Lamar University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, January 30, 1981 Page: 5 of 6
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Devaney
elected to
BOB “SNAKE” LeGR AND
By LARRY GOING
UP Sports Editor
In October of last year, prior to the
start of this basketball season, the six
head coaches from the Southland Con-
ference schools met in Shreveport, La.,
to tell the world what they thought
about their respective teams.
One of those coaches was Bob
“Snake” LeGrand, the head mentor at
, the University of Texas-Arlington.
He told the gathered media represen-
■ tatives that he really didn’t know what
to expect from his team. “All the
players say we’ll be good, but I’ve
never known one to say we’re bad,”
LeGrand said then.
It seems that his players weren’t
joking.
The Movin’ Mavs are off to their best
start ever with a 13-3 worksheet, and in
the overall standings, rank a close
second to three-time champion Lamar
University. Both hold a 1-0 ledger in
SLCplay.
Come Saturday night at 7:30 in UTA's
Texas Hall, one of them will be 1-1 in
league play. The other will be 2-0 and
have a good inside lead at winning the
first round of conference play.
They haven't sold out Texas Hall of-
ten this year—in fact, it’s happened
only once when the Mavs played North
Texas State, Denton, recently—but a
full house of over 4,200 is expected for
what may turnout to be a battle for
supremacy in the Southland Con-
ference.
In the past couple of years, the
Lamar-UTA matchups have become
more of a rivalry than an average
game.
Rivalry in the term of, say Iran ver-
sus Iraq.
Both home crowds traded off a bit of
unfriendliness to the visiting team last
year. The Cards bombed UTA 118-81 in
McDonald Gym to give the local fans
attending free chicken courtesy of a
local restaurant.
When LU made the trip to Arlington a
few weeks later, the game turned into a
matchup of Billy Tubbs vs. the Young
Bucks rather than the 99-82 win Lamar
took over the Mavs.
Now, a year later, Tubbs has gone on
to greener pastures at the University of
Oklahoma, Norman, Pat Foster came
in from the University of Arkansas in
Fayetteville to replace him, and the
Young Bucks are still at UTA. Although
faces may have changed, the group
remains the same.
And LeGrand? Well, since Tubbs'
departure from the SLC, the fifth-year
coach at UTA has stepped into the
spotlight as the one with all the good
lines.
To some people, he resembles
comedian Richard Pryor somewhat. To
others, when he gets rolling with his
one-lines and quips, he kind of acts and
sounds like him, too. But not so much
with particular words that Pryor is
famous for using.
So when LU and UTA tangle Saturday
night, it may be 1980 revisited.
“Let's get this straight; there is no
bitterness between us,” LeGrand said.
“Me and Tubbs are great friends. This
thing about the chicken and the Young
Bucks, they're just a pretty spirited
group of kids. They’re (the fans) all like
that—at Lamar, McNeese,
anywhere—they always have been.
“Besides, we helped contribute to it
(the chicken night for the Lamar fans).
Damn, we should have gotten some of
it, too.”
Coming into this season, "Snake”
didn’t really know what to expect. "I
want to play the easiest schedule
possible to get the record up and keep
my job,” LeGrand said.
He had high hopes of three players
that could possibly help him keep his
job—point guard Ricky Leggett, and
guards Jeffrey Stewart and Andre
Langford. Both Leggett and Stewart
have been instrumental in getting the
Mavs to where they are now, with
Stewart owning a 12.6 point-per game
scoring clip. Langford, however, drop-
ped out of the UTA program recently to
transfer to another school.
In comparing the styles of Foster and
his “great friend” Tubbs, LeGrand
notes that the difference is like day and
night.
“They’re at both ends of the spec-
trum,” LeGrand said about the two
men. “Tubbs is a happy-go-lucky type
of guy, while Foster is more straight.
He's damn good.”
But getting off the issue of Tubbs, the
Young Bucks and chicken, LeGrand
spoke of his thoughts on Foster taking,
over the LU reins.
"He’ll have a good club. His style
may be different, but they will have a
good club.
"He knows the situation,” LeGrand
added. “It will be a tough situation for
Foster. They (Lamar) are used to
playing a loose style of ball. People
may find a change with him in there.”
Of course, all of this took place three
months ago, at a time when everyone
could only offer guesses rather than
factual statements of the upcoming
season. ‘
elite shrine
United Press International
NEW YORK—Bob Devaney, who
coached championship teams at the
University of Wyoming and the University
of Nebraska, today was named to the
National Football Foundation’s College
Hall of Fame.
"It’s a great honoe,” said Devaney. “It
is one of the finest honors I can receive in
college football. I’m tremendously pleased
and I just want to thank the folks who
voted for me.”
