Page Ten THE MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, April 19, 1975 Page Ten THE MICHIGAN-DAII .. . - f . Blue cop three titles By DAILY SPORTS "Bo's revenge" was the pre season billing for the 197 Michigan football season. Bo didn't achieve the com- plete revenge he wanted, but his football team came up with a tie for the Big Ten Championship and a com- mendable year none the less. The '74 season opened with Big Ten competition as Iowa came to town only to be thwart- ed 24-7 by Michigan and back- up quarterback Mark Elzinga The sophomore showed strongly to the relief of many apprehen sive fans as starter and Heis man hopeful Dennis Franklin sat on the sidelines with atvirus With Franklin back at the helm, the gridders breezed by Colorado and Navy, 31-0 and 52-0 before facing old Rose Bowl nemesis Stanford. Stanford's passing attack proved to be a problem as they gained 229 yards through the air. The Cardinals carried a 9-6 i. r1 a lead into the lockerroom at' halftime, and became a menace in the second half, but Michi- gan dominated in the long run 27-16. Next came the first stop on the revenge trail. Allegedly, Michigan State's athletic direc- tor Burt Smith cast a ballot for Ohio State in the controversial vote last November and no Michigan player or fan could forget that. A sign circulated through the j stands, "Remembertthe Vote" while fans viewed the Spartan downfall 21-7 through a chilling( third in the country by the As- strength by soundly defeating sociated Press. Indiana and Illinois. The graduating seniors, who The following weekend, Michi- never played in a bowl game, gan received a taste of what boasted a 30-2-1 record over the competition might be like three years, the finest in the in the NCAA tourney as they country. traveled to Baton Rouge to take Senior Dave Brown was on the LSU Tigers. Running into named for the second year as an the home court advantage, all-America, and Steve Strinko Michigan was defeated, 215 to was named the team's most val- 208.25. uable player. In the next five weeks how- * * * ever, the Maize and Blue Lv ken's 200th rolled up an impressive string of five dual meet victories At the beginning of the 1974- and one tri-meet triumph, 75 season, hopes were riding ending the conference dual high for an undefeated season, meet season undefeated. Daily Photo by PAULINE LUBENS Daily Sports NIGHT EDITOR:j MARCIA MERKER (ABOVE) MI CHI G A N' football 1974 was marked by many timely fumbles and fieldI goals but few were as spectac- ular as Jim Smith's touchdown dive in the September 28, Navy- Michigan gridiron massacre. Quarterback Dennis Franklin's 29-yard pass to Smith gave the Wolverines a respectable 45-0 lead halfway through the third quarter. It came only seconds after reserve defensive line- backer Dave Devich's intercep- tion. For the Middies the after- noon was very long as the final tally read Michigan 52, Navy 0. (RIGHT)IN ORDER to push its record over .500 the MichiganI basketball team soundly de- feated the Northwestern Wild- cats at Crisler Arena, JanuaryE 25, 79-58. Typical of the officiat- ing that went on that Saturday, Rick White (35) was not called for goaltending even though he has his hand on the rim. Co- captain C. J. Kupec (41) scored 26 points that day to lead the Wolverines.] 197 4-75: - drizzle. Madison was the stage for the following week as Michi- . gan met a strong team in Wisconsin. Wisconsin man- aged to score 20 points on the staunch Blue "d", a feat un- equalled since the 1970 Ohio State game. The effort was not quite enough, however, as the Badgers fell 24-20. Following the questionable performance in Madison, Michi-1 gan's offense gained 620 yards and crushed Minnesota 49-0. Michigan then eeked by Indiana in a 21-7 victory, boosting their record to 8-0. Roses were in the air the next week when, though Michigan barely slipped by Illinois 14-6, Michigan State upset Ohio State 16-13. The outlook was still rosy as Purdue fell 51-0, and Michigan set its sights for the season fin- ale. It needed only a tie to get the Rose Bowl bid, undisputed by any athletic directors. Every man on that team des- perately wanted that final win, but they were to be denied one; more time. Michigan jumped off to an early lead as Franklin hit Chapman on a 42-yard TD pass and Lantry added a 37- yard field goal. Then the trench warfare began as both defenses put up superlative performances holding each other out of the end zone. I1 f The MVichigan Most importantly, in the pro- cess Newt Loken became the winigest coach in American gymnastics, tallying his 200th career dual meet victory 1974-75 against 36 losses. Big Ten Titles .One month later the eight gymnastics teams from the Big Cross