Page Four---Wolverine Sports
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesday, September 2,. T970
Page Four-Wolverine Sports THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wednesday, September 2, 1970
The athletic dollar bind;
can Michigan overcome it?
Gymnasts
take NCAA
titie
(Continued from Page 1)
was $179,744 compared to op-
erating expenses of around $2.5
~million.
But it is the former reason -
rising costs - that is most im-
portant in explaining the crisis
in athletic financing. Inflation,
is hitting intercollegiate ath-
letics hardy and threatening to
knock some sports clear out of
bounds.
In addition, the rising costs of
tuition and living expenses for
students at universities a r e
bloating athletic department
budgets, too. Even though the
number of athletic tenders are
staying the same, the cost of
feeding, housing and educating
the athletes on tenders is ris-
ing.
"We (athletic departments)
a r e in a doubly tough situa-
tion," Canham says. "This is
one of the few businesses where
you can't increase your revenue
by raising the cost of the pro-
duct. How much more money
are people going to be willing to
spend for football tickets?"
Despite the outside factor of
inflation, Canham believes that
at least part of the problem of
athletic financing is due to poor
administrative planning a n d
management. "We're stupid -
our own NCAA program hurts
us,',' he says.
"For example. he continues,
"they put Michigan State and
Notre Dame on TV from South
Bend when there was a home
game here. I bet that cost us
20,000 in non-student attend-
ance. Things like that go on all
the time, all over the country."
Canham is understandably
upset by such examples of mis-
management. For despite an
average home football attend-
ance of 71,000, the attraction of
an All - American basketball
player, modern Crisler Arena
and $200,000 in student fees to
help pay off the bond on tlhat
building, M i c h i g a n athletics
barely finished in the black last
year.
Still, althqugh he iay be wor-
ried, Canham is not dismayed.
"Sure, it's a problem," he says.
"But it's not as bad as some
places. Ohio State is filling their
seats for basketball and foot-
ball, and they're still in debt.
They have nowhere to go.
"I look out there and I still
see empty seats at Michigan
Stadium and Crisler Arena. It's
my job to see that they're filled.
The burden's on me."
Meanwhile, purists are calling
for an end to "collegiate profes-
sionalism" and a de-emphasis
of at least some sports. And
hard-nosed realists are saying if
college sports are ,going to -in-
sist on being Big-Time, t h e y
should be Big-Time all the way.
and to' hell with maintaining
this facade of amateurism. So
far, most athletic administra-
tors have rejected both these
views. But they a r e- going to
have to go in one direction or
another if the crisis in athletic
financing continues.
Daily--Richard Lee
Losing Sid Jensen hurts
ROAD TO PASADENA
Gridders reign as co-champs
By JERRY CLARKE
Show business performers dislike
following extremely good acts be-
cause it makes them look bad.
This year's gymnastics team will
have much the same problem as
they follow in the footsteps of the
team that capped a perfect dual
meet record with a dramatic tri-
umph at the national champion-
ships in Philadelphia.
The championship was not de-
cided until the last routine of the
last event of the competition. Iowa
State had taken an early lead on
a phenomenal performance in the
vaulting, but the Wolverines peck-
ed away at the Cyclone margin,.
and when the Wolverines' turn
came in the high bar, they needed
a 27.85 to get at least a tie. Ted
Marti led off with a 9.3, and after
Sid Jensen got only a 8.9, Rick
McCurdy came back with a 9.25.
This left it all up to Ed Howard.
Howard, competing undeif fan-
tastically intense pressure, scored
a 9.4 and the Wolverines walked
off with the title by, the mere
margin of one-tenth of a point.
The thrill-packed triumph end-
ed many'years of waiting for the
Wolvtrines. Michigan undoubtedly
had the best team in the nation
in 1968, but an off day in the Big
Ten meet cost the squad a chance
to go to Seattle to compete in the
nationals and thus only individual
Michigan competitors could parti-
cipate. Iowa, runner-up to the
Wolverines in the Big Ten, took
the title.
This year's team will be missing
four performers who keyed much
of last year's success. Last year's
captain, Ron Rapper, who was a
two-time NCAA champion on the
parallel bars, will be almost im-
possible to replace. George Hunt-
zicker will be sorely missed not
only in the floor exercise but also
in vaulting, where he got con-
sistently high scores.
Bill Mackie will be another loss
for the floor exercise, an event
where he improved greatly as the
season wore on. And, most im-
portantly, the Wolverines will lose
all-arounder Sid Jensen, who was
perhaps the single most valuable
member of the team.r
THIS YEAR, Coach Newt Loken
will rely heavily on his returning
competitors in his quest to defend
the championship. Most impor-
tant will be McCurdy, two-time
Big Ten all-around titlist, who
will be the team's captain. Mc-
Curdy will be under even more
pressure than in the past, as he
will have to take the slack left by
the departure of Jensen.
Gura performed last season on the
side horse and long horse, and did
well in both at the national meet.
Marti came into his own on the
high bar, where he consistently
scored in the nine's, and should
give Gura a fight for the vacant
berth.
The Wolverines graduation loss-
es will be most painful in the floor
exercise, where only Ward Black
returns. Black showed much pom-
ise as a freshman, and he and
McCurdy will have to perform
superbly to cushion the team
against the loss of Huntzicker and
Mackie.
