The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 24, 1998, Page Page 6, Image 6
Billy brings us part WNBA Play
two of his three- Houston 8
part series on the Charlotte 7
Gamecock football
season. Cleveland 1
Phoenix
ITZ
Freemai
staff writer JOE QUINN
South Carolina's football team lost one of
its top performers last Wednesday when AllAmerica
free safety candidate Arturo Freeman
suffered a season-ending knee injury during
the morning workout at Williams-Brice
Stadium.
Freeman, a senior from Orangeburg, S.C.,
suffered ligament damage in his right knee
during a kicking drill and will have surgery
at a later date.
Freeman was a first-team All-SEC selection
in 1997. He led the Gamecocks with six
interceptions and was tied for the team lead
with 92 total tackles.
"Arturo certainly is one of our best players
and leaders on our team," said Coach Brad
Scott. "We're very disappointed for him. He
had prepared extremely hard for this season
and had received a great deal of preseason
recognition, and rightfully so.
"We trust that this will work out to be a
positive situation for Arturo in the long run."
Freeman, who does have a redshirt season
available, had been named to several preseason
All-America teams, including the prestigious
Playboy All-America squad.
Gamecocks conduct Saturday morning scrimmage
The Gamecocks scrimmaged
for more than
I three hours Saturday
fy sa* ^pn| morning at Williams^
I Brice Stadium.
i f '% j Concentrating pritfL
roarily ?n the running
game, USC executed an
opening 26-play drive, us|
ing nothing but running
SCOTT Plays
"I think our offense
grew up out there today,"
USC coach Brad Scott said. "We wanted to test
them and see if they could develop some toughness,
and I think they did. I was pleased with
our running game."
Both Anthony Wright and Phil Petty ran
with thp first-tan m nffpnsp Wricrht rnmnlpt
ed a 55-yard TD pass to Zola Davis, while Petty
had scoring passes of 30 yards to Carlos
Spikes, 50 yards to Kerry Hood, and 25 yards
to Trev Pennington.
Jonathan Martin, a true freshman from
Columbia, looked good at fullback and caught
Coach Scott's eye. Interceptions were recorded
by Torry Johnson, Ray Green (returned 96
yards for a TD), OTtondai Cox, Andre Goodman
and Homer Torrance.
Coach Scott was not pleased with the play
of the defense.
"Our defense did not perform up to the level
it needs to," Scott said. "They got pushed
around on the line of scrimmage. We need a
lot of improvement there."
Single game tickets sold out for four games
With the opening of the 1998 football
season only 12 days away, South Carolina has
already sold out ol single game tickets tor tour
of its home games.
Paterno isn't i
college press EXCHANGE
Jim Tarman, the former director of athletics
at Penn State, was browsing through a turn
of-the-centuiy corner store in Vicksburg, Miss.,
during a recent tour of Civil War sites when an
elderly woman with a thick drawl asked him,
"How much longer is that Joe Paterno going to
coach?"
Amazing. Even little old ladies in the wilting
heat of summer in the Deep South want to
know the answer to one of college football's most
pressing questions.
And the question is appropriate. After all,
Paterno will be 72 in December, probably preparing
to take on another bowl opponent at an
age when the real challenge could be getting out
of bed free of injury.
The question is appropriate because Paterrm
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relentless success and remarkable longevity: his
second victory in the coming season, his 33rd as
Penn State's head coach, will be his 300th, making
him the first Division I-A coach to register
that many victories at the same university.
Think of it: 300 wins at the same school at
the highest level of college football. It's a mark
that quite likely will never again be reached.
Not in this high-pressure, big-money era, when
if s not unusual for a score of major-college coaches
to be fired every year, when hot young coaches
quickly turn their eyes toward the glamour
of the NFL.
"I don't think it'll ever happen again," Wisconsin
coach Barry Alvarez said. "It's gotten
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mucn more cumcuit to stay in trie Dusiness tnat
long, let alone at the same place."
