Friday, March 31, 1972 the upper deck may. ... ..... ..... .... .... .... H's Gus Stager, THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Elever :.. coach supreme By CHUCK BLOOM HE SHOULD be called Papa Gus. It would fit his personality so well. He is always seen with his arm around some swim- mer giving fatherly words of advice. Gus Stager is always friendly, smiling, and cheerful which is nice when you're a new reporter on the beat. But more than just the personality, Gus Stager is a good coach; in fact, a damn good one. In the swimming world he is a coach extraordinaire. Stager has been swim coach at Michigan for 17 years, tops in the Big Ten, and in that time he has never finished less than second in the Big Ten. He has garnered three Big Ten cham- pionships and four NCAA titles. On top of that, he is a former All-American swimmer here leading the Wolverines to the NCAA championship in 1948. Still, after over 24 years away from active, competitive swimming, Stager is still in amazing shape. After watching Buster Crabbe the former great tanker hand out awards at West Point, Stager, if he wanted to, could probably beat Crabbe in an all-out sprint race, even though "Flash Gordon" recently Won in a senior swim meet. Stager is thought of highly among his fellow mentors and a typical accolade comes from UCLA's coach Bob Horn. "Gus (Stager) is a tribute to the profession and the sport. It's a pleasure even to coach against him." Stager possesses the two attributes necessary to be a good coach: knowledge and class. He knows swimming from years of experience. His class is natural and genuine and he has more of it in his pipe than some buzzards down in Tennessee. The only apparent fault in Stager is his. memory. To put it mildly, he is no elephant, far from it. Often his lack of mem- ory can be embarrassing. The swim team's little sparkplug cap- tain Byron MacDonald tells of one experience. "When I was a freshman, Gus called me over one day to introduce me to Carl Robie. He said, 'Barry, (he never called me Byron; he didn't know my name.) I'd like you to meet one of the finest swimmers Michigan has ever had .. . uh .. . he is an Olympic medal winner and . . uh . . . he's awfully good . . uh . . .'. Then Roble, sensing what was going on, stuck his hand out and said, 'Hi, I'm Carl Robie.' Gus tends to forget iames." Another thing keeping Stager from national promi- nence is limited recruiting. Michigan just doesn't have the drawing power in terms of scholarships and alumni grants as does Indiana or Southern California or Tennessee. At Indiana, they have eight four-year scholarships to work with. At Tennessee, recruits are overwhelmed by girls, raccoon hats, and lax workouts. But Stager sells the school, not the program. Most of the members of the Michigan team said that they came here because of the university and Stager. But most of all, Stager is a nice guy, something that can't be said for everyone in his field. He always greets you with a wink, a hello, and a pat on the back. He assists young, novice reporters in writing their stories. If Stager likes you enough, he goes out of his way to help you. He has helped me and I thank him for it. This is only a small way of showing it. Bucks By The Associated Press MILWAUKEE - Kareem Ab- dul Jabbar scored 25 points last night, including nine in a decisive third quarter, to lead the Milwau- kee Bucks to a 118-93 victory over Golden State. It squared their National Basketball Association Western Conference playoffs at 1-1. For that exciting rugby in- fo, turn the papyrus back to pg. 9. Forwards Curtis Perry and Bob Dandridge added 22 and 21 re- spectively for the Bucks who shut off the fast break that had sparked the Warriors to a 117-106 upset Tuesday night. Nate Thurmond led the War- riors with 32 points, but Jeff Mul- lins scored only 14 and Jim Bar- nett, 10. The two had combined for 59 points in the play-off open-" er. wallop inside, sat down with his fourth the Bullets approached their 1 foul. fourth annual . playoff series d ail y The Bucks proceeded to pour in against New York. seven straight points, climaxed by The Knicks knocked off theBul- PoS a spectacular two-handed stuff by lets in four straight at the end of s p o r tsAbdul. Jabbar