Devaney, elected to the Hall of Fame by
the Foundation’s Honors Court, will be of-
ficially inducted into the shrine at the
Foundation’s annual awards dinner, Dec.
8, in New York. He will be enshrined at the
Foundation’s College Football Hall of
Fame in August 1982, at Kings Island,
Ohio.
A native of Michigan, Devaney compiled
a 52-9 record as a high-school coach before
entering college where his teams at
Wyoming and Nebraska posted a record of
136-30-7. He achieved his greatest success
at Nebraska where his teams compiled a
record of 101-20-2 over 11 seasons (1962-72)
and won or shared the Big Eight title eight
times.
Silk touch—
Mike Olliver glides through the air to place
ball into the nets.
Photo by IAN MARTIN
Rosen relieved over Smith firing
United Press International
HOUSTON—Houston Astros General
Manager A1 Rosen said amid confusion by
the team’s many owners Wednesday that
he was relieved the storm of publicity over
Tal Smith’s firing as general manager
might subside.
“Now you fellows (sports media) can all
concentrate on baseball and I won’t have
to pick up the paper every other day and
let myself get nicked,” Rosen said from
his home, where he is recuperating from a
single-bypass heart ooeration.
He referred to criticism leveled at
Astros principal owner John McMullen
since the firing Oct. 27 of Smith three days
following the team’s most successful
season and a week before Smith was
named Major League executive of the
year.
Rosen, McMullen’s choice to replace
Smith, has tried to improve the team by
signing free agents Don Sutton and Dave
Roberts, pitcher Bob Knepper in a trade
for third baseman Enos Cabell and several
Astros regulars.
“I’ve never been one to gloat in victory
or go down hard in defeat, but I am
delighted this is behind me,” said Rosen.
He was reacting to Smith’s statements
Tuesday that Smith had been informed by
one of three Astros directors a decision
had been made not to rehire him. The
decision, apparently verbal, was report-
edly obtained by McMullen in exchange
for agreeing to a new corporate setup in
which he gave up full control.
McMullen, reached at his Montclair,
N.J., home late Tuesday, said no vote had
been taken on the Smith matter because
the new corporation had not been formed.
“I can’t answer any questions. Who told
Tal he wouldn’t be back? That’s what I’d
like to know." he said.
The Houston Chronicle quoted a source
as saying, “McMullen is a fighter. He
already had been beaten and hurt by the
revolt (of the limited partners), but the
one thing he could do was try his best to
keep Tal Smith from coming back. That
was his victory.” j
Bussell optimistic of swim team’s performance after trip to Mexico City
Back in November, Lamar’s head swim-
ming coach Karen Bussell was concerned
about her team’s training over the Decem-
ber break from school.
The previous year the Lady Cardinals
worked out together at Padre Island near
Corpus Christi along with several other
teams from across the stater
This year the Lamar swim team had
been offered the chance to train at the
Olympic facilities in Mexico City for a
week in January, but due to a small
budget, Bussell could not make any
promises to her team.
It was at that time that the idea for a
swim marathon came about.
The idea was for the team to swim a 48-
hour marathon relay in order to raise
money for the Mexico trip. At the same
time, a little incentive was added—the
team decided to set a Guiness Book of
World Record. No women’s team is recor-
ded as swimming a 48-hour relay before.
Armed with a total of 17-swimmers, in-
cluding two coaches and the team
manager, the Lamar ferns began their
swim from Dec. 8 to Dec. 10.
The response was- overwhelming, ac-
cording to second-year coach Bussell.
“So far we’ve collected over 84,000, and
we haven’t finished collecting yet,” she
said.
“We would never have made it without
the contributions.”
Lamar was not the only team to go south
of the border for Christmas; both Texas
Tech Lubbock and Houston were in
Mexico, as was Brigham Young , Provo,
Utah. Texas A&M, College Station, mean-
while, went west—to Hawaii.
“All the teams go off during the holidays
to work out,” Bussell said. “We have to
keep working out because the break falls
right in the middle of our season. So, in-
stead of staying at an empty campus, we
like, to give the girls as much of a break as
we can.”
Mexico City was a trip the Lady Car-
dinals could not afford to miss. The fact
that the city is located in a high altitude,
plus the impressive facilities being offered
at a low price, were the deciding factors in
choosing the site.
“I’m anxious to find out how much the
altitude training has really helped us,”
Bussell said. “Of course, the greatest ef-
fect we’ve felt so far is the fact that our
pool is so much smaller than the one in
Mexico. When we moved back to our pool,
it made the workouts seem a little easier.”
At the first practice session back at
Lamar, the team experienced the results
of their training. Team members said they
were working out at a fasted pace than at
the same time the year before.
