4 Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 23, 1985 Blue gymnast thinks big BySTEVE HERZ They've got little hands and little eyes' They walk around telling great big lies Mdon't mnnt no short people Sound here' -Randy Newman It's apparent from the words of his hit tune "Short People" that Randy Newman has never had the pleasure of meeting Michigan sophomore Heidi Cohen, who at 4-10 is a big part of the gymnastics program. Tiny tumbler Cohen emerging as leader Don't let size be deceiving. Heidi Cohen is 85 pounds of pure athlete. And in the sport of gymnastics, 85 pounds, as Heidi Cohen proves, can go a very long way. VERY LITTLE can slow down this 19-year-old "workaholic" as she is labeled by assistant coach Mike Milidonis, but last season a broken ankle sidelined her in late October and she never fully recovered until this year. "I competed but it hurt my per- formance a lot," she recalls. But this season the Ohio native has emerged as a juggernaut on a team in need of a leader. She has progressed so rapidly over one year that her coach considers her one of the top two all- arounders on the squad and one of the nation's top fifty college gymnasts. It hasn't always been easy for Heidi Cohen. Few athletes have an easy road to the top but her journey has been especially long and arduous. At the ten- der age of 12 she left her home in Cleveland, with olympic glory on her. mind, to train with former olympic coaches Margie and Greg Weiss in Silver Springs, Maryland. TODAY SHE downplays her chances of ever competing in the Olympics and says, "What Olympians do and what I do are two totally different sports." Nevertheless, the olympic boycott en- ded any visions of gold and after three years of training she returned home. Living her early teens seven hundred miles away from home taught Cohen more than just the art of tumbling. In addition to the many hours of daily practice and school work she cooked and cleaned for herself and quickly garnered her own independence. Since her high school had no gym- nastics team she joined a nearby club to continue training. Despite not receiving as much attention as other high school gymnasts, Cohen made a good enough impression to be recruited by several schools. She finally came to Ann Arbor over Penn State for its vast academic and extra-curricular opportunities. The dedication Cohen has for gym- nastics transcends into her whole life. She is presiding secretary of West Quad's Michigan House and as one hallmate notes, "If Heidi Cohen under- takes a task you can be sure it will be done right." ONE OF the many things she is doing right is her academics. With a GPA of 3.8, as close to perfect as Mary Lou Ret- ton's floor exercises, Cohen seems well on her way to prime time television as a news anchorwoman, her goal for the future. Her voice is already gaining notoriety on the campus A.M. radio station WJJX. Everyday at noon, after careful preparation, she beams out the news. In an age where gymnasts are barely finding time to do anything but compete - former Olympians Retton and Julie McNamara are among the many who have shunned school to pursue training - Heidi Cohen, with all her respon- sibilities is an anamoly. Her roommate Danielle Potvin says in amazement, "I don't know how she does it." It's all right to think big but as Heidi Cohen asserts, bigger is not always bet- ter. And as another singer, Bruce Springsteen once wrote, 'From small things, Mama, big things one day come." Milidonis ... calls Cohen a "workaholic" Daily Photo by DAN HABIB Michigan gymnast Heidi Cohen takes off from the vault in recent com- petition. The Cleveland native also finds time to maintain a 3.8 GPA. Become a Daily photographer - Get into concerts for free, Go backstage and meet the stars, Stand on the sidelines at U of M football games, Impress members of the opposite sex (or the same sex, if you prefer). Blue Lines r; Coach's comments cutting.. . ... refs are real culprits By ADAM MARTIN THERE WAS more to last weekend than two Wolverine non-league losses at the hands of the fifth-ranked RPI Engineers. Under the shadow of an arrogant eastern-hockey mindset, the Wolverines were outskated and outplayed by a superior ECAC club that plays a different, non-CCHA brand of hockey. At least, that's what Engineer head coach Mike Addesa would argue. And Addesa would have no qualms about discussing (in fact, deriding) the Wolverines physical, aggressive strategy. Indeed he did so when describ- ing the action after his Engineers had defeated Michigan, 5-1, Saturday night. "We came in and flew, so (Michigan head coach Red) Berenson put plan "B" into effect - DESTROY." Addesa went on to describe in lurid detail Michigan's evil tactics and game plan which, in his view, resulted from the influence of Red Berenson. Without delving into several other juicy, incriminating Addesa quips, it could be said that the six-year RPI coach demonstrated a classless brand of nastiness, uncharacteristic of college cbaches, after his club swept the Wolverines. Berenson, of course, had his own view of the penalty-ridden contest - a game poorly officiated from the start. "There was no control by the officials, so the players started to lose con- trol," he said. But Berenson too felt he saw things from the Engineers that honestly characterized some of their players. Their defensemen were a lower form of human while the Engineer forwards were five-foot excrement bearers, to paraphrase. You get the idea. It should be noted that Berenson said what he did only after getting wind of Addesa's acidic .remarks. Berenson's main complaint concerned the referees. The officiating was so bad, in fact, that in the first period, referee Pierre Belanger ejected Wolverine defensemen Bill Brauer for "fighting," just to compensate for sending Kraig Nienhuis to the showers, after the Engineer left wing committed a flagrant foul. Several players were involved in the tussle in the corner. Eventually, however, Brauer appeared detained against the boards by two Engineers while all Houston Arena watched Nienhuis skate across the ice and smack Brauer several times. You need not know how Addesa explained the incident, except that the valor of Nienhuis was mentioned. But the problem isn't Nienhuis, Addesa, or even some uncleanly endeavors by the Wolverines. The problem Saturday was Pierre Belanger's inability to call a consistent game. And, according to Berenson, it was nothing new. Not specifically with Belanger, but with many referees Michigan's seen this season. Berenson brooded over his players' complete inability to guess or com- prehend how the game would be called, and the absurdity of how it was called (or wasn't). "I don't know why it's allowed to be this way, it looked like a roller-derby," Addesa also complained, before embarking on his foolish, foaming-at-the- mouth display for local reporters. Michigan captain Ray Dries was annoyed with officials who continually and artificiallychanged the momentum of the game with ludicrous whistles - and who consistently failed to blow the whistle when they should have. Let's get a few things straight: no matter how unfounded or ridiculous Ad- desa's criticism or how questionable (and illegal) were both team's tactics both really resulted from horrid refereeing. The players reacted to each other and it snowballed. Addesa's short- sightedness quickly multiplied after his biased viewpoint classified the Wolverine sticks as axes, and his club received a fair dose of controversial penalties. Control is the term. Addesa and the players lost it. The referee never had it. (Daily Sportswriter Tom Keaney filed a report for this story). Namath, O.J. among five voted into Hall Portfolio review: Sunday, January 27th, 1985 Brina anvthina Dhotoaraohic. 5.00 P.M. at CANTON, Ohio (AP) - National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle, quarterbacks Joe Namath and Roger Staubach, running back O.J. Simpson and old-timer Frank Gatski have been named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Pete Elliott, the shrine's executive director announced yester- commissioner to be named to the Hall of Fame. Namath, 41, the first New York Jets' player to be selected, is best remem- bered for his bold victory prediction and performance when the Jets beat the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III in 1969.