THURSDAY, 3ANUARY 25, 1968 THE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGE SEVEN THRDAJAURY2,198TH ICIA DIk AE EE 'U.S. By JOEL BLOCK Nationally-known track and field stars will form their own organization and, add their voice to the NCAA-AAU squabble at a closed meeting in Detroit March 15, The Daily has learned. Ralph Boston, spokesman for the group, explained their organ- Traci ization "will be composed solely: of athletes to represent only ath- letes. "The bickering of the AAU and the United States Track and Field Federation (which repre- sents the NCAA) over which one has the right to sanction track meets is an issue which concerns L.. Athletes the kitchen cynic RICK STERN Cazzie Russell and Loneliness The first time I ever saw Cazzie Russell play basketball was my sophomore year in high school. It was in the annual Chicago Daily News Public League basketball tournament, held at the University of Chicago Field House. I saw two games that Carver (Cazzie's school) played. In the first, a quarter-final match, Cazzie scored a record 47 points as Carver defeated another South Side school, Harlan, handily. However, in the championship game, Du Sable, led by the fanfastic Lynn brothers, Lonie and Russell, wiped out Carver and Cazzie 67-35. That particular Carver team went on to defeat Du Sable, minus Lonnie Lynn, a January graduae, in the state tournament, winning everything but the championship game which they lost by a single W point. It was ironic that thenext year, after Cazzie was gone, a Carver team featuring little Ken Maxey of Wolverine fame at one of the guards and ageless Joe Allen now at Bradley, at center won the state championship. During my freshman year as a manager I swept the Yost court regularly, attiring myself gaudily in a madras-like sweater and bright red socks. In the days of Cazzie's glory this was an exciting thing to $ do because Olde Yost was filled to capacity every week. There was a tradition that managers raced each other up and down the court. All -year long myself and another freshman manager raced back and forth, the fans urging us on, somewhat sadistically I imagine. Finally quite a bitter rivalry developed between the two of us and after one especially heated race we nearly come to blows. The fans ate it up. The above may seem irrelevant to Cazzie but it really isn't be- cause it shows the total fervor and excitement which the Cazzie era generated. Nowadays managers down in the palatial Events Building could run for miles and nobody would even notice them. But during Cazzie's time everything-the wild gestures of Dave Strack and Jim Skala at harassed referees, the tenacious beauty of George Pomey's defense, the awesome power of Bill Buntin and Oliver Darden under tte backboards--took on an aura of spectacle. Cazzie did that to people. He played basketball in a sort of feverish ecstasy and he spread the ecstasy to his teammates, coaches, and undeniably, the Yost fans. Elvin Hayes' magic per- formance against UCLA last Saturday night was but a slight exaggeration of what Cazzie did 15 times in Yost. I didn't get to know Cazzie very well my freshman year. He was very suspicious of almost everyone. He would often steal a sideward glance at fans or spectators watching him practice in Yost. He needed their recognition and appreciation from a distance but he was wary of ones who approached him because they usually wanted to use him for something. I believe he became that way only after trying genuinely to be friendly to everyone. But he found that if he shook an Alumn's hand one day, the same showy Alum would bring ten more hands for him the next time, and each of those ten would bring their own ten. It was inevitable that he should withdraw. It was also unfortunate. During his first two years at the University, living in South Quad, he was not pestered or bothered much, and thus was able to develop some genuine friendships based on personality rather than scoring average. But with fame came the vultures. His senior year he told 4 me that he had not been able to make a new friend in two years. He firmly believed that most people wanted only to get what they could from him. Nobody really gave a damn for him-what he really was inside. He looked upon it somewhat philosophically but still very unhappily, stating that a lonely existence was probably an unavoidable consequence of the fame and fortune he was achieving. The loneliness was there when he was with his teammates too. Cazzie always sat alone on the plane. Often he ate alone. The other players talked about him, made fun of him behind his back and he knew it. There were lots of reasons for this. Mainly it was because Cazzie couldn't deal with his fame and glory in a manner that would keep him a part of the group. Darden, John