8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - September 13, 1999 Catfish draws tears, tributes HERTFORD, N.C. (AP) - Jim "Catfish" Hunter probably would have despised this - people dressed in suits making a fuss over him. He was buried Sunday several hundred yards from the high school field where he began a base- ball career that would send him to the Hall of Fame. More than 1,000 family, friends and former major league teammates turned out for the funer- al of the pitcher who won five World Series titles with the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees. The 53-year-old Hunter died Thursday, one year after learning he had Lou Gehrig's disease. Former teammate and Seattle manager Lou Piniella missed his team's game in Baltimore to attend the service at Cedarwood Cemetery. Other former teammates in attendance included A's Joe Rudi, Vida Blue, Gene Tenace and "Blue Moon" Odom, and Yankees Ron Guidry and Reggie Jackson. The Yankees sent general manager Brian Cashman and former manager and scout Gene Michael as their representative. "I was looking forward to spending time with Catfish after the season. It didn't quite get to that," said Piniella, his eyes teary. "My wife and I and my young son are here to pay tribute to him. He was a great guy." A 15-year-old Hertford boy stood outside the cemetery gate wearing a Yankees hat as the hearse carrying Hunter's drove by. Players placed flowers on Hunter's casket as they filed out of the cemetery. Despite being baseball's first big free agent, Hunter always returned to this small eastern North Carolina town to live, and eventually retire. "It's like taking out a part of your body, like ripping out your heart," former high school team- mate Eddie Miller said Bill Crawford drove about 70 miles from Virginia Beach to stop by the cemetary nd wilk past Hunter's marble shrine on the town's main street, which had flowers sprawled along it's base "I'm not much into baseball. I just know the man and I understand he was a great guy. Crawford vaid. I heard he was just a straight iid honest man, and had one hellacious career as a pitcher. I just thought I would come down to see where he lived." In one store, there was a baseball autographed by Hunter that had a sticker on the outsdc of the plastic case that read: "Ball not for sale." The most striking floral arrangement at Hertford Baptist Church came from Hunter's three children and grandchild. It was a huge base- ball arrangement with white mums and roses as the seams of the ball. Another arrangement at the church came from the family of late A's owner Chalie 0. Finley, who signed Hunter and brought him right to the majors without a day spent in the minors. Hunter was unconscious for several days last month after falling and hitting his head on con- crete steps. But he improved and was sent home to his Perquimans County farm on Saturday. He died in less than a week. As the centerpiece of pitching staffs, first with the Athletics and then with the Yankees, Hunter wot 224 games, produced five straight 20-victo- ry seasons, a perfect game and a Cy Young Award. The'Rev. Keith Vaughan eulogized Hunter as a common man who cared deeply for others. "He never ever acted as if he was too busy for us. He never acted like we were a bother to him East Coast not kind to Michigan stickei Gannon, Reid are lone scorers for Blue in weekend losses to Virginia and Madison AP PHOTO The former Oakland A's and New York Yankees great was laid to rest yesterday In North Carolina. I know sometimes we probably were," Vaughan said. "He never ever gave into the fact that he was famous iad we weren't. He could just as easily slammed the door on us and told us to go on our was. That's not the kind of man he was." By Ryan C. Moloney Daily Sports Writer How about three out of five'? The schedule ofNCAA field hockey isn't allowed to change once the season starts, but if Michigan has its way, a matchup in the NCAA Tournament against either Virginia or James Madison could make their recent weekend debacle in Charlottesville, Va. a little less disheartening. But that hope serves as little conso- lation. The Wolverines lost both of their weekend matches and were outscored by a total of 6-2. Friday's loss, a 3-2 overtime nailbiter to Virginia, may have deflated the team for Sunday's match - a 3-0 defeat at the hands of James Madison. In fact, Michigan had all but the shut the door on the mighty Cavaliers -- holding a 2-1 lead until Virginia's Jessica Coleman scored with 2:32 left in regulation. The Wolverines had led since the 13- minute mark of the second half when Kelli Gannon scored on a corner play from Courtney