Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Are McClure: blatant rule; violation BY JIM HERSH Sports Writer (see related story, page 15 Bob Seagren went to Munich foi the Olympics as the best pole vaul ter in the history of the universe He was, and still is, the world record holder in the pole vault. A committee of officials bannec the type of pole that he was using from competition, and Seagren losl the gold medal to Wolfgang Nordi wig of East Germany, whose pole was not affected by the ban Carolina's head track coach Bil McClure was in charge of the American vaulters in Germany ant he is obviously embittered by wha he calls "the most blatant violatior of rules I have ever witnessed." "It was an out and out subterfuge to eliminate the United States' vaul ters," McClure said in his office a USC last Friday. "It was a violation of their owr rules," McClure claimed. "Rule 20: of the International Amateur Athle tic Federation Rule Book says tha the pole may be of any material, any weight, any length or any diame ter." The amazing pole vault con troversy started in July, a monti before the games opened, when the IAAF, the governing body of the Olympics, banned the Cata-pole, e green fiberglass vaulting pole use( by all of the American vaulters a well as vaulters from Canada anc Sweden. Reacting from a protest filed b: the U. S., the IAAF Congress me before the Olympics, reversed it earlier decision and reinstated th< poles. But the day before the poli vault competition was to start they reinstated the ban, causing Seagrer and the others using the Cata-poli to vault in the world championship; with an unfamiliar pole. The night before the competitior started all of the poles that were going to be used had to be checke by the officials. At that time McClure talked with Adrain Paulei of Holland and F. W. Holder secretary-treasurer of the IAAF who were running the pole vault. "I asked them what criteria the' were going to use to judge the legal ity of the poles," McClure said "They said that they were going ti use the date of manufacture. "I told them that there was no dati on the poles and no way to tell jus by looking at a pole when it wa made. They said, 'There are othe ways.' "I said, 'Tell me, I'm interested. 'We're going to weigh the poles anm the lightest poles will be illegal they said. Well, every pole is differ ent and old poles weigh morn because of the tape and dirt tha builds up on them. Also, vaulter: use different length poles and th< guys that use the shorter pole would be discriminated agains because their's would weigh less. "Then they said, 'We're going t4 judge the flexibility of the poles I asked them how they were goini to measure flexibility and they said 'We're going to build a machine.' "The night before the competitioi and they are going to build machine to measure the flexibilit of a pole' "So they had three criteria-dati of manufacture, weight and flexibil ity. I asked them who was going ti make the determination as to wha poles were legal and what were hi: credentials. (See Mcr'L.RnE ,m ag 16,Colum 5 47 i Trou Carolina quarterback Bill Trou' himself for a fall, as three Georg defenders move in during last wec Ole' Mi t By STEVE PARKER Asst. Sports Editor Nationally-ranked Mississippi marches liams Brice Stadium Saturday night and a tions are they will march out later that ever the Gamecocks still seeking their elusive of the season. Twentieth-ranked Mississippi has been 14-point pregame favorites, but the varian, point spread depends on whether the sou Ole' Miss will be fired up or let down for t with USC. Last week the Rebels barely escaped be by a tough squad from Memphis State, through with a 34-29 win. "The narrow victory gave them somethir on," explained USC Coach Paul Dietzel. "I points scored on them has given Mississipp to buckle down for a fine effort against us The Rebel scouting reports do not -- take the Gamecocks lightly, "We'll t have our hands full all night," said the scouts. The Rebels are not fooled by the Gamecocks apparent drubbing at 0 the hands of Georgia Tech last Saturday afternoon. "We know that Carolina lost a 34-6 game to Tech," said the reports, "but the score was A 10-6 near the close of the third quar ter, and the Gamecocks had moved the ball well despite their inability to get a touchdown." Dietzel's review of Ole' Miss also tis filled with praise for the oppo nent. "Saturday night we'll have one... one of the greatest football teams in Ame at Carolina," said Dietzel. "We're not afra Miss, but we certainly respect them. "One of these days we'll stop making all t takes and then we'll have two super footb on the field," added Dietzel. The Rebels would appear to have the, a super football team. An entire veteran unit returns to man their positions of a The field general for Ole' Miss is quarterba Weese, who on what Rebel scouts labelet night for him", rushed for 92 yards on 1 including touchdown trips of seven and o Through the airways Weese fired three t< passes, hitting 10 of 21 for 149 yards. ms Jus q. . gets wrecl braces setback to th ia Tech Moments later, ' k's 34-6 a minor head inj ss fa1 Two of Weese's to America tight end ce into Wi- sive firepower is als aingita game with fullback i first win against MSU, and ti hauled the ball 22 tin listed as threats. re of the rce feels The offensive line he affair proven itself consiste On the defense, ti ing upset consisting of two sop] slipping two seniors. The sei slots, leaving the MY g to work linebacking corp rela laying 29 i a reason Despite the 29 poini ." it should be noted t -.