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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1976)
Cougars promise fireworks with aerial show Jack Thompson, Washington State's golden-armed quarterback, will bring a pass-orientated offense to Autzen Saturday in a clash between two Pac-8 cellar-dwellers. Both the Cougars and Oregon carry 0-3 conference records. -Sportfolio—- — Cycling club to compete Seniors Terry Green and Kim Carlson will lead the Oregon Cycling Club into the State Championships for Cyde-Cross in Sunriver Saturday. The competition indudes cross-country bicycle riding over grass, mud and sand surfaces, running with a bicyde and jumping over logs. Paddlers meet PSU Saturday The Oregon Table Tennis Club will meet Portland State at noon Saturday in 350 Gerlinger Annex. Soccer teams host games The OISA soccer team will host Linfiefd Saturday at 7 p.m. in Autzen Stadium. The Oregon women s team will also play Saturday against visiting Padfic University. Skydivers set competition Area parachutists will get a chance to join in some high-flying competition this weekend. The Webfoot Sport Parachutists are sponsoring a sky-diving meet Saturday and Sunday at Daniel's Field, off Interstate 5 at the Harrisburg exit. The contest is open to anyone who has a log book, and has made at least one sport parachute jump. Starting time for the meet is 8 a.m. (fog permitting) and it will continue until dark. Participants may compete in either of two categories—a beginning class for those who have made from one to fifty jumps and an advanced class for those who have made over fifty jumps. Contenders in the first category may compete in hit-and-run and flour-bombing contests. In the hit-and-run event, jumpers will be judged on how close to a target they can land and, if they miss the target, how guickly they can run between their landing point and the target. In the flour bombing event, jumpers have to hit a target with flour as the landing is made. Advanced competitors may participate in five-man and two-man scrambles. In scramble, parachutists join hands during the jump. An admission fee of 25 cents per event will be charged. Laurie Jones, coordinator of the meet, expects a good turnout and excellent competition at the meet. For more information, contact Jones at 344-2537. By JEFF NIELSON Emerald Sports Editor The Wide Open Game is finally coming to Autzen Stadium Satur day. It could be Oregon breaking it open, but when Washington State gets on the field for the 1:30 p.m. conference game, it’ll be bringing its own brand of put-it-in-the-air football that has caused some consternation lately for opposing teams. Coach Jackie Sherrill's squad has had some squeakers in the last couple of weeks. Although they sport a dismal 1-6 record for the season, the Cougars took Southern California to the wire three weeks ago in a game that was tied 14-all in the fourth quarter until USC finally pulled it out, 23-14. Then, last weekend, WSU lost to Stanford, 22-16, when the Cardinals scored a last-minute touchdown. One big reason the Cougars have remained a threat is their quarterback, 6-3 213 lb. Jack Thompson. Third in conference passing behind Stanford s Guy Benjamin and California's Joe Roth, Thompson is the obvious leader in WSU's aerial attack—one that has made the Cougars tops in Pac-8 passing with a 277.1 per-game average. ‘Thompson is one of the best, if not the best, passer in the confer ence,” said Oregon assistant coach Don Cortez. “You can rank him right up there with the Benja mins and the Roths as far as pas sing.” WSU triggerman Thompson, a native of Samoa, has several prime targets for his bullets. Flanker Brian Kelley is a short 5-9, yet he cought passes for a total of 101 yards against Stanford even though he was often double-and triple-teamed. Split end Mike Levenseller, the nation s leading pass reciever, is questionable for the game because of a bruised thigh, but would be quite a worry for the Ducks if able to play. And yet another receiver, Dan Doornick, is second in Pac-8 re ceptions with 31 caught this sea son. Altogether, the Cougars have Homecoming is a big deal.” Much will depend on the Oregon defense. The Ducks stopped Washington twice inside the two-yard line last weekend, and it took a 72-yard run by the Huskies’ Joe Steele to give the hosts a 14-7 victory, in Seattle. But the Duck secondary has suffered damaging injuries. Sec ond team strong safety Bruce Jenson is lost for the season with upcoming knee surgery, and start ing defensive end Larry Williams is still doubtful because of a se vere foot strain. r emerald sports \ J four receivers among the top nine in the conference. WSU is one-sided, however. Dead last in conference rushing offense, the Cougs have their number two rusher, Harold Gil lum, on the sidelines with an im pacted tooth. The contest will mean a lot to both teams, for the winner will dimb out of the Pac-8 cellar. The Ducks espedally don't want to fail down in front of a homecoming crowd. "Sure, if we