Reid and Catherine Foreman. It was the first time the undefeated Cavaliers had fallen behind all season. "We played the best game we've ever played since I've coached here," coach Marcia Pankratz said. "In the end we just let it slip away." Coleman also had a hand in the win- ning goal, this time feeding Lorraine Vizzuso for the game-winner at the 4:28 mark of the fifteen-minute over- time period "She (Coleman) is a very strong col- lege player," Pankratz said. "She's the type of player who can pick the team up on her shoulders and carry them. "We could use some of that on our team." To make matters worse, Michigan outshot Virginia by a whopping 13-6 total. Yesterday, the Dukes dominated Michigan on the defensive end, limit- ing the Wolverines to just three shots all game. The shot total was the lowest by a Michigan team since the 1996 sea- son. James Madison's Theresa Dinallo started the scoring at I1:02 into contest, npping a shot past N keeper Kati Oakes. Katrina hi twice capitalized on penalty-corne tack on some nisurance. Pankratz said James Madison trolled the physical aspect of the g - racing to the loose balls first knocking Michigan around when the Wolverines tried to penetrate offensive zone. "We stunk it up," she said. "It first half we were absolutely territ really don't know what happe there. "We played them evenly in the ond half, but this is a 70-minute g, You can't expect to come out liki did in the first half and expect to v It was a weekend which, if not else, gave rise to a question - wil Wolverines use the losses as a r towards steady improvement, or j they previews for dissapointm come? One factor to consider - Mich played two top 10 teams in a spa three-days. It may have been more surpr had Michigan come out in the se game with guns blazing. A letdown performance is in standable. Oakes, ever the representative o teammates, wouldn't use fatigue' excuse "I don't think we were emotini or physically drained," she said. "It just one of those things -- everyt had a bad day and there was nothin could do about it." This isn't college football Pankratz knows it. Nobody gets to the tournamen lining up cream puffs every week throwing in a powerhouse or two. If nothing else, credit Michi* taking on such a bear of a pre-co ence schedule in the first place. "That's why we play such a ,t non-conference schedule," Pan< said. "We can learn more about selves by playing tough competitio It's understandable philosophy it long-run -- and an excruciatingly ficult one in the short term Wacnt A Challenge? Start your career off on the right foot by enrolling in the Air Force OfficerTraining School. There you will become a commissioned officer in just 12 weeks. From the start you'll enjoy great pay, complete medical and dental care, 30 days of vacation each year, plus the opportunity to travel and AIM HIGH see the world. To discover how high a career in the Air Force can take you, call 1-800-423-USAF, or visit www.airforce.com our website at www.airforce.com Rookie driver killed MONTEREY, Calif (AP) Rookie driver Gonzalo Rodriguez was killed Saturday when his car smashed into a concrete wall at about 140 mph during practice for the Shell 300 at Laguna Seca Raceway. The 27-year-old Uruguayan died of massive head and neck injuries, said Dr. Steve Olvey, director of medical affairs for the CART FedEx Series, Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:10 PDT at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. He was the first driver fatality in the CART series since Jeff Krosnoff was killed in a crash during a race in Toronto in July 1996. Rodriguez was approaching the famed Corkscrew turn on the road course when his brakes locked and his car hurtled off the track and through a riael trap without losing speed. The car struck a tire barrier and slammed into the concrete wall behind the tires. The open-wheel car flipped about 3 feet. flying over a wall of advertise- ments and landing upside down on a grassy hill. The practice was flagged to a stop as safety workers removed Rodriguez from the car. He was taken by ambu- lance to the hospital. A spokesman for Mercedes said telemetry records from the car proved the accident was not caused by a stuck throttle as initially speculated. There was no other immediate report on the cause of the accident from Mercedes, the Penske team or CART. DAILY SPORTS WANTS CALL 647-3336 TODAY. I a p BIG 09;t ©UcSE "exng & UC 0 E N QUAUTY & AAUIE 711 N. University 668-6915 M'902 S. State 668-729 ,THE WITH: RSam Bush SS erry Douglas Bela Fleck Tony Rice SESSSION 5 Mark Schatz and special guest Tuesday, September 14 at 7:30 pms Michigan Theater 4 1; $