The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

March 31, 1997

On the way to competition at the RCA Dome March 7, the van carrying Ashland University athletes broke down along Interstate 70, four miles from the Dome.

As the clock turned from 8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m., thoughts turned from the competition to simply getting to the Dome. Fortunately, the police stopped to help the marooned athletes, and they were able to give Becky Ball and company an impromptu ride to the stadium.

Once Ball arrived at the championship site, her transportation travails were forgotten. Although she did not break her NCAA Division II record in the 20-pound weight throw (62-81/2), she finished, as usual, in first place with an effort of 61-53/4 -- a meet record that was more than eight feet farther than the throw of the second-place finisher.

She also finished fourth in the shot put and scored enough points by herself to give Ashland an eighth-place team finish.

Engineering success

Larry Thompson has spent his entire career at Rice University doing things that aren't supposed to be done.

He walked on as a member of the football team and eventually earned an athletics scholarship and a spot in the starting lineup. He played nose tackle for the Owls, and did so at the very un-Division I-A height of 5-foot-9.

But it was the extreme mixture of academics and athletics that most set Thompson apart from the norm: He was the first chemical engineering student to play football for Rice in 50 years.

"We have labs every single semester except for one," said Joseph Hightower, professor of chemical engineering. "To combine that with football practice -- it's just a miracle when someone can pull that off."

Thompson pulled it off rather well, considering that he recently was named the 1997 Outstanding Rice Engineer by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers.

Owl coach Ken Hatfield described Thompson as "the epitome of the student scholar-athlete, in a day and age when too many people are concerned about their athletic skills alone. He's a success story for any kid out there, and he sets the right example because he took care of his academics first."

Licensing crackdown

Undercover detectives in North Carolina recently arrested five people on a charge of selling counterfeit merchandise during the first round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.

Winston-Salem police said the five vendors were found selling counterfeit T-shirts bearing the protected trademarks of the NCAA and the institutions participating in this year's championship.

The police seized more than 200 counterfeit T-shirts, nearly $500 in cash and a minivan worth $20,000 that was used as a central location to house the operation.

Staff from the Collegiate Licensing Company, which is the NCAA's exclusive domestic licensing representative, patrolled the North Carolina marketplace during the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and continued its efforts throughout the rest of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship. Any vendor found selling counterfeit merchandise is subject to prosecution.

To identify legitimate merchandise, consumers should look for three things: a hangtag or sticker declaring that the merchandise is officially licensed; the manufacturer's name, which should appear on the label or on the actual garment; and trademark designations, which should appear next to all university and NCAA marks.

-- Compiled by David Pickle

Sports sponsorship

The Mid-Continent Conference will begin sponsoring women's golf as a championship sport in 1997-98. The addition increases the conference's number of sponsored championships to 18.

The University of Dallas announced it will resurrect its intercollegiate baseball program, beginning with the 1997-98 school year. Dallas has not competed in varsity baseball since 1981, when the school dropped its program because of budget restraints.

California State University, Chico, announced it has discontinued its intercollegiate football program, effective immediately. The university said the decision was based on the continuing "disintegration" of Division II football in California and the university's move to the California Collegiate Athletic Association, which does not sponsor football; the high expense of maintaining a competitive football team in a league made up primarily of Oregon and Washington schools; the need for the school to meet its goals of providing equal opportunity for men and women in athletics; and low support and attendance at Cal State Chico football games.

Women's golf will become an intercollegiate sport at Tarleton State University during the 1997-98 academic year. Tarleton State previously fielded a women's golf program from 1988 to 1991 but that program was dropped because of a lack of viable competition in the area. Since that time, the sport has enjoyed a growth in popularity, school officials said.

La Salle University announced it is reinstating football and adding women's lacrosse. La Salle discontinued varsity football in 1941 because of the onset of World War II and a resulting decline in enrollment. The university will play nonscholarship Division I-AA football.

Purdue University will sponsor intercollegiate women's soccer, beginning with the spring 1998 season. The addition gives Purdue 18 varsity sports.

Keene State College will elevate men's and women's lacrosse to varsity status, beginning with the 1998 spring season. The men's club lacrosse team has been highly successful for 15 years. The women's club team began play this spring.