win, morale goes up,” remarked Cortez. “We’ve been on the road the last three weeks without a victory, and we’d like one Saturday. Obviously, if we win, we ll be feeling better. Returning to action, however, will be defensive end John Reed, who sat out the Washigton game because of illness. While it hasn’t carried the impor tance of years past, there are still events to mark Oregon’s Homecoming. Former Marching band members will perform at half-time, and about 400 students are expected to sit in a special “card section" at the game. The Ducks hold a 24-23 edge in the series between the two schools, in a rivalry that dates back to 1901. KUGN will start its live broad cast at 1 p.m. with the pregame show. The big one: Ducks, Cougars favored in Northern Division CC championships By DAN UNDAHL Of the Emerald Along with the battle between Washington State and Oregon for supremacy at the Northern Division Cross Country Championships Saturday, will be the equally poignant conflict of foreigner versus Ameri can. Lower Woodland Park in Seattle will be the setting for the tandem of confrontations which are practically knotted. On the one hand is the simple affray bet ween the Cougars and Ducks for the Northern Divi sion cross country crown. Oregon State and Washington will also be on hand, but for all p actical purposes, they will serve only 45 spectators to what boils down to a dual meet between the two long established cross country giants But equally interesting is the question of who’s running and whether it's fair. Cougar cross country coach John Chaplin bristles at the suggestion that his program-being almost to tally reliant upon imported athletes-is unfair. The topic of what is or isn't fair, especially when applied to world-class Kenyans Henry Tono, Samson Kimambwa and defending Pacific 8 champion Joshua Kimeto, is a sore spot Chaplin admits. “That's not even an open subject,” said Chaplin. “Oregon built its reputation on Australian milers and Norwegian runners. It's been using foreign athletes for years. You never hear Dellinger (Oregon cross country coach Bill) saying anything. When you live in glass houses, you don’t throw rocks." Chaplin is correct on that count. Dellinger, al though expressing his displeasure with current rules, admits the necessity for overseas recruiting in some instances. “I have no hard feelings," remarked the former cross country coach of the year. “As long as the rules stay as they are, you have to win however you can, and you can win by going overseas for runners.” But that doesn’t mean Dellinger approves of the current situation. “What I would like is a rule like we used to have which said that a foreign runner has to be the same age as the people he’s competing against in the states," said Dellinger, whose team has no runners from outside of North America in its top 10. "It used to be that a foreign runner lost a year of college eligibil ity for each year he ran in his own country after the age of 19. But that was changed by a court decision so now our kids are running against 25,26,27.who knows how old they are?” And to Dellinger, the future doesn't appear bright. “I see things getting worse before they get better," he said. ‘The real problem is that the NCAA people just aren’t really concerned about the problem. If it was football or basketball they'd get something done quick, but since its a non-revenue sport, they don't care.” Chaplin, meanwhile, has some pretty definite ideas about what has been the root cause of alt the commotion. “When you say Kenyan you might as well say nigger because that is what you really mean,” lashed Chaplin. “It is just a matter of color. Nobody said anything when it was English or German or Au stralian runners. Just Kenyans.” One thing the coaches can agree on is that Saturday's meet should be extremely competitive, although neither coach places an over-abundance of importance on the outcome. Chaplin, who will be sending a squad of eight runners to Seattle including five who have finished in the top 10 at the Pac-8 meet sometime in their career, is almost complacent about the champion ship. “It’s a race, so sure we’ll hope to win," lie said. “But it's really just a race to see where we are. It has nowhere near the importance of the Pac-8 meet." Dellinger also does’t feel it's a must situation. However the Duck mentor thinks it would be nice if his 10-man contingent of Dave Taylor, Terry Wil liams, Alberto Salazar, Rudy Chapa, Matt Cen trowitz, Don Clary, Steve McChesney, Art Boiieau, Peter Spir and Don Beckwith can handle WSU. "We’d like to use this meet as a stepping stone to the Pac-8 championships, and then to nationals," said Dellinger. And the Duck boss likes the outlook at this point. "We re a lot better at this time this year than at the same time last year," he said “we're better depth wise and better talent-wise. I know that all sounds very positive, and it is. But other teams are improved too. To beat WSU, we’ll have to run like the devil." Or perhaps, run like a Kenyan.
