Sports Briefs: Wednesday, February 9, 2000

Big 5 Hall of Fame inducts old-timers There will be a luncheon for this year's honorees on February 28 and a ceremony at halftime of the Temple-St. Joseph's game at the Palestra on February 29. Penn's honoree this year is Ernie Beck, the all-time leading scorer (1,827 points) for the Quakers. Beck played three years of varsity ball for the Red and Blue and still holds 10 school records, including points in a game (47), points in a season (673 in 1953) and career rebounds (1,557). Beck graduated from West Catholic High in Philadelphia and later played for the 1956 NBA champion Philadelphia Warriors. Beck will be inducted alongside Paul Arizin, Tom Gola, Bill Mlkvy and George Senesky. Arizin did not play basketball in high school, but joined the Villanova Wildcats in his sophomore year. He went on to become the first 1,000-point scorer in Wildcats history and also played for the 1956 Warriors. Arizin was named one of the NBA's 50 greatest players of all time, and in 1978 he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Gola, for whom La Salle's arena is named, led the Explorers to the 1954 NCAA Championship and last year was voted the Outstanding College Player in Philadelphia history by the Philadelphia Daily News. Gola was also a teammate of Beck and Arizin on the champion Warriors squad. Senesky was the national Player of the Year in 1943 for St. Joseph's. The two-time All-American played eight years in the NBA and coached three of his fellow inductees to the 1956 championship with the Warriors. Temple's Mlkvy, known as the "Owl Without a Vowel," was a first team All-American in 1951 after averaging 29.2 points per game that season. Mlkvy played for the Warriors in 1953 while also attending dental school, but did not stick around for the 1956 championship. -- Jesse Spector W. Tennis stands 3-3 after weekend split The Penn women's tennis team continued its indoor journey through the winter this weekend at the Levy Pavilion. The Quakers are now 3-3 after a 9-0 sweep of Army and a 5-4 loss to Penn State. Penn's doubles pairs took two out of three against the Nittany Lions, but Penn State dominated the singles action, taking four of the six matches. Only Shubha Srinivasan and Jolene Sloat were triumphant for the Quakers. Srinivasan defeated Penn State's Alison Barnett in straight sets, while Sloat bounced back from an 0-6 first set against Judy Wang to pull out the win. The Quakers return to action on Friday at the Princeton Invitational. -- J.S.