Oral History Interview with ARTHUR B. METHENY Norfolk, Virginia May 29, 1975 by James R
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Oral History Interview with ARTHUR B. METHENY Norfolk, Virginia May 29, 1975 by James R. Sweeney, Old Dominion University Sweeney: Today we’re continuing the interview with Mr. Arthur B. "Bud" Metheny, for many years the baseball coach and former chairman of the department of health and physical education at Old Dominion University. Starting with question 111 here, by 1964 you seemed in public statements to see a change for the better coming in the college’s athletic policy as plans were being formulated for a new physical education building with a 10,000 seat gymnasium. You also indicated a possible change in the school’s "no athletic scholarships" policy. I wonder why such changes came about in the administration’s attitude? Metheny: Well, in 1960 I wrote the first letter investigating the possibility of having our new building. And it took us 10 years to get it. We got in it in 1970. And we were doing well in baseball, and the students wanted to move up in the grading of the entire program. That was their request, and in the editorials in the newspaper and things of that type. And so we started investigating the possibility of moving up in athletics, which we did in getting into the Mason— Dixon. And with the demand of the newspapers and the public we thought that we were about ready to move up in the field of athletics. So we started making our preparations for that. And we knew that if we did move up and to be able to compete on an equal basis that we’d have to give athletic scholarships. And so the "no athletic scholarship" policy would have to go by the board. The administration, Mr. Webb, was with us. He said he understood this and would work out a plan to be able to do this. So it was then that we moved on to thinking about upgrading our basketball. 2 Sweeney: How do you account for the marked improvement after mid-season of the ODC basketball team of ‘63—’64? This improvement included a dramatic 94—93 victory over Randolph-Macon which ended a 19 game winning streak for Randolph- Macon, and then Old Dominion went on to the Mason—Dixon Conference tournament. Metheny: Well, this team was comprised of mostly local athletes, and there was quite an interest, and the morale was high. And we were striving to get ahead. It just seemed that everything fell in line, and that night that we beat them we played probably our finest game of the season. And so we were fortunate enough to come out ahead Randolph-Macon has always been quite a competitive school against us and still is today. Sweeney: Now I’d like to ask two or three questions about the Old Dominion College Intercollegiate Foundation. What were the purposes of it? What role did automobile dealer Jack Wilkins play in it, and what has been the significance for the ODU program? Metheny: Well, the Old Dominion College Intercollegiate Foundation came about through the interest of a student and automobile dealer Jack Wilkins. And to this day he’s constantly taking classes here. And Jack, being quite a promoter and very interested in the university, got together with Jimmy Howard, a lawyer here in town, and we talked it over. And then we got together with the coaching staff, and we decided to put all our eggs in one basket, which would be basketball, because it was the one sport that we could take in money at the gate. And so we felt that this was the avenue to go. And so Jack Wilkins and James A. Howard helped us to do this. And, by the way, Mr. Howard was on our board of visitors at the time. So we had the sanction of this possible program all the way from the board of visitors. Sweeney: Would you say that this Intercollegiate Foundation has played a significant role in building up the program? Metheny: Yes. Without the Foundation we couldn’t have gotten underway because they were the group that solicited moneys for athletic scholarships, primarily for basketball. And, as I say, this was to be done with the expectation that in th the expectation that in the future by 3 developing basketball it would help our entire athletic program, and then the money would come down to our other sports. The Intercollegiate Foundation is still here today, and they have helped us tremendously in the securing of funds. Sweeney: How did the community, including the business and political leaders, respond to the prospect of an upgraded college athletics at Old Dominion? Metheny: Well, the newspapers helped us a great deal, and the community got behind it. The local businesses wanted some recognition for our city. The people, the city council and that, were with us. They knew that we could get national. Everyone knew that we could be recognized nationally much quicker through the realm of athletics than we could with any other means. And not only would the university benefit, the entire community would also. So bringing together the Tidewater community into a program of this type could only help everyone. We planned this program on the highest level. We adhered to every rule that was presented to us. We adhered to the strictest athletic rules. As a result, our program has developed and the community has stayed behind us. This upgrading has not only come in athletics. Our student athletes are recognized as fine students. Matter of fact, right now we have one All American academic student. So the program has been supported by everyone in the area, and as a result it is now beginning to show the fruits that we expected it to. Sweeney: How did the faculty at the university itself respond to this prospect of an upgraded program? Metheny: The faculty here has always been behind our athletic program because they have always been included in it. We have not separated athletics from the academic area. Matter of fact, the head of our department is known as the chairman of the health and physical education department and is also the athletic director. So we are not a separate entity. The faculty has backed us all the way; they’ve even let us know; for instance, in baseball I send every one of my players’ professors a letter every spring. And I tell them when we’re going to leave, the time of day, when we’re going to get back, I ask them for their assistance in that if any of my athletes begin to slip, would they just notify me so that I can follow it up. And as a result our fatality rate in the loss of student athletes 4 has diminished to a very small percentage. So the faculty has been behind us, and they know too that by getting on the national records weekly that being at an institution that is publicized is to their benefit too. Sweeney: What kind of response came from Virginia’s so—called major athletic schools, for example, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the University of Virginia, and Virginia Military Institute, to the prospect of Old Dominion becoming a major school athletically? Metheny: Well, we had some problems at first because we were in the college division and they were in the university division. But baseball was the first sport to break this barrier, and all three schools played us in baseball before they played the other sports. And today we still play them, and we play them in all of our sports, except we do have trouble at the present time in scheduling Virginia and VPI in basketball. But our other sports, we have been able to compete on an equal level, and have been accepted on the university level. Sweeney: There was a proposal in the early ‘60’s that the new arena for the college would be partly financed by the city. I wondered how you felt about that proposal? Metheny: As far as I know, the city has not financed any part of our new fieldhouse. The money came from the state and matching funds with the federal government plus extra funds from the state. Matter of fact, if I recall correctly, and I’m not quite positive about this, the federal government gave us about one and a third million dollars towards this four million dollar structure. Sweeney: The 1964 baseball team was very highly regarded, but they began the season with three losses in their first four games. I was wondering if it was bad weather that threw the team out of rhythm. Metheny: Oh, I don’t think so because, you know, it’s the same for both teams when they’re out there. We just didn’t play that well to win. And maybe it was the new fellows getting acclimated to the type competition, or maybe it was the coach 5 in that he didn’t make the right decisions. But, I’ll tell you, baseball is a game that, when anybody walks out there, they can win, good or bad. Just bounce the ball, and there’s a difference of the game. It’s not like other sports. Baseball in itself is more like life. You’re out there all alone. If you do well, everybody sees you; if you do poorly, everybody sees you. And so no one can catch the ball or throw the ball for you or hit it. It’s not like other sports where you can get a block or a screen or something of that type where you can get help, because baseball is practically an individual sport.