T he P ortland O bserver • F ebruary 15, 1995
B y D anny B ell
Roosevelt sits nestle in far north
Portland obscure for its lack of ac
complishment in sports.
But quietly there is an athletic-
renaissance going on there in the
sport of wrestling, renewing and up
lifting the schools collective spirit
and the individual self-esteem of its
students.
Last week by defeating Wilson
Roosevelt virtually clinched its sec
ond P.I.L. championship in Wres
tling.
Winning 10 out of 13 matches
Roosevelts dominated previously
undefeated Wilson in a match where
each school was vying for the P.I.L.
crown.
Weighing in at lOOpoundsDanh
Nguyen won the first match pinning
P age A 7
Cam Brown in 2; 15. His brother 106
poind Thanh Nguyen pinned Tony
Torrey in 42 seconds.
Wilson forfeited the next match
that was followed by Roosevelt’s
Carry O'Connor in the 119 weight
class who pinned Wilson's Josh Ford
in 5:09. Roosevelt won its fifth con
secutive match when Kelly Tamailie
at 126 pounds defeated Andy Burke
with an 11-9 decision.
Captain, senior Doug Hart ( 142)
won a 13-3 major decision over
Wilson’sHeeCheol Kim, and Wayne
Miller won 16-2 decision over Tro
jans Jamie Brown.
185 poinder Terry Ritter made
short work of Wilsons Ty Taylor
pinning him in 29 seconds.
Chris Verbont clinched the meet
when the 172 lb w restler for
Roosevelt posted a 12-5 victory over
Mike Ford.
Roosevelt now stands at 7-0 in
dual meets Wilson falls to 5-1. Of the
Diamond
three Wilson wins Ethan Steward
(160) was the quickest when he
pinned Solomona Tamailie in 39 sec
onds.
134 pound Ryon Nicholson
pinned the R oughriders Mike
Brundgardt in 1:28.
Roosevelt usually overlooked
when it comes to major P.I.L. sports
has managed to bring back two P.I.L.
dual meet championships in the last
two years.
How have they done it. Well the
smart money is coach Tom Nielsen
and his wife more fondly known as
Mrs Coach.
Tom Nielsen who gave up a
lucrative career in the private sector,
found something among the kids and
in teaching that he couldn’ et with fat
bank account... self-fulfillment and
gratification.
the former salesman of R.V.S.
and mobile homes cam to Roosevelt
nine years ago after 18 years out at
the market place. 4 years previous to
his flirtation with free enterprise he
had taught school. Ultimately he rec
ognized that is what he really wanted
to do.
When he came to Roosevelt he
was less than enamored with it. But
as he came to know the people in the
community school, and the kids he
realized they were getting a bad rap.
It didn t hurt that he also met his
present wife Shirley, a former Rose
Festival Princess from Roosevelt.
You can tell from talking with
him that the present life style really
invigorates him.
Nielsen honesty and genuine
concern for his young charges is in
fectious. He talks with pride about
the diversity on his team which in
cludes, Indians, Asians, Caucasians
Blacks, and Pacific Islanders. He
also is proud that the team grade
point average is 3.3.
He is reminiscent of old tradi-
Peter Jacobsen, the Port
land P.G.A. pro, scored his sec
ond win, in as many weeks Sun
day when he won the Buick Invi
tational at San Diego. He carded
a 4 under par 68 in the final
round. Jacobsen finished at 19
under 269 for his sixth victory,
and his second win in two weeks.
The prior being the A T&T
Pebble National Beach Pro-AM.
Arizona Falters
K.C. Roberts only scored
2 points against Arizona but they
were crucial in lifting the Cal
over the Wildcats to an upset win
of 74-72, in tucson Arizona. The
Wildcat fall to #2 in the PAC 10
behind UCLA.
West Flees By
-East In Allstars
Irvin Sings
Michael Irvin all-pro re
ceiver for the Dallas Cowboys,
agreed to a 5 year contract esti
mated to be valued at 15 million
dollars, that makes him the high
est paid receiver in the N.F.L.
The four time pro-bowler
who was a free agent, will re
ceive a $5 million bonus.
Raider
Arrested
Los Angeles Raider running
back Harvey W illiams, was
charged with felony aggravated
assault and misdemeanor battery
after an alleged confrontation
with his ex-wife.
Williams, 27 was jailed last
Wednesday night after his ex-
wife Lovle Williams said he had
beaten and threaten her
tion that acoach not only be a teacher,
but a father figure if need be. Yet you
can tell from his winning record he
demands that each athlete gives his
best.
He and his wife have brought
something the Roughriders have been
lacking for the better part of 31 years.
A winning attitude and the pride and
self esteem that come with it.
Techmen Head To PIL Title
Basketball
Football
Roosevelt's Terry Ritter against Grant.
Benson
Squeaks By
Wilson
Jacobsen
Wins Again
Mitch Richmond who had
to be selected by the coaches to
play in the All-Star game turn in
a stellar performance in 22 min
utes of play and produced 23
points on 10 of 13 from the field
including 3 for 3 from 3 point
range. The west won 139-112 in
what is usually an uninhibited
display of offense. Shaquille
O'Neal scored 22 points for the
east but the west just had to much
fired to be denied this year.
