Baseball book brings Dad joy
(05/18/01 9:00am)
When I was younger, I was not very good at sports. Nor, for that matter, was I much of a sports fan.
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Irish legend leads Villanova into Relays
(04/24/01 9:00am)
It is one of the great twists of Irish miling fate that Marcus O'Sullivan, just the third man in history to record 100 sub-four minute miles, even began running in the first place. At age seven, he thought about taking up the sport, made one trip to his local club and got beaten by all the girls. At 12, he thought about trying out for his grammar school team but was dissuaded from joining the squad. "I just kind of put my hand up and volunteered," said O'Sullivan, now in his third year as Villanova's head men's track and field coach, "and the Brother at the time said, 'Mr. O'Sullivan, I think you ought to sit this event out. This cross-country is for tough guys.'" Oh-for-two, O'Sullivan decided to give up running. And so the track career of one of Ireland's great milers might have ended before it began, if not for one particularly demanding physical education teacher. "The teacher said, 'Unless you have a doctor's note, I want everyone out for cross country,'" O'Sullivan recalled. "So he got 150 kids out for cross country." The practice was soon discontinued after a flurry of parental complaints, but not before O'Sullivan was planted barefoot on a soccer field and forced to run laps with his entire first-year high school class. "I just remember it was a total oxygen debt, I didn't know where I was or what happened," O'Sullivan said. "And then some guy grabs me and says, 'Hey, you're No. 4. You made the team.' And that's how it all started." That high school squad went on to become the best in the country, and O'Sullivan wound up being lured to Villanova in the fall of 1980 as part of the "Irish Pipeline," a tradition of stellar Irish distance runners on the Main Line. After a college career that saw him capture a pair of NCAA indoor titles and 10 Big East indoor and outdoor crowns, he entered the international circuit. Fourteen years, four Olympic appearances, three 1,500-meter World Indoor Championships and 101 sub-four minute miles later, Marcus O'Sullivan decided to take up coaching. O'Sullivan, who earned an MBA from his alma mater in '89 and worked as a part-time faculty member of the Marketing Department in the early '90s, had no previous experience. "A lot of people said, 'Oh, he just got the job because he was a Villanova athlete, and he doesn't know what he's doing in coaching -- a couple years from now you'll see how bad he is,'" said Charlie Powell, Penn's longtime men's track coach. "Well, it's just the opposite. "Those naysayers have been proven so wrong it's ridiculous." According to Michael Brown, a 'Nova senior who won the college men's 400 hurdles at last year's Penn Relays, O'Sullivan is an extremely personable guy who also manages to have a knowledge of track and field that extends well beyond his distance background. "I think he's really cool," Brown said. "If you ever have any kind of problem you can go to him, with housing, with school, whatever." According to Brown, when O'Sullivan returned to the Villanova scene trailing an impressive CV of international accomplishments, the athletes joked, 'Wow, Marcus O'Sullivan! Marcus O'Sullivan!" But Brown found his coach's wealth of experience a valuable tool to draw from at high-pressure meets like the Penn Relays and NCAA championships. And everyone on the team, from the sprinters to the throwers, seems to be awed by O'Sullivan's feat of longevity. At his best, O'Sullivan was a 3:50 miler and a 3:35 man in the 1,500. Slowed a bit, he found himself contemplating retirement nine years ago at the age of 30. When cleaning out his basement, he came upon a small bubble-wrapped item that he was ready to toss with the rest of the junk. Then he had a second thought, and unwrapped it. "It was a little trophy about the size of your hand, a little trophy that said North Carolina, 1983, and I realized immediately what it was and why I had kept it," he said. "It was my first sub-four mile." Looking at the trophy, O'Sullivan remembered how he felt immediately after the race, in all the glory of a 21-year-old college kid who'd just broken a track barrier and then headed straight for the bathroom, throwing up everywhere. Then, feeling a new sense of track purpose, he went upstairs and began adding up the number of official sub-fours he'd clocked, around 70. Suddenly, he had a reason not to retire. "I said, 'You know what? It would be kind of nice to try to finish up at 100.' And it extended my career for five years." Three years ago, the five-time Millrose Games champion returned to Madison Square Garden and clocked a third-place finish of 3:58.1, his 100th sub-four mile. But for all the successful meets in his lengthy career, it's telling about O'Sullivan that the one that seems to stick out in his mind is the '83 Penn Relays. Villanova won 16 distance medleys in a row at Penn, but as a sophomore, O'Sullivan ran on a team that lost. Then, as a junior in '83, his relay teams lost the DMR as well as the 4x1,500, which 'Nova had won five years in a row. That weekend, Villanova failed to win any Penn Relays championships for the first time in 30 years. O'Sullivan returned to his native Ireland for the summer, ready to quit track and give up school for good. But his old coach, Donal Walsh -- himself a former Villanova distance runner -- convinced him that his problem was not inability but a need to "get [his] act together." He dedicated himself to training, and as a senior he found himself waiting to run the anchor leg of the 4x1,500 at the Penn Relays with Villanova trailing by 50 meters. Taking the baton, O'Sullivan clocked a 3:38 leg, then a personal best by four seconds, and the Wildcats won the race with an outstanding time of 14:52.81. "Penn [Relays] is very, very significant to me because it was my coming out, it was my maturing from boyhood to manhood," O'Sullivan said. "I left on very, very good notes." When he returned 15 Aprils later as Villanova's coach, O'Sullivan found himself trying to balance prepping his team for the century-old Carnival while struggling with his own nerves, which he could no longer nullify by pounding them out on the track. As a runner, O'Sullivan had considered the personal pressure at the Relays to be even greater than those he would later experience at the Olympics. But even that didn't compare to the pressures of coaching. But he relishes his new role on the sideline, eagerly anticipating this week's events. O'Sullivan the runner never aspired to coach, something he now considers to be more "of a give-back kind of thing" to his alma mater than anything else. And though he can't say how long he'll stay at Villanova, he would never take a coaching job at another school. But forget talk of leaving for the man whose running career was twice snuffed out before it began, and who twice came close to walking away from the track prematurely. His work on the sidelines has barely begun. "He understands the sport very well, and he understands people real well," Powell said. "I think he's going to be extremely successful, and I think he's going to be a great coach."
Giving students a fighting chance
(03/28/01 10:00am)
When Tim Jones learned his daughter, Claudia, had joined the Penn Boxing Club, he was confused. And his wife was apprehensive. "No," Wendy Jones said. "I was horrified." But after watching Claudia, a sophomore, and several other Penn students trade blows on Saturday at the Penn Boxing Club's Ring of Dreams event at the Newman Center, Wendy Jones breathed a sigh of relief. "Now that I've seen it, I'm not really as frightened," Wendy Jones said. "I feel better about it." There wasn't much to be frightened about, since Penn Boxing Club coach Ron Aurit put the emphasis on safety at the Ring of Dreams. Aurit, an accomplished ex-pro who boxed under the moniker "Yid Kid" and once fought Sugar Ray Leonard, envisioned the event as a showcase for the Penn Boxing Club, with the bouts all unscored exhibition matches. The fights consisted of three one-minute rounds, and boxers wore headgear and were expected to not land full-force blows. Roughly 200 people packed the Newman Center for the event, which raised about $2,000 for Aurit's Boxing Scholarship Foundation. The foundation awards college scholarship money to underprivileged Philadelphia boxers. With the soundtrack from "Rocky" playing in the background and the odor of hot dogs heavy in the air -- concession sales went to Habitat for Humanity -- a succession of students and alumni from the Penn Boxing Club stepped into the ring. Their opponents, for the most part, came from Aurit's boxing class at the Jewish Community Center of Northeast Philadelphia, though a few pitted Penn vs. Penn. "It's more excitement than we're used to," said Jon Strauss, a junior who boxed Wayne Leister, a 54-year-old electrician from Northeast Philadelphia. Strauss later returned to the ring to box junior Jon Prin, the club president. "It's a novel experience to be able to get out of the Hutch basement and box in front of people in a real ring." It's not just a novelty for Strauss, a newcomer to the club, which practices at least once a week at Hutchinson Gymnasium. The Ring of Dreams represented the first on-campus boxing match with Penn pugilists since 1955. That means that the event was a first even for the likes of Phil Cuffey, a member of the Class of '82, who was twice a national collegiate boxing finalist. Cuffey is Penn's assistant coach, and Aurit praised his teaching ability as a sparring partner. He noted that Cuffey has boxed "every Penn fighter to come along in the last 20 years." "It seems that way -- big, tall, short, whatever," laughed Cuffey, who now resides in Chestnut Hill. Cuffey's three-year-old daughter, Sana, sat ringside at the Newman Center and wore miniature boxing gloves. "In 1979-80, I was living in DuBois House and I noticed one day walking through the hallways that the lounge had been converted into a boxing ring," Cuffey said. "Four sofas had been converted into a ring, and Steve McNeal and Ron were training." Cuffey joined the club, and he hasn't left since. McNeal, now a chiropractor in the Altoona area, was on hand for the event, too, though just to show his support. One of Aurit's first proteges at Penn, McNeal earned acclaim as a national collegiate champion, fighting on HBO. Today, the club no longer competes beyond an intramural level, but there are other markers of success. Membership is booming. "I'm really proud to have been a part of this," McNeal said. "These guys are really carrying the torch and the club's getting bigger and better." Though the current emphasis is on safety and intramural instruction, membership is hardly a cakewalk. "It's not easy. Discipline is required," Claudia Jones said. "Safety always comes first for [Ron], but you do learn a lot -- it's not fake boxing." Jones' father, Tim, said he was surprised to learn his daughter had started boxing because while his own father had been a boxer, Claudia was too young to have known him, much less to know that her grandfather ever boxed. And Claudia had never before played a contact sport. "I don't know where she got it from, unless it was just through the blood somehow," said Tim, who came in from Florida with Claudia's mom to see the bouts. "But she seems to enjoy it immensely." Jones sparred with Yuri Potapenko, a former collegiate champ in the Ukraine who had 27 years and 80 pounds on the Penn sophomore. The "Russian Bear," who helps out with the instruction at the JCC, also had a son step into the ring -- 11-year-old Michael, who traded blows with Penn sophomore Corey Brooks. Quite a few of the students brought along large rooting sections, including Strauss, who drew big cheers when the ringside emcee announced the 180-pounder from L.A. as Jon "Take it to the House" Strauss. "It was a lot of fun, it's for a good cause. You've even got [door] prizes. It's wonderful," said Nick Sommer, a Penn senior in the Strauss fan section. And as for his friend's performance: "Strauss lagged a little, but what he lacked in experience he made up for in spunk -- pure spunk." After the event drew to a close, a beaming Aurit was quick to assign praise and thanks to those who made the event possible. The Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity volunteered the manpower needed to set up the ring, as all the gate receipts went to the scholarship fund. "Oh, this was very successful," Aurit said. "Because now the word is out at Penn -- students have heard that we have a safe boxing program. And more importantly, we made some money here for the foundation. "And that's pretty good for a small show."
