need to be available for the team to challenge its conference fees.
"We'll probably get a whole team together," Summers said, "but we'll be struggling to have a chance to beat the teams we usually beat."
APARENTLY THEN, the gymnastics program must look to the future for the good times. And Lockwood believes it gives the team something to look forward to knowing that the program is destined for better funding.
Nunley agreed, adding, “Realistically,
we can't win more than 50 per cent of our
country.”
But until those hypothetical gymnasts start working out in Robinson Gymnasium, the team has a season to complete and needs to keep to keep his team as competitive as possible.
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What's puzzling is Lockwood's own admission that he might have been the one who has kept the number of scholarships down.
LOCKWOOD SAID, "I've never been turned down (by the athletic department) for what I've asked for. I've always put down on my bag exactly what I figure it'll spend. Maybe it's somewhat my fault in that I don't request more padding."
Money is probably the answer to Lock-wool's recruiting challenge, but is it the answer to everything? Sure it might have been the case, but looking at it obviously don't keep Kerr here.
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