Country Ten congregated in Crisler Are- na for the Big Ten Champion- Football ships on Easter weekend. Mich- Gymnastics gan thoroughly dominated ev- Sery phase of the tournament,I Coach Newt Loken's 200th ca- amassing 419.80 total team reer dual meet victory and a points and qualifying every twelfth Big Ten title in fifteen member of the squad for com-{ years for the Wolverine tumb- petition in the NCAA meet one lers. week later, including the first These hopes were waylaid freshman ever to win the Big when key performers suffered Ten all-around title in Harley, crippling injuries before com- Danner. petition ever began. Senior all- The Wolverines attained a around performer Jean Gag- sixth place finish in the NCAA non, who was considered to be a tourney in what Newt Loken prime candidate for the Big Ten -- all-around title, suffered from a severe case of shoulder ten- donitus. Co-captain Carey Cul- bertson, co-holder of the Big Ten high bar crown, sustained a wrist injury which eventually forced him to be red-shirted for this year. Loken was forced to dip into the freshmen ranks and substituted Ann Arbor native Harley Danner for Jean Gag non and Bob Creek in place of Culbertson. The results speak for them- 4 x. selves. The tumblers started out with comparably impressive per- formances in the Midwest Open and Windy City Invitational in Chicago before taking a .month off to prepare for the dual meet portion of the season. In the Big Ten Invitational the weekend of January 10 the Wolverines initiated the indi- cations of t h e i r superior s described as "the highest lev- el of competition we've seen in many, many years. Three Michigan tumblers earned all-America honors: jun- ior Richard Bigras in vaulting, junior Joe Neuenswander on the rings, and freshman Bob Creek on the high bar. Perhaps the overall success of the past season can best be de- scribed in Loken's words fol- lowing the NCAA meet, "We're already looking forward to next year's nationals." * * * Unierclassmnen star Under the auspices of first year long distance track coach Ron Warhurst, Michigan's young cross country team sped to the university's first Big Ten championship in 20 years. Warhurst exposed the team to training based upon his own physiological research. As a result, the most inex- perienced harriers became the strongest. Sophomore Greg Meyer took the top spot in the Big Ten's for Michigan placing second. Close behind, freshman Bill Danakowski finished sixth and Mike Mc- Guire eighth. Earlier in the season, Michi- gan downed Michigan State at East Lansing and rolled into first over Eastern Michigan in the prestigious Notre Dame In- vitational. At the NCAA's, the Wolverines finished 12th. I--I Wolverines WCHA Stondir Minnesota Mich. Tech. Col. College Wisconsin Michigan St. MICHIGAN Notre Dame U. Minn.-Dul. Denver N. Dakota W 24 22 21 18 19 17 10 9 9 4 L 8 10 11 11 12 15 19 20 22 26 Igs T Pts.. 0 48 0 44' 0 42 2 40 1 39 0 34 3 23 3 21' 1 19' 2 10: MICHIGAN Ohio State Michigan State Wisconsin Illinois Purdue Iowa . Minnesota Northwestern Indiana W L 7 1 7 1 6 1 5 3 4 3 3 5 2 6 2 6 2 6 1 7 T 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Big 10 Standings W L Indiana 18 0 MICHIGAN 12 6 Purdue 11 7 Minnesota 11 7 Michigan State 10 8 Ohio State 8 10 Iowa 7 11 Wisconsin S 13 Northwestern 4 14 Illinois 4 14 i , .j 1 r I i t 7 , For the Blue defense, how-' ever, all the effort led only to frustration as they watched four field goals sail over their heads. Michigan had been kicked to! death, 12-10. Despite the Ohio State loss, the '74 football team was no less than impressive. It finished the season with ten wins and only one loss and was ranked Sports of The Daily By DAILY SPORTS MORETTO PACES ICERS Ca ers make NCAAs Netters approach apex By DAILY SPORTS It's unfortunate that the semester is just about over because A few years from now, many a lot of people will return home shortly and never get to see basketball fans' memories of Michigan's excellent tennis team in action. the '74-'75 Michigan season will Unknown to some, this past February Coach Brian Eisner's be condensed into one game. crew participated in the second annual National Collegiate Indoor For some, one jumpshot willI Team Tennis Championships at Wisconsin. Featuring such top be the sole recollection. powers as NCAA champ Stanford, Southern Cal, Southern Metho- dist, Alabama, and Texas, Michigan was hard-pressed but gained BUT THERE is much more to the finals knocking off the Crimson Tide and SMU en route. remember about last season The Wolverines took second behind Stanford, and begin than that exciting last game . . with UCLA, or that last second this spring with a powerful squad featuring Big Ten champs