As for how much longer Paterno plans on
pacing the sideline with his rolled-up cuffs, thick
sunglasses and tie neatly in place, he says his
health will determine that, because, he has admitted,
he doesn't know what else he would do.
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Senior defensive back Arturo Freeman w
ment in his right knee. Freeman will hav<
Single game tickets to home games with
Georgia, Mississippi State, Arkansas and Tern
nessee have all been sold.
The only way to obtain tickets to these contests
is by purchasing a season ticket, and only
a limited number of those remain. Tickets
can be purchased by calling 1-800-4SCFANS.
Tickets are still available for the season
opener against Ball State on Sept. 5 and the
third home game against Marshall on Sept.
19.
Student distribution is this week in the
Russell House.
Students must show a valid ID to obtain
a ticket.
eady for retir*
"I have to get up in the morning with
something to do," he said. "And I don't golf."
In recent years, with Paterno past normal
retirement age, he has been asked more frequently
by recruits and their families if hell remain
in Happy Valley for the duration of the
players' college careers.
He told members of his most recent recruiting
class that he planned to stay for at least four
more years. He said the same thing when he sat
down with a financial adviser before he and his
wife, Sue, gave $3.5 million to the university to,
among other things, endow faculty positions and
scholarships.
"Sure, people ask me, but I don't think we've
lost anyone because of it [his age]," Paterno said.
"I think there will come a time when 111 tell
them 'one or two more years' and identify my
likely successor so they can size him up. But I'm
counting on coaching four more years at least.
"When I decided to give some money away
and sat down with my financial planner, and he
asked how much longer I plan on coaching so
he could determine how much I could give away,
I told him four or five more years.
"I'm programmed for four more. But I've told
recruits I could stay four, five years or 10 more
years and walk across the street and have a
heart attack, so..."
Defensive end Brad Scioli, a fifth-year senior
from Upper Merion High, said that when
Paterno arrived at his home in Bridgeport for a
recruiting visit, his parents asked the coach how
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"And if he came to my house today and said
four or five more years, I'd believe him," Scioli
said. "You watch the way he runs around, listen
to the things he says, the way he talks ?
it's great he still can do it at whatever age he is.
Besides, he's got the life, you know?"
Waving his hand, shaking his head, Paterno
dismisses talk of his longevity and the imminent
300th victory. (The Division I-A record
I
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ill be out for the season with a torn ligae
surgery at a later date.
Men's soccer wins in scrimmage
Ryan O'Neill's header, the only goal of the
second half, gave the USC men's soccer team
a 3-2 win over Coastal Carolina in an exhibition
match Saturday at Conway, S.C.
O'Neill took a pass from Kim Eriksen and
redirected a header past goalie Robert Clark
for the win.
In the first half, the Gamecocks led 2-0,
but the Chanticleers got two goals in the final
five minutes of the half.
Carolina will open up the regular season
on Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. against Coker College at
Stone Stadium.
sment just yet
of323 victories is held by Bear Bryant. The overall
NCAA record of 408 is held by recently retired
Eddie Robinson.)
Paterno said he had not planned on coach
ing this long when he arrived in State College
in 1950 to assist Rip Engle.
"I think anybody who figures on staying in
it as long as I have has got to be a little
kooky," he said. "And maybe that explains it."
For the fact that he is nearing 300 victories,
Paterno credits his longtime assistants, administrative
support and a plethora of standout
players.
"I hate to have people zero in as if this is a
personal achievement, because it's a program
achievement," he said. "In that sense, it's great."
Even if age is starting to catch up to Paterno,
it appears that it still has a way to go, because
the signs are barely visible. He remains
quick-witted and has almost total recall of every
game he has coached. He still has a bounce in
his step, still demonstrates techniques to his
players, and still has a head of thick, wavy hair,
although some gray is seeping in.