M. Hoops reflects on disappointing season
(03/08/01 10:00am)
Dan Solomito is a junior, but for the first time since he's been at Penn, the first Sunday of spring break will mark nothing besides, simply, the first Sunday of spring break. That's because Penn's name won't be called during the NCAA Tournament's Selection Sunday. "It's definitely going to be tough," Solomito said. "It's kind of a reality check, a wakeup call." It's time to pick up the pieces of the 2000-01 Penn men's basketball team's season, for the players to look ahead to next year. For the first time in Solomito's career, it's not time to gather as a team to celebrate and watch the pairings announced, unless the Quakers want another reminder of Tuesday. "There's nothing more fun in college basketball than sitting around with your teammates and watching the selection show come on and having your name come up," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "We won't get that opportunity, but hopefully we can think about it and use it as a real springboard for our season next year." A springboard is a fine metaphor, because there's nothing this team would rather do more than bound ahead into '01-02. The Quakers, heavy preseason favorites, sputtered to a 5-5 record in their final 10 Ivy games this season, losing twice to rival Princeton, costing themselves a chance to three-peat as Ivy champs in the process. "It was just a tough loss to take. It was difficult to deal with," senior forward Jon Tross said of Tuesday's 16-point loss at Jadwin. Tross, who has one more year of eligibility, is one of 11 returnees for Penn. What lies immediately ahead? For Dunphy and the coaching staff, it's a waiting game on recruiting. As an Ivy coach in March, Dunphy was predictably vague. "We'll try to target some needs that we have and then just try to put it all together," he said. "Hopefully we'll do well recruiting wise and it'll be a real positive year for us next year." And what are those needs? "I think all of them," Dunphy said. "We need a couple of guys up front and we need some help at the guard spot." Which is not to say that Dunphy does not expect big things out of the 11 returnees, to say nothing of highly regarded Elon transfer Andy Toole, who will be eligible next season. "Andy's a great player. We expect a lot from him," Dunphy said. "He'll be able to play basically both guard positions, and so he'll provide some scoring for us, some playmaking, and hopefully some leadership as well." Toole will add both depth and experience to a backcourt returning starter Dave Klatsky, sparkplug Solomito, steadily improving freshmen Jeff Schiffner and Duane King -- a sophomore who missed most of the season with injury but has demonstrated athleticism and scoring ability in flashes. With two of the graduation losses coming inside -- Geoff Owens and Josh Sanger -- next season will be critical for sophomores Ugonna Onyekwe and Koko Archibong. And expectations are high for freshman Adam Chubb. "He played significant minutes this year, so we'll look forward to having him be stronger and really even more ready than he was this year, just from the experience he gained," Dunphy said. Chubb shined at times, made rookie mistakes in some games, and did not appear altogether in others. That was typical of everyone in a Penn uniform, though. "Inconsistency," Dunphy said. "That probably was the defining characteristic of our team." Solomito, who felt the team finally started to get its "stuff together" towards the end of the season, does not plan to dwell on this year's 12-17 campaign. For now, though, it's almost Tournament time again, except Sunday's not going to mean much to the Quakers, besides being the second day of a week-long vacation. "Most college kids would probably tell you spring break is one of the greatest experiences of their lives," Solomito said. "I'd trade it in a second to be able to go to the Tournament."
Club team gets first Palestra shot
(02/20/01 10:00am)
Watching Penn women's club basketball coach Karim Sadak pace the sidelines at the Palestra Saturday, you never would have guessed his team held a 30-point edge over the competition. Penn was dominant, scoring with ease and sending the visiting Princeton club into fits with a full-court press. But there was Sadak, sleeves rolled up, crouching, moving, kneading his hands, shouting words of encouragement. It was a weekend to celebrate, as the women's club team got a rare opportunity to play a pair of games in the vaunted Palestra. And the team -- and coach -- were not about to let it all slip by without making the most of the opportunity. "This was awesome, that we got to play at the Palestra for the weekend,"said sophomore Danielle Kudla, who scored 16 points in a 75-47 win over Princeton. "That was the biggest thing of our season." The club -- whose players pay fees to play, wash their own uniforms, and squeeze in independent workouts to supplement the one or two weekly blocks of gym time Penn allots them -- boasts 30 members. A travel squad of 12 to 15 players competes in the East Coast Women's Club Basketball League in the fall. This past season, Penn went 12-4 before being narrowly upset by the North Carolina State club in the four-seed vs. five-seed game of the conference tournament. During the spring, Penn plays a series of exhibitions against other club teams, not to mention junior colleges, JV squads and even the occasional DivisionIIIprogram. OnFriday, the Quakers overcame first-time Palestra jitters to edge Moravian College's JV squad, 39-27. The team, founded in 1997-98 by then-sophomore Laura Mannering, has been coached since last fall by Sadak. Sadak, a 2000 Penn Engineering grad who is currently at work on a master's degree, is a basketball junkie and diehard Penn hoops fan. Before the first game at the Palestra, he read his team a passage about the gym from JohnFeinstein's recent book The Last Amateurs. "Our coach, he's such a sports fanatic," said senior captain Yvonne Chen, who scored 10 points against Princeton. "[The passage] said that the Palestra, over all the facilities anywhere, was the best place to play. And it just got us pumped up, and we were really excited to come out here." And at halftime againstPrinceton, with Penn leading 38-13, Sadak fretted about the "Heartbreak at the Palestra" --warning his team about the Penn men's varsity team's 50-49 loss to Princeton two years ago. In that game, the Quakers held a 40-13 edge with 15 minutes to play. The club team responded after the break, though, pushing the lead to 50-16 with 14 minutes left and delighting the 125 or so in attendance (not to mention the four members of the Penn Band playing behind the basket). The Penn club played a polished brand of basketball, and though they let up on their relentless press, the Quakers kept the heat on at the offensive end. With nine minutes left, sophomore Megan McGill drained a jumper from the left corner to make it 62-24. Princeton responded with eight straight points, but then Kudla dove under the hoop to snare an offensive rebound heading out of bounds, heaving it over her right shoulder. She then raced back behind the arc, where she drained her fourth three-pointer of the game, making it 65-32 and asserting Penn's dominance. After the game, a beaming Sadak praised the players' hard work this season and wished he could thank every one of the fans who turned out to the Palestra. "These girls come out early, they stay late at practice, and to get a chance to play [at the Palestra] makes all that worth it," Sadak said. "I know there are a ton of other volunteer opportunities at Penn or paying jobs I could have gotten instead, but I wouldn't trade this coaching opportunity for anything in the world, no matter how much my school work or social life suffers." Sarah Scott, the club president, missed the game with an injury. Scott, Chen and Jill Zeldin are the lone seniors on the underclassman-heavy travel squad. Chen and Kudla scored in double digits against Princeton, as did Kristen Sheridan (12 points), and McGill and Veronica de la Rosa had 10 apiece. But the women's club team is about more than statistics. "Ilove it," said sophomore Jaclyn Kvaternik, noting that the club blends hard work and fun. "It's not the commitment that a varsity sport is, for obvious reasons, but we devote a few hours a week to it, and we travel almost every weekend to tournaments, so it's a pretty big commitment." Kvaternik, who played high school basketball inLas Vegas, praised her coach and the experience of playing alike: "Karim is a great coach. He inspires us, he gets us all pumped up and he works us hard, but it's worth it. It's a lot of fun."
M. Hoops doomed by poor play
(01/18/01 10:00am)
NEWARK, Del. -- Laughing as he slapped high fives outside the locker room, grinning ear-to-ear as he traced his own line on the box score, Delaware guard Billy Wells made it seem as if the Blue Hens' game plan last night was pretty simple. "Just keep stabbing 'em in the heart, try to keep stabbing 'em," said Wells, who scored 14 points in Delaware's 76-66 win over the Penn men's basketball team. The Quakers didn't give the Blue Hens much to stab at though, playing listlessly. The only real spark Penn showed came during a 7-0 run in the first half that brought the Quakers within three. But Delaware answered with a 9-0 burst of its own, and Penn never had another chance. The Hens led by as many as 20 midway through the second half and coasted to their fifth straight win. Perhaps the best thing that could be said about the game from a Penn perspective is that it means just four non-league contests remain on the schedule for the Quakers, who are now 3-10 overall, 1-10 outside the confines of the Ivy League. On the final play of the first half, with Delaware leading 40-32, Hens guard Austen Rowland tossed up an off-the mark jumper from the top of the key with under three seconds on the clock. While the ball caromed off the rim, the stock-still Quakers could only look on as a slightly built and seldom-used freshman guard from Delaware named Mike Ames snaked through the lane, grabbed the offensive rebound and put back the buzzer-beater. That's just the kind of game that it was. Penn shot 39.7 percent from the floor and 58.8 percent from the line. Behind the arc, the Quakers sank just four of their first 20 attempts before Duane King and Adam Chubb each hit meaningless but confidence-boosting threes in the game's final 21 seconds. Penn coach Fran Dunphy, trying to find something positive, singled out King and Chubb for providing some spark off the bench. Chubb, a 6'10" freshman who saw limited action in Saturday's win over Cornell, scored a team-high 13 points in 26 minutes. King, a sophomore guard who missed the first seven games of the season with a foot injury, made a brief, scoreless appearance in the first half before pumping in a career-high 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 11 second-half minutes. But Dunphy was quick to point out that playing free and easy -- King's first three dropped in off the glass, HORSE-style ("He called it," Dunphy said) -- is one thing when you're down 15, quite another in a close game. Still, if the starters struggle as much as they did last night, King and Chubb may soon be seeing even more minutes. Lamar Plummer, who brought a team-leading 16 points per game average into the contest, scored just six points on 2-of-10 shooting. Meanwhile, although Ugonna Onyekwe showed signs over the weekend of returning to the form that earned him Ivy Rookie of the Year honors last season, the power forward quietly scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 23 minutes last night. Senior captain Geoff Owens, beleaguered by nagging foot injuries, had just one field goal and four rebounds in 15 minutes. Early in the second half, Owens coughed up the ball in the paint under defensive pressure and Wells responded by draining his team's seventh three of the game. For the Hens, that shot sparked a 7-0 run to open the half that buried the visiting Quakers. "I think that [run] was very important to us," first-year Delaware coach David Henderson said. "Because studying Penn, they can play. They're never really out of it. I watched when they played Maryland, they were down 22 points at the half and they got back into it." But the Quakers squad that put the heat on Maryland and took a top-10 ranked Seton Hall team to the wire earlier in the season showed no signs of making an appearance in front of Delaware's 4,980 screaming fans. The applause never seemed louder and the ovation never longer than when the Hens cheerleaders ran onto the court during a first-half timeout. Fresh from the nationals, the championship squad waved a three-tiered trophy over head. The only time the noise level approached that fever pitch came a few minutes later, when stocky shooting guard Ryan Iversen came off the bench to hit his second three-pointer of the first half, putting Delaware up 12 just 17 minutes into the game. Iversen's play was symbolic of the Hens' spreading of the wealth, as last night's win was a total team effort. "This was the best game we've played as a team," Wells said. "But this is probably the best team we've beat this year. [Penn] is a great team." Wells may have been the only one to praise Penn yesterday, as the humbled Quakers headed for the bus in relative silence. Dunphy, whose team is off to its worst start in his 12 years, pondered the shot selection and the shooting percentage and was left scratching his head. "We've got to work on our basketball I.Q.," Dunphy said. "We have some pretty intelligent guys, but our basketball I.Q. is not nearly where we need it to be." At .231, neither is the winning percentage.
