Page 10-Sunday, October 16, 1977-The Michigan Daily

More pals of Pigskin Saturday

Skeeter

sch edu le

Sideline security
and coffee pots

i
7

H OWARD "Skeeter" Webber cer-
tainly doesn't fit the tough, gruff
security guard mold, even though
he's been guarding the Michigan
Stadium turf on Football Saturdays
for 28 years.
Smiling jovially, Webber says he
can hardly wait from year to year to
don his armband and yellow wind-
breaker and join the 35 other security
guards on the field.
"I really enjoy it," says Webber of
his part-time job. "Over the years
I've met a lot of interesting people
and seen some great games."
According to Webber, stadium
security personnel do such things as
raise the net behind the goal posts,
pick up yard markers after the
game, and keep spectators and
foreign debris off the playing sur-
face. .
"We help with lots of odds and
ends," he explains. "If I can help
anybody down there, that's what I'm
there for."
Webber says the volunteer guards
rarely scuffle with unruly fans, some
of whom act more like foreign debris
than football spectators.
"If we have any hustle down there
or anyone gives us any big trouble,
we just get a hold of the Ann Arbor
police," says Webber, a burly man
who wears his grey hair in a brush
cut. "They come and fix it."
However, Webber and his col-
leagues are responsible for at least
one sticky stadium security problem.
"After the game we're supposed to
try and keep everybody from going
across the field. But if they play that

Ohio and they win, then there's no
way you can keep them off the field."
Webber and two other guards
stationed at the five-yard line are
also in charge of watching the coffee
pot and relaying messages for visit-
ing press crews.
"If the game is on TV, we're there
to help out the ABC guys," he says.
"It's really interesting, like last year.
I got to talk to Tom Harmon and I can
remember him when he played here
years ago."
Webber began working as a guard
in 1948, in the days when "we didn't
used to get paid for it."
But, he says, "as long as I could get
in to see the game, that's all I really
went after.
"I'm ashamed to say," he adds,
"but now we do get two dollars a
game."
In 28 years, Webber has seen a
whole generation of football fans
come and go, but he says spectators
in recent years have become notice-
ably better behaved.
"Now everyone has season tickets
and they're a lot nicer," he observes.
"Before, they used to sell two dollar
seats and that bunch would come in
and get really drunk and rowdy."
Despite his many years of service,
Webber voices no intentions of
. relinquishing his post along the
sidelines.
"I'll keep coming back, as long as
they'll have me," he says.
And what does Skeeter Webber like
least about Football Saturday?
"When it's over."
-S. W.

The wife-beal
'I called the police on different occasions
and I got different reactions, most of them
negative. One time I begged a policeman to
do something because my husband knew I
had called. I told him if he left, my hus-
band would beat me; and after he left I got
kicked from head to foot . ..