- se v Reb Biddies and tiall pen against l'o reti line ppalac hian, said4 in ti upoi Page 14 ow fron ted. rica here The Gamecocks ha id of Ole' their first two outings ball knowledge, and s hose mis- non-existant if they all teams against Mississippi. ability of offensive ,ear ago. Send youi ck Norris I -an off- Inqu iry, Di 8 carries ne yards. mnchdown 4 Garr i " :ed Rambling Wrecks. 'roup left the game with ury. 'orite ichdown tosses were to All ndidate Butch Veazey. Offen ) evident in the Rebel ground ene Allen, who scored twice ilback Greg Ainsworth, who tes for 94 yards, providing the is also a veteran unit and has ntly. e Rebels field a young squad lomores, seven juniors and just ior duo mans the cornerback ississippi defensive line and tively inexperienced. ts the unit surrendered to MSU tat offensive mistakes led to ~ral of the MSU total as the 1lof fense suffered two fumbles two interceptions. rolina expects to go with essen Sthe same crew as in previous rts, as Bill Troup and Thad e, both injured against Tech, irn to action to fill out the 'ps. /e still have nine games to go," Dietzel, "And our future rests ose nine games .. If you dwell ithe past then you're taking the rds way out. Nothing can be about past games but to learn the mistakes you've commit ye made enough mistakes in to fill an encyclopedia of foot irely realize mistakes must be are to hold any upset hopes -'questions to ies? Joyce: a great thing for athletes BY DOUG WILLIAMS Sports Editor Although the Munich Olympics left a scar the world will not soon forget, Kevin Joyce's attitude sur vived unmarked. Despite poor officiating, East West politics and the savage mur der of 11 Israeli athletes, Joyce, a guard on Carolina's basketball team, who played for the USA was still able to see the true meaning Df free competition. "The Olympics are and will con tinue to be a great thing for the wor ld's athletes," he said. "It was great that people didn't let the Arabs spoil what the Games stand for. "They'll probably have to do some revamping of the Olympic organiza tion in the future," he declared. "We all seem to forget sometimes that the judges are human beings, too. Maybe they shouldn't bring politics into their judgments, but some times they can't help it. They were trying to be totally honest." The question of honest officiating in the recently-completed Games will undoubtedly be a subject of dis cussion for years to come. Munich has already been considered as one Df the bleakest Olympics from the American point of view. The U. S. basketball team lost the gold medal for the first time in 36 years and refused to accept the silver; Jim Ryun lost his bid for glory in the 1,500 meters when tripped in a prac tice heat; Rey Robinson and Eddie Hart were disqualified from the 100 meters for missing a qualifying heat. The list goes on. "But keep in mind that we have a guy who won seven gold medals," Joyce contended. "No matter what, no one else can say the same thing. People have to consider that we (the Americans) are out there facing pros. Its everybody's pros against our amateurs." "When people think about the Olympics, swimming and track come to mind. So from my sport, this is a world basketball tourna ment. The best players in the world are there. The atmosphere is great because everyone knows they're the focal point of the world during the Games." Joyce admitted that the kidnap and ultimate murder of the Israeli athletes forced everyone to lose mental contact from their par ticular sport. "Something like that just doesn't leave your mind. When we heard the first reports that they were saved, everyone was sure it was over and the Games would con tinue." But German police refused to deny rumors of the release of the athletes. Hours later, the hostages were slaughtered when sharpshoo ters opened fire on helicopters con taining both the hostages and the terrorists. "After we heard they were safe, we couldn't believe what happened that morning. It was 12:30 at night when we heard that. Then we wake up and hear they're dead. It left a pretty somber attitude." But Joyce can still look to the bright side of an otherwise dismal two weeks. He is not bitter. He realizes that international competi tion is getting stronger. "And even tually, it will get right up with us. I'm sure if we got our pro basketball players out there, it would be no contest." Even though the USA was robbed of a gold medal in the basketball finale against Russia, Joyce remains unaffected. "Sure, I was probably mad right after that game. Everone felt like that on the spot. But then, I realized that there was something beyond just that. There was something bigger than winning nr losing."