The Rough
Canaan Chatman carries the basketball for the University of Portland.
Pilots Win On The Road
B y D an B ell
Dragging into town on their last
leg exhausted from the lost in double
overtime to Loyola Marymont the
night before. The University of Port
land Pilots made a gut check and dug
down deep to defeat Pepperdine 72-
65 in a West Coast Conference game
in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday.
The Pilots (16-6,7-3) ended a 3
game losing streak on the road and
also stopped at four their losses to
Pepperdine.
“We knew we had to get this
one" said Curt Ranta who scored 2 1
points “It shows a lot of character on
our part. A lot of guys were tired, we
played some big minutes last night, I
know I was tired, when its always
been battled and fought hard, and for
the most part its come out our way. It
shows the mental toughness of our
team.
The game was close throughout
and there were several tics starting in
the first half when Ray Ross hit his
third bucket to tic the game at 12-12
with 11:36 on the clock in the first
t
half. Rick Brainhard hit a 3 point shot
and Portland it largest lead of the first
half. But Pepperdine went on 7-0 run
that was highlighted two 3 point bas
kets Clark James and a 3 pointer by
Monte Marcanni who scored 21 in
the game.
Portland took a 23-19 lead, but
Marcanni, who tallied 12 in the half,
scored the Waves next 6 points to tie
the game a 25-25 with 4:27 remain
ing. Portland put together a 7-2 run
and ended the half 32-27.
Pepperdine had a 46-42 lead
with 11:46 to play after intermission
when Kasey flicker hit 2 three point
ers for the U Of P although they were
his only points it ignited a 17 -1 Orally
for the Pilots.
“I had to get something going I
was dead in the Firs, half from last
night." Flicker commented on his
two big baskets.
Pepperdine (11-10, 3-6) had
come back with a run of its own when
Gerald Brown hit from 3 point range
to tie the game at 57-57.
Canaan Chatman who scored a
game high 23 completed a 3 point
play that put the Pilots up 60-57 with
3:57 left.
Chatman drove to the basket and
was the beneficiary of a N B A. like
continuation call on the play, and
made the freethrow.
With the game 60-58 Lemont
Daniels scored on tough drive to the
basket. Then Chatman came up with
a steal and passed to Daniels for a
lay-up, with 1:06 left.
“We gutted it out in the second
half' Portland's coach Rob Chavez
said “Kasey Flicker hit two big 3s for
us. That kind of ignited us and got us
a little momentum.
Like the game in Portland,
Pepperdine couldn’t get the big plays
down the stretch and lost for the fifth
time in six games.
W e’ve been struggling all year
said Brown "who scored 21." We felt
we gave a pretty good effort and we
played hard. But we just didn't get
the good plays when we needed them
Thais what its all boiling down to
right now.
B y E ric N oon
When your leading player has
an off night and your playing the
number two team in the state in
front of your home crowd fans,
you better have someone to carry
the weight if you want to pull out
a victory.
Earl Clark, the Benson se
nior, came up big for the number
one Techmen in the clutch as
Benson remained undefeated at
18-0 and all but locked up the
Portland Interscholastic League
title with four games remaining.
“I knew someone had to step
up, and at crunch time I came up
big,” Clark said.
Clark who finished with 18
p o in ts, d rille d b a c k -to -b a c k
threes with four m inutes rem ain
ing and made a key steal as W il
son attem pted to put the game
away in the final seconds.
Clark stole the ball with
eight seconds left from W ilson's
Tyrone M anlove on an inbound
pass. He then spun away and
drove in for the winning basket,
but was fouled with three ticks
on the clock remaining.
C lark then knocked down
both free-throws like there was
ice in his veins as the capacity
crowd went wild in what had to
be one of the biggest games of
their lives for these young men.
Jaso n
F ra n k lin ,
w ho
struggled with his shot, only
scored seven points as the big
match-up with W ilson’s M anlove
lived up to the hype as both stars
made big contributions.
M anlove, who finished with
19 points and nine steals missed
a 25 foot desperation three with
the clock expiring as the Benson
crowd stormed the Techmen play
ers.
“He did it for us,” said Frank
lin on C lark 's perform ance after
the Techm en held o ff a strong
challenge by the Trojans. “He hit
a couple of key three pointers
and hit those key free-throw s. I
say h e's the player of the gam e.”
Sportsradio KFXX (The Fan)
1520 AM was in the house with
live co v erag e for those who
co u ld n ’t get in and Cleveland
C av aliers point guard T erell
Brandon was home for the NBA
A ll-Star break and said the PIL is
as strong as it ever has been.
The PIL should have four
teams in the state tourney this
year with Benson and W ilson at
high seeds, along with a tough
Jefferson team and Cleveland not
far behind.
There may be more Division
1 players in the PIL this year than
any other league in Oregon and
with four gam es rem aining it
would be a great time to get out
and see these fine young men in
action before they head o ff to the
playoffs and then college.
WORLD GYM - ST. JOHNS
7522 N. Lombard
Portland, OR 97230
283-5404
OPEN 24 HOURS - DAYS A WEEK
Give The Gift o f Health