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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1981)
Page 14 Portland Observer, November 5,1961 OSU ’Tails ' 6600 NE U n io n P o rtla n d . O R . T ai. 287 O **3 W ith the score 45-0 Oregon State kicked a field goal m idw ay in the fourth quarter. One O S U assistant coach was heard to say: “ 14 more o f those and we’ re right back in i t . ” Avezzano lost his cool as well as the game. On the Beavers’ first posses sion, with Cal leading 7-0, the Beav ers had fourth and one on the Cal fo u r. A vezzano called on Randy Holmes to cariy; Holmes obliged by losing a fumble on the one and Cal recovered. A vezzano was so con vinced that his man had scored that he went on the field and raged at the o fficials. A ll he got was a 15-yard penalty, so instead o f being backed up near th e ir own goal lin e, the Bears actually had breathing room. Undeterred, Avezzano continued to scream at the officials, ignoring his team while it was giving up an 84- yard touchdown drive. Very in ter esting. D id you know? Melvin Renfro. Jr. rips off a big gain in leading Reynolds to a 14-7 win over Gresham. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Mel Renfro, Jr. carries the ball by Ron Sykes On an unusual November evening Oregon’ s finest athlete ever sat in the stands at tiny M o u n t H ood C om m unity College. A long way from Texas Stadium , Three River Stadium, and all the large stadiums that were once his stomping grounds in the glorious days o f yesteryear. This time he returned to watch and not to play. He sat silently, eyes glued to the Held, but focusing on every move o f a young tailback on the Reynolds H igh School squad. On the first play o f the game the ball went to the Reynolds Lancer ta il back wearing No. 41. H e took the pitch, skirted the right side, then followed his blockers downfield. He guided his blockers in the same manner as that of the University o f Oregon’s old No. 20. He was finally brought down after a ten-yard gain. The public address system blared out, “ Renfro, the ball carrier, for a gain o f 10 yards.” Mel Renfro, Sr. lunged forw ard in his seat, then leaped into the a ir w ith clenched fist. “ Way to go M elvin,” he shout ed. This was the first time the ex-U. of O. AU-Ameiican running-back and Dallas Cowboy All-Pro quarterback was to see his son perform on the gridiron. Mel Renfro, Jr. is easily recognizable as the son o f Mel Ren fro, Sr. “ It gave me goose pimples to see him out there,” beamed Mel, Sr. “ He has the same stride, the same moves, and seeing him took me back 20 years into my past.” MEL RENFRO Unlike his famous Dad, Mel Ren fro, Jr. did not burst upon the foot ball scene. Mel, Jr. did not play var sity football as a sophomore as did his D ad . M e l, Jr. chose a d iffe re n t sport. His choice was soccer. “ He virtually grew up with soccer.” said M el, Sr. “ From day one he was in terested only in kicking the round black and white ball.” M e l, sr. was undoubtedly O re gon’s greatest athlete as a prep. His records at Jeff will long be remem- bered and are too numerous to men tion. M e l, Sr. played w ith his late bro th er Ray and together they form ed what most prep follow ers believe to be the best high school backfield ever produced anywhere. M e l’s achievements were not lim ited to fo o tb all alone. In I9 6 0 , at C a lifo rn ia 's prestigious G olden West track meet, (a meet bringing together the top prep track men in the U .S .), M el won the gold in the high hurdles, the 180-yard low hur dle and the broad jum p to easily win the outstanding athlete award. At the University o f Oregon, M el was A ll-A m erican in both football and track. Is all this a hard act to follow? Last year Mel. Jr. began dabbling in track and field. Before the sea son’ s end he had become O regon’ s premier high school long jumper. Both father and son disdain mak ing comparisons, but M el R enfro. Sr. is a hard act Io follow. “ I came to see him play and to give whatever advice I could on his college ca r e e r ," said M e l. Sr. M e l, Jr. has performed well enough in his brief football career to get feelers from S ta n fo rd . Id a h o , O reg o n. N o tre D am e. Oregon State and S .M .U . W here would Dad like to see him go? He said. “ I l will be his choice, but I would like to see him go to S .M .U . and play for my good friend. Ron M eyer.” Mel. Jr. stands 5 '1 0 ' and 165 lbs. C ollege scouts believe he has a brighl future in football. T he M ilw a u k e e Bucks placed holdout forward Marques Johnson on the N B A suspended list, and said former A ll-S tar forward Bob D an