The Michigan Daily-Thursday, January 15, 1981--Page 9
FORMER 'M' STAR MAKES GOOD IN PROS
All that a,
By BOB WOJNOWSKI
He came from out of nowhere and led Michigan to
the brink of a national championship. He followed
that up by guiding the Wolverines to their last Big
Ten basketball championship, in 1977. And now, just
when it seemed as if he had returned to whence he
came, he has resurfaced as a member of the Utah
Jazz of the National Basketball Association.
On a gritty, gutsy ballclub, Rickey Green was the
*liding, graceful force which led it. He was the man
upon whom the powerful Michigan fastbreak was
built. Twice All-Big Ten and once an All-American,
Green finished his career at Michigan as the tenth
all-time leading scorer, all this in only two years as
a Wolverine after transferring from Vincennes
Junior College in 1975.
However, upon leaving Michigan, Green saw his
fortunes quickly sour. Originally drafted by Golden
State in the first round, Green had tryouts with
Detroit and Chicago, where he was the last player
cut, before finally latching on with Utah about two
Plnths ago. His fast-breaking style of play in
college was not conducive to the NBA style, and the
adjustment from college All-American to NBA has-
been was a difficult one.
"I was just playing point guard in college, and I
really wasn't ready for the pros," Green explains.
"After awhile you get down on yourself.
"You play a lot of games and there's a lot of
travelling, but the hardest part is trying to stay on
top of your game while sitting on the bench."
And apparently Green's bench-sitting days are
over. He has played in 16 games for the Jazz, star-
ting the last seven, and is averaging almost 10 poin-
- and Green, too
ts a game, third best on the team. He is shooting 57
percent from the floor and 83 percent from the free
throw line. All of which makes one wonder: why is
Rickey Green now excelling where previously he
has failed?
"I think it was just a matter of time, and Golden
State didn't have the time," he philosophizes. "I've
matured a lot. I knowwhat it's all about now."
At Utah, Green finds himself paired with one of the
NBA's most talented guards in Darrell Griffith. And
he'll be the first to admit that Griffith's talents have
made his own job that much easier.
"Darrell's a great athlete. He's a joy to play beside
Update
because he opens up the whole game. Teams key on
him and that leaves me open. I get a lot of easy
baskets because of him."
Although Green sees himself as basically a
penetrator and a scorer, he is quick to squelch
rumors that defense is an art that is frowned upon in
the NBA.
"There's a little less emphasis on defense in the
pros than in college, but everybody in the NBA is a
superstar," he says. "And everybody can score."
Although he now lives in Salt Lake City and spends
much of the year in action with the Jazz, Green does
try to follow the current Michigan team, catct
an occasional game when time permits.
"I saw them play Purdue last week and I t
they've got a good team. But I really can't m
any predictions from what I've seen."
Green also manages to keep in touch with mo.
his former Michigan teammates and tries to k
up with where they are and what they are doing.
"I'm friends with a lot of those guys and I tr
talk to them whenever I get a chance. I sawF
Hardy when we played the Lakers, and I've ta
to Dave Baxter, Joel Thompson and McGee.
"I keep in touch with Hubbard, I see he's doing
good with Detroit, and I know Steve Grote works
a T.V. station over there. And John Robinson i
assistant with Johnny Orr at Iowa State."
Green also puts in a call to Orr, the for
Michigan coach, every now and then.
"Oh sure, I've called him a couple of times
he's called me too," he notes. "I thought he w
good coach and I liked him a lot."
Despite the fact that Michigan lost to Indiana in
championship game in Green's first year here
then fell in the third round of the NCAA's
following season, he has no .regrets whatsoe
about his career at Michigan.
"Everybody wants a national championship ar
would've been nice to get it, but I don't feel it
disappointing at all. I had a great two years ther
Indeed he did. And with his pro career back on1
track, only one question remains: has Rickey Gr
found a home in Utah?
"I think so," he ponders. "They're pleased with
way I'm playing, and I'm enjoying myself, again
hing
hink
ake
st of
keep
y to
Alan
lked
real
s for
s an
mer
and
as a
the
and
the
ver
nd it
was
,e."
University Sports Information Photo
FORMER MICHIGAN All-American Rickey Green has found recent success
with the Utah Jazz. Green and Steve Grote (30) led the Wolverines to the
nation's top ranking in 1977.
SATURDAY, 7:30 PM-Aud. "B" Angel Hall-JAN. 17
SCORES FIRST GOAL AGAINST BADGERS
Dual athlete Fardig sizzles on ice and lini
By MARTHA CRALL
Golf and hockey. Jekyll and Hyde. The
genileman's game- and one of the
roughest, toughest games played in
American.
