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This Day In USC History I September 24, 1895 - First female, Guignard Gibbes, received permission to take a special class. XSmSi---September 24,1999 m_ - er tce-viN Uan&stdn N&W5 &PITOK. berto Clemente Walker is perhaps the greatest right ilder in the game of baseball. Though he won’t go down history with 755 home runs like Hank Aaron, he still possessed something extraordinary and special: the complete package. Clemente could throw out a runner gunning for third from right field. He could cover his area in right field with a predator like instinct. He could hit the ball with the best of them. Watching him run was like watching the perfect machine in motion. All across the boards, Clemente was a great base ball player. “Without question, the hardest single thing to do in sport is to hit a baseball,” says Ted Williams, as quoted in Kal Wa genheim’s book “Clemente!” . “A .300 hitter, the rarest of breeds, goes through life with a certainty that he will fail at his job seven out of 10 times.” Wagenheim describes the difficulty of hitting: “A baseball is a sphere with a diameter of 2 7/8 inches. The batter stands at home plate and grips a tapering wood cylinder that has a max imum diameter of 2 3/4 inches; he tries to defend a strike zone that is approximately seven baseballs wide and eleven high. “The pitcher, from 60 1/2 feet away, throws the ball at a speed of about 90 miles per hour. As it spins toward the plate hopping, sinking or curving the hitter has four-tenths of one second to decide whether he should let it pass by, jump away to avoid being maimed or swing. “To get good wood on it, he must connect squarely with a 3/4 inch portion of the ball’s round surface and then hope that none of the nine defensive players catch it.” Clemente had this aspect of baseball well figured out. With a career batting average of .317, Clemente was one of the few players fans can look back on and see a successful batting av erage. Clemente’s feat of 3,000 hits was a mark reached by only 10 players before him. He reached that milestone in base ball’s 100 year anniversary. Though he only gave 18 of his own to these 100 years, Clemente’s impact on baseball can be seen in the play of many right fielders of today. In an unforgettable performance in the 1971 World Se _ ■" -- ries, the nation finally opened its eyes to the incredible talent that was Roberto Clemente. Roger Angell, in his book “The Summer Game”, said, “Now and again very rarely we see a man who seems to have met all the demands, challenged all implacable averages, spumed the mere luck. He has defined baseball, even altered it, and for a time at least the game is tmly his. Baseball was Clemente’s in that World Series.” Wagenheim said: “The classical poets of ancient Greece would have rejoiced over Roberto Clemente, unlike the Go liathsized supermen of basketball and football, his physique was a nearly perfect match for the normal ideal that one sees in time weathered marble friezes and statues. He saw himself as a fine craftsman and viewed his craft, baseball, as deserving of painstaking labor. He believed passionately in the virtue and dignity of hard work.” Clemente wouldn’t hesitate to go crashing into a wall if it meant catching the ball. Even if his Pirates were losing, he would give the game his all. His dedication goes unmatched in most players, but it is respected by all. “His simple, traditional values might seem hopelessly naive to a cynic, but they would have inspired the ancient lyricists, Wagenheim said. He believed, with equal fervor, that a man should revere his parents, his wife and children, his country and God.” Clemente involved himself heavily with the social change of the 1950s and 1960s, when black and Spanish-speaking peo ple were fighting for their equal rights. “Clemente’s brilliance in his craft and his unyielding de mands for respect off the field advanced this cause by great dis tances,” Wagenheim said. Clemente’s immense pride in his Puerto Rican heritage and in his blackness inspired many oth ers to hold their own heads high. Clemente, according to Wilfrid Sheed, was like a Martian to most North Americans, and he has been written about as such. Clemente’s mix of arrogance and kindness inspired many. He was arrogant enough to get your attention, and then he would baffle you with his talent and his gentleness. He was a caring human being. He cared for his sport. He cared for his country. He cared for his team. He cared for success. He cared for his ~_i_- . •______-j family. While it was his on-field talent that got Clemente into the Hall of Fame, it is his generosity and loving heart