Thompson, Pomey and the others were jealous of Cazzie's pub- licity. Cazzie could see it but he couldn't rid himself of its seductive power over him. Unconsciously, he tended to act superior, somewhat like a fourth coach. Though it may well be true that there was this quiet bitterness on the Michigan team, I don't believe that it in any way affeced the team's performance on the court. Playing, they had one pur- pose-to win, all of them including Cazzie. They may not have loved coach Dave Strack either but they played ball for him and they were fired up by him. The commonest criticism of Strack is that Cazzie, rather than Strack's coaching, was responsible for the wins of those years. This is bunk. There aren't ten ,coaches in the country who could have handled the various personalities and abilities of those athletes with the skill that Strack did. He kept the team balanced and reasonably happy in # spite of the tremendous pressure which built up inside and outside on him and the players. Tomorrow: Shooting free throws with Cazzie the athletes more than anyone," argued Boston, world record hold- er in the long jump. "Neither side, however, has ever asked for our opinion. So now we're going to formally get to- gether in a way we'll have to be recognized." Already The group has already said it will boycott the Olympics if the AAU bans any member of the group Yor competing in a Febru- ary 9 meet in Madison Square Garden. Because the USTFF, sponsor of the meet, has not asked for an AAU sanction, AAU President Col. Donald Hull has threatened all athletes competing with Olympic suspension. The group first met in Chicago Sunday, from where it issued its boycott threat. Included in the group were Jim Ryun of Kansas, Gerry Lindgren of Washington State, Ed Caruthers of Arizona and Richmond Flowers of Ten- nessee. Others, who do not have collegiate status, were Jim Grelle, Tommie Smith (still attending Southern Cal but already finished with his eligibility), George Young and Boston. Expansion According to Boston, the group will contact other track and field athletes in a membership cam- paign after the organization has been formed.I "We have drawn up a list of people to contact already," ad- mitted Boston. "Each of us will go back and sing praises of the organization in their own section of the country. The idea is to contact the other athletes at the weekend track meets and per- suade them to attend the meet- ing in Detroit." Many of the nation's best trackmen will already be in Cobo Hall in Detroit, participating in the NCAA track championships held there on March 15 and 16. Boston, however, said there is no connection between the new ath- lete's association and the NCAA. "We want to stay away from any bond with the NCAA or any other organization. We want to be our- selves and on our own feet." Player Power Boston stated the athletes' po- sition on the track feud between the USTFF (United States Track and Field Federation) and the AAU: "We're not going to let a bunch of people who never put on track shoes tell us what to do. Both parties have never asked us how we felt about it and now we want our say. "There's not one elected of- ficial in the AAU," Boston went on, "and they've been trying to tell SPORTS NIGHT EDITOR: JOEL BLOCK Tot is what track meets we can run in and which ones we can't. We should have the right to say some- thing about the rules and by-laws which the AAU make in reference to the athletes competing in their meets." Boston said he is in favor of Senator Robert Griffin's proposal for a bill of rights for amateur athletes. "This is exactly what we are saying. We want the right to compete in track meets without fear of suspension from the AAU or any other outside organization. "The amateur status of an ath- lete," he went on, "should depend only on whether or not he accepts money for competing." Dr. Marcus Plant, President of the NCAA, said yesterday that he favored the creation of the new "body. The amateur athlete has been forgotten in the whole dis- pute (with the AAU)," he said. "They have been subject to a lot of abuse the past few years such as Jim Ryun losing his mile record." Plant added, "One problem they'll have is that the member- ship of the organization will be continually changing. But this is not insuperable. "One thing for sure, they'll be listened to." Copyright, 1968,The Michigan Daily I Unite I I I UNION-LEAGUE ;r Little Club Friday Nite JAZZ by JOHN HIGGINS SEXTET folk singing student art At the MUG 9-12 i ' i i { i T'he New0SjV is hr ® - " Bigger engine. (1275 cc) * Smoother clutch. * Quick and easy come in fora test-drive. folding top * Still the lowest-priced true sports car. 936 NORTH MAIN-662-2541 KEEP AHEAD OF YOUR HAIR! 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