Page 6 Portland Observer, October 6, 1982
Portland Observer, October 6, 1982 Page 7
Sport Talk
by Lee Ballinger
Pacific News Servlet
Oregon football 1982 promised to
be a season o f excitement. Oregon
head coach Rich Brooks has had a
year to put the adversities suffered
by his *81 team behind him.
A fte r posting a 6 -3 -2 record in
1980 Rich Brooks was rap id ly be
coming the most sought-after foot
ball mentor on the West Coast. He
was picked Pac-10 coach o f the year
and had several nominations for na
tional honors. In addition to those
honors he was the recipient o f the
Slats G ill A w ard as Oregon sports
man o f the year.
Im m ediately following Oregon’s
most successful year since 1971,
when the Ducks went 7-3 riding the
strong arm o f D an Fouts and the
b rillia n t rushing o f Bobby M oore,
aka A h m ad R ashad, O regon
dropped to 2-9. So the one question
asked by so many was “ W hat hap
pened to the genius o f Brooks?” A
great deal can be said about why a
program on the way up could tum
ble so quickly. Some thought the de
parture o f offense coordinator Ron
H udson had a lot to do with O re
gon’s failure. Hudson left in 1979 to
become offensive coo rd in ato r for
the U C L A Bruins.
E rik W id m ark, longtime Brooks
associate, was given the job vacated
by Hudson.
Both W idm ark and Brooks have
come under severe criticism this year
fo r lack o f im agination in the big
Duck offensive attack. Brooks de
fends by stating the numerous injur
ies to key offensive players. Senior
tailback Dwight Robertson has been
missing since game 1 with a knee in
jury, sophomore Alex Mack (shoul
der separation) and freshman Kevin
W illhite (hamstring) are all out for
the season, while ju n io r L ad a ria
Johnson o f C arson, C a lif ., who
paced Oregon in rushing against the
Sun Devils, but did not play again
until the Ducks played Washington
two weeks ago.
Add junior center Ryan Zinke to
the growing injury list o f offensive
starters out and perhaps you can un
derstand why the offense has only
been able to score in one game, and
that one being the Huskies, the na
tio n ’s number one team according
to A P.
So what is Oregon’s problem? Re
cruiting is certainly not one o f them.
Last year the Ducks were rated as
having one o f the best recruiting
years on the coast. A n d this year
was no exception. Oregon shocked
the nation when they announced the
signing o f Kevin W illh ite , whom
many considered the nation's pre
m ier running back. W illh ite was
named to all the top A ll-A m erican
teams last year, including Parade
M ag azin e's O utstanding Back in
America.
They recruited the best kicker on
the coast when they signed T im
illy Ray, Billy Ray
Riding high in A p ril, shot down
in M a y ...w it h that in m ind the
Trailblazers said good bye to Billy
Ray.
Bates, the enigm atic guard who
journeyed from the pits o f the Con
tinental League to the glory o f the
N B A and the Portland Trailblazers,
is now a Washington Bullet.
Bates’ release came as no sur
prise. it had been rumored or leaked
to the media for months.
I ’m positive that it was planned to
leak B illy ’s release in order to pre
pare the public in advance.
Billy Ray was a hero in this state,
for sure. Little kids were attracted
to B illy as i f he were a black pied
piper.
Wherever Bates traveled he was
immediately swarmed over by kids
like ants to syrup on a warm sum
mer day. Sure, B illy had his p er
sonal problems, which finally led to
his demise with the Blazers.
And it can never be said that the
club didn't try and help Billy.
W h a t can be said, how ever, is
perhaps they did n ’t want to take a
chance. Chance. This little six-letter
word could possibly be the d iffe r
ence, for the Blazers, between hav
ing a mediocre team or a very good
one.
I f the Blazers can be blamed for
anything in the past, then that one
thing could be their reluctance to
take a chance.
G olden State took a chance on
B ernard K ing when the 6-7 small
fo rw ard was having his problems
with alcoholism.
W h a t they got was a reform ed
player who has apparently won his
bout, and is now the most produc
tive small forward now playing the
game.
Los Angeles took that chance
w ith Bob M c A d o o and came out
sm elling lik e a rose as Big Mac
helped trem endously down the
stretch run to the N B A Cham pion
Wise. Wise kicked a California state
record 59-yarder.
He was recruited by U C L A , C ali
fo rn ia, O klaho m a, but com mitted
early to Oregon.