`It's a throwback, and it's incredible'
(12/08/00 10:00am)
In January of 1970, a wide-eyed 19-year-old by the name of Julius Winfield Erving, Jr., walked through the doors of the Palestra for the first time. "It was pretty special," said the incomparable Dr. J, then a sophomore forward at the University of Massachusetts. He returned to Penn last night for Palestra 2000, an event celebrating the grand history of what's frequently been called college basketball's most historic gym. "It was very intense." Intense doesn't begin to describe it. "If I lost any hearing, it had to be because of this place," said sportscaster Al Meltzer, who began broadcasting Big Five games at the Palestra 36 years ago. Back then, the five schools -- La Salle, Penn, St. Joseph's, Temple and Villanova -- didn't just meet for an annual round-robin. They played just about all their home games at the Palestra, with two or three doubleheaders a week at the gym made legendary for its unparalleled acoustics and stands that come right up on top of the action. It made the Big Five something magical. "It's difficult putting it into words," said Meltzer, who has called championship games in the NBA and NFL. "But nothing ever compared to a Palestra Big Five doubleheader." For years, the Palesta's musty concourses were home to dimly lit display cases, where faded jerseys and old trophies gathered dust. Last night, though, Penn unveiled a sparkling new concourse shrine, the walls boasting information-packed photo boards honoring the history of Penn basketball and the Big Five. And during breaks in the action of the Penn-La Salle game, a host of hoops legends were brought out to meet applause from the crowd and receive commemorative crystal plaques. "I think that I had probably either seen or coached or worked with more people up on the walls than anybody else," said Dick Harter, who played at Penn in the '50s and coached the Quakers to national prominence in the early '70s. Now an assistant with the NBA's Indiana Pacers, Harter walked onto the court side-by-side with his Penn successors, Chuck Daly and Bob Weinhauer. While Daly may be better known for steering the Pistons to back-to-back NBA titles than for gushing with emotion, that's exactly what he did last night. "It's like having warm maple syrup poured all over you," he said of stepping back into the Palestra. "It's got a charisma that you just don't find anywhere else in the country today. It's a throwback, and it's incredible." For a night, that patch of real estate in the northeast corner of the Palestra in front of the Class of '71 Lounge, set back between the La Salle bench and the La Salle band, played host to a who's who of some of the greatest names in Philly basketball -- and basketball, period. Like some kind of Friars Club of hoops, the likes of Daly and Dr. J mingled, and the man credited by Sports Illustrated as the inventor of the jump shot -- Charles Diven, Penn '39 -- took it all in, as everyone from Corky Calhoun to the legendary Tom Gola watched the game and waited for their turn to be called onto to the court. "This facility has so much heritage because of the Big Five," said Gola, an NBA All-Star who carried La Salle to an NCAA and an NIT title before graduating in '54, two seasons before the Big Five doubleheaders began. Behind Gola sat, for the moment, Harter and Ernie Beck, former Quakers teammates who suffered a 17-point loss to Gola's top-ranked team in '52. Beck, who played six NBA seasons, received his plaque at halfcourt alongside current Penn women's basketball star Diana Caramanico, who recently broke Beck's school scoring record. A mix-up in the presentation had Caramanico heading to the women's locker room with the wrong trophy. "First you take my records, now you're taking my trophy," Beck joked as a blushing Caramanico returned his trophy. Beck was delighted to meet Caramanico, but the real highlight came in reuniting with so many friends. "It's like visiting an old home you used to live in years ago," Beck said. "The only thing is, it hasn't changed, and it looks beautiful here." Diven recalled once dropping 10 points on Dartmouth in what was then a high-scoring affair -- a 40-38 double-overtime win in 1938. That's the same number of points La Salle scored last night in the final 77 seconds, roaring back from a 59-51 deficit to steal a 61-59 victory. "Well, we almost had a perfect day, didn't we?" Bilsky wondered, staring in disbelief after the game. Except, somehow you have to believe that the gods of basketball were smiling, that they wouldn't have had it any other way. Doubleheaders are a thing of the past; streamers and rollout banners, so long synonymous with the Big Five and the Palestra, were banned in the '80s. But the lasting legacy is that all the Big Five games seemed to be battles. And last night's down-to-the-wire affair was no exception, capping a perfect tribute to the Palestra, 74 and still going strong. "The building is one of a kind," Meltzer said, "and there aren't many one-of-a-kinds left in the world."
Cancer claims legend
(12/06/00 10:00am)
Jim Tuppeny, who spent a half century in coaching and led Penn to record heights in the 1970s, died last week at his home in Haverford Twp., Pa., from heart failure due to complications from stomach cancer at 75. He was buried yesterday following a funeral mass on the Villanova campus, where he was active as an associate head coach until last month. "Jim was just a legendary track coach, and a legendary personality," said Rick Owens, who competed for Tuppeny at Penn in the 1960s. "I would put him on par with John Wooden." Wooden led UCLA to seven straight NCAA basketball titles. Tuppeny, without scholarships, led Penn to nine outdoor Heptagonals team titles in 10 seasons. At one stretch, his squads did not lose an outdoor dual or triangular meet for 10 years. And in 1972, they accomplished the remarkable -- winning the prestigious IC4As both indoors and outdoors. "I would reverse that and say Wooden is the Jim Tuppeny of basketball," said Elton Cochran-Fikes, Penn '74 and the first Ivy Leaguer to break four minutes in the mile. "Jim Tuppeny's like the greatest coach in America." "Tupp," as he was known, learned the craft as an assistant to the legendary James (Jumbo) Elliott at Villanova before serving as Penn's head coach from 1966 to 1979. He stayed on as director of the Penn Relays until 1987, and in 1994 he returned to 'Nova as an associate. But more than his accomplishments, Jim Tuppeny left a lasting impression on his athletes, his fellow coaches and his friends. "If you did what he said, and you had an ounce of ability, he got 50 ounces out of you," Owens said. "He was just unbelievable. And every day, it was fun." At Penn, Tupp set winning IC4As and qualifying for the Olympic trials as marks of excellence for his Quakers athletes. Owens takes great pride in being the first to accomplish the feat. At the 1966 IC4As, Owens earned a controversial photo-finish win in what was then the 220-yard dash, the victory not a sure thing until four days after the race. "[Tupp] came in and told me on that Thursday that they had reversed their decision based on a picture," Owens said. "He told me I won and said, 'You know, four days, 21 seconds is not a great time for 200 meters, but you won. We'll take it.'" Tupp hung the photo in his office, and then in his home after he left Penn. Three decades after the race, when Tupp was diagnosed with stomach cancer, Owens went to visit him at Villanova. The two went out onto the track and retraced the steps of the 220. "He just got me crying -- he just had that impact on you," Owens said. "He made me walk with him, walk the 220. He kept saying to me, 'You're in last place here! You're in last place here!' It took me a long time to get into first place. It was great. "There has not been a better coach in this country in track and field. And a better person." He was an authority on the track, one of the last of an old breed of coaches knowledgeable about all events and not a mere specialist. He could be tough and he could be abrasive, but no matter what "even the people who are not crazy about him respected him," said Irv Mondschein, his longtime assistant and coaching successor at Penn. He modeled his coaching style after Jumbo, with whom he worked alongside from 1953 to 1966. The two steered 'Nova to an amazing 15 IC4A team titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and an NCAA outdoor team title in '57. At Penn, Tupp's coaching style was like the persistent polishing of a diamond from black rock, according to Mondschein. "He was a great recruiter. He knew his technique pretty well. He had a good feeling for when kids were tired, when to back off," said Mondschein, who retired in '87. Owens was one of those diamonds. Also a football player, he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1968, which he attributes to his speed -- and that, of course, is an achievement he calls "strictly a trbute to Tupp." Jim Tuppeny was as disciplined and meticulous as they come. When he handed over the reins to Dave Johnson in 1987, he literally left a book of notes astounding in detail. "If you turned the page you knew what you'd have to do for each new day," Johnson said. "He ran everything in a very, very methodical fashion." But being meticulous and being dry are two separate things, and Tupp was most certainly not the latter. He loved a good joke. And he was a man for nicknames, so everybody who ran for him was Rock Top Jasper or Champ, and women were Mabels or Myrtles. Guys would say, "Oh, he calls us that because he can't remember our names," but really they were endearing nicknames. Tupp would push you beyond your limits on the track, but "he was an extremely caring individual," according to Cochran-Fikes. "He cared about his athletes, fought for their rights as athletes." He served in World War II, earned a bachelor's degree from La Salle and a master's from Villanova, and then he took more graduate classes at Penn. He married the former Kathleen O'Doherty (who passed away in 1990) and raised five daughters. He served as president of the NCAA Track and Field Coaches Association and as Vice President of what is now USA Track and Field. He was the first executive director of the Philadelphia Sports Congress. And as Penn Relays director he took a "hallowed old institution and pushed it into a groundswell," according to Mondschein. "It became ... one of the premier athletic events of our time." None of this should come as a surprise, though, because Jim Tuppeny lived his life the way he expected his athletes to perform on the track. Current Penn coach Charlie Powell has known Tupp since his days bringing Western Kentucky's stellar distance teams to the Penn Relays in the late '70s. And he'll never forget Tupp's speech about life: "If you ever have a chance to dance, don't sit this one out. It's your life, don't sit out your life... At least have the guts to dance the dance." Which is why at his wake Monday night, people sat around telling their favorite Tupp stories, laughing and joking and celebrating his life, because his death is not a tragedy. A tragedy would have been not knowing Tupp. Owens: "Having met him, having been coached by him, and to be able to consider myself a friend of his -- it's one of the great things in my life." He kept close ties with his former athletes, who turned out in droves for his wake and funeral. One of those young men, Steve Galetta, grew up to be a Penn neurologist. In recent years he paid Tupp frequent visits, checking up on his condition and the quality of his care. When he was told by his doctors last week that he wasn't going to recover from the latest complications, he said to Galetta, "Well, I guess I'll have lunch with Jumbo on Thursday." A man for details till the end, Tupp died last Wednesday night.