For those who see Paterno as a comfortable
CEO, a man who lets his underlings do
all the dirty work, listen to Fran Ganter, Penn
State's offensive coordinator. He has been working
for Paterno for 28 years. To this day, he says,
Paterno will take control of the offense from him
when things aren't going well.
"If tilings are going great, he stays 30 yards
away," Ganter said. "When he sees what the
tempo is with the other team, he takes off that
. sport coat and says: Let me take over for a while.'
"And when he does that, forget the automatics,
forget the choices, forget the check-offs
at the line of scrimmage. We're going. We're
playing football. He's calling all the plays. The
tempo of the game changes. And everybody gets
going again."
Women's Soccer
UNC Greensboro (
mage); Sat., 3 p.m.
M Stadium
College Football
^ Louisiana Tech @
L L y Nebraska, Sat.
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I WILLIAM FOLKS I
Editor's Note: This is part one of a three-part
series. The other two parts will run Wednesday
and Friday.
I've come to expect it.
Summer fishing conversations on Pawleys
Island will almost always turn to South Carolina
football.
I suppose it's quite a natural progression
when you stop and think about it, what with
the steady alcohol consumption, the supernatural
patience and those oft-occurring relapses
of desperate pleading both activities
seem to inherently require. Fishing serves as
a vivid reminder to many Gamecock fans of
the team they follow so loyally each and every
fall; investing all that time, effort and emotion
waiting on one, just one, tiny little bite of
success.
Yet, unlike previous summers, where some
semblance of a consensus was almost always
reached concerning South Carolina's chances
for the upcoming season, this year's opinion
on the Island was off both ends of the chart. A
consensus? Not really. It was more like a
Jeny Springer panel trying to figure out which
redneck missed the cue to start slapping the
other.
Predictions of 4-7,5-6,6-5, and 7-4 popped
up like lotto balls. Every once in a while, a particularly
disgruntled fisherman might posit an
0-11 record, but those predictions were seldom
given in numerical form and often accompanied
by, shall we say, coarse vernacular.
The question? What do the (and I'll delete
the disgruntled fishermen's expletives here)
Gamecocks have this season?
A few possible answers? A) Absolutely nothing,
B) Not very much or C) Shut up, I can't
help it I go to school there.
Well, until last week at least, USC (picked
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ference sportswriters) boasted one of the nation's
premier safeties in Arturo Freeman, a
senior from Orangeburg. A legitimate AllAmerica
candidate and arguably the best football
player Carolina has had over the past three
years, Arturo tore his right anterior cruciate
ligament in a kick-blocking drill last Wednesday
and will miss the entire 1998 season. It's
unbelievable the bad luck one program can
have. The only good news is Arturo (a star player
from day one in Columbia) wasn't redshirted
as a freshman and can return in 1999 for his
senior year if he chooses to do so. My prayers
certainly go out to him for a full recovery.
You know, perhaps if Carolina changed its
name to the 'Swamp Foxes,' though, or maybe
the 'Really-Loud-Chirping-Crickets,' (hey, even
the Disgruntled Fishermen' would work) Freeman
might be more inclined to come back. I'm
starting to fear there might be something to
this "Chicken Curse" after all.
At any rate, QB Anthony Wright, returning
from a career-threatening knee injury that
cost him two starts last season, must now join
with All-SEC OT Jamar Nesbit and assume
the undisputed senior leadership of Carolina's
Author William Folks, right, stands on th
Robert, one of the disgruntled fishermen
Columbia may ?
sports editor NATHAN BROWN
The East Coast Hockey League announced
over the weekend that Columbia might be the
new home of a minor-league hockey team.
The franchise was awarded to four doctors
from Florence who go by the name Sports Docs
Inc.
The members of the league voted unanimously
to give Columbia the team. The Capital
City was the only area awarded a franchise
this Saturday, with several other locations
hoping to receive a team.
"This has been a longstanding hope of a lot
of people in Columbia," Mayor Bob Coble said.
