National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

August 5, 1996

Tuned-in twins taking the field

The Willamette University women's soccer team may turn a few heads this fall. The Bearcat squad will field a squad of twins -- three sets of them, to be exact. briefly

And what's more, says coach Jim Tursi, all six women could start when Willamette's season begins September 8 against the University of Oregon.

The three sets of twins are Kristy and Kassy Ell (both seniors), Lisa and Laura Newkirk, and Robin and Heather Heard.

The Ells came to Willamette in 1994 after attending nearby Linfield College as freshmen in 1993-94. The Newkirks came in 1995 right out of high school. Robin Heard transferred to Willamette last fall and started all season in goal. Her sister, Heather, is enrolled for the coming fall semester and likely will play one of the outside defender positions. She last attended St. Martin's College.

"Five of those players have already started and proven themselves at Willamette in the last two years," Tursi said. "As twins go, I think it's safe to expect Heather will bring the same quality of play her sister did last year."

With three sets of twins, a strong and talented defense, and one of the nation's top scorers in junior Jamie Barton, Tursi sees the 1996 season as the best one yet. And he has developed a new slant on recruiting: Before anything else, he looks for a set of twins.

"Their communication on the field is unbelievable, and the emotional attachment is really something," said Tursi, who never had coached twins until the Ells came to Willamette.

"Twins play on a different wavelength than everybody else. And the three sets of twins also relate with each other pretty well. There's a bond among the six of them.

"The thing that overrides everything is the aggression they play with -- that fight that's in them most players don't have," he said.

"I've had such a positive experience with the twins we have, I'd like to find a set next year to replace the Ells."

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Off to a good start

As other college seniors prepare their resumes and begin thinking of career options, Wittenberg University defensive end Lawrence Hawkins has an edge in pursuing his broadcasting goals.

Hawkins, a captain of the football team for the 1996 season, has an Emmy and four years of on-air experience to list on his resume.

Hawkins recently won the Emmy from the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences in the category of on-air host/moderator for "Kid's Eye View," a program he cohosted on Cincinnati's WCPO-TV, an ABC affiliate.

Since 1992, while he was a student at Cincinnati's Princeton High School, Hawkins and Tracey Dirr, now a student at the University of Notre Dame, have cohosted two television programs. "Kid's Eye View" was geared toward younger children and, because of his age, Hawkins no longer hosts that program.

But Hawkins continues with "Fast Forward," a program for teenagers.

"It's been a great experience," said Hawkins, noting that his final "Kid's Eye View" program was a one-hour feature on the Olympic Games shot in Atlanta. He interviewed such track and field luminaries as long-jumper Carl Lewis, decathlete Dan O'Brien and sprinter Dave Johnson.

"Lawrence is a natural talent," said Phyllis Parker, producer of "Kid's Eye View." "He is such a great person and has great presence on camera."

Hawkins also has excellent football credentials, having returned two fumbles for touchdowns and earned first team all-North Coast Athletic Conference honors last season.

To add to his resume, Hawkins interned during the last two summers in WCPO's sports department, giving him a head start on his competition come graduation next May.

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Brush with death

A brush with an 8,000-pound willow tree was enough to convince Hollins College women's soccer player Cielene Glavin that someone was watching over her.

Glavin was sunbathing recently when a 70-foot tree -- which had grown for more than 125 years in the back yard of her home in Scottsville, New York, fell on top of her, driving branches 2 1/2 feet into the ground.

One branch -- three inches in diameter -- entered the earth four inches from her abdomen but Glavin wasn't even scratched.

"It sounded like a gunshot when it started to fall," Glavin said. "I looked up and saw it coming down on me. I just closed my eyes and waited."

Glavin said it fell too quickly for her to move out of its path.

The Hollins senior said her mother, Joan Glavin, was in the house when the tree fell and thought her daughter had been crushed.

"I thought the roof was tearing off. I came downstairs and said 'Oh, my God,' because all I could see was her two little feet sticking out.

"Then she said 'Mom, I'm OK.' It was miraculous," Joan Glavin said.

The family is having the tree cut up and will use some of the wood in their fireplace. A similar sized tree in the yard also will be removed.

Tree surgeons who came to the house determined that the age of the tree and a storm the day before had caused the tree to fall. Heavy rains from the storm apparently had weakened the ground.

Glavin said her friends had a different perspective on the incident.

"They said 'God, you know that tanning
thing is just going to kill you faster than you thought,' " she said.

"But I know it was a miracle."

Two hours after it happened, Glavin was jogging.

"I swear I must have a guardian angel," she said.

-- Compiled by Sally Huggins

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Looking Back

5 YEARS AGO: The NCAA Council joins the NCAA Presidents Commission in sponsoring a series of proposals for the 1992 Convention that will strengthen academic requirements for academic eligibility. Proposals in Division I would increase the required number of high-school core courses from 11 to 13, increase the minimum high-school core grade-point average from 2.000 to 2.500 (4.000 scale) and establish an initial-eligibility index in which a higher standardized test score could offset a GPA under 2.500. The Council, meeting August 12-13, 1991, also agrees to sponsor continuing-eligibility proposals that come to be known as the "25/50/75" and "95/100" rules. (The NCAA News, August 14, 1991)

10 YEARS AGO: The NCAA Council, meeting August 13-15, 1986, in Seattle, agrees to sponsor or endorse proposed legislation for the 1987 Convention designed to address problems in athletics recruiting. The proposals, representing the most extensive attempts to date to restrict the recruiting process, were developed by the NCAA Special Council Subcommittee to Review the Recruiting Process. The proposals feature a measure to prohibit boosters from involvement in any on- or off-campus recruiting activity, including contacts with prospective student-athletes by telephone or correspondence. Other proposals seek to cut recruiting periods in football and basketball by half annually and extend to basketball a rule in Divisions I-A and I-AA football limiting the number of contacts with prospective student-athletes. (The NCAA News, August 27, 1986)

20 YEARS AGO: The NCAA Executive Committee, meeting August 9-10, 1976, establishes a fund to pay at least 80 percent of transportation expenses for teams and for individual champions participating in all of the Association's 39 championships. The $800,000 fund is expected to help defray expenses for more than 4,200 student-athletes, coaches and other members of official traveling parties. (NCAA News, September 15, 1976)

25 YEARS AGO: The NCAA Council endorses proposed legislation for the 1972 Convention that would limit prospective student-athletes to a single paid visit (regardless of the source of the payment) to an NCAA institution; permit prospects a total of five paid visits to institutions; and limit all entertainment of a prospect to the institution's campus, thus prohibiting entertainment in the prospect's hometown. The official-visit and entertainment proposals are among several recommendations of the NCAA Committee on Recruiting that are endorsed by the Council. (NCAA News, October 1, 1971)