Tuesday March 25,1969 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesay, arc 25,1969THEMICHGAN AIL Sports Beat Sports Beat Sports Beat By David Weir Michigan Sports Future: The Rise . .. .And Fall ITHIN FIVE YEARS, Michigan will be a center of power in col- Jegiate sports such as it hasn't been in over twenty years. Within ten years, however, Michigan's athletic fortunes will have taken an irreversible turn for the worst, and intercollegiate sports will suffer a quick but final death. What will be the reasons for this dramatic and drastic turn- about? They are complex, and interrelated; but ultimately they are impilicit in the current flurry of activity on the corner of State and Hoover streets. Don Canham is the best athletic director in the country. When he accepted his appointment as Fritz Crisler's succes- sor last March, Canham said his decision was based on consider- ations "of my whole future." Indeed they were. Canham, a very successful businessman in sports equipment manufacturing, as well as owner of an impressive track coaching record in Ann Ar- bor, had to choose between business and sports. He chose sports. As it turned out, however, he really chose busi- ness. The Regents wanted an efficient businessman for athletic di- rector, and they recognized Canham as their man. Soon after Canham took over in June, he was applying the well-learned principles of business success to his new position. He recognized the easily-forgotten fact that money-making in sports means filling up the stadium, week after week after week. Canham's formula for filling up the nation's largest football sta- dium was publicity-promotion based on winning. He reorganized his publicity departmeint, hiring efficient and talented public relations men, and then set about acquiring a coaching staff of "winners." He immediately recognized the need for black men in coaching. Burnley in track, Lee in football, and especially Snowden in basket- ball meant big payoffs in recruiting impressionable high school stars from the ghettoes. Canham next turned to the top men - his head coaches ... he got young Bill Newcomb as golf coach to replace departed Bert Katzenmeyer and he promoted energetic Johnny Orr to head basket- ball coach, after failing to find an ex-pro to take the job. In football, he decided to look around. This was ultimately to result in the hiring of Bo Schembechler from the "cradle of coaches" - Miami University in Ohio. All of these moves were strategic in other ways, too -most notably, in publiety. Black coaches made good copy in the news- papers. The departures of Strack and Elliott were carefully timed so as to achieve maximum news play ... Strack's announced resignation preceded by one day Orr's official acceptance. Elliott's resignation was printed, all across the country before Schembechler's acceptance was announced. This is news judgment at its best . . . and it reflects Canham's excellent sense of news im- pact. This also is in sharp contrast to the situation at many schools and in the pros - where tloe sudden departure of a coach creates obvious internal havoc followed by a frantic search for replacements. Canham is a master of behind-the-scenes politics. And his poli- ticking and policy-making will bring results: ! Within five years, Michigan will be in the Rose Bowl for foot- ball and in the NCAA championships for basketball. High-powered recruiting drives and scientific coaching will yield results. O In basketball, specifically, John Orr will be gone (for lack of results) and Fred Snowden will be coach (If another school doesn't * snatch him first, which is a possibility.) At any rate, Michigan will have a black coach. " In football, Bo Schembechler will build the "fourth dynasty" of Michigan powerhouses. Following in the tradition of Yost, Kipke, and Crisler, he will coach Michigan to the top of the Big Ten and into the upper ranks of the national collegiate picture. Michigan will play Notre Dame (already on the schedule for the late 70's) in yearly games that will attract national attention. t The athletic department will make money, because the stadia will be filling up. Paradoxically, however, student ticket sales will de- crease- This final development will signal the downfall of Canham's well-constructed sports powerhouse. Students are going to lose interest in intercollegiate athletics. Already the seeds of the up- coming withdrawal of support have been sown: (1) Athletes are becoming misfits on an increasingly politicized campus. (2) Many students resent the lack of concern shown by the ath- letic department for intramurals and club sports. (3) Some students resent the Big Business of intercollegiate ath- letics. (4) Athletes will come to be viewed as paid professionals, hired for the benefit of an essentially non-university audience. -45) Upperclassmen will repudiate their privileges and ticket pri- orities, leaving the best seats to freshmen and sophomores. (6) Sports will no longer be justifiable philosophically as part of the university community. These reasons may sound far-fetched to those who don't want to believe college athletics is on the downswing, but consider the fact that student ticket sales have decreased while enrollment has in- creased in recent years. The bulk of the, athletic department's rev- enue now comes from non-student spectators. When this becomes a dominant trend, it will cause grave con- cern on the part of athletic officials. Various publicity gimmicks will be devised to enlist student support -- bigger homecomings, pep rallies, etc. - but these will fall flat on an unresponsive stu- dent body. Meanwhile, an increasingly-intellectualized community will be- gin. to question the validity of university-sponsored athletics of pro- fessional proportions. As long as the teams are winning (during the immediate future), these doubts will not have enough impact to off- set public enthusiasm over the Rose Bowls and basketball champion- ships. As soon as ticket receipts begin to fall off from unsuccessful