Sports
Page 12 Thursday, August 13, 1981 The Michigan Daily
REPORTEDLY WORTH $700,000
McGee signs Laker pact
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By BUDDY MOOREHOUSE
Daily Executive Sports Editor
It's a long way from Ann Arbor to
California, but the Los Angeles Lakers
are reportedly giving former Michigan
forward Mike McGee $700,000 over four
years to make the move.
McGee, who was the National
Basketball Association club's first
round pick in this year's draft-the 19th
player chosen overall-reportedly
signed a contract last week, but the
Lakers decided to announce the signing
when it would get better media atten-
tion. "We were very close to announ-
cing it last week," said Lakers Public
Relations Director Bruce Jolesch. "But
with a press conference with Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar one day, a conference
with Magic Johnson one day, the start
of the baseball season and everything,
and nobody gives a s--t about the
signing of a number one draft pick."
ACCORDING TO reports published
yesterday in the Ann Arbor News, Mc-
Gee will be receiving a guaranteed
$175,000 for the first two years of the
pact. But Jolesch said that the contract
has not been finalized yet. "We haven't
heard from his lawyer yet that all the
terms have been ironed out," he said.
"If we hear from his lawyer, then we'll
announce the signing on Sunday
(August 16)."
In his four years at Michigan, the
Omaha native rewrote virtually all of
the school's scoring records. McGee
broke Cazzie Russell's career scoring
record with 2,439 points, and put his
name in the Big Ten records book with
Man kit
by shot
put sues
NCAA
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)- A man hit in
the head by a 16-pound shot during the
1980 NCAA Track and Field Champion-
ships has filed a personal injury suit
against the NCAA and the University of
Texas.
James P. Smith filed suit Tuesday for
alleged "severe, painful and per-
manent personal injury" that occurred
June 6, 1980, when he was hit in the
forehead by a shot thrown by Tim Scott
of Texas A&M.
SMJITH, A volunteer official at the
meet in Memorial Stadium, said the
NCAA and University of Texas had
failed to provide adequate safety rules.
The accident happened while Smith
and another official were cleaning off
the shot put area in preparation for the
event. Scott apparently had asked one
official for another practice throw,
Smith said, but he was not aware of the
request.
Smith underwent a four-hour
operation to repair a fracture in the
frontal sinus area and another
operation for a broken upper jaw.
most points in a career and most points
in Big Ten games (1,503). In his senior
year, McGee averaged 21.2 points per
game for the Wolverines, earning first
team All-Big Ten and honorable men-
tion All-American honors.
Although he played forward for
Michigan, McGee could be moved to
guard at Los Angeles because of his 6-5
size and good quickness. "He'll be ex-
pected to come off the bech and score,"
said Jolesch. "He'll be one of the first
subs off the bench."
McGee will be joining a former
teammate on the Lakers. Alan Hardy,
who played for the Wolverines from
1974-78, was a reserve for Los Angeles
last season.
Although McGee never missed a
game for the Wolverines because of in-
jury, he broke his ankle in a pickup
game during the offseason and is still in
the process of rehabilitation. But
despite the fact that McGee says the
ankle is still not totally healed, the
Lakers are not worried. "If there was
any concern about his ankle, then he
wouldn't have been the 19th player
picked," said Jolesch. "He was out here
the week before the draft, and he was
fine. We really aren't concerned at all
about his ankle."
The Lakers won the NBA Champion-
ship in 1980, with Johnson filling in for
the injured Jabbar at center, but were
ousted in the first round in 1981 by
Houston.
FORMER MICHIGAN CAGER Mike McGee (40) is shown here scoring a
layup past Derek Harper of Illinois. The 6-5 forward has reportedly signed a
contract with the Los Angeles Lakers worth $700,000 over four years.
Nine more:
Bear Bryant
nears record
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - Bear
Bryant insists he doesn't want to talk
about it, but each victory by his
Alabama team this fall will move him
one step closer to one of the most
revered records in college football, the
most victories by a coach.
If the Crimson Tide keeps winning as
it has done for the past decade, the
record will come late in the season.
IN HIS 36 years as a coach, the 67-
year-old Bryant has amassed 306 vic-
tories. He needs eight to tie the mark of
314 held by the late Amos Alonzo Stagg
and nine to seta new standard. -
It took Stagg 57 years to reach his
total, whereas the late Glen "Pop"
Warner, the second man on the list won
313 games in 44 seasons.
"If anybody holds the record, it might
as well be me," Bryant said a few
season back.
BUT NOW HE SAYS, "That's
something I wish nobody would men-
tion to me again because I don't have
time to talk about it all the time. I don't
want to. I'm scared to."
Instead, he said he wants to talk
about his team that will try to improve
on Alabama's 1980 10-2 record and sixth
place finish in the final Associated
Press poll.
"After all, they're the ones who do the
winning," Bryant said.
HE CAN COUNT on only 10 seniors,
but that is misleading because under
Bryant's system of liberal sub-
stitutions, all his players except a
promising freshman crop have gained
experience.
Junior Ken Coley will have the quar-
terback job when practice begins next
week but he will be challenged by
senior Alan Gray and sophomores
Walter Lewis and Paul Fields.
Alabama probably will have its fastest
backfield ever-even Bryant admits it
will have "better than average
speed"-with Ken Simon, Joe Carter,
Linnie Patrick, Jeff Fagan, Mark Nix
and James Haney sharing Halfback
duties, and Earl Collings and Charley
Williams alternating at fullback.
Mississippi State, after 22 straight
losses to the Tide, upset Alabama 6-3
last season and the Tide lost 7-0 to
Notre Dame.
Alabama opens Sept. 5 at LSU in a
televisedgame and then meets Georgia
Tech, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Mississippi,
Southern Mississippi, Tennessee,
Rutgers, Mississippi State, Penn State
And Auburn.
After that, Alabama likely will be
going to its 23rd consecutive bowl game
and its 35th overall, both national
records.
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Bryant
.,. hopes topass Stagg