All-American, All-World—All-person
After four years of
enjoying Bev Smith,
the era must end
Has she no faults then, Sir ?
VVs; she has one, I must aver
li 'hen all the u-orld conspires to praise her,
The zooman s deaf, anti does not hear
— Alexander Pope, On a Certain Lath at Cour
All-conference. All-America. All-world.
Bev Smith has accomplished more in the last four years
than most athletes accomplish in a lifetime, but the effect on the
psyche of the 21-year-old Oregon w omen’s basketball star mav
not be what you would expect.
She hasn't had a dunk named after her, nor does the word,
“World" shimmer on a gold chain around her neck. In fact,
Smith’s trophies are “gathering dust” on top of the piano in her
Salmon Arm, British Columbia home.
Smith is the Oregon career record-holder in scoring and
rebounding, she has been a starter for the Canadian National
Team since 1978 and has toured the world to plav in the World
Championships, World Student Games, Pan American Games
and the Olympic Qualifying Tournment.
In 1981, she was named to the Kodak All-American team,
nominated for the Wade Trophy (awarded to the top collegiate
women's basketball plaver in the l ’nited States) and was the
co-most valuable player of the Giusti Tournament with Anne
Donovan of Old Dominion. This season, she took the Giusti
MVP award again and is again a contender for the Wade
T rophv.
Plainly, Smith is the name associated with Oregon
women’s basketball. But in her final season, while most
outstanding basketball players are piling up their statistics
hoping for all the accolades possible and a shot at making it in
the pros, Smith isn't all that interested in making brownie points
with national committees.
Realizing that putting out a maximum effort to add to her
stats would increase her chances at national recognition. Smith
says she would not feel right sacrificing her role with the team
for her individual goals.
“It would be easier for me," the 6-1 strawberrv blonde
says “if I would score 30 points a night, but with the type of
team we have, I don’t think that is possible. We have a good
inside game with Alison Lang, and to go and score 30 points
against a team like Portland State wouldn’t make me feel gixid.
nor would it make anv of mv teammates feel good.”
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“I would like to see her stats improve,” says Oregon coach
Elwin Heinv. “It would help her in the balloting for Wade
All-American, but she doesn’t care about that.”
Could it be that she is one of the few to deny herself the
recognition she deserves, playing basketball just because she
likes to play? That's partially correct, she says.
“My prime motivation in playing basketball is to excel in
something," she says. Whether she obtains the recognition for
what she does just doesn’t have the same impact for her as it
does for others.
Recently, Smith denied Sports Illustrated an interview,
because she dates one of that magazine's writers, Kenny Moore.
She indicated that her decision had nothing to do with trving to
suppress her accomplishments.
“I can’t sav it's not a big deal (an interview with a
prestigious national magazine),” she says. "We all tend to have
somewhat of an ego — we like to have the recognition — but the
question is if it’s right. I’m not sure that it is."
Some may not think that should stop one of the best
athletes ever to grace the hardwoods at McArthur Court, but
recognition has never been an overriding factor in her life
"That’s the type of person she has always been,” savs
Lloyd Smith, Bev’s father. “We see her plav some when she
comes home. She plaved in a homecoming game, hut she slacked
off and passed the ball — she’s not out there to prove, ‘I’m Bex
Smith.’ ”
Her father, a semi-pro hockey plaver, savs his daughter has
excelled in just about everything she has tried, including
hockey, but that modesty has always gone hand-in-hand with her
success.
"She skated when she came home, and I could see she
hadn t lost a thing (from her hockey skills). Some of the guvs on
the team said I should ask Bev to come out and pla\ for us. But
she wouldn’t be tor that. She likes to keep low-kcved.”
Low-keyed — yes. Disinterested — definitely not’
“She’s a sincere and dedicated person, alwavs has been,”
her father says. “She has always looked out for the little fella —
those less fortunate than herself. That’s what makes her the
kind of person she is.”
Her coach agrees.
“Her impact off the court is just as great as it is on the
court,” Heiny says. “She makes a positive contribution to the
community at large. She attends LSI' (Eugene Sports Program
for area youths) games and talks to little kids — all on her own
time.”
After home games Bev Smith can be found somewhere
within the confines of Mac Court signing autographs for
children who thrive on the personality of the all-American.
