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March 02, 1978 - Image 7

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Michigan Daily, 1978-03-02

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The Michigan Daily-Thursday, March 2, 1978-Page

I I

THE SPORTING VIEWS

CAGERS MUST WIN AT MINNESOTA:

It's do or die

for Blue

..........
AF

P

South African tennis .

0. .

... a touchy affair

By BOB WARREN
Apartheid politics. For what possible reason could this issue appear on
the sports page of The Michigan Daily? The answer is simple: the United
States is playing and hosting South Africa in a Davis Cup tennis match, Mar-.
ch 17-19 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. The match should
nottake place!
"South Africa is unique among the community of nations," said Dr.
Richard Lapchick, chairperson of the American Coordinating Committee
for Equality in Sport and Society (ACCESS). "It is the only country where
domination of non-whites by whites is constitutionally enshrined as official
government policy."
Many people say sports should have nothing to do with politics. If it did,
the United States should not compete against the Soviet Union or China in
any competition sports because those governments and societies are an-
tagonistic towards ours. But we do compete with those countries. Yet, this is
a different situation.
The American government, Vanderbilt University and for that matter
Michigan, are more concerned with their lucrative investments in a racist
knation than with moral issues. This is almost analagous to the situation in
'modern day sports where money is more important to the athletes than the
athletic participation.
Blacks exploited
In the United States, where racism is allegedly suppressed, black
athletes have made tremendous progress in sports, to a level where they ex-
cein sports such as basketball, track, baseball and football. However, once
these athletes reach their peak of excellence they are exploited by great
'money-making schemes such as "Black-exploitation" films starring Jim
Brown and Fred Williamson. Rich whites make money off talented black
athletes, and the Davis Cup is not an exception.
To appease the sentiment against the Davis Cup, the South African
team, most likely at the.urging of the USTA (United States Tennis Associa-
tion), Vanderbilt and sponsor Davis Coals, Inc., has named Peter Lamb, a
Vanderbilt sophomore and a South African of mixed race, to the team. He is
the first non-white ever named to the team. The move is obviously a further
example of exploitation and injustice levied to a black athlete (Lamb, a
talented tennis player, will play on the "junior" team).
In a move that will help the cause against the apartheid government,
South African star player Ray Moore, quit the Davis Cup team in protest of
the political involvement in sports. Moore said," I neither embrace nor en-
dorse apartheid politics." American black tennis star Arthur Ashe endorsed
Moore's action.
Not enough Moores
People like Moore are an exception in his country. South Africa does not
do n thing for its potential black athletes, members of a significant
majoritypopuiationwthat are without any word in the government of their
cuatr : If -the United States plays South Africa it will be, as Fisk University
President Walter Leonard says, "sanctioning, aiding and comforting South
Africa and its government," and repressing the development of black
athletes in tennis and in other sports.
It is true that the USTA is a member of the Davis Cup Federation and
agrees to compete with any member of that group. Yet, nations have with-
drawn before from competition against South Africa, allowing the apartheid
nation to win Davis Cup matches uncontested. As South Africa wins more
and more matches through this route, nations will realize what a farce South
Africa is making of the Davis Cup and their withdrawal from the federation
will convince the sponsor to reconsider its permission of South Africa's
membership.
One sponsor, NLT, a withholding company in Nashville, has. already
pulled its financial backing from the Davis Cup in response to the protests of
the match by anti-apartheid groups, the NAACP, the many black schools in
the state of Tennessee and numerous other human rights groups. In this sen-
se sports could be used as a tool to pressure a change in morals by the South
African government, although divesting and cutting ties would be a more
potent weapon.
Fight for rights
This tennis match has great importance in the fight for human rights in
South Africa and civil rights in America. The racists have come out to
demonstrate their feelings about concerned Americans towards civil rights.
Davis Cup protest leader Lapchick was brutally assaulted by two racists in
his office. He was beaten unconscious and had the word "nigger" carved into
his stomach. If this is the way people feel here where we have equality,
imagine the degradated position of a black in South Africa.
An attack like this is reason enough for the United States to show its
human rights' policy and cancel the match. It's hard enough for a black*
athlete here to make it big in sports and come out "clean" afterwards, and a
sanctioning of South African policy is an endorsement of the stifling of black
athletes in South Africa.

