The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

June 2, 1997

Indiana University, Bloomington, soon will take part in what may be a thoughtful trend to recognize female student-athletes from previous eras.

Later this month, Indiana will conduct a ceremony in which it will provide varsity letters to women who participated on Hoosier varsity athletics teams from the 1960s through 1977.

Isabella Hutchison, an Indiana staff member who is coordinating the event, said she researched archives, records books and yearbooks and came up with 360 women who qualified for varsity letters during the period in question. Hutchison said there was not enough information available to go back any further.

Although the idea is similar to a program that Stanford University initiated two years ago, the Indiana program was undertaken independently at the request of a pair of Hoosier alumni. After some discussion, Hutchison got support for the program from athletics director Clarence Donninger and eventually gained the approval of the Indiana athletics council.

So, on June 14, an impressive array of Indiana exes will come together to get the letters that never were provided when resources for women's programs were virtually nonexistent. Among those eligible for the honor: Tara VanDerveer, the two-time national-championship women's basketball coach at Stanford; Leslie Bush, a diver and recent NCAA Silver Anniversary Award winner; Olympic diver Cynthia Potter; and basketball players Jorga Hoehn and Debbie Oing.

Hutchison has received replies from about 100 of the 360 honorees. She said she expects about 60 will be able to attend the program, which will feature, among other things, a videotape of the honored athletes; a salute from current women student-athletes; and a presentation from Anita Aldridge, the longtime dean of physical education who played the primary role in developing the women's program.

Division III first

The "four-minute mile" still has a mystique to it, even though the one-time barrier is now commonly broken by elite runners.

However, a Division III undergraduate apparently never had run the distance in less than four minutes -- until the night of May 14.

Haverford College senior Karl Paranya zipped to a 3:57.6 time in the Invitational Mile Run at the Haverford College Twilight Meet. Paranya, a semifinalist at the U.S. Olympic Trials last year, was third in the race, trailing only Irish Olympian Marcus O'Sullivan and Big East Conference champion Steve Howard.

According to sports information director Chris Guiton, hundreds of Haverford students put off final-exam preparation for a while to flock to the event.

Paranya's previous best time in the mile was 4:00.96.

Paranya continued to excel a week later, winning the 800-meter run (1:48.26) and the 1,500-meter run (3:46.67) at the Division III Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships. He also claimed 1,500-meter titles indoors in his last three years of competition.

A slamming success

One of the most obvious tenets in baseball is never to walk a batter intentionally with the bases loaded. Tim Belcher of Quinnipiac College may have forced some rethinking of conventional wisdom in the 1997 season, however.

Belcher came to the plate 12 times in 32 games with the bases loaded. Under those conditions, he hit .667, but what was especially amazing was his five grand slams.

Although the NCAA does not keep records for grand slams in a season, it appears that Belcher may have gone where no collegian has gone before. The major-league record is six, set in 1987 by Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees over 141 games.

At one point in the season, Belcher had more grand slams than strikeouts, a notable achievement, regardless of the level of competition.

Belcher's power surge may be traced to an incident in June 1993 when he was struck by lightning while on the mound during an American Legion game. After the life-threatening experience, his major-league namesake -- currently a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals -- sent him an autographed baseball with the inscription, "Hit those bolts. Don't catch them."

-- Compiled by David Pickle

Looking back

5 years ago: A federal judge rules June 5, 1992, that a Nevada law directed at the NCAA's enforcement process restricts the Association's ability to apply its rules consistently in all 50 states and prevents Nevada member institutions from fulfilling their contractural responsibilities with the NCAA. The ruling restores the Association's ability to proceed with a pending infractions case involving the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The Nevada law is one of four so-called "due-process" statutes that place judicial-like restraints on the Association. Similar laws are in place in Florida, Illinois and Nebraska. The NCAA challenged the Nevada law because it is the first state in which the NCAA's ability to proceed with an infractions case has been affected. (The NCAA News, June 10, 1992)

10 years ago: Richard D. Schultz, director of athletics at the University of Virginia, is named June 8, 1987, to succeed Walter Byers as executive director of the NCAA. A selection committee narrowed a list of 80 applicants and nominees to four finalists, and Schultz was selected from that group to become the NCAA's second executive director. Byers, scheduled to complete his 36th year in the position October 1, 1987, said he believes Schultz "possesses the unifying ability to lead the NCAA to new heights." Schultz' prior Association service includes a stint as chair of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. (The NCAA News, June 10, 1987)