The two sports, upon mention, elicit
totally different mental pictures. In the
case of the former, one would picture a
gator-shirted man calmly strolling up
*to the green, concentrating silently for
a ninute or two, and smoothly sinking a
20-foot putt. Whereas the latter evokes
a wildly dramatic scene in which
heavily padded men skate around at a
lightning pace, stopping at nothing to
steal the puck back from the luckless
possessor and send it flying 100 miles-
per-hour into a net.
IF THERE ARE two sports which are
completely different, surely golf and
hockey are. And although being a two-
sport man is unusual enough, being a
* two-sport man in both of those sports is
even more unusual. But Dave Fardig is
not your usual guy.
"Obviously," he said, "golf 'and
hockey are two different types of spor-
ts, but my attitude is guite the same in
approaching both games."
"Hockey is a team sport, but so is
golf. The biggest difference between
the two is that in golf, someone can look
at your score and be able to tell exactly
how you did, but in hockey, they just
know if your team won or lost," Fardig
explained.
HE PLAYED BOTH sports at Pioneer
High School here in Ann Arbor. And
former Michigan hockey coach Dan
Farrell talked him into coming to
Michigan to play hockey in the fall of
1977.
The honeymoon ended, though, half-
way through Fardig's first season. He
quit the team because of problems with
Farrell, which Fardig is now quick to
admit was both parties' fault.
And after a summer of golfing, he
decided to pursue his other love. He
tried out for the golf team, and has sin-
ce been a starter for the last two
seasons, while putting hockey on the
back burner.
THAT IS, UNTIL last fall. "I wasn't
pleased with my golf game at the end of
the summer. I figured I had nothing to
lose by coming out for hockey," Fardig
said. "I thought there was a good chan-
ce that there were openings with the
loss of centers, and there was a new
coach, too."
Fardig did make the team, but hasn't
seen much action. He played in the
icers' opening series with Bowling
Green but had trouble adjusting to the
physical style of play Michigan has
adopted and has seen action in only five
games since.
"I didn't realize.how physical it was
going to be," Fardig said. But after
having worked on the problem, he has
seen more playing time of late.
FARDIG PLAYED IN a good part of
both games last weekend at Wisconsin,
scoring his first goal of the season in the
opening game. There was little
satisfaction, though, as the Wolverines
dropped both contests, 8-5 and 4-3.
"No one is really happy now. We know
we can do better," Fardig said of the
losses.
Fardig is quite happy with his
situation now, though. He respects his
coach, "I think he (John Giordano
done a good job under all the cir
stances this season. Some of
decisions, I think, were questioned
he usually turns out to be right."
While the hockey season is only
over, Fardig has thoughts about th
coming golf season. "I worry a
what people think when golf se
rolls around. Some people think
automatically a starter when I sho
in the spring, but that's not right. I
to earn a spot just like everyone e
want people to know that," Fardig
For now, though, hockey fills Far
time. And while the golf -green
buried under snow, the two-sport
fulfills his 'Hyde' duties onthe ice.
that
een
1the
n."-
has
cum-
his (Mujeres en Armas)
, but Women in Arms is the first major documentary filmed in Nicaragua after the over-
throw of the Somoza dictatorship by the Sandinist National Liberation Front. Pro-
half duced and directed by Victoria Schultz, a Finnish filmmaker, it examines the part
e up- played by women, both in the struggle against Somoza and in the reconstruction
about process which is changing Nicaraguan society in basic ways. Through women's eyes the
'ason film focuses on a wide range of related topics, from the family to the revolutionary mass
I'm organizations to the new Sandinist Popular Army. The situation the documentary
w up portrays suggest that Nicaragua's battles against tyranny, underdevelopment, and
have machismo are relevant to both women and men in other countries as well.
lse. I Revolutionary processes have necessarily to liberate women. Any sort of process
said. that doesn 't liberate women, gradually perhaps, is no revolution. Women here have
i' reached a certain point. They won't go bdck. They'll keep advancing, gaining ground
dig's But always as women. -Dora Maria Tellez
s lie Guerilla Commander in Nicaragua
man Comite Latinoamericano, Ethics and Religion,
Ann Arbor Committee for Human Rights in Latin America
expert.
Call RedCross
todayaboutlearning CPR-
cardiopulmonaryresUscitation.
- Red Cross
Green Ice
Ann Arbor Pioneer graduate Dave Fardig remains one of the few athletes
gifted enough to compete in two varsity sports. Fardig, shown here skating
for the Wolverine icers, also roams the links for the Michigan golf team in
the spring.
NOON LUNCHEON