DEAFSPORTZINE' - SEPTEMBER 1-9, 1996

Volume 1 Number 16 Barry Strassler, editor e-mailed free of charge each weekend to subscribers interested in the deaf in sports; email your subscription requests to: [email protected]

ELITE LEVEL:

PrideWatch The dividing line separating major leaguers from minor leaguers is ability to bounce back after a string of bad games. In a 3-game stretch he was hitless, but bounced back nicely to fashion a 4-game hitting streak, including a homer. Now hitting at .292 (68/233) despite a bad .238 (5/21) stretch.

CFL-watch Again not much of an update on the CFL web page on Kenny Walker, Winnepig and Jed Roberts, Edmonton. Only update is that Brent Matich, Saskatchewan, is 8th leading punter with a 42.2 average for 89 punts.

GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY BRIEFS: Football: Williamson Tech 20 Gallaudet 18

Soccer, Men's: Gallaudet 5 Villa Julie College 2

Women's Volleyball: Gallaudet 3 Hood College 0

Gallaudet 3 Messiah College 1 Gallaudet 3 Moravian College 1 Gallaudet 3 East. Mennon. Univ 0 Gallaudet 3 Muhlenberg College 0 (won Messiah Invitational Tournament

COLLEGIATE LEVEL (OTHER COLLEGES): Defenseman Brad Parascak has closed out his hockey career at Canisius College, NY by scoring 3 goals and assisting on 11 others and ended up on the ice with a plus 28 (goals for/goals against) mark. He started 26 of his team's 27 games.

HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL:

AN EXCUSE FOR ATHLETIC DIRECTOR TO MISS A HOME FOOTBALL GAME Presence of athletic directors at their home athletic contests, especially football games, is practically mandatory. There are too many logistic details that athletic directors must attend to at home football games - getting locker rooms ready for visiting teams and for the referees, setting up ticket and concession stands, accomodating newspaper reporters, setting up medical facilities (for doctors and team trainers), allowing courtesy use of telephones by visiting coaches, extending complimentary tickets for special visitors, lining up the field with lime, getting the ready, etc, etc, etc, Then why is Don Hackney, the long time Alabama SD athletic director/boys' basketball coach skipping the Alabama SD-Kentucky SD football game hosted by his school on September 21st? It is for a good reason. Hackney, who is not deaf, has been elected to the athletic hall of fame at his alma mater Belfry HS and the induction takes place the very same day, ironically enough in the state of Kentucky, whose state school team is playing against his Alabama team. He was a 4-sport star at Belfry HS (football, basketball, baseball and track) before graduating and attending Morehead State University. After graduation he was about to accept a coaching offer from his old high school when a friend tipped him off on a vacancy at Kentucky SD. Despite no background in deafness and knowing nothing about the deaf he decided to accept the position. After four years at Kentucky SD he moved to a new position at Alabama SD where he remains to this day. As a basketball coach he has won 369 games, first with Kentucky and then with Alabama. If he sticks around for two more decades he may end up as the winningest basketball coach, either deaf or hearing! Not bad for a coal miner's son. He didn't want to end up in the mines so off to college he went.

BILLY LANGE BACK IN BASKETBALL FRAY Billy Lange who coached the Kentucky SD boys' basketball team from 1990 through 1994, was able to get his job back with a waiver granted by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. The state does not normally permit paraprofessionals to coach two major high school sports - football and basketball. Billy is the school director of recreational programs, which according to the state is not a professional level position. Because of a severe shortage of qualified coaches among the professionals, the state granted a waiver in Lange's case. "I'm so excited to be back," said Billy.