Eric Moskowitz: New place, same story for M.Hoops
(12/04/00 10:00am)
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- What can be said of Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center? It is fresh and new, polished to an antiseptic shine, an impressive 15,000-plus-seating, 360,000-square-foot-boasting facility that is in every way imaginable the anti-Palestra. Tonight it hosts the Boston Pops; Friday it ushers in the Dave Matthews Band. And Saturday it will be wiped clean once again, before the hoops are rolled out for Penn State-Temple. It is at once cavernous and well lit, and as the relatively new home of your average Big Ten basketball program, it is predictably indistinguishable from any other big arena. All of which makes it a fitting backdrop for the Penn men's basketball team, which lost to Penn State 84-74 on Saturday. Because the Quakers -- off to their worst start in 16 years -- have been nothing this year if not predictable. "It's just been the same games," said Penn center and captain Geoff Owens, whose team is winless after four eerily similar losses. Again on Saturday, the Quakers played well in spurts, kept it close against a tough opponent. And again they gave the game away in self-defeating fashion. "It's been very similar [in the way] our mistakes have cost us. That's very frustrating. It's the same thing," Owens said. "It's not like it's something different, and we're getting better in certain areas -- we're just not getting it done. That's very frustrating." Penn senior Lamar Plummer -- the only one consistently cool, collected and accurate on offense for the Quakers on Saturday -- had little trouble earmarking the problems that have plagued the team. "[We] just foul too much. And when we get fouled we just don't make free throws," said Plummer, who scored 20 points in 26 minutes. "That's basically it. We're not disciplined enough with the little things. Boxing out. Finalizing the rebound. Keeping guys in front of us when we do get beat. And not fouling." If there was one positive, it was that Plummer emerged as a true go-to guy on offense for a team struggling to replace All-Ivy scoring threats Michael Jordan and Matt Langel. Emotional leader Owens put up respectable numbers (15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks) but disappeared for stretches -- he put in six of the team's first eight points, then went scoreless for 11 minutes -- and took too few shots (8). And sophomore forwards Koko Archibong and Ugonna Onyekwe were far too erratic. "A guy like Ugonna's got to step up and start to really play -- and I think he knows that," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "He's not a foolish kid, he's a real bright kid, he understands that if he can step up and make some of his foul shots in crucial times for us it cuts the lead a little bit. And Koko's got to do the same thing. Those two guys are key ingredients. Those two guys are the most important right now." Archibong was impressive in spots -- skying waist-and-shoulders above everyone else in the paint to block a Titus Ivory shot in the second half -- but he missed three of his five free throws. And while he's been a capably selective three-point shooter in the past (previously a career 9-of-14), that's not the game the wiry and athletic Californian should be playing -- it caught up with him as he bricked 4-of-5 open three-point attempts Saturday. Onyekwe did finish with 16 points, but he missed four of his first five free throws en route to 4-of-10 overall. His struggles encapsulated Penn's horrific day at the line, as the Quakers made just 14-of-27 foul shots to the Nittany Lions' remarkable 40-of-48. Last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year played himself out of the game at one stretch, following a bizarre foul on Gyasi Cline-Heard with just over 15 minutes to play and Penn trailing by merely a basket. Cline-Heard went up for a fast-break layup and Onyekwe leapt for the block; with Cline-Heard reeling on the court, the overhead Jumbotron showed Onyekwe planting his foot in the Penn State forward's groin. As the fans showered U with boos, Cline-Heard's surrogate free throw shooter, Tyler Smith, calmly sank both shots, and Penn would never again get closer than four. It didn't end there, though, as Onyekwe bricked a three on the other end and followed it up by grabbing Smith's jersey on the next sequence. That set up a Joe Crispin-to-Smith inbounds; Owens fouled Smith trying to help out, and Smith made the bucket and, of course, the ensuing free throw. While Onyekwe has the potential to dominate, Plummer -- a talented player who left the team last year for personal reasons and had not scored as many as 13 points in one game since 1997 -- emerged as the type of player to strike fear into the hearts of the opposition and cause Bryce Jordan fans to hold their collective breath. He shot 4-of-6 on three-pointers and didn't miss a free throw in four attempts. But the senior guard also got into foul trouble, rendering himself useless by picking up his fifth personal with 6:56 still to play. With Plummer on the bench, the game unravelled predictably; the Quakers playing sloppy, missing foul shots, and letting the score slip away. "You can't blame it on officiating, you can't blame it on anything else, you've got to look at yourself," Plummer said. "Find out what you could do a lot better. And that's what I think we all need to do -- look within ourselves." Looking at the schedule shows the Quakers to be at the midpoint of a gauntlet run that will have them face tough La Salle and nationally ranked Maryland, Seton Hall and Temple before the new year arrives. But the first four opponents have likewise not been creampuffs, and that is what has been frustrating to the Quakers -- they have tied the score or held a lead in the second half of all four games. And then they have let it slip away -- correctably so, painfully so, and now predictably so. "It makes it very upsetting, because you're in the game, you know you can win this game," said Plummer, voice barely above a whisper. "But then it just slips away from you."
Plummer comes back for one more season
(11/16/00 10:00am)
For the first time in his basketball life, Lamar Plummer is focused. He has to be if he wants to contribute. He needs to be if he's going to leave a mark on the Penn basketball program. "Basically, what I'm here for now is to graduate and to play basketball," he said. "That's the only two things on my mind." It has not always been this way. It has not always needed to be this way. "Freshman, sophomore year, I had a couple other things on my mind. It wasn't always basketball; it wasn't always school. I liked to hang out, and things like that," he said. "But now I'm focused, and I'm ready to get on with what I'm supposed to do." Lamar Plummer knows that what he is supposed to do has not changed -- he is a Penn basketball player, and he is supposed to contribute to the Penn basketball team. It is the expectations -- from others, if not himself -- that have changed. Once, he bore the burden of future stardom. Now, he's trying to make sure no one's forgotten about him. "I don't think you guys have ever actually really seen me play, because I've been through so much here," he said. "But I think you will get a chance to see me play." * There was a time when signs pointed to Plummer being the centerpiece of the Penn team by now -- the veteran guard, the go-to guy. A shooter, a slasher, a pure scorer in high school, he arrived on campus a heralded recruit -- Abington Friends' all-time leading scorer come to join high school teammate Michael Jordan in the Quakers backcourt. And he contributed as a freshman. In his fourth college game, against Evansville, he scored 13 points in 23 minutes. He dropped 12 on Rhode Island a week after his 19th birthday. With Penn's Matt Langel hurt, he showed poise in his first Big 5 game at the Palestra, scoring 11 points in 33 minutes of a down-to-the-wire, two-point loss to St. Joe's. That was three years ago. That was before the setbacks. "My sophomore year, I thought that was going to be a great year for me," Plummer said. "Coach [Fran Dunphy], I think he expected a lot from me that year. I expected a lot from myself." What he never could have expected, though, was that a preseason poke in the eye and an ensuing exam would reveal he had a torn retina in one eye and a detached retina in the other. In an instant, he went from wanting all eyes on him on the court to just wanting his own two to work. Penn played tough against Kansas, then upset sixth-ranked Temple. The Quakers were riding high. Lamar Plummer was just trying to regain his vision. After three eye surgeries, he rushed to rejoin the team by the end of December. The one thing that was clear, though, was that he was not the same Lamar Plummer who showed so much promise the year before. "I just wasn't myself. I was out of it, I had no depth perception," he said. "That's like shooting at a rim with no backboard or anything. It was kind of difficult." Donning protective eyewear, he finished his sophomore season scoring 4.3 points per game and hitting just 33.3 percent of his shots. He played four minutes in the Ivy League-clinching win at Princeton. He scored three points in Penn's NCAA Tournament loss to Florida. Junior year was the year he would come back, he thought -- when he would reassert himself. It turned out to be a disaster. "Things didn't happen as well as I would have liked them, and it went back to me doing the wrong things, and focusing on the wrong things again, and I ended up having to take a leave of absence because my mind just wasn't into school," Plummer said. A lifelong scorer, his touch was gone on the court. He struggled, shot 17.4 percent, hit four total field goals in six games before leaving the team. * The Quakers rolled to the Ivy title last season, recording the sixth undefeated Ivy campaign in school history. And Plummer was away from the Palestra for it all, away from the classroom, away from Penn. At a crossroads, he was out of the spotlight, at home in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, deciding what his next move would be and what he would do with his life. He talked to Dunphy frequently. And he kept playing basketball. Because no matter what, basketball had always been fun for him. "Always. Always. That's my first love, and my really only love -- it's just like basketball is it," Plummer said, his eyes lighting up. "It's just so fun.... You can go anywhere and guys know basketball -- it's a universal sport. And I love it." He could have left Penn, could have washed his hands of the whole situation. He could have moved on, sealing the books on a college basketball career, having scored 223 total points. Having not started a game since his freshman season. Instead, Lamar Plummer acquired a focus. He worked on mental discipline. He decided he would try to come back. And he turned in the best summer of basketball of his entire life. In the Sonny Hill League, one of the premier summer leagues in the country, Plummer was a star. He led his team, Chestnut Hill Podiatry, to the championship game against WDAS -- a deep squad featuring Temple scoring machine Lynn Greer, Penn star Ugonna Onyekwe and La Salle's Rasual Butler, a preseason candidate for the prestigious Wooden Award. Plummer outplayed them all. He shut down Greer one on one. He hit key shots down the stretch. He led his team to the title, and he copped MVP honors. "[Lamar] is without question capable of being one of the best shooters in the Big 5," said John Hardnett, commissioner of the Sonny Hill's Hank Gathers College League. Hardnett is a basketball mentor, a playground and rec coaching legend, an influence on countless Big Fivers. He has known Plummer since the 6'1", 185-pound guard was a schoolboy. And he believes that Plummer should not be counted out of the Penn basketball equation. "He's more dedicated [now]," Hardnett said. "When things come easy for kids at an early age, they [sometimes] need something to wake them up. And I think that the setbacks he's had in his career have now put him on a straightened path." Likewise, Abington Friends coach Steve Chadwin believes that Penn basketball has not seen the last of Lamar Plummer. "He's got his senior year to salvage," Chadwin says. "He's set a goal that he really wants to do well -- make a contribution to the team any way he can." Chadwin remembers Plummer as a slasher, a scorer, a player with quick reflexes. "The potential's there. That's never been a problem. He just basically has to play the way the Penn coaching staff wants him to play -- fit into their system." * Fran Dunphy knows that Lamar Plummer has talent. And he is pulling for the guard to succeed. But Dunphy knows it has been three years since Plummer was last a healthy part of the team's equation for an entire season. "Well, you would have liked to have had him get significant time each year -- a little bit freshman year, a lot sophomore year, a whole lot more junior year and then really have it be his team this year, to really come in and solidify that backcourt," Dunphy said. "Which is not to say it won't happen. He just hasn't had that opportunity yet. But now that opportunity is here, and let's see what he can do with it." Lamar Plummer's role on this team is not yet defined. With All-Ivy performers Jordan and Langel graduated, the Quakers have little experience in the backcourt. But to Plummer, proving himself on the court in the game he truly loves is no pressure at all. "If you ask me is there a lot of pressure being back, or stepping in place of Mike or Matt, it's no pressure. Pressure was when I was home, and out of school and my parents were looking at me like, 'What are you going to do with your life?' That was pressure," he said. "Just doing the things -- coming from where I came from -- that's pressure. This is basketball. This is fun." He is the oldest of the guard pool, a month shy of 22 and competing for a position among a handful of underclassmen. To play serious minutes, he'll need to prove to Dunphy that he is as focused as he -- and Hardnett, and Chadwin -- believes he is. "I don't think there's any question that Lamar can step up and make shots on the perimeter. There's no question that he can be a force for us defensively," Dunphy said. "It's just the consistency factor. Doing it time after time, each possession down the floor." Dunphy is not quick to praise, but Plummer knows that he can contribute in this, his final season. "Yeah, it's feeling pretty good. I'm pretty confident in my shooting the ball," Plummer said. But that's besides the point. Plummer does not want to talk about his own abilities. In a year away, in three years outside the spotlight, he has learned that basketball is a team game. "My focus is this team. That's just it. [I'll do] whatever I've got to do. If I've got to come out here and play the whole game, if I've got to come out here and only play 10 minutes if [we're] winning," he said. "That's what I want -- I want a winning team." The slate, in a way, is clean. He has a chance to surprise people, to remind them that he is not finished at Penn, not as long as he still has so much to get out of the game. "What I do out here is have fun. I take it and put it all out here every day, I try to give it my all every day, because I realize what has passed me in three years -- it went by so fast," he said. "And I want to make the best out of this last year that I have here. I really do."