Tennis is one of the quickest growing sports in the world. However, it's
"rich man" character has made it impossible for any blacks to star in it with
the exception of Ashe, a star who has repeatedly been refused admission to
South Africa to compete in tennis competition. If the United States used this
Davis Cup as an opportunity to show its policy of equal rights, perhaps this
would open up avenues for blacks to develop in this sport at a much larger
scale with the confidence of a supportive government.
A cancellation of the Davis Cup match at Vanderbilt and a refusal to
compete against South Africa in athletic endeavors, as the Olympic Com-
mittee has sanctioned in the past, would serve many useful functions. It
would show the United States' sincerity towards equality; it would be an
example for other countries to follow, adding pressure to the apartheid
government; and it would be an inpportant step for equality in sports for
black Americans, black South Africans and many other repressed
minorities throughout the world.

By ERNIE DUNBAR
Special to The Daily
MINNEAPOLIS - While Michigan's
hopes of winning the Big Ten basketball
title were extinguished during the mid-
dle portion of the conference race, the
slight chance of a post-season tour-
nament bid still flickers on.
And when the Wolverines tangle with
Minnesota tonight at 9:05 p.m., Ann Ar-
bor time, the Gophers will have plenty
on the line as well.
SITTING TIED with Purdue for
second place with an 11-5 record, Min-
nesota must come up with two con-
secutive victories if it has any chance of
tying league-leading Michigan State
(13-3) for the Big Ten title. A Spartan
loss tonight at Wisconsin would mean
the Gophers would face MSU here on
Saturday for a tie of the conference
crown.
But first, the Gophers must get past
Michigan (10-6), who also need two vic-
tories in their final Big Ten games for
an outside shot at a tournament bid.
Minnesota is coming off two straight
losses, however, while Michigan sports
a two-game winning streak. The
Gophers fell victim to Ohio State at
Columbus in overtime, 94-87, last Thur-
sday and then traveled on to Indiana
where the Hoosiers proceeded to knock
them off, 68-47.

MICHIGAN'S impressive offensive
outputs in the 107-96 Illinois win and the
82-76 Iowa victory should give the
Wolverines a slight psychological ad-
vantage over Minnesota. Yet Michigan
coach Johnny Orr feels the effects of
UPI All-Big Ten
Earvin Johnson (F)..........MSU
Walter Jordan (F).........Purdue
Mychal Thompson (C)....Minnesota
Ronnie Lester (G) ............'. Iowa
Kelvin Ransey (G) ............... OSU
Note: Michigan's Mike McGee was
named to the second team.
playing in Williams Arena will offset
any edge his team may possess.
"That (Minnesota's two straight
losses) won't 'have an effect playing
here," Orr said. "If they were out of the
Big Ten race it might make a differen-
ce. But you' have 18;000 people
screaming against you here."
, Once again the outcome of the game
will rest, on the effectiveness of the
Gophers' standout center, Mychal
Thompson. Thompson netted 23 points
in the game at Crisler Arena, but his ef-
forts were negated by Wolverine for-
ward Mike McGee's 27 point perfor-
mance. And it is McGee's shooting
ability that Minnesota coach Jim Dut-
cher fears the most about this Michigan
team.

"WE HAD trouble shutting off the
outside shooting of Mike McGee," Dut-
cher commented of the freshman who
leads the team with a 19:5 scoring
average. "We'll work on containing
McGee a little better this time."
But the key to the Gopher success is
Thompson. Minnesota thinks enough of
their 6-10 senior that his number 43 jer-
sey will be retired by the university at
halftime of Saturday's game. Thom-
pson is leading the conference in
scoring and sports an overall scoring
average of 22.3 points per game. His
rebounding mark is nothing to glance
over, either, as he commands a 10.9
average.
THOMPSON WILL battle Michigan's
own Thompson, Joel. Joel sprained his
left ankle in Wednesday's practice and
only shot briefly in the team's Thursday
workout. But the injury does not appear
to be serious according to team trainer
Dan Campbell and should not keep the
6-8 center off the court.
So what changes have the Michigan
coaches drawn up for this game?
"We've worked on some new defen-
ses," remarked assistant coach Bill
Frieder. "It all depends on the fouls,
the score, and who's ahead whether
we'll zone or not. You can zone easier
when you're ahead."
Trying to counter these changes in
addition to Mychal Thompson will be 6-
10 Dave Winey (6.3 ppg) and 6-11 Kevin