shot by C. J. Kupec that nearly Victor Amaya, Eric Friedler, and Freddie DeJesus. so th natJonuec ha in Don't be surprised when the Wolverines repeat as Big Ten toppled the national champion champions and follow closely when they go to the NCAA's in rs w d Corpus Christi, Texas. They are good enough to win it all. followers of the Wolverines, this schedule provided countless Blue bats boom thrills. And each exciting mo- ment was all the more enjoy- Despite a mediocre 8-7 overall mark, the Wolverine baseball able viewed in the dim light of squad jumped off to a fine 4-0 Big Ten start on the first weekend pre-season predictors. of conference play. Last fall, the "experts", for Michigan swept twin bills from Illinois and Purdue. The Blue the second straight year, saw used four-hit pitching from starter Chuck Rogers to win the Illini the coming season as a strug- opener, 6-2. Mark Weber turned in a fine relief job to save an 8-7 gle for Michigan. And with win in the second game. some justification: three of the Second baseman Dick Walterhouse cracked a grand slam top seven players quit the team, to pace the Wolverines to an 11-4 opening win over the Boiler- another substitute left just be- makers, and Rogers came back for another win, 7-6, in the fore the seasonstarted, and a second contest. promising transfer was ruled Good pitching is a Michigan tradition but this vear the hit- ineligible by the Big Ten. move worked to perfection. Baxter played well and Grote came off the bench to play guard or forward with remark- able effectiveness. Michigan won seven of its last eight games to finish 12-6 in the Big Ten, good enough for sec- ond place and a bid to the NC- AA West Regional. By the last week of the regular season, Grote had earned back his starting spot, Kupec, Joe John- son, and Wayman Britt were playing up to their high levels of the previous season, and sophomore John Robinson was at his best. As a team, the Wolverines were playing excellent defense, J t t reaching their peak game against Ohio team was as ready be to meet UCLA tional tournament. MICHIGAN kept the Bruins through in the last State. The as it could in the na- pace with forty min- ters have come around, too. Transfer first baseman Randy Hack- ney leads the team with three homers, and Walterhouse, outfield- er Mark Grenkoski and catcher Ted Mahan have all hit impres- sively in the early going. Thinclads hobble with injuries The outlook for Michigan's track season is cloudy. The team is generally young but with much talent potential. However, in- juries to key performers are riddling the thinclads with uncanny regularity. Bright spots Andy Johnson, a big middle distance man, and the mile-relay team, Johnson, Dave Furst, Jeff McLeod and Dave Williams, are starting to burn up the track. Other standouts in- clude Mike McGuire, the excellent distance man, pole vaulter Jim Stokes and sprinters Doug Hennigar and Jim Howe. Questions abound however. What mysterious ailment has affected the high jumpers? Where did all the milers go? Will Dave Williams have more injuries? The Wolverines finished tied for fourth in the '75 Big Ten Indoors, and like last year they will improve their standings outdoors. 0 t'."7f-r olv JtIV A A hn*I YET COACHES Johnny Orr, Jim Dutcher, Bill Frieder, and Bird Carter were able to pro- duce another splendid show- piece of speed, defense, and teamwork, and the Wolverines extracted a 7-1 record from a fairly tough pre-season sched- ule. Michigan carried its winning ways into the Big Ten season with a heart-pounding double overtime victory over Illinois' and a solid win over Ohio State. Indiana, rankedhnumber one in the country, thentcame to Crisler and beat the tired (three games in six days) Wolv- erines easily. Thus began a four- week slump in which the Maize and Blue lost five of eight' games, including road games at Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue, and a particularly poor showing at Michigan State. utes of running, gunning, nerve- wracking basketball. And fin- ally, the Wolverines held the ball for the last minute and twenty seconds, with the score tied. The ball was passed to Kupec in the final seconds, but his long buzzer shot hit the front of the rim and bounced away. The Bruins dominated the overtime and won, 103-91. The 1974-75 season marked a large improvement in the Michi- gan hockey squad over the pre- vious year. Finishing with an overall record of 22-17-1, the Wolverines skated to a sixth place finish in the Western Coll- legiate Hockey League, beat Colorado College in the playoff quarter-finals, and then finally gave out, in the semifinals against league champion Min- nesota. Hockey sixth in WCHA THIS YEAR IDan Farrell led a