Eric Moskowitz: Can't toss goalposts this time
(11/10/00 10:00am)
It's not Neil Rose's fault if he thinks Penn is a school where the students really get excited about football. The Harvard quarterback has seen all of one game at Franklin Field. "The atmosphere there is pretty lively," said Rose, the final signal caller for the Crimson the last time Penn's fans tore down the goalposts and threw them in the Schuylkill. "It's kind of crazy." But the truth is, it's really not. If it was, a certain senior on the Penn football team wouldn't have told me that he wished the fans would rush the turf at Franklin Field and tear down the goalposts if the Quakers win tomorrow. Because it wouldn't have even been an issue. Seems he was reminiscing last week with an ex-Penn football player, a senior on the '98 squad. Looking at photos -- thinking about the thousands-deep throng storming the field, the sweet taste of victory cigars, the sight of the goalpost sinking in the Schuylkill -- he couldn't help but wax nostalgic. And wish he could relive it. I happen to disagree. Tearing down the goalposts in the final home game of '98, when Penn clinched at least a share of the Ivy title, was truly special. And doing it again tomorrow would cheapen the memory. A win and the Quakers are assured just one thing -- they'll still be tied for first. What that senior really wants is a title, a win at Cornell next week and a championship ring he can truly feel is his own. A loss to the Big Red in Ithaca, and I can guarantee he won't be sitting two years from now with a photo album in his lap, reminiscing with a member of the Class of '03 about how much it meant to see that upright go down. It's unlikely the goalposts will come down tomorrow. There are schools where the goalposts do come down after every big win, where they're paraded down the street after every stirring victory. Penn is not one of those schools. If it was, the goalposts would have come down on October 28, when the Quakers scored three touchdowns in the final four minutes-plus to keep their Ivy title hopes alive. Instead, there were even fewer people left in the stands at Franklin Field during the comeback than there were at last month's speech by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This is a school where the bulk of the student body comes to the first game of the year and doesn't come back, save for Homecoming and maybe Family Weekend. And one football player's wishes, one rah-rah column is not going to change that. Listening for that unlikely Cornell loss to lowly Columbia, which would clinch at least a share for Penn, as a signal to raze the goalposts isn't an option -- the Quakers kick off at 12:30, while the Cornell game starts an hour later. It's not the danger of it that keeps me from urging people to tear down the goalposts, as hard as it is to ignore that in '93, Penn was lucky no one was hurt when thousands tried to stream over, under and between two parked TV trucks. Or that in '94 the mob very nearly made the horrific mistake of dropping the goalpost off the wrong side of the bridge -- into the Schuylkill Expressway and not the Schuylkill River. Or that last year a Brown senior lost a finger amid twisting metal in Bruno's Ivy title celebration in Providence. Because if the goalposts do come down, I'd be lying if I said I was going to hide under a row of bleachers and root for the cops in riot gear. Let the mob mentality sweep me away to a bridge over the Schuylkill. I just won't be expecting it, and I'm not urging it on, because at Penn tearing down the goalposts is a tradition reserved for championships -- a vestige of the 1940s, revived with the string of titles Jerry Berndt's squads claimed in the '80s and carried out for each of Al Bagnoli's teams' championships in the '90s. Only once in recent years did it come down on Homecoming when a title was still in doubt -- in the legendary Princeton game of '93. A game with enough bad blood, dramatic buildup and gameday excitement to earn a full story in Sports Illustrated. But this is not that game, and the goalposts should not come down. Instead, come to the game, come and stay longer than the throwing of the toast. Because this game, while not Homecoming '93, is important. "This is certainly the biggest game that's been played at Penn in the last two years," said that certain Red and Blue senior. "So if fans want to celebrate and tear down the goalposts, that would be great... and if they want to celebrate and not tear down the goalposts that's great too. As long as [they] are there and they're celebrating and they're behind the team, that will definitely help us. "It would really propel the team onto bigger and better things." If this senior wants a memory, it will be the rousing win over Harvard, the fans storming the field, the momentum building to a championship worthy of growing misty-eyed over. So stay, just stay until the bitter cold end, not only because it's Homecoming, but because this game does mean something. If the Quakers win, rush the field. Take a few photos you can look back on someday. Revel in the victory. Just stay. If Penn wins again next week, you'll be glad you did.
Eric Moskowitz: Not clutch enough to stay perfect
(10/23/00 9:00am)
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- With Penn trailing by 10 and the clock at the Yale Bowl showing just under 2:40 left in the fourth quarter, Quakers cornerback Fred Plaza ran into Yale punter Eric Johnson, post-punt. It's ironic that Penn's hopes of an undefeated Ivy title season went up in smoke on a play when Johnson was, well, just standing there. Because Johnson -- a punter in the sense that Smokey Joe's is a restaurant -- terrorized the Quakers secondary on Saturday, hauling in a Penn opponent-record-tying 13 passes for 172 yards. The most prolific receiver in Elis history, Johnson accounted for both of Yale's offensive touchdowns, putting the home team ahead for good when he hauled in a 14-yarder from Peter Lee midway through the third quarter. The game wasn't truly over, though, until Plaza's momentum turned a Yale punt into a Yale first down. Instead of a Penn ball at its own 22 with two timeouts and two-and-a-half minutes to play, the Quakers regained possession at their own 14 with 1:26 left, no timeouts and no chance of scoring twice. Of course, Plaza -- a sophomore who came up with two sacks and had a couple of solid kick returns -- is not to be blamed for Penn's failure to assert itself as the top team in the Ivy League standings. On a day when neither team was at full-strength and neither was playing to its potential, Johnson and Yale came up with a few clutch plays, and the Quakers simply did not. After stalling on the opening drive and settling for a Jason Feinberg field goal, the Quakers offense shut down for the rest of the first quarter and Yale built a 14-3 lead on just four offensive plays. The Elis opened their first drive with a 57-yard bomb down the right side to Johnson, who broke Hasani White's tackle and sprinted to the 8-yard line. Three plays later, a well-covered Johnson made a diving catch in the end zone for Yale's first score. "We knew Othe wheel' had hurt them with past teams, running the out-and-up," Johnson said of Yale's first play, the longest reception of the season against Penn this year. "[But] I was pretty amazed when I turned back up field and was that wide open." Yale picked up its second score when Ryan Lazzeri suffered his first blocked punt of the season. After Hoffman fired three straight incomplete passes from the Penn 28, a stunned Lazzeri watched Elis freshman Steve Ehikian swat the ball away at the 20; senior special teams player Scott Wagner pounced on it in the end zone for the first touchdown -- not to mention touch of the ball -- of his career. Yale was cruising, and the impressive 35,000-plus crowd at the Yale Bowl erupted when news came over the PA early in the second quarter that Ivy undefeated Cornell -- the team that beat the Elis in the league-opener when All-Ivy kicker Matt Murawczyk's 32-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right as time expired -- was being hammered by Brown. It was the visiting Quakers, though, who rallied to the call, as Hoffman completed 8-of-10 passes for 109 yards, throwing for one touchdown and plunging in himself for another. Penn led 17-14 at the half, poised to clear some room atop the Ivy standings. But the Elis, knowing a loss would send them to 1-2 in league play and all but derail their hopes of repeating as Ivy champs, answered in the second half. None was bigger than the 6'3", 225-pond Johnson, who snared four passes on the opening drive of the third quarter, including a key third-down grab at the Penn 15 and his sixth touchdown of the season two plays later. "We knew he was very good," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said of Johnson, who set an Ivy record with 21 catches, including a fingertip grab of the winning touchdown in the waning seconds, against Harvard in The Game last season. "He presents match-up problems, not only in terms of his ability to run, but also his size, when he's being guarded by the prototypical corner who's 5'9", 180 pounds." Unlike Yale and Johnson, Penn accomplished little after the break. When the dust settled with 1:26 left and the Quakers down 10, Penn had accumulated just 11 yards of second-half offense. But it wasn't so much that Penn was offensively inept -- they just didn't have the ball. The Quakers defense fared OK late, keeping Yale out of the end zone and forcing them to settle for a field goal twice on trips inside the 10 in the fourth quarter. But the Elis milked the clock to perfection, eating up 19 minutes in their three scoring drives, while Penn responded with one first down. The final drive to make the game a respectable 27-24 was an impressive exhibition, as Penn moved the ball 86 yards in just over a minute. But it was just that -- an exhibition. The Yale fans had long since begun their post-game celebrations when Feinberg punctuated the afternoon with an extra point at the 0:00 mark. After the game, Johnson and his Yale teammates, knowing that Cornell lost -- and remembering that they themselves won nine straight after losing a season-opening heartbreaker to Brown last year -- were all smiles. Johnson kidded Lee about throwing "a little bit behind" him on the 57-yard completion. Then he joked about his one botched punt attempt of the day. "I was fed up with punting it badly, so I, uh, decided to drop the ball and run for the first down," Johnson said, describing the first-half play when he dropped the snap, then picked it up and scrambled 12 yards for a first down -- his first rush attempt of the season. So with a win in hand and his team suddenly looking the best of the bunch in a muddled Ivy race where five teams are currently tied for first, Johnson could laugh with ease about making the best of a momentary mental lapse. But the Penn Quakers, somber as they filed onto the bus for the ride home from New Haven, had little to smile about. They let a winnable game slip away, the clock expiring on hopes of an undefeated Ivy season.