McHale (12.4 ppg) at the forward'$
slots. James Jackson (10.1 ppg), a 6-4
sophomore and 6-2 Osborne Lockhart
(13.1 ppg) will handle the backcourt
assignments.
"We're going to have to play excep-
tionally well for us to have a chance t4 *
win," said Frieder. "Playing here i
tough. It's hard to communicate with"
your players," he added, referring to
the fact (that the players' benches arO -.
three feet below court level.
BUT REGARDLESS of the con'
ditions, Orr realizes that this .Minnesotad
game is the hump his team must get"
over if it is to go on to post-season play.
"We feel we'll at least go to the NIT if,
we win our final two Big Ten games,?N
Orr said. "If we pull it off and win at'
three (Minnesota, Northwestern;,
UCLA) it will be the miracle of the cen-.
tury and I think we will certainly get a-
tournament bid."

Big Ten Standings

Michigan State ......................
Minnesota ...........................
Purdue ............ ...............
Indiana .............................
MICHIGAN....................
Ohio State .......................
Illinois...........................
Iowa.............................
Wisconsin .....................
Northwestern ...

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to
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13

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.6i88"
.588
.625
.62,E
.500
.375
.250
.250
.188'

i

Tourney tumbling

Men, women gymnasts face

tou

By JEFF FRANK
Construction zone. Do not enter
without a willingness to be surprised.
Women at work: building a reputation.
Throughout the entire gymnastics
season, Michigan's womens team im-
pressed 'observers with its rapid im-
provement and level of success it has
shown in only its third year of com-
petition.
The tumblers get a chance to enhance
their reputation next week, as they
travel to Columbus for their first team
encounter with regional competition, in
the MAIAW championship meet.
Sixteen teams from the six state
region qualify for the regionals.
Qualifying is based on the scores
registered in each state's championship
meet.
This method of qualifying sets up
unusual situations in the regionals, as
inconsistencies in judging between
states in the region cause teams from
some states to be seeded higher or
lower than they actually should be.
The importance of these inconsisten-
cies becomes apparent when con-
sidering the format of the regional
meet. Teams are seeded in order of
their qualifying scores, with the highest
scoring teams competing last.
Flights of four or eight teams com-
pete at one time, and as the competition
goes on, scores received by performers

climb. Such has been the case in past
meets.
Individual competitors from teams
that didn't qualify for regionals are
placed in the first flight, with the lowest
scoring qualifying teams.
This is the position that faced
Michigan captain Ginger Robey last
year. Robey topped the all-around
standings after the first flight, but when
the competition was over, every
Michigan State tumbler had outscored
her in every event, including vaulting,
in which she was the state co-champion.
As scores stand now, Michigan is in
the eighth position, pending the results
of the Indiana state championship.
However, Indiana State is the defen-
ding regional runner-up and is expected
to post an upper division score.
Coach Anne Cornell has established
some team gols for regionals. "We're
hoping to score 132, and I'd like to see
some of our all-arounders qualify for
nationals," she said. "We'd like to
finish in the second group of four, from
fifth to eighth place."
Indiana State, Michigan State,
Southern Illinois and Kent State are
considered the teams to beat.
The Blue tumblers warm-up for their
trip to Columbus next, Thursday by
traveling to Mt. Pleasant for a tri-meet
against Central Michigan and Illinois
State this weekend.