team into WCTTA cnmnetition team's most valuable player, moved into eighth place on the all-time Wolverine scoring list. Forward, Kris Manery also had a fine year for the Wolver- ines, as he finished second on the team with 46 points. Round- ing out the top five were Pat Hughes with 43, Doug Lindskog with 36, and Frank Werner with, 35. DEFENSIVELY, the team had the fourth best record in the WCHA with a goals against average of 4.1. It was a costly early season injury to all-Amer- ica goalie Robbie Moore that weakened Michigan's bid for a higher place in the standings. However, freshman Frank Zim- merman received valuable WCHA experience and proved himself a capable netminder. Statistics just can't relate the excitement of the season, how- ever, and some moments de- serve special mention. The first highlight of the season had to be that wild score that came out of Minne- apolis last November. Playing against the national champion Gophers, the Wolverines romp- ed to their most lopsided win in years, 10-1. Then there was the Great Lakes Tournament, in which the Wolverines took on the best from the East, namely Har- vard. The Crimsons were rated among the top three in the na- tion at the time, and to make matters worse, three of the Wolverines' toughest perform- ers - Moretto, Werner, and Greg Fox - had to sit the game out with league suspensions. THE GAME marked the re- turn to the all-America form of Moore, who stifled the Harvard team with sensational saves. Harvard managed to score two goals in the first two periods, but when the third period came the Michigan strength came to the fore. In thnt nperin the Wnrrine 1 -- -_-- By DAILY SPORTS THE MICHIGAN WRESTLING TEAM began its season in an atmosphere of having to follow a near impossible act. In the 1973-74 season Mi- chigan's team had been within reach of an NCAA title as the last match of the NCAA tournament began and, even though they did not win, they captured second place in the nation. From that super-team, however, four all- America wrestlers graduated and the head coach retired. Thus a new coach Bill Jo- hannesen, who had previously been the as- sistant, was thrust into a rebuilding situa- tion from the very start. Unfortunately for the grapplers, a jinx that had not plagued them in recent years popped up when they could least afford it: injury. Captain Dave Curby, 190, began the season with a bad knee, later developed a nagging ill- ness and then hurt his shoulder. He was never close to full strength. Before the season was out senior Brad McCrory, 134, Bill Schuck, 142, and Ed Nies- wender, 158, would all be lost for varying lengths of time with injury. Johannesen could only gnash his teeth and juggle his line-up to meet the recurrent crises. Nevertheless, the wrestlers were still win- ners. Before the dual meet season was out Mi- chigan would hand defeat to nationally ranked Penn State and Michigan State while erratic per- formances by the heavyweight, Mitch Marsi- cano, and questionable refereeing would cost them a victory over powerhouse Wisconsin and another ner MSUTT The teams repeated the conference standings in the Big Ten Championships with the Maize and Blue barely edged out of second place. Then came the NCAA's at Cleveland State, held in late March. Michigan sent nine men to the nationals and they almost brought home a prestigious spot in the top ten. Instead, the Wolverines settled for eleventh place, one point behind Ohio State. Michigan's record was 8-2 and next season could be a banner year for Gus Stager and Dick Kimball. Diver Don Craine emerged on the national scene. He took two seconds in the Big Tens and then came up with a sterling performance at the NCAA's coming up with two thirds. Tom Szuba had an off year, bothered by sickness but he saved his best for the NC- AA's where he came up with a 5th and a 7th in the 400- and 200-individual medleys. Gordon Downie showed that he can compete with anyone and freshman John Daly was a great find for Stager. Norm Semchyshen was the big surprise as he came out of nowhere to stun everyone at the Big Ten meet. 0 THE MICHIGAN TRACK TEAM improved tremendously during the past year. Led by some superb upperclassmen and a 'flock of talented freshmen and sophomores. Leading the way was junior Dave Wil- liams, whose, time in the 600-yard run, 1:10.3, was second best in the world. Wil- liams also ra n ea ncor legin the .Wnl- erines had dominated the lime- light, with Moretto scoring twice and Moore putting on a star performance in the nets. Despite the loss, however, the Blue skaters didn't come away empty handed, as Moretto, Moore, and Greg Natale won all-star awards. Daily Photo by KEN INK Individuals highlight middle-place squads