ing

0

The Michigan Daily-Sunday, 0
epide
By Elaine Fletch

DMan ager D onn:
Jack-of-all-trades

L IKE MOST criminals he strikes without provocat
always occurs in the privacy of his own home. I
a fist, shoe or telephone receiver serve effectively
assailant is selective in his choice of victim-usually a sp
arrested and even more infrequently prosecuted and sent
Domestic violence traditionally has been regarded a
resolved within the confines of a man's home, his castle
protection, at least in Michigan, have begun to buckle und
tacks by concerned feminists, legislators, police, social w
the state. They are armed with first-hand accounts of a
statistics. These show, among other things, that as m
nationwide have fallen prey to some sort of spouse abuse
blamed for as much as 35 per cent of the homicides comm
For years the mere existence of the domestic violence
the system supposedly designed to protect her. In Detr
distress calls when a weapon is not involved. When poli
not always filed and cases that go on record are not iden
or statewide statistics. But when the incidence of d
documented-usually by painstaking searches through p
resulting profile of the crime drastically contradicts the
police, prosecutors and judges.
A 1972-73 study on domestic assault in Detroit, conduct
executive deputy chief of the Detroit Police Department,
" Domestic assaults are under-reported by as much as
" Between one quarter to one third of all homicides c
result of domestic disturbances.
" In virtually every case of domestic homicide, a hist
could be documented.
" Out of 4,138 complaints filed with the Wayne Count
year, only 36
" Effective
handling of 
tually non-e
In 1974 t
Domestic 'T
Assault Pr
statistics in
kept by thre
tions within
study showe
assault cons
assault com.
t, ! Meanwhile
tims who h
Task Forces
cent of the
police.
"I called th
and I got di
negative. One
do something
had called. I t
would beat me
from head toft
had called t
testifying bef
Commission.
The simple
don't make a
domestic ass
tangle of
prohibition,
plainants r
recent agitati
Take an in
ficer arrives
assault to fie
bleeding, wit
Despite her i
violence, the a
Daily Photo by ALAN BILINSKY be immediat
officer's defense? "The law prohibits arrest in a misde
injuries are not life threatening or inflicted by any sort of
"until a victim has sworn out a complaint or unless the
assault.
"As a result of the police officer's presence," he adds,'
aggravated. Yet he (the officer) is unable to do anything
fear of further intimidation."
T HE INABILITY of the police to arrest in the event
is all too frequently used as an excuse for an officer
in a potentially felonious case, according to Li
President of NOW)She points out that an object used to
r. 'ssee $a e=«9!u:: 1

for Bo's
DJON DIPAOLO'S work requires
him to get up at the ungodly
morning hour of 6:30, do his chores
early, and arrive at Michigan Stadium
well in advance of kick-off time on
Football Saturdays.
"It's not a very glorified job when
you look at it from the fans' posi-
tion," says DiPaolo, senior student
manager for the Michigan football
team. "But it's something I really
enjoy doing."
DiPaolo and his crew of eight
assistants are responsible for, among
other things, making sure that
weekday practice sessions run
smoothly. They. set up the field,
provide the coaches with the neces-
sary equipment, spot the balls and
perform a host of other odd jobs.
"There's a lot of little things people
don't realize," he explains, "but
somebody has to do it. I
"A lot of people have this weird
view of the manager," he adds. "But
it's just that we enjoy football and we
really get excited and have fun."
For DiPaolo, Football Saturday is
actually the cushiest day of the week.
The game, he says, is pretty relax-
ing-; all he need do is keep a fresh
supply of dry footballs in play.
But despite what appears to be a
secondary role, DiPaplo says he
often shares .the, hyped-up tension,
with the football players or the, field.

big boys

"My friends in the stands always
kid me because I'm always either
viciously chewing a piece of gum or
I'm almost biting my fingers off," he
laughs.
As senior manager, DiPaolo trav-
els with the team to its out-of-town
games. He also receives free tuition
and gets to chow down with the
football players at their training.
table. The other eight student man-
agers, however, devote hours of their
time out of a love of football but
receive no compensation.
For the managers, though, the real
reward is derived in satisfaction
from a job well done.
"Our program is not the type
where day-to-day individual things
are rewarded," he says. "Everybody
knows whether the job is done right
or not 'and it's accepted and appre-
ciated even if it's not lavished .on."
DiPaolo's dedication and his love
of football have earned him lots of
good-natured ribbing from his fra-
ternity brothers at Beta Theta Pi.
"Everybody in the frat thinks I'm a
fanatic," he says. "My entire room is
maize and blue - the ceiling, the
carpet, the toiletries. No one can
believe it. I bought (broadcaster
Bob) Ufer's last record and I listen to
it regularly.4
4"YN,". h.e concedes, .'would, ,
consider -rysIf a, fanatic '-alittle

V
,44
.~ .fr.~,
...'x
.4.
*:. ::v

0

0

Susan Ades Jay Levin
Co-editors
Elaine Fletcher Tom O'Connell
Associate Editors
Brian Blanchard.
Julie Rovner
Sue Warner:
Copy Editors
Cover photo of stadium
clean-up.by.Andy Freeberg
r. :..4~-