By PETE LEININGER
With duel-meet action having con-
cluded, the Michigan gymnasts can
now concentrate on what's really im-
portant, the Big Ten Championships to
be held in Champaign on March 10-11.
The two-day affair will begin with
compulsory action on Friday night at
seven followed by optionals on Satur-
day at 1:00 p.m. The gymnasts with the
top six combined compulsory and op-
tional scores will qualify for the finals
held Saturday at 8:00.
Michigan coach Newt Loken finds
himself in a position that has become
quite unaccustomary for him over the
years. "On the basis of our won-lost
record, four teams have beaten us in
the Big Ten," said Loken.
The two teams battling for the top
spot will be Minnesota (having scored
215.15), and host Illinois, who has
scored 214.45 earlier this year.
Despite the unliklihood of a team
championship for Michigan, the Wol-
verines do possess a number of out-
standing performers, capable of
placing high or even winning their
event.
Freshman floor exerciseman Jim
Varilek noted that any thing can hap-
pen during the two-day meet. "I'll just
go out and do my best," commented
Varilek.
Sidehorse specialist Brian Carey

[ghest foes
agrees with Varilek that it's tough to
say how one is going to end up. "It's dif-
ferent from other invitations. With Ben
Tens I must do good on compulsories,
options and finals. I'm just going out to
hit my routine," stated Carey.
Other individuals that have a good
chance to place high will be Hal Dar-
dick on sidehorse, Gordie Higman and
Darrell Yee on rings, and Carl Badger
on vaulting.
John Corritore,'Big Ten champ and
NCAA runnerup last year, and co-cap-
tain Bob Creek (high bar), are consid-
ered favorites to win their events.
. All-arounder Nigel Rothwell, who
scored a 52 last week, placed second in
all-around last year. "I'd like to make
the top three (which qualifies a gym-
nast for the NCAA championships). It
should be tougher this year," said
Rothwell.
mo

Thump snA rtments
furnished efficencies
1 and 2 bedroom apartments
available for Fall 1978 occupancy
Located of corner of
William and Thompson
call 665-2289

WomeniCankers host
midwest championship

By BOB WARD -L
Some of those people who won't be second.
going to Florida over spring break SWIMMER LORI HUG
will get to swim in warm water seeking cutoff times in
anyway. freestyle, 1650 yard frees
Michigan's women tankers are 200 yard butterfly. She wi
hosting the competition for the Midwest down for this meet, u
Association for Intercollegiate having lighter workouts
Athletics for Women (MAIAW) at Matt skin tight bathing suits
Mann pool today, tomorrow, and Satur- usual suits.
day at 7:00 p.m. Some 30 schools are to Supposedly the advar
be represented bringing 215 individual swim suits is that they he
athletes to Michigan's last home meet "I'm not sure of the
of the season. plaination," said Hugh
MICHIGAN LAST participated in this mainly a psychological th
meet three years ago and placed third. As for the divers, Isaac
MSU took first while Bowling Green competition won't be near
finished second. Two years ago the Big Ten's. I think we
Michigan did not participate and highest, and Chris Seuf
Bowling Green claimed the title. Last Bachman have to be the
year the meet was not held because no this meet."
one would host it.
this year's Big Ten champion
Michigan hopes to win the event. "For
us it's a matter of pride," said orayo1r# n
Michigan coach Stu Isaasc. "We want or anY oher tum
to prove we're the best in the midwest." you know w
"It's going to be tough," said Isaac, be here.
"we're not going in with our strongest
line up." This is because women like U -M STYLI
Katy McCully and Lisa Matheson have
already made national cutoffs in their at the
best events. Those who haven't UNION
qualified or want qualification in other
events will be featured. Usually they've
missed qualifying by only tenths of a
a Charter Travel Corporation

A
GHES will be
the 500 yard
style, and the
ill be tapering
which means
and using the
nstead of the
ntage to the
ave less drag.
scientific ex-
es, "but it's
ing."
said, "Diving
rly as tough as
will score the
ert and Julie
e favorites in

Wrestling Classic Coming
To Crisler Arena March 4-5
Big Ten
Championships
Michigan's Mark Churella in Action
Four NCAA Finalists Battle
For Titles
Mark Churella (150) of Michigan and Wisconsin's Lee Kemp
(198) are defending NCAA Champions, and among the four

eak
e,
STS

-I!w

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