Eric Moskowitz: Shades of '98 as Football rebounds
(10/17/00 9:00am)
Last Saturday, Holy Cross' Fitton Field played host to the flattest, least-inspired 60 minutes of Penn football in recent memory. After the Quakers rebounded this week with a 43-25 lambasting of Columbia, Penn kicker Jason Feinberg may have been the only one drawing a parallel between the Holy Cross game -- when Penn trailed 27-3 at the half -- and the '98 Brown game. That's right, that Brown game, the highest scoring in Ivy League history, the back-and-forth, 58-51 affair in which Penn racked up 538 yards of offense. While Feinberg may be the first to admit kickers can be "a little loopy," he may have something here. The senior, who with his third field goal Saturday broke Jeremiah Greathouse's career scoring mark for a kicker at Penn -- Feinberg has 172 points (32 field goals and 76 PATs) -- elaborated. "[It could be] a real wake-up call that says, OHey, you guys aren't that good -- You better come to play every Saturday or you'll get your butt kicked.'" Penn won four straight to finish the season after that Brown game, winning the Ivy title. This year's Quakers squad is waving off last week's embarrassment at Holy Cross, pointing to the Columbia win as a sign they're headed in the right direction. And unlike 1998, Penn (2-0 Ivy League) still has the benefit of a perfect league record. "This is the real Penn team," Gavin Hoffman said, referring to the Quakers squad with a 3-0 home record, the team that sits atop the Ivy standings. Last week, Hoffman was sent to the bench in the third quarter. On Saturday, the "real" Hoffman's perfect 8-of-8 passing fueled a 15-minute, four-second stretch to open the second half in which the Quakers turned a 23-19 ballgame into a 40-19 runaway. If Penn has put Holy Cross in the past, it would be a sure sign of maturity, a buzzword around Franklin Field lately. "We're dealing with a very young football team," said Penn coach Al Bagnoli, whose team graduated 13 starters last year. "If we're a bunch of mature guys," Feinberg said, "we get off the bus, play to our ability and we beat Holy Cross." € Feinberg wrote off the Holy Cross game, citing that the Ivy League keeps its football teams out of the I-AA playoffs. "It's important to get up for every game, but to be honest, it's hard to get up for a game where you drive for six hours, get off the bus and play what's basically an exhibition game," Feinberg said. But Holy Cross, playing at home, on homecoming, and with a chance to improve to 4-1, skied to the occasion. How, then, do you explain the Crusaders' 31-14 loss at Dartmouth Saturday -- the first win of the season for the Big Green, a team that lost to Penn 48-14 two weeks ago? There is no logical explanation. Same goes for Yale's 24-17 win over hapless Fordham. And don't get the Swamis started on the Ivy League action at Princeton this week, where David Splithoff -- marking the first start by a freshman at quarterback in Tigers history -- led a 1-3 Princeton team to a 27-point thumping of previously 3-1 Brown. "There's six teams, seven teams who are pretty good," Columbia coach Ray Tellier said on the Ivy League's inexplicable parity. "You never know." Bagnoli had a more succinct explanation. "This is the most screwed up league in the world," he said, shaking his head as he walked away from the press conference. € With Columbia leading 6-0 six minutes into the game, Hoffman hit Colin Smith over the middle for a 14-yard pickup. And all 6,100 fans at Franklin Field held their collective breath -- because when the dust cleared, Kris Ryan was down, being tended to by the trainers. Ryan, the most impressive and imposing running back in the league last year, entered the Columbia game at full strength for the first time all season after suffering a left high-ankle sprain in the preseason. Now Ryan is on crutches once again, this time with a strained knee. His status is questionable. "It just breaks everyone's heart to see Kris go down," Feinberg said. "He worked so hard to get back from that ankle, and you can see how much it kills him not to be playing." It's disheartening to say the least for Penn to lose Ryan. "Our kids were really looking forward to Kris getting back," Bagnoli said. "I think they were jacked up to have Kris in the backfield." Rather than raise the white flag, though, Penn's passing game stayed sharp and the defense shut down the Lions in the second half. The Quakers offensive line held together better than it had all season. Mike Verille and Todd Okolovitch platooned to fill in admirably on Saturday -- especially considering Verille missed last week's game with pneumonia. Verille picked up 97 yards on 26 carries, while Okolovitch gained 61 yards on nine rushes; each player scored a rushing touchdown.
Eric Moskowitz: Slay pushes Wrestling to new heights
(10/06/00 9:00am)
Roger Reina has his work cut out for him. Fresh off the plane from Sydney, still adjusting to the 15-hour time difference, the man who rebuilt the Penn wrestling program has an overflowing inbox to sift through. "I got back very late last night, and [I'm] just trying to get through the e-mails -- I had over 150 of them," Reina said yesterday. Still, Reina couldn't be happier. That's because his former wrestler, 1998 Wharton grad Brandon Slay, knocked off a handful of the world's most talented and decorated wrestlers last week in Sydney. The Americans may have been disheartened with their team performance at the Games, failing to take home a single gold, but Slay himself did anything but disappoint, taking home the silver medal in his first Olympics. And the congratulatory e-mails have been pouring in. "It's been very encouraging. Through the e-mails and all the electronic communication, it's been great to know how many people were so closely tied in with what was going on Down Under," Reina said. "We actually had a very strong contingent of Penn people down in Sydney, including many alumni and former wrestlers who made the trip, so there was a great deal of support down there." Fourteen years ago, e-mails were a techie pipedream, Reina was a wet-behind-the-ears coach hoping to right a program just trying to stay alive, and the only Penn people in Sydney were there to study abroad. The idea that the Quakers could rise to the uppermost echelon of college wrestling by the turn of the century was inconceivable. "In 1986, we were a little more focused on just building our program to a level where we could be competitive within the Ivy League," Reina said. "I can't say that [having an Olympic wrestler someday] isn't something that I expected -- it wasn't something that I was even focused on at the time." That's because Penn wasn't exactly a model of wrestling success in the decade before Reina's hiring as head coach. They went 6-47-1 in Ivy League dual meets in that stretch. Flash forward to today. Penn is the Horatio Alger success story of the wrestling world, and the Ivy dual meet is far from the be all and end all for the Penn season. Sure, the 33-1-1 Ivy mark and six league titles in the last seven years are nice, but the crux of it has been Penn's steady rise on the national ladder. Last year, the Quakers finished No. 15 in the national dual meet rankings. They placed ninth in the team standings at the NCAA championships. That's just two notches behind Penn's finish in the Ivy League standings in Reina's first year as coach. Reina has built a model program on a foundation of talented student-athletes, drawing with the lure of both academic and athletic excellence; his squads consistently rank near the top nationally in team GPA. And the key to Penn's rise has unquestionably been recruiting, as Reina lands nationally ranked incoming classes despite the obvious Ivy absence of scholarships. Nothing is a better recruiting tool than winning -- except, perhaps, exposure. Exposure like Slay's back-to-back NCAA finals appearances in 1997-98, becoming the first Penn finalist since World War II. Exposure like Andrei Rodzianko's win at the grueling Midlands Tournament in 1998. Exposure like Brett Matter's NCAA title last March. And without question, exposure like Slay's Olympic ride. In '97, Slay's hard-fought loss to Oklahoma State's Mark Branch aired on ESPN2, late night, after the fact. Last week, albeit tape-delayed, Slay's Olympic performance was beamed into millions of American homes. "It's exposure we haven't had before," Reina said. "I think it's going to have a pretty significant impact." Yoshi Nakamura, a Penn 157-pounder with two years of eligibility remaining, raved similarly. "I think it's fantastic for the program," Nakamura said. "It shows where Penn wrestling has come from and where it's going." The most promising aspect of Slay's performance is that it had Penn written all over it. He still relies on Penn strength and fitness coach Rob Wagner for his training regimen. And of course, he owes a tremendous amount of gratitude to Penn assistant Brian Dolph. Dolph, a former NCAA champ at Indiana, was a front-runner for the '92 and '96 Games but was sidelined by injury. This past summer, he battled all the way to the 167.5-pound Olympic Trials finals -- where the mentor lost to the pupil, Slay, for the first time. Slay is a representative of everything Reina strives for with the Penn program. Compare this with another Ivy League medalist at Sydney, bronze-winning swimmer Cristina Teuscher, who also won gold in Atlanta as a teenager and picked Columbia for academic reasons; she's leagues ahead of her Lions teammates, an Ivy League anomaly. Slay is the Penn model. Nakamura, an integral part of the recruiting class that entered in the fall of '97 ranked No. 11 by Amateur Wrestling News, explained why Slay's exposure in Sydney is the perfect sell for the Penn system. "[This] is really going to benefit our program. Kids are really going to start turning their heads to see that the combination of academics here with a great wrestling program is going to be beneficial in their future," said Nakamura, an accomplished offseason freestyle wrestler who dreams of medaling in Athens in 2004. "Brandon's a great example of that. He chose to postpone his life to accomplish his goals in the Olympics. But he also has the option now of going to work for any investment bank he wants to." Slay's future is up in the air. A newcomer on the world scene, he may set his sights on Athens and the gold. Or the part-time Charles Schwab employee may start using his Wharton degree full-time. It's no secret that Slay is disappointed with the end result in Sydney, that he was not pleased with the officiating in the gold medal match. Still, while Slay may have lost the bout to Germany's Alexander Leipold, when he took the stand for the silver, it was Penn wrestling's biggest win yet.