“I knew immediately that the training
had helped more than last year,” Bussell
said. “The trip alone was worth the
benefits of the practices, but of course, we’
won’t know how much we’ve improved un-
til we’ve competed against someone else.”'
IW*'
By LARRY GOING
UP Sports Editor
Lookin’ for two—
B.B. Davis prepares to add two more
points for Lamar during Monday’s
game. photo by i an martin
The shootouts in Texas never seem to
end.
Two weeks ago in Houston, the Lamar
Cardinals had taken on the University of
Houston Cougars and lost the battle, 70-64.
Two days before that contest, LU outgun-
ned Pan American University, Edinburg,
104-80, at McDonald Gym.
Both of those teams owned some of the
best records in Texas, and Saturday njght,
the Cardinals will be called out for another
shootout+this one taking place against
Texas-Arlington, owners of a 13-3 mark,
with a 1-0 record in Southland Conference
play.
A sellout crowd of 4,200 is expected to be
on hand at UTA’s Texas Hall to view the
SLC matchup, one that has been looked at
intently for the last few weeks. The game
will be televised live over KFDM-TV,
Channel 6, beginning at 7:30p.m.
Following Saturday’s contest, the Red-
birds will head for Jonesboro, Ark., Mon-
day night, where they will take on Arkan-
sas State in another SLC matchup.
In Monday night’s action, the opening of
conference play for league teams, both
Lamar and Texas-Arlington came out of
their respective games winners, but by
close margins.
Lamar’s B. B. Davis hit on a last-second
shot to give the Cards a 66-64 win over
Louisiana Tech, Ruston, in the Beaumont
Civic Center. Meanwhile, the Mavs
defeated Arkansas State on the road in
overtime by a 66-64 count on a disputed call
at the buzzer.
Lamar owns a 28-10 series record with
the Mavs, winning the last 11 meetings.
UTA's last win over the Redbirds was in
‘Snake’:
Proving the league
and critics wrong
1975 by an 80-79 squeaker.
In the teams’ last meeting a year ago,
. Mike Olliver, Mt. Olive, N.C., senior,
scored 28 points, and Davis, Beaumont
senior, added 23 more in fueling the Car-
dinals to a 118-81 whipping in McDonald
Gym.
The Mavs have a hot streak going this
year. The 13-3 mark is the best start for
UTA ever, and they are one win away from
tying a school record for most wins in a
season. They’ve also won six of their last
seven games.
Lamar, meanwhile, has a 15-2 mark and
has not lost a game since dropping their
contest against UH. Since that time, the
Cards have won four straight, and for the
season, have been victorious in 13 of their
last 14 games, dating back to early Decem-
ber.
LU is hitting over 50 percent from the
field in their last four contests, with Mike
Wallace, Dallas junior; Kenneth Perkins,
Beaumont sophomore; and Terry Long,
Panama City, Fla., junior, emerging as
the top three scoring leaders, percentage-
wise.
Long cut another niche for himself in
Lamar basketball with his performance
against Louisiana Tech, hitting all 10 of his
field goal attempts for a career-high 20
points. Earlier in the year, the 6-2 guard
hit on 11 straight field goal tries over a
period of two games.
Olliver has been a constant pain for the
Mavs over the last three years. In six
meetings against UTA, the 6-1 guard has a
22.5 scoring norm and a shooting per-
centage of 51.8 from the field.
Davis hasn’t been a pleasant memory
for UTA, either. The 6-8 forward had a
career-high 36 points against the Mavs two
years ago, and also claimed a school and
m 05*
mi
i
-m
ALBERT CULTON
conference record with nine blocked shots
against Arlington last year. In six
meetings, Davis has averaged 20.2 points
and 10.2 rebounds.
The Mavericks are paced by Albert
Culton, formerly with the Texas A&M
Aggies, College Station, before tran-
sferring to the Texas-Arlington campus
last year. Culton leads the Mavs in scoring
MELVIN POLK
\
with a 16.1-point'average, in rebounding
with 10.1 caroms per contest, and in field. •
goal shooting with a slick 62.3-percent clip.
Ralph McPherson, a transfer from ",
Texas Tech, Lubbock, is averaging 15.4
points per game, while Melvin Polk is hit- ,
ting at a 14.9 clip and Jeffrey Stewart at J
12.6.
v £KOl ill v. .wuUi y w, law a
Basketball/Snake ’/Astros
Cards set for SLC battle with UTA
League lead at stake in offensive showdown
sat
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Marlow, Susan. Lamar University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, January 30, 1981, newspaper, January 30, 1981; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth499801/m1/5/: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.