The most improved event will
be the side horse, long the weak
spot of the Michigan team. Dick
Kaziny was a standout as a fresh-
man, and if Gura holds down one
of the all-around positions, Mike
Gluck will get a shot in the side
horse. So, for the first time in
years. the team should get up into
the 27 range on the side horse.
JENSEN WAS the team's best
ring performer, so scores could
suffer there. Skip Frowick was a
standout as a freshman, and Mike
Sale did well until sidelined by an
injury. If Sale is healthy and
Frowick continues to improve, the
ring team could well stay solid.
The long horse, or vaulting,
should again be excellent. Despite
the absence of Jensen and Hunt-
zicker, there are many other'
vaulters present to keep the scores
high. Gura, McCurdy and sopho-
more Terry Boys all performed
well last season, and the long
horse should again be one of Mich-
igan's strongest events.
Murray Plotkin and McCurdy
will have a tall order on the
parallel bars, for Rapper and Jen-
sen formed a superb one-two
punch. The scores on this event
cannot help but suffer, even
though Plotkin was a strong per-
former last season.
The high bar will probably be
the Wolverines strongest event, as
they will field one of the strong-
est contingents in the nation."
NCAA hero Howard will be back,
and he and Marti should van-
guard consistently high Wolverine1
scores in this event.
Jim Scully will give Michigan
added depth, and McCurdy counts
the high bar as his favorite and
best event. With these four com-
peting in the final event of every
meet, the Wolverines are assured
of consistently strong finishes.
Coach Loken co u l d be fairly
certain last season that his team
would make it out of the Big Ten
meet and into the national cham-
pionships, but this year, he can-
not be so sure. An improving
Illinois team will join traditional
power Iowa to give the Wolverines
a stiff challenge.
A LOSS IN the Big Ten's would
eliminate the Wolverine team from
the national team title race, a pill
that would be doubly hard to
swallow as the meet this year will
be ,held in Crisler Arena here in
Ann Arbor.
If indeed the gymnastics team
can match their exploits of last
year, and do it in front of their
home crowd, no one would com-
plain.
Except maybe Iowa State.
4
* (Continued from Page 1)
side of the road, the Wolverines
were now the top contender for
the Rose Bowl bid. And they
knew it. Two games' remained,
before the long awaited meeting
with Ohio State, but the Wol-
verines were not to be caught
looking ahead. They travelled to
Illinois and nearly tore down
the stadium in a 57-0 slaughter.
And what was supposed the big
showdown against Iowa's errat-
ic Hawkeyes turned out to be
another laugher, as the Wolver-
ines broke all kinds of confer-
ence offense records in a 51-6
rout.
The team crescendoed might-
ily for their climactic meeting
with the Buckeyes, and no team
in collegiate history had ever
taken the gridiron a n y more
prepared than did the Wolver-
ines on that memorable Novem-
ber afternoon.
The sky-high Wolverines were
quickly brought down to earth
as Buckeye quarterback Rex
Kern scrambled for 25 yards on
the very first play from scrim-
mage. This w a s exactly what
Schembechler didn't want; his
strategy was to contain Kern.
The Wolverines stopped the imi-
tial OSU thrust with a valiant
stand on a fourth and one at
the ten, but the Buckeyes drove
it over the next time they had
the Pall for a 6-0 lead. T h e
Ohio State score seemed to
throw added fuel on Michigan's
fires, and Moorhead generalled
a beautiful drive, Garvie Craw
capping it by dragging two
Bucks into the endzone for the
Wolverines' first score.
Ohio State got right back on
the boards, as Kern passed his
team down the field for another
score and a 12-7 Buckeye lead.
The conversion was good, but
Michigan was called for being
offside and greedy Woody de-
cided to go for two. Kern tried
to roll to his left, but he was
inundated by five blue shirts.
and Ohio State thereupon lost
their momentum f o r good.
Moorhead began mixing passes
to Billy Harris a n d Mandich
with runs by Taylor. From the
Ohio State 33, Taylor cracked
over left tackle and broke for
the sidelines before being down-
ed at the three. Garvie Craw
needed just two cracks at the
Buck middle to give Michigan
the lead for good.
Cornerback Barry Pierson then
began his one-man assault on
the Woody Hayes' legions, zig-
zagging a punt back 67 yards to
set up the third Wolverine TD.
Tim Killian added a short field
goal and it was 24-12 at the
half.
The first half glory belonged,
to the offense, but the second
half was all defense. OSU be-
gan to pass, but the balls kept
ending up in Wolverine hands.
Pierson got three thefts, A 11-
American Tom Curtis got two
to break the all-time NCAA re-
cord for interception r e t u r n
yardage, and wolf man Tom
Darden added another. Almost
the entire second half was play-
ed in Buckeye territory, and al-
though the Wolverines knocked
on the door time and t i m e
again, they could not manage
another score.
But when all was said ond
done, this really didn't matter.
The Wolverines had trounced
their foe at their own g a m e
with a complete effort. It was
the greatest win any Michigan
team has ever had, a win
achieved by a team that knew
they could do it.
01
Opposite McCurdy at
all-around position will
sophomore Ray Gurac
the other
be eitlher
or Marti.
-Daily-Richard Lee
All-around titlist Rick McCurdy swings out
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