Brooks got the best linemen in the
State o f O regon. H e signed Dave
Maley D T , 6-3, 245 pounds, out o f
Prineville. A ll Maley did was to go
head to head with Beaverton's Jim
Fitzpatrick in the Shrine game, and
simply outplayed the U SC -bound
Fitzpatrick.
He got E .J . D u ffy , a linebacker
many believe will be as good or bet
ter than Dave W ilcox, and believe
me folks that's saying a lot. Brooks
is really blessed with good talent, so
then why can’ t he win? The belief
here is that the Ducks are hurting
for speed. That is speed in the offen
sive line. The suggestion here is that
the Oregon recruiters should learn a
recruiting lesson from the top teams
in the nation. Florida, for example,
posted a 1-10 record two years ago.
They prom ptly went out and re
cruited some big, quick linemen and
im m ed iately turned their season
around. W hat the Ducks need to do
is follow suit. Brooks should now
see (hat his recruiting should not be
restricted to Southern and Northern
Oregon squad tak es th e field.
California. There’s some big, quick
brothers playing fo o tb a ll in the
The belief here is that Brooks is
ghettos o f the South. I f it ’s horses
still one o f the best young coaches in.
you need, then why not use Clydes
the game today. H e ’s had terrible
dales.
q u arterb ack problem s, he’ s been
by Ron Sykes
ship. Chance. It doesn’t work all the
time, but then didn’t someone once
say, “ N oth in g ventured, nothing
gained” ?
And nobody can tell me that Billy
Ray can’t play the game.
During a recent talk w ith H arry
Glickman I was informed o f B illy’s
troubles learning the Ramsay sys
tem. Maybe so, but my thoughts on
that subject are quite clear. I just do
not believe that in order to be a suc
cessful and winning team you must
always w ork w ithing a structured
offense.
Billy needs the ball to be effective.
When Billy has the ball he is effect
ive.
How many times have you heard
Ramsay, in crucial situations, yell
give the ball to Billy. Billy Ray was
the best clutch player on the team
fo r the years he was in P o rtla n d .
Tim e after time he responded when
the game was on the line. And Billy
never missed a crucial free throw
during his career with Portland. No,
H arry, I just can’t believe that Jeff
Lam p w ill ever become the guard
that Billy is now.
The Blazers went a long way with
Billy, but perhaps they should have
gone one step further.
Just got to believe that some
where out there there’s got to be a
place for a man as talented as Billy
Ray.
So what i f the San Francisco G i
ants didn’t win the National League
West. So what if they didn’t become
champions. Even though they failed
this weekend to overcome both A t
lanta and L . A . , their m anager,
Frank Robinson, still emerged as a
champion. And for his tremendous
e ffo rt the G ia n skipper should be
named the National League m ana
ger o f the year.
Robinson, a hall of fam er, is on
the brink o f becoming the first black
manager to take his team to the
W orld Series. Everyone knows that
Robinson became the firs t black
manager in m a jo r league history
when he took the helm o f the Cleve
land Indians in 1975.
in his first year, Robison led the
Giants to their first winning season
since 1978 and this year came within
one game o f winning it all.
Playoff Picks
HE
forced to go w ith a QB that is ob
viously not right for his system. He
certainly had a tough break when he
lost the heir apparent to Reggie Og-
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1 propose that five per cent o f the
league’s gross revenues be set aside
for the support o f amateur football
program s across the c o u n try. A t
present income levels, that would be
about $31 m illio n a year which
could be placed in a fund adminis
tered by players and owners. Shoul
der pads for Pascagoula. Coaches’
salaries fo r C ab in C reek. A new
field for Fresno. A revival for Villa-
nova. The N F L not only has a moral
obligation to help sustain the athlet
ic in fra s tru c tu re o f the U n ite d
States, but com mon sense should
dictate that they preserve the athlet
ic bedrock upon which their shining
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But while the public tries in vain
to call a play that will blunt the rush
o f the economic downturn, the N F L
continues to prosper. M ajo r league
baseball underwrites an entire farm
system and the N B A helps to sup
port the m inor league C ontinental
Basketball Association. The N F L
does nothing.
“Enjoy it to your soul
Southern Style!“
edifice rests.
There is honest disagreement over
the players’ demand for a percent
age o f the owners* gross revenues,
but surely it is gross that no percent
age o f the N F L ’s annual bonanza
goes to those who do so much to
create it. Fans, players and coaches
at every level o f football must come
together and force the N F L to do its
duty before it’s too late.
