10 - Tuesday, February 13, 2007 SPORTS The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com MEN'S GYMNASTICS Blue still impacted by founding father BENJIDELL/Daily Freshman Chris Summers has scored three goals in the past two weeks since making the switch from defenseman to forward. Frosh fire up front By AMBER COLVIN Daily Sports Editor DETROIT - Maybe he was the last freshmanskater to notch agoal. Maybe it took him almost the entire regularseason to do it. Maybe it was just an empty netter. But Chris Summers has an unde- niable scoring touch. When Summers slipped his first puck into the net in the waning min- utes of a victory over Western Michi- gantwo weekends ago, fewknew just what he had up his sleeve. This past weekend, Summers revealed it, spearheading the three- goal comeback effort in a 3-3 tie with Michigan State. The Milan native chipped in Michigan's first two goals and assisted on the equalizer with a little more than a minute remaining in the game. And it was just his second full game at forward all season. Summers first moved to the front against Western Michigan, filling in for freshmen Brian Lebler after Leb- ler was injured in the third period. Though Lebler played this week- end, Michigan coach Red Berenson kept Summers as a forward, putting him up on Michigan's speedy second line alongside sophomore Andrew Cogliano and junior Chad Kolarik. "We needed a strongskaterto play with Cogliano," Berenson said of Summers. "He's a good competitor, he's strong, he's tough - and he can really skate." Really skate? "He looksalike Pavel Bure out there sometimes," Cogliano said. "I can't keep up with him sometimes. He's always flying around." The rookie's speed is just part of what attracted the Phoenix Coyotes to Summers last summer when they drafted him in the first round (29th overall) of the NHL Entry Draft. Another part of it was his versatility. - Summers grew up playing for- ward, but switched to defense at age 14. Then last season, while play- ing with the United States National Team Development Program, he was sentto the frontlines again. Though Berenson brought him in as a defenseman, Summers has proved he has the finesse of a for- ward. Saturday at Joe Louis Arena, Mich- igan peppered Spartan goalie Jeff Lerg with 57 shots. In the flurry, the Wolverines had a hard time solving Lerg- until one player puthimselfin the rightplace at the right time. "My role in the line was basically just to go to the net and put awayany loose pucks," Summers said. With so many shots, there were lots of loose pucks. Summers did his duty first off an assist from fellow freshman Steve Kampfer. Kampfer fired the puck with Summerswaiting on the doorstep, and Michigan got on the board for the first time. Summers worked itin again during the third period off a nifty assist from Cogliano. The Wolverine comeback effort peaked at the end of the game with another Cogliano-Summers connection, this time with Summers dishing the puck from behind the net and Cogliano flipping it in. Hard to believe this freshman was the same guy just celebrating his first career goal a week ago. That night, Summers had these prophetic words for the press: "It's an icebreaker, just get the first one," Summers said. "It happened to be any empty netter, but oh well. They don't askhow, theyjust askhow many." The freshman broke the ice indeed. In just more than a week, his answer to the "how many?" question went from zerotothree. By COLT ROSENSWEIG Daily Sports Writer The distinguished gentleman sits in a chair in the corner of the practice gym. Placing both hands on the armrests, he grins brightly and says, "Look at these old paral- lel bars muscles at work!" But this is no ordinary Michi- gan gymnastics alumnus. This is Newt Loken, the men's gymnastics equivalent of Bo Schembechler. The practice gym is named after him. The award for best per- formance of the night on either team, presented at each men's gymnastics home meet, is named after him. If Michigan coach Kurt Golder had his way, the entire Sports Coliseum would be named in honor of him. Known across the country, no individual has had a bigger impact on the Michigan men's gymnas- tics program. The 88-year-old Loken, head coach of the men's gymnastics team from its rebirth at Michi- gan until his retirement in 1983, is a familiar sight at practices and home meets. In fact, he has not missed a single Michigan home meet since he took over as head coach in 1948. And his influence on the pro- gram is still strong. Both of the coaches since Loken - Bob Darden and Golder - were Michigan gymnasts under his tutelage. Actually, if it weren't for Loken's insistence, Golder might still be coaching at Iowa. "Newt called me enough times that to get him off my backI finally said, 'OK, I'll interview,' " Golder said. "Once I said that, I thought, 'IfI'mgoingto dothis, I'mgoingto do it right.'