UARY 27 • FEB. 2, 1
THEClnZE
By rry Cooper
Thing may m rene on
your local coll e campus but
100 a little clo r and you may
d teet me very alaannin
warning . gns. The schools,
particularly small and histori
cally Black institution, are
pushing them lves to the brink
of b nkruptcy in vain ttempt
to plea win-hungry alumni.
It as not too long ago th t
college sp rt remained in their
prop r pl e - a
free, extra urricular
Florida AM, which do not
receive any money for athletic
from the state, even enticed
a state senator to introduce
bill th t would cal for speci
aid for football-playing schools
in Florida with an enrollment
of 6000 or le ."
The bill which died in
committ e wa aim d squarely
U w ' h had run up a
deficit of me 750000.
t organ St te in B ti-
more, mon y for thin
recruiting trip d 0 che
onvention re unh d
The on e-proud B find th m-
lves so financially pped
that they may h ve to rethin
their' decision to join the id
Eastern Athletic Conference
group of historically Blac col
lege who compete in the
CAA's Division I-AA.
The woes are not limited
to just the smaller hool .
The University of Michigan
is one of the wealthiest school
around, and the Wolverine'
football team regularly pl ys
before sellout crowds of more
than 100,000. evertheless, the
Wolverines n ed every penny
they take in. It reportedly
"COsts them a staggering S 13
million each year to field their
teams.
Other top school , like Ohio
State and Tenne e, realized a
few years ago th t they weren't
taking in enough money to get
the job done and went on big
fund-raising kic ,
It is clear th t no matter
how much uccess a shcool
chieves, its fan ant more.
More game on 1V, ore
victorie . ore championship .
It may be a ceptable for the
largest chool to adopt uch a
policy. A Te s &M can
afford to pay its football co ch
275,000 a year bec u it
ha wealthy boo ters who'll help
� pay the salary. Georgetown
University can buy b etball
co ch John Thomp n
475,000 house becau there
are lot of ri h people out
there who attended Georgetown.
For the same reason, the Uni
versity of Loui ville can dangle
a S 1 million bonus in the fa
of it ba etball coach.
The problem arise when u h
free-spending pre d to hools
that can ill afford it hool
like the histori ally BI' one,
who are ill trying to recapture
the glory of the pre-i tegr tion
days. . A glory that i gone for
ever.
It u d to be that all Blac
college coaches - from the
he d co ches to the lowliest
. ants - earned their keep
by teaching, not coaching. That,
too, hIS changed. ow school
and m
Back then, to simply compete
and play your hardest wa
enough.
o more. Today, college
athletic has taken on a far
different look, what with
million-dollar 1V contract free
hou s and cars for co che
and under-the-table payments
for athlete .
The game are bi busine
no and the ripple ffects
are preading from the lar est
colleges to the smallest. But
the que ion is, how mu h
more pre ure to win can th
hool stand? How much
farther can they stick their
necks out ith lucrativ con
tract for coache? How much
more money can they spend
on recruiting? When will all the
lunacy end?
Thing were 0 bad at Ala
bama , a historically Black
Division II school, that a few
years ago the school reported
ly struggled just to fwd enough
money to pay its athletes'
medical bills.
I ••
c
9
•
hou. Bethun ookm n
Colle e paid the mortg f
one year on the hou of its
ootball oa h, Larry Little,
E amples lik that even
among the smaller h oIs,
ndIe. 0 m tter th ize of
the hool r the raci om-
p ition it udent body,
n thing i rtain. Th f
want to win.
here will it 11 op?
omen in Kara e
they u ually m r limb r,
hi h give them n dv nt
he said, The men, on the th r
hand usu By h v more pow r
behind their punches and i k .
D vid Burton of overt a
first degree black b It nd
instructor t Covert Okina an
Karate ssociation ee with
Kruger that in k rate women
can do anything men can do.
omen have the power, but
they don't know how to u it"
he said. any omen void
arate a a sport becau of the
phy 'cal conta t or fighting
involved in it, he said. 'They
want to maintain their feminin
ity and are afraid they'll ruin
their bodi s." 'I alw y ask
them hat they would do if
th y were tracked?"
B sid s teaching w men
defen karate h s other ben -
fits he said. It's an e llent
w y to keep fit nd it f t r
b dy mind unity. artial
art di ipline th body nd th
mind, and the positive thinking
pr cticed in the sport b nfits
per on's overall health he'd.
Burton, 45 started ar t 10
ye s o. 'You're ne er t
old for kat te ',he ·d,· u
can be 70 year old and do
ar te."
The January i
won Do Times
ci1le Thomp on
Illinois woman who
kar te t the g f
9 she'
00
full-time co che in all ports.
The pressure to win th t
great.
Florida A& i said to be
paying it ne football 0 ch
en Riley bout 50,000
year 4- nearly 10000 more
than former F AM Co h Rudy
Hubbard was paid last on.
outhern Univer ity in B ton
Rou e lured football 0 ch Oti
shington fe year go with
ary of m 50,000 and
Breaking bri
and b ard builds mu les and
If-confidence ys Mary Car-
lington of Covert who has been
taking Tae won Do kar te for
two years.
While she has not learned
to walk on broken glass as did
iss Michigan in last year'
Miss America Pageant, she has
learned how to p ck power
into her punche using body
and mind control.
Carlington, 24, is student
at Black River Acad my of
Self-Defense in South Haven.
She said karate h s opened
up whole new world to her.
"I used to be a timid per
son," she said. "But since I ve
been taking karate, I'm not as
shy and I'm ble to tell peopl
ho I feel. I have a lot more
power If-control and If
confidence, "
But th benefits don't come
easily she cautioned. "It in
volve a lot of mental and
phy . cal wor. When I beg n
I wa uncordinated I couldn't
t nd on one leg and keep my
balance too."
Kathy Kruger 13 of outh
Haven ju earn d her junior
bl c belt. She has b en t king
karate since she was 11. Kathy
said karate has given her more
confidenc. 'I'm not a afraid
when I'm out on the treets"
she aid. Although she punches
nd kick with mor po er
than she ver h d sh plan
to keep training until she earns
her bl ck bIt. Ther ar eight
degree of black belt aft r th t.
I want to go far I
sh aid,
K thy is five foo
weighs 106 pound .
th t she doesn't 1 0 ery tough,
But in kat te siz isn't import
ant she h s found. "Nob dy
pi k on me or tries to bully
me since I learned r t '
she said.
Gary Kruger, fir
bl ck belt and instru tor t
Bl ck River Ac demy of S If-
Defen, y om n are
pabl a men physi cally. In
f ct hen men art arat,