"I'm confident we'll have hockey in Columbia."
After the board's approval, the team's next
major obstacle is whether it will be allowed
to play in the facilities of the University of
South Carolina.
vs. Nate says Mark
scrim- McGwire blasted his
, Stone 53 homer Sunday in
Pittsburgh, Pa. He
can break the record
with nine homers in
his last 32 games.
;ishermen really
t USC football?
football team. Both are NFL-caliber athletes
who, together, can carry the squad, and Wrighfs
remarkable comeback this spring has erased
any doubts about his strength and determination.
As seems to be the case every season, the
key to Carolina's bowl chances comes in the
first four games. Last year a mediocre outing
against Central Florida in the season-opener
(coupled with the loss of All-SEC linebacker
Darren Hambrick) signaled USC's rocky start.
This year, Ball State comes to Williams-Brice
to kick off a month-long homestand for the
Gamecocks. USC Head Coach Brad Scott probably
knows by now he doesn't just need a win,
but a blowout over the Cardinals in order to
gain some confidence for the Sept. 12 showdown
with Georgia. An interesting commodity
this season, Georgia lost 14 starters from
last year's 10-2 squad, but captured one of the
nation's top five recruiting classes to fill in
some of those holes. Marshall and Mississippi
State follow the last two weekends in September,
and Carolina will need to capture both
of these contests for a shot at a bowl.
USC's first road games of 1998 come against
two of the most improved teams in the SEC,
Ole Miss (Oct. 3) and Kentucky (Oct. 10). UK
quarterback Tim Couch is as good a signalcaller
as Carolina will face this season, so a
big win over the Rebels would be the ideal scenario
heading into Lexington.
Homecoming against Arkansas (Oct. 17)
and the following week's road trip to Nashville,
Tenn., should be two victories for the Gamecocks.
Arkansas and Vanderbilt are perennial
SEC cellar-dwellers, and USC peaked during
this particular stretch last year, beating
the Razorbacks and Commodores by a combined
score of 74-16 in 1997.
It is hoped that this year we'll be able to
see how things could have turned out had Anthony
Wright remained healthy all the way
through last season. Carolina's three final
games (Tennessee ? Oct. 31, at Florida?Nov.
14, and at Clemson ? Nov. 21) are always the
toughest of the vear. as USC takes on two
national championship contenders and one
archrival. Tennessee may have lost All-American
quarterback Peyton Manning, but tailback
Jamal Lewis could be the SEC's best running
back since Herschel Walker.
USC did play the Florida Gators close
until the fourth quarter in last year's game,
but part of that was thanks to two Arturo Freeman
interceptions. How Carolina fares down
the stretch without him is certainly a concern
for the coaching staff.
Keep in mind, for the Clemson game, the
visiting team has won the last seven contests,
with USC's three consecutive wins at Death
Valley unprecedented in school history. Without
Raymond Preister, Nealon Greene and Anthony
Simmons this season, the Tigers will be
hard-pressed to break that streak.
Now that we know what USC is up against,
how will they fare? Look for a preview of USC's
new offense on Wednesday and check out Friday's
Gamecock for a defensive preview.
SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
e beach of Pawleys Island with his uncle,
who think they know best.
>et hockey team
"This is good news, but now the real
work begins," said Stephen Imbeau, president
of both Sports Docs Inc. and the South Carolina
Medical Association.
Not only is the franchise looking for a home,
but Sports Docs Inc. is also looking for local
: TIT- _ i. ~1 l._ i. i.L.
nivtj&Luis. me team xiao aneauy cusi tne
doctors an application fee of $205,000, and the
owners will have to shovel out around $1.5
million to close the deal.
The Columbia team would compete in the
East Coast Hockey League, playing against
teams from Florence, Charleston, Greenville,
Augusta and Charlotte.
If things go as planned, the team could
be competing as early as 2001; however, it is
more likely they'll begin play in 2002 after the
completion of a new arena to be built m the
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