Eric Moskowitz: Jordan waiting for his shot
(09/28/00 9:00am)
It wasn't supposed to happen this way. By now, he was supposed to have inked his first contract overseas. Or maybe been earmarked for an NBA training camp. Or at least have an inside track at the CBA.<P> He was not supposed to be stopping by the Palestra. He was not supposed to be sitting in the house all day. He was not supposed to be hanging out at Smoke's on the weekends.<P> He is the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year. He is a three-time first team All-Ivy selection. He was featured in Sports Illustrated and USA Today. He hit game-winning shots. He signed autographs on the road. <P> For now, though, all Michael Jordan can do is wait. Wait, and hope -- hope the phone rings with news from his agent, news from a team overseas, just news period.<P> So he waits.<P> "I don't have any set plans right now; I just want to play," says the man who ranks in the top three in Penn history in points, assists and steals. "Just to be playing somewhere right now, to be knowing what I'm going to do. Not knowing is very, very frustrating."<P> His voice is wistful. It is not the cocky voice of a man whose dribble penetration had opposing coaches breaking out in a cold sweat. It is the voice of a man who loves basketball, who clearly has a talent for the sport and a hunger to play it, but who has nowhere to play.<P> For now.<P> After last season, when he led the Quakers through an undefeated Ivy campaign -- when he averaged 16.3 points and 4.9 assists per game -- No. 23 earned an invite to the NBA's pre-draft camp in Portsmouth, Va. When his name wasn't called in the draft, he signed on with the Philadelphia Force of the fledgling National Rookie League, a summer pro developmental league for young players.<P> A handful of games into the NRL season, he was picked up by the Philadelphia 76ers and invited to the NBA's Shaw's Summer League in Boston in late July. It may not have been the Iverson-Kukoc Sixers, but it was still the Sixers.<P> The six-foot point guard appeared in all seven of the team's games but came off the bench for a total of 84 minutes. He hit 25 percent (5-of-20) of his shots, picked up two steals and dished out seven assists -- one more assist than Sixers center Nazr Mohammed.<P> In mid-July, about the time Jordan left the NRL, Force teammate Paul Romanczuk signed a professional contract in Spain. Romanczuk, the beneficiary of countless Jordan feeds at Penn, graduated from Wharton in '99 and hung up his high tops to work as an accountant at Arthur Andersen. Now, he is getting paid to play basketball.<P> Jordan, meanwhile, is still waiting. He says he's in talks with a team in Israel. He thought he'd have heard back from them by now.<P> Romanczuk joked last year that he wouldn't go to a country he'd never heard of, that he wouldn't play "in Iceland for $10,000 and a bike." Suddenly, that doesn't seem so bad to Jordan.<P> "It's getting to that point," he says. "There are still some things, though. I talked to some people the other day -- the IBL [International Basketball League] doesn't start up until later in the year, and a lot of things are pushed back because of the Olympics, so hopefully something will come up. We'll see what happens."<P> Jordan talks to Penn coach Fran Dunphy on the phone, and he talks to his agent, Keith Glass. Glass, who has brokered 150 NBA deals in 20 years and who represents former Penn stars Matt Maloney and Ira Bowman -- both of whom played in the NBA last season -- is cautiously optimistic.<P> "I'm disappointed," Glass says. "I'm not surprised about overseas because it's very, very difficult for a point guard to get a job in a foreign country.<P> "But I thought there'd be more interest in him here. He's a terrific player, a really good defender and he knows how to play."<P> There are still options out there. The IBL, maybe -- a notch below the CBA, but a place where everyone from Lloyd Daniels to Steve Goodrich has found a home. But for now, they are all just possibilities.<P> "Yeah, I think he'll be playing somewhere," Glass says. "I don't think there's a problem with that. I just don't know where."<P> Glass says he's confident, but he sounds more like a worried friend than a cutthroat dealmaker.<P> "It's very tough. You have to be a business person, from my side. But I know what it means to them, and it bothers me that I don't have something good to say every day to everybody."<P> Direct your Web browser to the official Sixers Web site and you'll find a bunch of e-postcards sent from the Shaw's Summer League and addressed "To: Sixers Fans." There's a postcard from Ira Bowman and one from assistant coach Mo Cheeks. Nazr Mohammed sent one, as did Pepe Sanchez -- in English and en Espanol. All of the postcards are pretty similar. Having fun, weather's great, did some sightseeing.<P> But not Mike's. No message about shopping on Newbury Street or visiting the Tall Ships or cracking open a lobster. Just a black-and-white headcut where the return address would be. And a message:<P> I've had a great time and learned so much in summer league. I want to thank the Sixers and Coach Brown for inviting me to Boston. It has been a thrill to wear a Sixers jersey.<P> -- Michael<P> It's a note from a man who is not going to be invited to training camp, and in hindsight it's a little bit melancholy. Local boy makes good. Local boy gets to wear a Sixers jersey. Two months later, local boy's still looking for something, anything.<P> Mike Jordan is by no means a pity case. He's got a supportive agent and a former coach trying to help him out. He's got a trophy case piled with hardware and a resume full of accolades.<P> And he has a Penn degree. He just doesn't have a job.<P> So he comes by Penn. He works out at the Palestra. For four years, he was as big of a BMOC as it gets in the Ivy League. Now, he makes cameo appearances at Smoke's. He high-fives people who didn't expect to see him.<P> "It kind of just sucks, actually, ya know, " he says, voice trailing. "I'm getting tired of sitting in the house all day. I'd rather be playing somewhere."<P> So he waits. He tries to stay optimistic. And he hopes for a phone call.<P> "Pretty much [that's it]. Just stay positive," says the man who just six months ago owned the Palestra. <P> "Stay positive."<P> <P>
Eric Moskowitz:Coen has Hoffman cooking
(09/18/00 9:00am)
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Gavin Hoffman, who completed 36-of-52 passes for 356 yards against Lehigh, did something on Saturday he seemed incapable of last season: exceeding expectations. Hoffman, a high school All-American who announced his surprise transfer from Northwestern to Penn prior to the start of last season, and who had already shown that he could throw for 2,000 yards against the Ivy-dwarfing defenses of the Big 10, was disappointingly underwhelming in 1999. He was simply an above-average Ivy League passer when he was expected to be other-worldly. After all, he was the "transfer from God," as dubbed by Penn coach Al Bagnoli in the '99 preseason. At 6'5", 235 pounds, he had the size and the arm strength -- and he came close to breaking just about every single-season or single-game Penn passing record in the book last year. But as the defending Ivy champ Quakers dropped to fourth in the league, the much-scrutinized sophomore seemed to miss the mark on clutch passes. He lacked mobility, at times getting outplayed by the opposing quarterback, be it Brown's James Perry or Yale's Joe Walland. The transfer from God seemed at times more like a transfer from Dartmouth. Saturday, Penn lost its season-opener to Lehigh, 17-10. But it was no fault of Hoffman's, who was as consistent, as effortless and as accurate as he's ever been in a Penn uniform. So, here's a tip of the hat to new Penn offensive coordinator Andy Coen. Because while Hoffman's effectiveness was obvious, the behind the scenes work of Coen is due equal thanks for keeping Penn in the game when few predicted the Quakers would have a chance. After all, Penn was without injured running back Kris Ryan, unquestionably the top back in the Ivy League. Furthermore, Lehigh was a team that already had a game under its belt, a team that had won 23 of its last 24 regular season games, a team that abused three Ivy opponents in '99 by a combined score of 164-27. And for good pre-game measure, throw in the fact that Lehigh would know just what to expect from Penn's offense -- not merely because Ryan's absence would make the passing game all the more obvious, but because Coen was the mastermind behind the Engineers' potent offense, serving as offensive coordinator in Bethlehem from 1996 until last year. Up in the press box, it certainly didn't sound like Coen was having a red letter day. Isolated from the media in an adjoining booth, with a curtain drawn over the dividing wall's window, Coen was out of sight and out of mind -- almost. A handful of times, like a hidden lab rat periodically zapped in some Psych 001 experiment, Coen would let out a sudden scream, followed by a vocal peppering of unprintables that even the dividing wall couldn't muffle. Certainly, Coen was his own harshest critic. Because after the game, Penn's offense received glowing praise from both sides of the field. OThey're going to throw the ball well against many people this year, because of the quarterback and because of the offense that they're running," Lehigh coach Kevin Higgins said. "It's an excellent offense, especially when you have talented people like Penn has. "I thought Andy [Coen] did an excellent job play-calling, using various personnel groups and formations, and [he] attacked some weaknesses he saw in us." And Hoffman, who kept his emotions to himself last year, seemed to actually enjoy playing in the game. He used the phrase "fun to play in" to describe the Coen system, with lots of quick passes, particularly on first down, and the option to hit a wide arsenal of receivers -- Hoffman hooked up with nine different targets. "I thought we had a good package," Hoffman said. "I felt like I was getting in a groove out there, so I was happy I was able to spread it around." And that's high praise coming from a quarterback who knows his offenses. Hoffman's seen enough different systems in his well-traveled career that, Wharton degree aside, he could always fall back on a career as an offensive coordinator. "This is actually my fifth offensive system, so I feel like I'm pretty versed in college offenses," Hoffman said. "It's gotten easier every time to learn a new offense." Hoffman found it particularly easy to connect with a veteran trio of receivers. Junior wideout Rob Milanese set a Penn single-game record with 13 receptions. Senior captain Doug O'Neill, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, snared five passes for 77 yards from the flanker spot. And senior Ben Zagorski, who caught 26 passes last season in platoon duty at tight end, seems to have grown into his 6'7", 245-pound frame, drawing rave reviews from opposing coach Higgins while hauling in five passes. He used his size to churn out 74 yards and snared Hoffman's lone touchdown pass, leaping into the air while Lehigh safety Abdul Byron desperately hung on. While Penn lost, the post-game air was one of anything but desperation. The Quakers, obviously still undefeated in the Ivy League, gained valuable experience. They hung in against a heavy favorite. The passing game clicked in ways it never did last season. And Kris Ryan's return, and with it a balanced attack, is just around the corner. But most importantly, Hoffman -- whose next pass in '99 always seemed to be a question mark -- was steady, collected and on the mark. And he seemed to be enjoying himself. "I felt like I had a lot of answers out there, and I could see how when the receivers and quarterback are on the same page, we're going to move the ball on a lot of people," he said. "[Coen's system] is a fun one to play in, and I'm really excited about it."
Princeton's stumble isn't reason to gloat
(09/07/00 9:00am)
It's been the worst of weeks for Princeton basketball. On August 30, the Tigers lost Chris Young, arguably the best big man in the Ivy League two years running. Yesterday, Bill Carmody, one of the country's most competent coaches, announced he was departing Old Nassau for Northwestern. If you care about Penn basketball, stop dancing, take off your party hat and wipe that grin off your face. This is no occasion to celebrate. Think about it this way: Would being a Penn basketball fan be as much fun if Princeton dropped its basketball program? Exactly. Obviously, things are nowhere close to that down in the dumps at the former College of New Jersey. But beating up on Princeton without Young, and without Carmody, won't come with the same glowing, can't-wipe-this-grin-off-your-face feeling of the stomping/storming/net-cutting at Jadwin in '99 or last March's first win over Princeton at home since '96. The beauty, if not the saving grace, of the coming season, up until last week, was that the Ivy title appeared to be very much up for grabs between the Geoff Owens-led Quakers and the Young-led Tigers. And all the gloating and celebrating by Penn fans at Princeton's expense this week can't come within a halfcourt buzzer-beater of touching the gratification, the satisfaction, the vindication of a win over a good Princeton team. Even if neither team would have been poised for a national ranking this winter, knowing that Young would be artfully manning the high post for the famed Tigers system while the respected-but-dreaded Carmody whined on the sidelines was enough to have every Penn fan worth his "Abners -- Go Quakers!" shirt circling February 13 and March 6 in red on the calendar. The competition in one of college basketball's greatest rivalries would be as heated as ever. Now as the Tigers threaten to stumble into mediocrity, I find my enthusiasm for the coming season waning just a bit, despite the fact that Penn is now the clear favorite to win a third straight Ivy title and head back to the NCAAs. Look, I'm not crazy. I don't own one of those silly orange-and-black plaid blazers. There's no secret shrine to Pete Carril in my bedroom closet. Once, in a weak moment -- after the loss that lives in infamy, 50-49 on Feb. 9, 1999 -- I may have used words like "smug" and "smarmy" to describe Carmody, post-press conference. In short, journalistic integrity and objectivity notwithstanding, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Penn fan and I hate Princeton. Period. And that's why the most thrilling game at the Palestra in the past three years, the win over No. 6 Temple included, was the 78-72 overtime loss to Princeton in the '97-98 season finale. That year, the national media drooled over the Tigers, inflating Princeton to No. 8 in the rankings. The Penn team and its fans alike knew Princeton was overrated, but they also knew the Tigers were good, and an otherwise meaningless game for Penn/pre-NCAA tuneup for the Tigers became a classic for the ages. That game was exciting precisely because Princeton was at its most hated, perhaps, of all-time. Try loathing a mediocre rival. You'll understand why the Columbia fan(s) don't turn out in droves for the big Cornell game. If you don't root for Princeton in non-Ivy games, ask yourself why? Is it because just when we seem to have the Tigers neutered and begging for mercy they come back, claws thrashing? Is it because Princeton's the media darling and Penn never seems to get its fair due? Is it because of the fear of losing? I saw Young, who recently copped a million-dollar signing bonus from the Pittsburgh Pirates, pitch a handful of times this summer in the Cape League. He carried Chatham on his back every fifth day, helping the A's make a remarkable climb from last-place to the playoffs over the season's final weeks. He dominated Team USA in an exhibition game in front of 9,000 fans at the quaintest park in a league teeming with quaint ballparks. He is going to be a major league star. And best of luck to Carmody at Northwestern. He'll need it. But the team that will need the most luck will be Princeton. And I'll cross my fingers for the Tigers as tightly as anyone, because without a tough Princeton, the Penn basketball season just doesn't have the same luster. So keep hating Princeton. Just stop gloating
COLUMN: W. Soccer rises in the Ivy League
(06/01/00 9:00am)
Way to go, NCAA. You did the right thing -- the surprising thing.
