The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

January 6, 1997

Calvin College has led the nation in Division III men's basketball attendance eight of the last 11 years and usually packs about 4,500 fans into its fieldhouse for the annual game against Hope College. But school officials still fretted when they decided to move their January 29 home game vs. Hope from their campus to the new Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.

That's because Van Andel Arena holds 11,668 fans for basketball -- a good crowd for a Division I game and one unheard of for a Division III contest.

"Will people come out for the game?" Calvin officials wondered. Turns out the school needn't have worried. Like the movie "Field of Dreams," Calvin officials need only have repeated, "If you build it, they will come."

By December 12, Calvin had sold all 11,668 tickets, without benefit of any kind of public sale.

"The response from Calvin fans and alumni has been incredible," said Don Boender, director of conferences and campus events at Calvin. "We could have sold 15,000 tickets if they were available."

The crowd will shatter the single-game attendance record for Division III (the previous mark is 4,500, held by Calvin.).

"The whole idea behind moving our home game against Hope to the arena was to give as many people as possible a chance to see a Calvin-Hope game," Calvin men's athletics director Ralph Honderd told The Grand Rapids Press. "I didn't think we would get this kind of response without a public sale of tickets. It's unreal."

Maturing process

It's never been any secret that young to middle-aged men constitute a large part of the basketball viewing public. Now, the American Basketball Council (ABC) reports that they also make up the fastest-growing age group in basketball participation.

"You would expect a decline in participation as players age," said Gregg Hartley, ABC executive director, "but it isn't happening. It could be argued that some male boomers are actually coming back to the sport."

The first national participation study in 1987 revealed that 15.7 percent of all 35- to 44-year-old men played basketball at least once that year. In 1995, the figure was 25.7 percent. There were about the same number of male basketball players aged 35-44 in 1995 as there were in the next younger group, 25-34, in 1987.

As for reasons for the explosion in popularity among the older set, the need for exercise tops the list. However, Hartley has another theory.

"I think a lot of young fathers have come back to the game to play with their sons and daughters," he said. "It's the nature of the game that a shoot-around with the kids qualifies as playing basketball, but if you toss around a baseball or football, you aren't really playing the game."

Mental powerhouse

It probably comes as no surprise that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has produced more Nobel Laureates than football all-Americans. But at an institution more noted for brains than brawn, the Engineers have managed to field a competitive team in the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference for the past eight years.

What the MIT program does accomplish at an enviable level is a combination of athletics and academic excellence that might not be matched at any other institution in the country.

At the conclusion of MIT's 1996 season, the Engineers had fashioned a 4-5 record. Like most teams, the Engineers elected their 1997 captains. Five were chosen, all of whom were GTE/College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District selections. Two of the Engineers' captains were first-team GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America selections.

Duane Stevens and Brad Gray are MIT's 13th and 14th GTE CoSIDA Academic All-America selections in the eight years the Engineers have been eligible for the program.

The five MIT captains are students in the fields of chemical engineering and mechanical engineering. Stevens' classmates in mechanical engineering are linebacker Mike Butville and defensive end Kevin Trexler. Troy Gayeski, a running back, and Gray represent the chemical engineering department.

"It says something special about these players that they can be equally effective on the field and in the classroom," MIT head coach Dwight Smith said. "That their teammates recognize their leadership ability in addition to their other attributes is a great tribute to all five of them."

-- Briefly compiled by David Pickle

Looking back

5 years ago: Five Division I-A conferences and the University of Notre Dame complete an agreement January 23, 1992, with a group of postseason football bowl games in an arrangement that is expected to increase the likelihood of a definitive matchup for the national championship. Under the agreement, winners of the Big Eight, Southeastern and Southwest Athletic Conferences remain bound specifically to the Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowls, respectively, while the Fiesta Bowl will have no conference tie-in. The Atlantic Coast and Big East Conferences also will participate in the alliance. The nine-year agreement does not include the Rose Bowl. (The NCAA News, January 29, 1992)

10 years ago: The recently expanded and federated NCAA Eligibility Committee takes steps at its January 29-30, 1987, meeting to streamline the procedure for the disposition of routine eligibility cases. With the NCAA Council's approval, the committee authorized Stephen R. Morgan, NCAA assistant executive director, to serve as an eligibility hearing officer to take initial action in eligibility matters. Previously, the Eligibility Committee handled every eligibility matter. Under the new procedure, Morgan's initial-eligibility rulings in routine cases will be ratified by the appropriate chair of an Eligibility Committee division subcommittee, and appeals will be handled by the appropriate subcommittee. (The NCAA News, February 4, 1987)

15 years ago: Recognizing a recent trend toward passing the football, the NCAA Football Rules Committee makes the first significant changes in 20 years in rules affecting the collegiate passing game. Meeting January 18-20, 1981, the committee agrees to 12 rules changes ranging from standardizing the size and position of yard numbers on the field (to aid receivers, defenders
and officials) to creating a rule defining a catchable ball. The committee made eight changes in the passing-game penalty structure, including action to eliminate the touchback penalty for offensive interference in the end zone and the penalty for illegally touching a forward pass in the end zone. (NCAA News, January 31, 1982)