FOOTBALL TIDBITS

Alabama SD's Michael Bristow rushed for 147 yards in 22 carries and two in a 28-24 loss to Donoho. Alabama was leading 24-21 when Donoho scored in the 4th quarter with 7 minutes remaining. Arizona SD is seeing a reversal of roles. New head coach Shannon Simon, a former Gallaudet Kodak All-American offensive tackle, is assisted by Brian Shott. At Gallaudet, Shott was an assistant coach while Simon was an active player.The player to be watched is Omar Jimenez with his quick feet as running back and . Eastern NC SD saw improvement in their 40-22 defeat by Lejeune as last year's defeat was by 53-0. The roster has 30 boys and one girl player. She is being featured on ESPN soon. Illinois SD, which plays an all-hearing schedule, is still coached by Clyde Smith. He said that many of his 31-player squad are young and inexperienced but with an outstanding attitude. Indiana's Waymon Watkins, a sophomore, scored three touchdowns in the 32-18 loss to Broad Ripple JV. Several turnovers hurt Indiana. Kentucky SD is coached by Paul Smiley, a former Gallaudet head football coach. He last coached football at KSD in the 1986 season. Maryland's DeJuan Hamilton rushed for 177 yards in 23 carries and a and Franco Korpics did likewise for 104 yards in 14 carries - all which contributed to a 14-6 victory over Maret. Mississippi's young and inexperienced team gave up 30 points in the second quarter of the Restoration game. It didn't help that the game, a 30-6 loss to Restoration, was played in 90 degrees. Oregon, with only ten players on the roster, lost to Eddyville, a state championship finalist team that returns all but three starters. South Carolina's Robert Mobley rushed for 91 yards in 12 carries and two touchdowns in their 26-8 victory over Liberty Christian.

FOOTBALL SCORES:

SCORES BETWEEN DEAF TEAMS Model-Eastern NC was cancelled due to Hurricane Fran; the last year's game was curtailed because of lightning storm. Speaking of bad weather two years in a row!

Colorado-New Mexico game score not available.

SCORES AGAINST HEARING TEAMS

Kansas 40 Olathe Christian 22 Maryland 14 Maret 6 South Carolina 26 Liberty Christian 8 Texas 23 St Paul 21

Donoho 28 Alabama 24 Lejeune 40 Eastern NC 22 Broad Ripple JV 32 Indiana 18 Berea 34 Kentucky 6 Resolution 36 Mississippi 0 Archbishop Spalding 50 Model 7 Eddyville 60 Oregon 28 King's Academy 13 Tennessee 6 Red Boiling Springs 34 Tennessee 12 Aldon Hebron 32 Wisconsin 0

Scores not available: Illinois game North Carolina game Oklahoma game Phoenix game

UPCOMING FOOTBALL GAMES BETWEEN SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF Sept 12 Alabama at North Carolina 6:30 pm Sept 12 Georgia at Tennessee 7 pm (8 man) Sept 12 Mississippi at South Carolina 4:30 pm Sept 14 Oklahoma at Colorado 2 pm (8 man) Sept 14 Maryland at Kentucky 2 pm Sept 14 Wisconsin at Minnesota 2 pm (8 man)

BASKETBALL TIDBITS: Austine SD, Vermont, will be hiring new boys' and girls' basketball coaches as Steve Maloney, the 4-season boys' coach, has resigned. He has just gotten married and has decided to return to Gallaudet. Mary Fooks, the girls' coach, has stepped to spend more time with her new family at home.

AAAD/CISS/INTERNATIONAL DEAF BRIEFS: It was reported in last week's DEAFSPORTZINE that John Knetzer is a USA-WGD volleyball player. The correct spelling is Knetzger. The members of the USA-WGD women's volleyball team are: Mary Angoorani, Swanhilda Austin, Caroline Depcik, Jennifer Ellis, Kristine Gray, Dyan Kovacs, Heather Lightfoot, Michelle Lowenstein, Aimee Mahlich, Jaime Nestor, Nikki Surber, Brandy Tetzlaff, Jessica Whitney, Noreen Yates. Head coach is Peg Worthington, the current Gallaudet volleyball coach and the assistant is Janie Moran, the current Lexington SD coach. Four of these players are currently playing for Gallaudet (Lightfoot, Surber, Tetzlaff and Whitney). Also Austin, Kovacs and Mahlich are former Gallaudet players.

AMERICANS TOPS IN PAN AMERICAN BASEBALL It was supposed to be a 3-nation entry in the Pan American deaf baseball competition but Cuba backed out, leaving USA and Venezuela to oppose each other in a 3-game series. The Americans won each game easily - but the biggest story took place when the Venezuelan junior national baseball team challenged the Americans to a game. The Americans won 12-6 and won the bragging rights of the Games. According to head coach Jeff Salit the Venezuelan team has three young players that may get pro baseball offers in the States.

AMERICAN MEN WIN BRONZE AT PAN AMERICAN BASKETBALL Venezuela defeated USA to win the men's basketball gold medal at the Pan American Games for the Deaf which recently took place at Margarita Island, Venezuela. The American team consisted of non-WGD elite players, mainly those that were cut early during the USA-WGD basketball tryouts at the Deaf Sports Festival at Council Bluffs, Iowa in July. The American team did not have a chance to practice and to get to know each other well and this has reflected in their second place finish at the Games. The Americans avenged their 86-81 defeat to Mexico in the preliminary round by defeating them 90-67 in the semi finals for the right to face Venezuela in the finals.