dridge has signed an offer sheet with them. The Golden State W arriors sus pended second-year forward Larry S m ith , a h oldout over a con tract dispute. The USC had no choice but to ac cept Ted Dawson, former K O IN -T V Sports Director, as the play-by-play man for the U S C -N o tre Dam e game. The U .S .A . cable netw ork w ill show 40 regular season games this season, with Thursday night double headers on tap throughout the sea son. T h at before the opener w ith Houston the L A Lakers had a pre lunch cocktail p arty fo r the team and guests. W ell, the Laker players all showed up except one Kareem A bdul-Jabbar. “ Kareem probably didn’t show up because he thought Moses M alo u r would be present,” cracked a veteran journalist whose name shall be kept secret to protect both his health and welfare. Black Collage Football Scores Howard U. 49, Norfolk St. 28 Towson St. 24, Delaware St. 7 Hampton Inst. 3 1, Guilford 6 Jacksonville St. 28, Delta St. 14 Mississippi Coll. 37, Livingstone St. 17 N. Alabama 37, Tenn. M artin 10 N. Carolina A & T 25. Morgan St. 23 N. Carolina Cent. 50, Bowie St. 0 S. Carolina St 40, Morris Brown 6 Tennessee St. 28, Southern U. 18 Virginia Union 14, Virginia St. 12 Alcorn St. 14, Bishop 13 A rk.-Pine B luff 20, Langston 18 Grambling St. 17, Texas Southern, 17 Henderson St. 42, S. Arkansas 21 Elizabeth City St. 28, Fayetteville St. 0 Sports Talk by Ron Sykes, Sports Editor W h a t’ s wrong w ith O S U fo o t Joe, but that the last half o f the sch ball? edule California, Stanford and Ore In the last 5 games OSU has been gon were teams they could surely outscored 264 to 57. Now it doesn’t match up with. W ell, remember Joe take an Einstein to figure that also said the Beavers’ program was an unfavorable deficit exists and it’s equal to th a t o f W S U , only to be not on the plus side o f the Beaver trounced 23-0 at Corvallis. ledger. Oregon State, a fte r being W hen w ill these promises end? blown out by a mouse-less Cal team Last S aturday at C al the Beavers 45-3, stands 1-7-0on th e ’81 season. were h u m iliated 4 5 -3 . And only The players, to a m an, believe scored when Coach Roger Theder that the coaching is not at fault. pulled his shock troops m idw ay No one. Maybe C raig F e r tig .. . through the third quarter. afterward he left this bunch for Joe After the game Avezzano said, "1 Avezzano. Oregon State has nine am upset. 1 am upset at every aspect seniors on the roster, all Fertig men. o f our football team. Before the sea A ll but guard M ike M cKelvey are son 1 did not talk about nor indicate starters. To become competitive the that we had solved all problems that Beavers must win some games. needed to be solved to have a con Sounds impossible but it can be tending football team. Right now I done. Junior college transfers are am upset with myself, our coaches not the answer. But one can hardly and our players.” blame Avezzano for panicking, go After the poor showing in Berkeley ing for JC ’ s, after last year’ s hor will there be any changes? rendous 0-11. Oregon State signed “ We are definitely going to make six junior college players in hopes of some changes,” fumed Avezzano. strengthening some glaring weak “ I believe a few will involve the sec nesses. They must now realize that o n d ary. I anticip ate a couple o f you can’t take a weak program and changes up fro n t on defense and make a strong one overnight. OSU possibly one o r two offensive line coaches must get down in the changes. Again we are not going to trenches o f college recruiting, they put up w ith or condone anything must avidly seek the blue chippers, but a top e ffo rt.” ' they must make promises and hope fu lly land two or three good ones R ealistically Oregon State has each year. Coach Avezzano, before o n ly tw o q u ality players on their the C alifornia game, stated that his roster. Victor Simmons, who is the Beavers would d e fin ite ly make a leading pass receiver and Randy good run at C a l, that the Beavers Holm es, the top rusher. H owever, were probably overmatched against it’ s obvious that more is needed to the likes o f Minnesota, USC, W SU , become a winner in the tough PAC- W ashington and O k la h o m a , right 10. ♦ Mika Harper, Portland'* newest star bags a field goal over Jeff Cook of Phoenix. Harper has bean excellent filling In for Kermit Washington. (Photo: Mika Washington) *g O° V UPTO « 15 00/BMR AOlbAS TOP TIN HI TOP • east in it * class «a* <*.** SAVE ( • a * sau < 1 0 .0 0 PUMA HI TOP A U LPACMPR KS4 9 4 A » S A L *. » S « 4 IS SAVE ■ \> « •J 00 CONVERSE LEATHER . 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