She says she spends the time with the children because she
knows how young people try to emulate athletes of w hom they
are particularly fond.
“When I was younger, I had some idols that plaved very
strong goals in my life that helped me set mv goals,” Smith savs.
“ I hey led bv example and I thought they were good examples
to follow, and so I think its really important, as a role model,
that you display the type of personality that the kids might want
to have.
"There are so many other things influencing them in
school and sometimes in their families that could take them
down another road.”
So, she s|>ends the time with the children signing
autographs, but even more important, she says, she spends time
just talking with them. She used to spend a lot of time trying to
make her autograph more legible for the kids, but now, she says,
that may not be so im|>ortant.
“Now, I think kids want the autograph more for the
pleasure of the moment I don t think they do much with it
later.’’
The autographs, home-court crowds that cherish their
team and their plavers, the rhythmic beat produced by a berserk
crowd that has just watched Bov fake right and go left to the
hoop — all will cease for Smith at Oregon at the end of this
season.
“I will always remember what a stimulating place Mac
Court can he,” Smith says. “The people that come in and watch
our games Jrf special It's a lot different playing in front of
these |>coplethan anywhere in the country.”
Oregon fans will remember Smith for her athletic ability
and the w av she can bring them to their feet But thev w ill also
remember her as the single most dominating force that put
Oregon on the map in women's collegiate basketball from the
first dav shtput on No. 24.
"It's hard for me to put my finger on what 1 will remember
most about her, because she has done so much," Heinv savs.
“Her attitude toward the game has been such that players know
that if you don't put out you’re going to get blasted. Plavers
know that it they're going to play her they better be fit — 1
think the entire Northwest I-eague has benefitted from her
play."
Heinv says former Oregon baseball coach Mel Krause
w atched her outstanding performance in a 68-67 defeat of the
Korean National team in 1^76, and said it was the finest athletic
jiertormancr bv an individual he had ever witnessed
“But for me — ” Heines says, “hey, I see it everv dav.
“When she first came here as a freshman, she plavcd so
well that we were concerned about her improving, but she has.
If it means pbying against the guvs, or whatever, she does what
it takes to improve. Her mental game and her individual skills
have both improved this year."
I-vc11 frim the start, Heinv savs, Smith came on like a
seasoned vekran — “I.ike a senior when she was a freshman.”
But Smith sa s that since joining the Ducks, she has become a
more complete player.
"I don l know if I'm that much stronger, physically, than I
was when I first came to Oregon, but mv overall offensive
ability has improved, she says. “I'm a better shooter now,
although I m still not much of a pure shooter - I still have to
work at it."
V\ ork is something Bev Smith has rarelv ceased to do in
her tenure at Oregon. Her coaches and teammates have grown
accustomed to her demanding style that pressures not onlv
herself to perform, but everyone else as well.
^ et things have begun to change foi Smith, who savs there
is more to life than just putting the ball through the ring.
"I ve slowed myself down a lot, and I’m not as concerned
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Cultural Forum presents,
A.V. VC—' _an evening with (Lis 'y'/ \ \
m LcoKottke W
opening with: Chris Tsefalas
Tuesday, Feb. 9 th
EMU Ballroom
Ticket’s: $5_50 IIO Students
$6.50 (General Pubb<
Available at I,Ml Main Desk
Earth River Records and
Diana's on the Mall
TEETH
Ignore them
and they will
go away
Teeth Cleaning
and Exam S25
Will Morningsun D.O.S.
Thomas R. Huhn D.D.S.
call for appointment
746-6517
1 '/•> miles from campus next to
the Bike Path
528 Mill St. Springfield
EMU Cultural Forum
Presents
DANILO
DOLCI
Noted Italian peac e ac livist. poet,
author and theorist of non-violent
direc t ac lion. Dole i will speak on
"c reativitv, educ ation, and
(irass-roots developments".
Sicily exports Danilo Dolci America exports Alexander
Haig Dolci comes to America to talk about non-violent human
responsibility Haig goes to Europe to huxter (sic) human
extermination
Those who would prefer not to die at the hands of Haig
and his henchmen would do well to welcome Danilo Dolci. to
ponder his words to take a measure of hope Haig, all
appearances notwithstanding, is not god He can only play
god and the performance is a dismal one But Dolci plays
human, and in an open season on humans we had best take
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