Prelimary round scores: Mexico 75 Brazil 68 Venezuela 126 Colombia 15

Brazil 69 Colombia 65 Mexico 86 USA 81 Alex Hoover 30 John Thomas 17 Leo Gutierrez 15 Venezuela 84 Brazil 50 USA 116 Colombia 46 Bobby Richards 16 Paul Mitchell 14 Isaiah Crutch 14 Venezuela 87 Mexico 73 USA 70 Brazil 64 Leo Gutierrez 13 Jesus Delgado 12 Alex Hoover 10 Mexico 112 Colombia 53 Venezuela 82 USA 72 Alex Hoover 18 Leo Gutierrez 14

USA 90 Mexico 67 Leo Gutierrez 29 Alex Hoover 17 Jesus Delgado 16 Bobby Richards 11 Final round: Venezuela 75 Brazil 70 Venezuela 77 USA 66 American scoring not available

Among the Pan American statistical leaders, Slavic Skopinsky finished third best in rebounding with 40 and in free throw shooting, Leo Gutierrez was the most accurate with 73.6 percentage (14 of 19)

Women's scores (the Americans did not field a team): Mexico 59 Colombia 21 Venezuela 76 Colombia 40 Venezuela 35 Mexico 27 Mexico 54 Colombia 25 Venezuela 67 Colombia 30 Venezuela 37 Mexico 25 (championship game)

MISCELLANY: A trio of deaf divers took part in the National Junior Olympics - Maryland's Adam Hazes and Jesse Fonder and Florida's Chris Colwill. Adam finished sixth on three meter, last on platform and 17th on one meter. Chris finished among top five in his events. Jesse's results are not known. These three divers competed within their age groups.

MORE OLYMPIC TORCH TALES One of the schools that was on the Olympic Torch relay route was the Austine SD in Vermont. The Torch Runners zipped past the school on June 14th.

TRIVIA OF THE WEEK: Readers have reported more girls that have played football in the past. Last week's DEAFSPORTZINE listed four girls. Who are the other overlooked girls? Debbie Bowman played for her Maryland SD junior high team in 1977. Angela Kuehn, just about the greatest female athlete Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf has ever produced, quarterbacked her junior and was also the middle linebacker in the 1978 season. She learned the rough and tumble world of athletics from her two older deaf brothers, Scott and Patrick who also starred at MSAD athletics. Patrick O'Brien, the assistant Gallaudet women's volleyball coach and a MSAD alumnus, said "Angela was the roughest and toughest player on her junior varsity team." And then there were two girls from Arizona SD. Theresa Blackowl and Carolyn Duncan won letters in the 1994 season. Theresa suffered a concussion midway of the season and missed the remaining games. Carolyn recorded a tackle or two in the homecoming day game against Phoenix.

DEAFSPORTS - TO LAUGH OR TO CRY Rookie Ed Leighton created a campus sensation when, in his second football game of his varsity career, he seemingly scored on two long touchdown runs against Cheyney University in 1966. As a punter standing in the he caught a bad and couldn't get the off, so he ran with the , eluding tacklers enroute to a 109 yard touchdown run. The play was nullified as his foot touched the back line, awarding Cheyney with an automatic safety. And then he caught a short sideline pass and eluded all tacklers for a 80-yard touchdown run. The play was nullified when he touched the just after he caught the pass. Because the Gallaudet players were deaf they could not hear the whistle blow and since the opponents gave chase, though half heartedly, Leighton assumed the ball was alive on both plays and kept on running. The referees let him run it out with the ball instead of waving their hands to indicate . It was an embarrassment that no one realized until long after the game was over.

GENERAL NEWS AND TIDBITS: DeafDigest is a free weekly e-mail general interest magazine. If interested in subscribing, email: [email protected] ...... POSTSCRIPT NOTES: ...... Copyright 1996 by Barry Strassler, Deaf Sports Bureau. You have permission to use any portions of this weekly e-mail in any form or shape (broadcast, publication, retransmission via forwarded mail, listservers, bulletin board systems, web pages, FTP archives, copying or storage on disk & CD-ROM, etc) provided request is made in advance and that credit and publication copy are both given to Barry Strassler, publisher, deafsportzine'. The editor reserves the right to refuse or to revoke subscription privileges if deemed appropriate.