that brought the the 1968-69 season, but the even= crowd to its feet and triggered the ly matched teams have gone the rout. full seven-game route the past NIGHT EDITOR: Milwaukee led 90-67 after three two years with Baltimore winning CHUCK BLOOM periods and opened a 110-79 bulge for the first time last season. ----_ with 5%/ minutes to play. Earl Monroe, a key to Balti- T Abdul Jabbar swept 22 rebounds more's success a year ago, was The Bucks took command at for the' Bucks while Thurmond traded to the Knicks early this 27-17 wilth 31/ minutes left in the and Clyde Lee had 18 apiece for season after refusing to play any- first quarter after out-scoring the the Warriors, more in Baltimore. In the trade, Warriors 12-1. Abdul Jabbar The New York Knickerbockers Mike Riordan and Dave Stallworth scored four baskets in the spurt, and Baltimore Bullets, old foes in came to the Bullets. three of them stuffs. the National Basketball Associa- The . Knicks, who struggled The Bucks opened a 43-27 lead tion playoffs, open another post- through most of the season be- early in the second quarter be- season series tonight, cause of an injury to center Wil- fore Golden State made its only The Bulletstwill have the home lis Reed, have lost their last five real threat, closing to within 51-46 court advantage in the best-of-7 playoff appearances in Baltimore's behind eight points by Thurmond Eastern Conference semifinals Civic Center. and six by Cazzie Russell. even though their 38-44 record The Bullets won three straight But Lucius Allen and Abdul Jab- was 10hgameshbelow the mark at home last year and two of three bar connected to give the Bucks a posted by New York. the previous season. The Knicks 55-47 halftime lead. Baltimore gained the extra home last won a post-season game in Milwaukee opened a 65-55 lead game by winning the Central Divi- Baltimore on March 27, 1970. in the third quarter when Rus- sion while the Knicks finished After giving his regulars period- sell, whose outside shooting had second In the Atlantic Divison. ic rests in the final few games been complementing Thurmond "We believe we can beat any- of the regular season, Shue con- body," Coach Gene Shue said as ducted a three-hour workout [SWe have the BEST REPAIRS and SERVICE Los Angeles 131, Chicago 124 around-TRY US Warriors -Associated Press MILWAUKEE'S CURTIS PERRY stuffs home a basket as the Bucks whipped the Golden State Warriors, 118-93, to even the playoff series at one up. THREE THIRD-PERIOD GOALS: 'Flyer rally earns win PHILADELPHIA (/P) - The Buffalo took a 1-0 lead at 10:16 1to Buffalo for a rematch with the Philadelphia Flyers rallied for of the first period and fine goal three goals in the third period last tending by Dave Dryden protect- night to defeat the Buffalo Sa- ed the lead until the final session. bres 3-1 and regain sole posses- Rick Foley got the Flyers even sion of fourth place in the Nation- at 1-1 at 6:51 of the third period a1 Hockey League's West Division. when he lifted the puck over Dry- den after taking a pass from be- The win put the Flyers two1hind the net from Bobby Clarke. points ahead of Pittsburgh for the Then defenseman Joe Watson gave last playoff spot in the section, the Flyers the lead when his 55- with two games rerhaining in the footer eluded the grasp of Dryden at 13:20. Sabres. In the East Division, To- ronto, who le a d s Detroit by two points, will be at home to play the hurting New York Ran- gers. The Red Wings finish up in Chicago against the Black Hawks while the Leafs fly to Beantown to to play the powerful but choking Boston Bruins. It may be Sunday night before the races are decided. EXHIBITION BASEBALL Milwaukee 11, San Diego 10 St. Louis 6, Boston 4 Kansas City 5, Pittsburgh 4 Texas 4, Baltimore 3 San Francisco 6, California 2 Los Angeles 6, Chicago N, 5 Detroit 5, Chicago A, 3 Oakland 6, Cleveland 5 Montreal 5, Atlanta 1 Minnesota 3, Philadelphia 1 New York N 4, Cincinnati 1 SPORTS CAR SERVICE 6 OF ANN ARBOR, Inc. J f ~ KEND LL ff M030R;OILS , 4705 Washtenaw (next to Ypsi-Ann drive in) 434-0110 T-W-F-8-6; M and Th 8-9 V I i ULRICH'S BOOKSTORE'S 1st ANNUAL $300,000 I INVENTORY involving every article in our store 0 gnlio ctnrf-c Mnnrin11 ) Anri I 'IrtA fkri i gnti irrAnxr Anri I _ Rfk