■BBD
Too much speed by the Cardinals
should be the d iffe re n c e. I f the
Braves are to win they will need ex
cellent b u ll pen help. Something
they lacked all season long.
1
Advertise in
the Observer
burn, that person being the m u lti
talented A ndrew Page. Page was
lost through scandal and with him
went two seasons.
mortgages can be burned. The local
citizens o f Pontiac, M ich ig a n , a l
ready devastated by the collapse o f
the auto industry, pay $1.2 million a
year in property taxes to help keep
the Lions and the Silverdome in the
black. Meanwhile, their own school
system has been forced to lay o ff
coaches due to a decrease in tax rev
enue. The A naheim S tadium A u
th o rity used public funds to build
108 luxury boxes yet donates 80 per
cent o f the revenue they produce to
the Rams.
Mon thru Fri 10-9 Sat 10-6 Sun noon-5
/' i
Angelo St. 28, Alcorn St. 9
Bethune/Cookman 38,
North Carolina A & T 23
Hampton Institute 14, Livingstone 6
Kentucky State 7, Knoxville 0
N orfolk St., 7, Elizabeth City St. 3
Fort Valley 18, Morris Brown 14
Grambling 42, Florida A & M 21
South Carolina St. 50, Howard 0
Jackson St. 44, Miss. Valley 17
Southern U . 42, Prairie View 6
Virginia Union 28,
Winston-Salem 19
Central State (Oklahoma) 42,
Sam Houston St. 7
I t ’s time for the true footsoldier
o f professional football— the fan—
to stand up and force the National
Football League to pay its debt to
society. After all, the sport we love
is not delivered to us on a silver plat
ter. We pay the freight when we buy
tickets and television sponsors’ pro
ducts, when we cough up millions to
build and maintain N F L stadiums,
when we put in countless unpaid
hours to help train tomorrow’s grid
iron heroes.
I f the fans remain in their seats,
football as we know it is in danger
o f extinction due to growing cracks
in football's very foundation. Pro
fessional football exists only by rest
ing atop the vast pyramid o f mam-
tcru football. But N F L owners do
not contribute on cent to the peewee
leagues, high schools and colleges
which combine to form a huge and
highly effective farm system for the
pros. The indispensible service these
feeder systems perform is clearly il
lustrated by the incompetence o f the
occasional speed merchant who tries
to sneak into the N F L without pre
vious football experience.
Yet in this age o f cutbacks, where
the warm sun o f education is in
creasingly eclipsed by (he rising
moon o f military spending, schools
are often unable to make ends meet
unless they reduce the size o f their
a th letic program s. C leveland has
elim inated all ju n io r high sports.
High schools in Idaho, Illinois, In
diana and Michigan have scrapped
fo o tb a ll. Even m ighty M assillon
(O h io ), the cradle o f bigtime high
school fo o tb a ll, had to pass an
emergency school levy to ensure the
completion o f the 1981 season. Vil-
lanova was forced to end an 87-year
trad itio n o f college fo o tb all when
their program sank in a sea o f red
ink last year.
The N F L makes a net p ro fit o f
$13 million each year just from lic
ensing its trad em arks, w hile high
school football players in C alifo rn
ia, Conecticut, Michigan, O hio and
Pennsylvania have to pay as much
as $50 apiece just to be allowed to
go out for the team. There are high
schools in Washington, D .C ., which
do not charge admission to their
football games becuase they cannot
afford to erect fences around their
fields. The school system o f W a r
ren, Ohio, which has produced five
current N F L players, has been
forced to lay o ff several high school
coaches on the eve o f the 1982 sea
son.
The taxpaying fan not only funds
the educational system whose athlet
ic assembly line empties directly on
to the N F L loading dock, he also di
rectly subsidizes Pete Rozelle and
Co. Since 1953 the public has paid
hundreds o f m illions to build and
maintain professional sports facil
ities and that was only the down
payment. The fans must still come
up with almost $7 billion before the
15
Exciting
St. Louis over the Braves.
California over Milwaukee
This one w ill be a classic. Both
teams have superb personnel. One
could easily pick an a ll-s ta r team
from these two teams.
Reggie “ M r . O ctober” Jackson
could make the difference here. The
man just seems to take charge in the
big games.
»
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