sea- sons, however, big-time sports at Michigan will have had its day. Whether de-emphasis Ivy League-style, or forced-deprofessionalism from student pressure, sports will lose its place in Ann Arbor. The All-Events Building will be just that. Why all this serious talk and dire predilection about forward passes and jump shots? Well, sports is an important part of The Uni- versity of Michigan. Sports provide publicity. More importantly, sports provide alumni money. And the University needs money. During the next ten years, the spectacular rise and fall of in- tercollegiate athletics will reflect the depth of the paradox be- tween the University's need for money and the athletic depart- ment's way of providing it. The loser will ultimately be the sports structure. In closing (since this was supposed to be a farewell column), I * want to pinpoint several members of the athletic department - Bump Elliott, Don Canham, Don Weir and Fritz Crisler - as individuals and not as coaches or administrators. These men have on occasion been friends rather than professional businessmen, and I've appre- ciated it. If some of the accompaning remarks seem harsh to any of them Devils walk over special To The Daily times, walking in the first run.' PHOENIX-The Michigan base- Two ground-outs gave Arizona ball team suffered its second de- State three runs on no hits in feat of the young season at the the bottom of the first. hands of fourth-ranked Arizona Michigan closed the gap in the State, 19-3, in the first game of a third, narrowing the score to 3-2. day-night doubleheader. The Sun Redmon was hit by a pitch and sot Devils also took the nightcap, 5-3. took second on abground-out by The Wolverines, hurt by the pro Jim Hosler. John Kraft singled draft, lack depth in the pitching to center bringing Redmon home NIGHT EDITOR staff. Dan Fife and John Ritter, for the tally. both sophomores, gave up a total In the second game the Wol- BILL CUSUMANO of fourteen walks and hit three verines were put up against the batters. That was more than nation's number one pitcher, Larry enough, as the Sun Devils scored Gura, now 6-0. Michigan's ace were left on base, the comebac their 19 runs on just nine hits, Gerry Christman lost the pitching falling short. The Wolverines got off to a duel. Both pitchers gave up only Michigan, not h a v i n g th good start in they top of the first five hits, while Gura struck out weather advantage for workou as Glenn Redmon continued to 11 and Christman ten. that Arizona State has had,, be the big spark for the sluggers. Gura, boasting an ERA of 0.48, going through its "spring training After Mike Bowen walked and gave up just two runs in five now. The team did not look as ba Chuck Schmidt was hit, Redmon games before last night's contest. as the score may seem to indicat singled to left to bring Bowen, The Sun Devils broke a 1-1 dead- Although Fife gave up seven run home and put the Wolverines lock in the sixth with a four-run in four innings, he showed poten ahead for the only time in the outburst. Bill Massarand hit a tial. Fife, like the rest of the tear game. bases-loaded triple and then needs more practice before he ca Fife, who started training late scored. come into his own. Between no due to basketball, began the game The Wolverines fought back in and then the Wolverines will I with ten straight balls. After his the ninth. John Kraft hit a two forced to traverse a rough road. first strike he missed six more Irun double, but the tying runs The only victory this seasc GOLIATH FALLS: Quarry bombs Ma this itn uset By The Associated Press peatedly to the body and head. NEW YORK-Underdog Jerry Quarry weighed 196. Quarry dropped Buster Mathis in The victory probably earned the the second round and then went blond a shot at Joe Frazier, five- on to pound out a lopsided victory state heavyweight champion from over the giant from Grand Rap- Philadelphia who saw the rout. ids, Mich., in a 12-round heavy- Quarry showed complete con- weight fight at Madison Square tempt for Mathis' punching power. Garden last night. He walked right in and dug sear- Spotting the 12-5 favorite ing left hooks and solid rights weight, height and reach the 23- to Buster's belly and ribs. year-old slugger from Bellflower, Mathis, who had advantages in Calif., went right after his 2341/ height-6-foot-3 to 6-1 and in pound foe and smashed him re- reach 76 inches to 72, showed ab- C- - Celtic rally dumps Rockets; Royals trip 76ers 125-119 By The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA - Don Nelson and Bailey Howell did the clutch scoring as Boston outlasted San Diego for a 111-107 victory in the opener of a National Basketball Association doubleheader at the Spectrum last night. Nelson made a three-point play with 1:30 remaining to start a six- point Boston surge that wiped out a 103-102 San Diego lead. Nelson's three-pointer made it 105-103. Howell then added addi- tional baskets to build a 109-103 margin with 59 seconds left. Trailing 84-76 entering the final period, San Diego, sparked by Pat Riley, tied it at 94 with 5:09. Boston then tied the game at 99, and the score see-sawed until Nelson started Boston's surge. i John Havlicik scored 31 points to lead the winners and the retir- ing Sam Jones added 16. John Block was high forSan Diego with 19. PHILADELPHIA-Connie Dierk- ing, Oscar Robertson and Tom Van Arsdale combined for 61 points last night as Cincinnati defeated Philadelphia 125-119 at the Spectrum. The 76ers trailed 98-97 with 8:20 remaining. Cincinnati then reeled off six straight points to grab a commanding 104-97 lead with 7:15 left. Dierking tossed 'in 21 points and Robertson and Van Arsdale 20 apiece for the Royals. Chet Walker led the 76ers with 28 points. UNIVERSITY CHARTER FLIGHTS TO LONDON July 8-August 17......... $214 May 7-June 24 ................... $199 May 15-August 20 ................. $204 June 27-August 25 ...... ................ $229 Phone 665-8489 1 -5 P.M.-725 N. Univ. 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