that will en sure his immortality beyond the baseball diamond. Clemente was unique in his willingness to give so much. He has since set a fine example for many players who now donate time and money to noble causes. Clemente also helped pave the way for players of Latin de scent. Where there was once an influx of dominant black play ers in baseball, clearly today’s sport is dominated by players of Mexican and Hispanic descent. Perhaps there is no finer example of a Latin American base ball player than Clemente. Both baseball and Puerto Rico should be proud to call him there’s. Clemente’s well-decorated career was cut short when he died in a plane crash in 1972. He died while living his beliefs. He was helping earthquake victims in Nicaragua when his plane was lost at sea. Fans can only speculate how much more baseball could have received from this outstanding talent; everybody else is just curious how much more the world could have received from him. “[Clemente was] a serious artist who wrote his own style of poetry in the air, with powerful strokes of a bat, leaping catch es and breathtaking throws; a man with an enormous well of sentiment, who could inspire tears and could himself be driven to tears by symbolic gestures of kindness and nobility; a man whose temper was quick and terrible like a tropical storm, but who bore no grudge; a man with an almost childlike zest for life, who spoke from the heart and damn the consequences; a man with a very special sense of humor that he shared with only a few friends,” Wagenheim said. “But above all, in talking with the people whose lives were touched by Roberto Clemente in Puerto Rico, in the spring training camp at Bradenton, Flori da, in Pittsburgh one hears empathy, the deep concern for oth ers, the concern that moved him one rainy New Year’s Eve to fly off on a mission to help others, and to perish in the effort.” In his all too brief life in those rich, eventful 38 years Clemente experienced magic often, and others felt his magic. Campus Notes AAAS Step-Off tickets on sale Tickets for the 1999 AAAS Step-Off, which will be held October 15 at the Car olina Coliseum, are now on sale. Mem bers may purchase tickets at AAAS Gen eral Body meetings on Tuesdays or call 7-5061. Non-member tickets may be pur chased at the RH Information Desk or the Coliseum box office. Tickets are $6 for members, $8 for non-members ?nd $ 10 the day of the show. Mervyn Morris to speak as part of Minority Writers Series Mervyn Morris, the first of four poets who will be visiting campus Monday as a part of the Minority Writers Series. Morris is professor of creative writing and West Indian Literature at the Uni versity of West Indies at Mona. Morris will speak at 7:30 p.m. In Gambrell 153. For more information, call Dr. Kw? 'e Dawes at 777-2096. African-American Greek Showcase to be held The Fraternity and Sorority councils will be sponsoring a showcase to allow stu dents the opportunity to learn more about Greek life, particularly NPHC groups. The showcase will start at 8 p.m. Wxlnes day in the RH Ballroom. For more in formation, call Troy Felder at 544-0528. Rape Crisis Network looking for volunteers The Rape Crisis Network is searching for responsible, caring people to respond to survivors in local hospital emergency rooms and on the 24-hour crisis line. Con cerned people who are over the age of 18 and who have access to transportation are encouraged to apply. For more in formation or to interview, call Cecily Watkins at 252-8393. LRADAC needs vol unteers The Lexington/Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council needs college vol unteers to share experiences with high school students to help them prepare for life after high school. For more inde ntation, call 733-1390. City-Year announces annual Serve-A-Thon City-Year will be hosting its annual fund raiser Serve-A-Thon on Oct. 16. Par ticipants will renovate buildings, build playgrounds, clear vacant lots, plant ur ban gardens, run children’s carnivals and change the face of Greater Columbia. For more information, call City Year at 254-3349. Briefs for Campus Notes can be submit ted to RH 333. Submissions should".l clude a contact name and phone num ber. We can’t promise to print everthing, but we can promise to try. National Hispanic Heritage Month Welcome Back S®r®-T@c Bio log lea fs (Formerly 3ayer) Welcomes back U5C Students and We make the following offer: Students can donate plasma with * Sera-Tec and Farn Cash in H donations Open Af-A 1916 Taylor Street _Z5H-6683 _ MONDAY Monday Night Football A chance to win $100 TUESDAY Two for One Dances All Night SATURDAY Free admission with your Carolina football ticket stub