The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

April 21, 1997

When Jack Vallely began coaching baseball at Curry College, he was fairly young.

When he won his 700th game there March 29, he was fairly old.

In between the two events, the 77-year-old coach has built a lifetime around coaching Curry baseball. After an 8-6 victory over Bates College March 29, his career record stood at 700-259-4 -- a lifetime winning percentage of .729.

The landmark victory, accomplished in his 50th season, was marked by an on-field presentation by Curry President Ken Quigley and then the sharing of a special "victory cake" in the school gymnasium with more than 60 friends, family and former players -- many of whom he remembers with amazing clarity.

"The people are what I remember," he told the Boston Globe. "Harry Goetz out of Middletown, Connecticut, pitched my first victory in 1948, against Boston State College at Fens Stadium. Mike Higgins of Hyde Park pitched my 500th. The yardstick isn't numbers, it's how much the kids have improved, how much have you helped them physically and mentally? How much good have you done?"

Senior captain Mike Mancuso told the Globe that Vallely is the ideal role model. "I mean, he's 77 years old and the other night, he and Brian (assistant coach Brian Vallely) worked with me in the batting cage in the gym until 2 a.m.," Mancuso said. "Their door is always open to you. What I've learned most from Coach is in games when we're actually losing. He'll remind us that if we just throw in the towel and quit, we might be tempted to do that in other things we do."

Water can't pin wrestlers

First-year Longwood College wrestling coach Brent Newell may want to add fishing waders to his equipment budget next year after a recent travel experience.

Leaving the Division II East wrestling regionals in Indianapolis, the Lancers were heading south toward Louisville to find rooms for the night. What they found instead, though, was cars driving through flood waters on Interstate 65. The coaches tried to find an exit, but the vans became stuck. "Luckily, we stopped on a slight ridge," Newell said. "The team could see the water rise along the drainage ditch. It was really scary."

Knowing that their vans were on slightly higher ground, the team jumped into action to assist other stranded motorists. The entire team waded through water, sometimes waist deep, to help in getting some stranded passengers out of their cars and into National Guard rescue vehicles.

The team managed to reach its motel, although not until 5:30 a.m. The next day, the wrestlers saw their stranded vans -- high and relatively dry -- on a television newscast. The coaches made arrangements to get back to the vans, and 13 hours later, they were back home in Farmville, Virginia.

Mighty mite

Principia College may be tiny, but that does not keep the Division III institution from following through on its commitment to a broad-based sports program.

With 17 athletics teams serving a student population of only 500, the Elsah, Illinois, school appears to rank No. 1 among Division III institutions (and probably all NCAA members, as well) in the ratio of teams to students.

From time to time, Principia also has offered student-athletes another experience: a national championship. Panther teams have won five of them through the years.

"We're pleased to have such a variety of sports to offer our student body and we feel that it's a very important aspect of our educational program," athletics director Seth Johnson said.

Let's play three

Twice this season, the Trinity University (Texas) baseball team has found itself in the unenviable position of having to play three games in a day. And twice the Tigers have made the most of a difficult situation.

The first time was March 24 as part of the Trinity Classic Tournament, when the Tigers defeated Carleton College, 13-2; St. Olaf College, 14-4; and Doane College, 3-1.

The second trifecta was brought about by Mother Nature when Trinity had to play three games against Rhodes College April 6 because of a rainout the previous day. The Tigers won, 19-7, 6-4 and 10-4.

Trinity may want to consider making the tripleheader a more routine occurrence. The Tigers are 6-0 on three-game days this year, but 10-14 in their other 24 games.

-- Compiled by David Pickle