Page Six
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Soturdoy, July 10, 1976
Page Six THE MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, July 10, 1976
On tour wit
By STU McCONNELL
SUSAN ANDI WERE standing on the
beach of an inland lake in the wilds
of northern Michigan, tossing a frisbee back
and forth. Both of us being relative ama-
teurs, we missed more fancy catches than
we made. But it felt good to participate
after having played the .spectator's role at
the International Frisbee Tournament for
the past two days.
Nearby a young boy watched us with
idle interest. "I saw a guy on TV once
who could catch it between his toes," he
remarked to a friend.
I wanted to tell the boy that only fifty
feet away, in shallow water, stood John
Sappington, who can tip the disc with his
feet, catch it between his knees - in short,
do everything but make a frisbee tap
dance. But I restrained myself, perhaps
because such feats sometimes seemed in-
sigificant. Though they shouldn't.
-OHIIN, A MEMBER of Ann Arbor's Hum-
bly Magnificent Champions of the Uni-
verse frisbee team, was standing in the
water to soothe his bruises - prizes of the
previous day's match of "guts frisbee," a
sort. of five-person pistol duel fought out
with plastic discs. Consider the injustice
- John, who can catch a frisbee in his
sleep, has to play for nothing and work
at the University Cellar for his living,
Daily Photo by STEVE KAGAN while Johnny Miller hits balls into holes
eg catch during a "freestyle" routine and has a whole line of clothes named after
him.
The Humbly Magnificent Champions C
the Universe, "Humblies" to anyone wh
knows them, are six of the country's to
players in a game which most peop:
equate with croquet or lawn darts Bu
in the days I spent with the team rne
bers, en route to and at the Internation
Frisbee Tournament (IFT) in Iloughto
Michigan, I saw just how serious the can
petition can be.
Frisbee is not a sport to the great nm
jority of enthusiasts. It's sometting yt
throw around the park on Sundays. i
to me," sa' ' lumbly Scott Dickssna
practice ofa =o y, "That's what footba
is. They've r.,: their 100,000 seat stadig
and their marching band and eserthic
but it's the same. They just have ms
mnoney."
There are several frisbee spots, ran
ing from the ballet-like rhythms of "fre
style catch," to "frisbee golf," to "g.
frisbee," which is the oldest game an
the mainstay of the IFT - frisbee'siof
est tournament at a ripe 19 years.
(1UTS IS PLAYED by two five-pers
teams, standing 15 yards apart at
alternating throws, which often travel
excess of 90 m.p.h. The throwing tea
scores a point if the receiving team dro
the throw, traps the disc against the ba
or catches it with two hands. The recei
ing team scores a point if the throw
too high, too wide, or hits the gro
HUMBLY Vaughn Frick demonstrates an un der-the-l'
o Waterma
By MIKE NORTON
William Shepherd and I stood in the dappled shade
of the Diag elms, looking up at the bulk of Waterman-
Harbour gymnasium.
There it sat: squat and unlovely, poking its red brick
r snout at us. Crows called to one another across its
broad roof; shadows flitted dimly behind the high,
old windows.
I was struck by how much homely personality the
building had, architectural nightmare though it is.
Unlike most of the structures springing up on campus,
n: Demolition blues
Waterman is not a sterile aluminum and concrete
modular unit. It was itself.
Shepherd sighed. "There are people running this
University who hate old things simply because they're
old," he said. "People who just like to see things
ripped apart."
THE BUILDING has been standing for nearly a cen-
tury. The Waterman side was built in 1894; the
Barbour addition - for women students - in 1902. But
the structure's long history as a part of University
life may soon be coming to an end.
In March, the Administration approached the Uni-
versity Board of Regents with the request that they
approve demolition of the Waterman-Barbour com'slex,
The building was too old, they said; it didn't snte sire
and safety codes anymore. Besides, the Chemer7 De-
partment needed extra room to expand.
The Regents agreed, and voted 7-1 to tear down the
gym.
But reaction was swift in coming. At the April Re-
gents' meeting, Shepherd (an economics professor)
and student Kathie Gourlay delivered a passionate re-
proach to the Board, begging it to reconsider its deci-
sion. They produced documents of support from local'
historical groups which pointed out the unique histori-
cal and architectural features of Waterman-Barbour.
IOR YEARS, SAID Shepherd and Gourlay, the gyms
had been living centers of student life. Dances,
balls, plays, exhibitions - all were carried on in those
gyms. Three generations of Michigan students had ett-
joyed themselves there; didn't that count for any
thing?
The Regents listened politely. But saving old build-
ings just because of a few cobwebbed memories spu
off by a couple of history enthusiasts is no longer it
vogue omang administrators. The demolition order
was not rescinded, and the first steps toward destruc-
tion are already being taken.
WE WALKED SLOWLY up an interior flight tf
stairs. Shepherd pointed out arches and windows,
rapped on the wood paneling to demonstrate its sound-
ness. "Nothing elaborate," he admitted. "Just good
solid oak."
le wanted to show me a pair of classrooms, but they
were being used. And down the hallway, two dozer
women in tights flexed and stretched their legs whLE
a pianist played a polonaise for them. Shepherd led mte
out to the second-story jogging track that overlooks
Waterman gym.
An immensity of space suddenly stretched out V
front of me. Blue-painted brick, wood. and a spider-
webbing of girderses a thickhbeams of sunlight stat
"Here's the big problem, of course," he said. "b
See WATERMAN, Page 10
Mk4.e JN'oet nis a Daily Copy Editor.
Dsily Photo by STEVE KA AN
Shepherd and Gourlay in Waterman Gym