Wagner pulls weight training Penn athletes
(04/19/00 9:00am)
Rob Wagner guides Penn strength training from his office under Franklin Field. It's fitting that Rob Wagner's office in the Weiss Weight Room resembles a control room. Wagner may not call the plays at football games, handle the clipboard at the Palestra or pace the sidelines at Rhodes Field, but as Penn's strength and fitness coach, he's the underlying force behind the strength, conditioning and agility of Penn's varsity teams. Buried deep in Franklin Field, the 5,000 square-foot facility couldn't be further from the bustle of weekend warriors and sorority sisters working out at Gimbel in the heart of campus. But to Penn's varsity athletes, the Weiss facility is the epicenter of their conditioning world. And Wagner, with a window-lined office that gives him a sight line to every corner of the facility, orchestrates it all. Crammed with books and papers, decorated with motivational quotes and a few of Wagner's powerlifting trophies, the office is an unlikely place to find humor. But next to words of inspiration like "make it happen" and quotes from Calvin Coolidge and Soviet weight-lifting great Yuri Vasilov hang pearls from Wags himself --"Misery is good," which the athletes mimicked until it earned a spot on the wall -- and from former Penn defensive tackle Larry Rascoe: "I would say my strength is my strength in general." And at times, there may even be a little warm and fuzzy feeling in the weight room. "They make the cold weights feel warm and inviting," Penn basketball player Oggie Kapetanovic says of Wagner and top assistant Jim Steel. While the quip is clearly an exaggeration, Steel does have a note of appreciation from the women's soccer team hanging on the wall, complete with bubble letters, smiley faces and a heart. Still, Wagner says, "I think the kids would describe me, and Coach Steel, as very sarcastic," admitting that at times he can be "very sarcastic" and "brutally honest" or "blunt" in his assessment of things. But personality aside, Wagner and his assistants provide an invaluable resource to Penn's athletes. "[Team] coaches teach you skill. But the strength coaches help you use the skill to the fullest potential of your body," Kapetanovic says. As strength and fitness coach, Wagner is quick to point out that his position is about much more than just teaching athletes how to lift weights. "Our job shouldn't be called strength and conditioning coach -- it should be termed athletic development coach," Wagner says. "There's also speed and conditioning, there's agility work, there's a variety of things that you go through." Ideally, the strength and conditioning coaches at Weiss -- which is open every day -- work with teams three times a week out-of-season and try to see the athletes two days a week in-season. There are specially tailored programs to meet the needs of each varsity team. The present state of the program, however, is a far cry from the days before Wagner came to Penn in '91. "When I arrived as a wrestler, there really wasn't a strength program at all -- it was really just athletes doing their own thing," says wrestling coach Roger Reina, a 1984 Penn grad. "When coach Wagner came on board, he added a combination of very organized structure to the weight room while obviously bringing a lot of competitive knowledge to the table through his own success as a competitive lifter. He also brings a very serious, success-minded attitude -- he wants athletes to make a real commitment and approach their strength work with a no-limits kind of approach." It would be difficult to imagine an individual better suited to his position than Rob Wagner. A member of the USA National Powerlifting team, Wags redefines what it means to be powerfully compact. He holds national records in the squat in three weight classes -- as a 198-pounder in 1992 he squatted 799 pounds -- and earned a gold medal at the World Championships in 1996. But even before he ever set foot on a college campus or wrapped his fingers around his first Olympic weight bar, lifting was in his blood. "My father was an avid weight lifter. I guess that was sort of unique, but as a kid I just assumed everybody's parents lifted weights," said Wagner, who has been competitively powerlifting since his senior year in high school. "It's always really been sort of a way of life for me." In Wagner's estimation, there were maybe 15 to 20 strength coaches in employment around the country at the professional or top college level when he was in college in the mid-'80s. In most cases, like the pre-Wagner days at Penn, if a strength coach existed at all it was merely a football coach on double duty. In little over a decade, though, the field was revolutionized. Today, Wagner says, all Division I schools have some type of strength coach on staff. Harvard, Penn and Princeton are the only Ivy League schools that don't employ both a full-time head and full-time assistant strength coaches. And Penn's Weiss Weight Room, which opened in 1993, is already one of the smallest facilities in the league. "Our usage went up about 300 percent in the first year this place was open," Wagner says. "We outgrew it in the first year we were here." But despite having "just" 5,000 square feet of space and two main coaches to handle with 1,100 athletes, the program draws praise from coaches and athletes alike. "I think that over the past years we've developed a system that has lent deep-seated confidence to our athletes as they take the mat," Reina said. "We see a very definite advantage in terms of strength and conditioning development with our athletes compared with all the Ivy League and regional schools we compete with." And their expertise extends well beyond traditionally strength-focused sports like wrestling and football. "We ask our guys constantly if they're in the weight room and working with those guys because I think it can just make them nothing but better," says Penn men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy, who admits that when he was in college basketball, players shunned weights for fear of adversely affecting their shooting technique. Of course, not every team is a total success story. "We're responsible for every team. In reality are there teams that we don't have contact with? Most definitely," Wagner says. "There are some coaches who either don't feel that weight training is necessary for their sport or just don't show the commitment to get their kids in here." Wagner believes that the program works most efficiently when the strength coaches have open lines of communication with the team coaches. Thus, he finds frustration when coaches or athletes either assume they already know what's best for themselves, have the technique down pat without need for instruction or try to push programs they learned about elsewhere but may only know little about and that may not be best suited for Penn. "[We'll hear] kids say, 'Coach, I got this program from the Washington Redskins, this is what they do?' Or a coach may say, 'I heard about this program from Ohio State?,'" Wagner says. "We're not the Washington Redskins. We're not the Ohio State Buckeyes. We're not anybody but the University of Pennsylvania Quakers. And what they have to understand is what is delivered to them in the workouts is designed so that a majority of the kids on that team will benefit." Still, they have their share of success stories. "Jimmy McGeehan is one example of a kid who we were able to grab who thought weight training basically was a load of bunk," Wagner says of the former Penn quarterback. "He really just fought everything we were trying to do, he would just come in and B.S. his way through the workout, going through the motions." But Wagner made McGeehan his personal project, guiding McGeehan through his training. After two sub-1,000 yard passing seasons, McGeehan tossed for 2,197 yards in '93, a record that stood until Gavin Hoffman broke it last season. "He was the first kid who ever came back to me and said, 'Coach, you were right. This really helped me out and made a big difference for me on the field.'" Wagner boils his job down into a simple matter of teaching. "Teacher-student ratio? that's really what we're all about. We're here to teach kids how to get better, regardless of what the skill is -- lifting, sprint work, running."
COLUMN: Romanczuk knows where he belongs
(04/06/00 9:00am)
The Palestra was alive yesterday, that familiar pulse of basketball on hardwood echoing through the gym. But that's not unusual, even in the offseason, as members of the men's basketball team were engaged in a heated set of pickup games. Likewise, there was little unusual about watching No. 51 hustle up and down the court. See the big guy box out Ugonna. See him steal a Klatsky pass and move down court for a quietly uncontested jam. See him step outside and miss a three. But No. 51 was not Geoff Owens, who stood off in the shadows practicing his free throws while his teammates battled on the court. Rather, in a borrowed pair of Owens' team-issue shorts and mixing it up in the offensive frontcourt with Koko Archibong and Andrew Coates, was former All-Ivy first-teamer and would-be accountant Paul Romanczuk. "I really thought I had put basketball behind me -- to use a clichZ, I'd 'hung the sneakers up' and stopped playing," Romanczuk says. His basketball playing in the fall consisted of a few appearances alongside his dad in a rec league at the Abington YMCA. "It was awesome. It was the ultimate -- that's what you want to do, run up and down the court with the kid you whooped on for years to see how much better he is than you now," Doug Romanczuk says, adding, "Don't tell him I said that -- I won't admit to his face that he might be better than me." But after watching restlessly from the Palestra bleachers this year and chafing at the constraints of a desk job, Romanczuk began to wonder if his basketball days were in fact over. "I took a leave of absence from Arthur Andersen about a month ago. I guess I just missed basketball too much," says Romanczuk, who has been working out religiously at the Palestra. "I wanted to give it a shot and see if I could play overseas somewhere and have some fun, just play for a little bit while I'm young and I still can. [I didn't want to be] 29, 30, regretting never having tried playing." According to his dad, watching his former teammates from the stands was hardly easy on Paul. "All ballplayers go through it [when they're done]? He was itchy, he kind of had ants in his pants sitting there because he would see things going on on the court and he'd want to be down there to help them," Doug Romanczuk says. "You could see it in his face, that he missed it and things were running through his mind. He may not have been saying them, but we kind of could tell that he wanted to do something about it." My, how things can change in a year. Last May, after returning from an invite-only, expenses-paid workout in Houston in front of some professional scouts (coincidentally, the same camp Matt Langel will soon be attending), Romanczuk seemed less than enthusiastic about the idea of pursuing a pro career. With degree in hand and a top accounting job lined up, he was ready to enter the workforce. When told that Princeton's Brian Earl had been drafted by the Atlantic City Seagulls of the United States Basketball League, Romanczuk quipped, "[That's] definitely not what I want to be doing." One week from today, however, Romanczuk will be in Atlantic City, working out for the Seagulls. "We'll see how I do from there," says Romanczuk of his upcoming tryout with the Gulls, the USBL team which last summer featured current 76ers guard and former Penn star Ira Bowman. "[After that] I'm probably going to go overseas at this point in time -- I'm willing to play wherever." Well, maybe not wherever, but close to it. Romanczuk is wholeheartedly committed to playing somewhere next year. "I'm not going to a country I never heard of -- I wouldn't play in Iceland for like $10,000 and a bike," he says. But the 22-year-old gets excited when thinking about the possible upside. "Pretty much everybody I've talked to [who played overseas] said it was a great experience, they loved doing it. [Former Penn center] Eric Moore said it's great," Romanczuk says. "You hear some bad stories about people not playing too well and the team sending them home, but it sounds like the good stories outweigh the bad ones." Romanczuk's parents, Doug and Nancy, are both supportive of his decision. "Actually, I was kind of expecting it," Doug says, emphasizing that his son can always return to the world of accounting once his basketball days are over. A CPA who starred at Drexel in the '70s, Doug Romanczuk recounts the story of a 30-something cop who went back to school and joined an accounting firm, ultimately becoming a manager and opening his own firm. "It's never too late to start your career. Unless of course, you're 75, and even then -- if you're still kicking and going, if you want to try something new, it's never too late. [Paul] has plenty of time, he's young. I'm happy he's doing this, because I know that's something I regretted not pursuing myself." Doug Romanczuk was not the only person "expecting it." "I called coach [Fran] Dunphy in mid-January and I said, 'Listen, you might think I'm crazy, but I want to try to play overseas or in the CBA or wherever, just try to play for a little bit,'" Paul says. "And he said, 'No, actually I've been waiting for this call, Paul.' He was very supportive and he's helped me out a little bit." So the basketball sneakers have been taken out of the moth balls. For now, he is no longer Paul Romanczuk, accountant. Once again, while he is still young, he is Paul Romanczuk, basketball player.