... SoI really went after it at that point. But if it weren't for his influence, it's quite likely that I wouldn't have been here." Men's gymnastics itself might not be here if it wasn't for Loken. After a spectacular career as a gymnast at the University of Min- nesota - amonghis many achieve- ments was a national all-around championship in 1942 - Loken served as an athletic welfare offi- cer in the Navy during World War II. He helped sailors keep up their fitness, often using a trampoline. Following his service, Loken came to Michigan to pursue his master's degree. On the side, he offered his services as a coach to the cheer- leading team. In 1947, the athletic board of directors awarded varsity status to men's gymnastics, which had been dropped as a varsity sport during the Great Depression. Loken, who had been leading a group of club gymnasts around the Midwest performing at the halftime of basketball games, immediately accepted the offer to become the team's coach. At first, the fledgling Wolver- ines had a tough time compet- ing against more established programs. But in the late 1950s, when Loken could offer schol- arships to prospective recruits, Michigan gymnastics took off. Loken's team won 12 Big Ten championships - more than any other coach - and national titles in 1963 and 1970. A consummate Michigan man, Loken was not only a top gymnast and coach, but is also a published author, and a tremendous public speaker. He has always exuded an infectious enthusiasm. "I have this image of him from homecoming games," said Rich Dopp, a Michigan gymnast from 1991-95. "As recently as probably five or six years ago, he was still on the field with the alumni cheer- leaders at the Homecoming game. ... It may sound a little dorky, but it just makes me want to go, 'Meech- igan! Meechigan! Rah, rah!"' The current team collectively perks up whenever Loken comes to practice. One by one, the gym- nasts walk over to greet him and shake his hand. "Whenever everyone sees him, it always brightens up people's day," sophomore Joe Catrambone said. "It just means a lot to me - seeing him every day, him coming in here when he doesn't even have to be here anymore, and taking time outto help some of the guys still. It's just real nice." Said assistant coach Scott Vetere: "(Loken) wants to get to know every guy. He knows every- body on the team, and if he forgets, he's 80-some years old, and he'll ask again. He's just a pure gym- nastics guy - always wants to be around gymnastics, always wants to learn more, (always) wants to praise guys for what a wonderful job they're doing." Loken holds the current team of gymnasts in equal esteem as they hold him. Rather than bemoaning the constant changes to the gymnas- tics Code of Points, and the tre- mendous difference in the sport from his college days, he revels in every new skill and hit routine. Few things make him happier than rehashing the greatest per- formances of the most recent meet with the gymnasts. "As I've kidded these guys, I don't even show my old movies," Loken joked. "The elevation of their skills is so great, right up there at a high level." Loken has a huge collection of stories, which he gladly shares with anyone who wants to hear them. He can tell you something about every athlete whose name is on the Park Family Wall of Fame, where the top gymnasts in Michi- gan history are commemorated. He'll tell you about the time he was pulled into the stands and involuntarily went crowd-surf- ing during halftime at a football game. He was later found out by the none-too-pleased band direc- tor, William Revelli, who hated any distractions from his halftime show. Or the time former Minnesota head coach Ralph Piper had a tro- phy engraved for his all-around championship in 1942 - two weeks before Loken actually won the competition. In addition to his published tomes on gymnastics and cheer- leading, Loken printed a little book for his grandchildren called "Newt's Sayings." Over the years, the coach col- lected a number of motivational sayings, which he used liberally with both his athletes and fam- ily. Recently, his wife convinced him to write some of the best ones down. One quote graces the final page: "You never touch people so lightly that you do not leave a trace." Of Newt Loken, truer words were never spoken. "I've learned how to be a Mich- igan man from him," said Vetere, who competed for Michigan from 1999 to 2003. "I've learned to always stay positive. ... I've tried to live my life and coach like Newt Loken would want." 9 I Get 300 free text messages a month for one year. 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