The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

May 11, 1997

As a freshman baseball player at St. John Fisher College, Pat Coyle had a dream season. He was named the team's rookie of the year, and he was third on the team in hits, RBIs and total bases.

Coyle had also recorded nearly a 3.0 grade- point average, and the young student-athlete looked like he was on his way to a great college career. After the summer, he arrived back at St. John Fisher to begin his sophomore year.

Then Coyle collapsed to the floor of his dormitory, suffering a seizure and losing consciousness. His roommates called 911.

Tests at the hospital revealed a cyst the size of a golf ball inside Coyle's brain, pushing against his optic nerve.

Coyle's doctors tried medication to shrink the tumor, but he had another seizure and began seeing flashes of light. By the end of the semester, he needed brain surgery and it looked like his baseball days were over.

"It's safe to say I was pretty nervous," Coyle recalled. "There was so much uncertainty. Because the cyst was located on the optic nerve, the doctors thought I could lose my peripheral vision, and I thought maybe I had cancer. "

During Coyle's seven-hour surgery, doctors created a U-shaped incision in the back of his head, drained the cyst and removed a piece of it for a biopsy.

The biopsy report came back just in time for Coyle to give his family a Christmas gift -- the tumor was benign.

For the next nine months, Coyle had to refrain from all physical activity. Now, though, Coyle is playing ball again.

While he'll still need to take medicine to keep the cyst from filling back up with fluid, Coyle has nearly completed his recovery.

Now the team captain, he has started in 14 of the 15 games this season. Batting in the No. 2 slot, Coyle leads St. John Fisher in RBIs (13) and runs scored (14). He's also second on the team in batting average (.360) and hits (18).

Recently, the 20-year-old was named St. John Fisher's athlete of the week after he went 6-for-7 at the plate, scoring five runs and three RBIs in a double-header sweep over the University of Scranton.

Coyle is thrilled he has a second chance at both life and baseball, and his teammates and family are thrilled too.

"Pat is one of the greatest young men that I've had the pleasure of working with," said St. John Fisher head coach Bob Simms.

"I believe he loves the game as much as anyone, and he has worked extremely hard to get to where he's at right now."

Sometimes just getting a chance at bat is hitting a home run.

Hoops hall underway

Some of the best women's players in basketball recently helped tip off construction on the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.

"I know we can shoot bricks," said Jennifer Azzi, a 1996 Olympian who now plays professional basketball. "But I guess we get to lay a couple of bricks today."

Members of the current U.S. women's basketball team, made up of WNBA and ABL players and Chamique Holdsclaw from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, were present for the ceremony.

Each player placed a brick on the wall that will eventually be a part of the 30,000-square-foot facility that is scheduled to open during the Women's Final Four in March 1999.

Open up the trophy case

Georgia State University has already clinched the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) all-sports titles for both men's and women's sports, even though the champions in baseball and softball are yet to be decided.

Georgia State will take home the Jesse C, Fletcher Men's All-Sports Trophy and the Sherman Day Women's All-Sports Trophy.

Georgia State captured TAAC titles this year in women's soccer, men's soccer, men's cross country, men's tennis and men's golf. The Panthers also have second-place finishes in women's cross country, volleyball, women's basketball, women's golf and women's tennis.

"This has been the kind of year that any athletics director dreams about," said Georgia State athletics director Orby Moss.

--Compiled by Kay Hawes

Division III notes

Facilities: Thanks to a $650,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation, Muhlenberg College recently began a $2.2 million renovation of its 92-year-old football stadium ahead of schedule. The renovation will include lights, new bleachers, an all-weather track and a new artificial surface. In addition to football, the new field will be used for field hockey, women's lacrosse, intramural sports and recreational activities. The project also includes a new scoreboard and press box. The expected completion date for the project is August 12 ... The University of Wisconsin, Whitewater recently dedicated and renamed its track and field facility for former coach Rex Foster. During his 25 years at the university, Foster coached men's and women's track, began the university's first men's cross country team, was an assistant football coach and also served as an associate professor of mathematics ... A $600,000 renovations and improvements project was launched recently at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. The existing six-lane track will be replaced with a new eight-lane track, and an area for pole vault, long jump and triple jump also will be added. The soccer field will be widened and new sod, drainage and irrigation will be installed. Improvements to the lacrosse and football fields also are included in this project, which is expected to be completed in time for the fall 1998 season.

Sports sponsorship: Carleton College is adding women's varsity programs in golf and synchronized swimming for the 1998-99 academic year. The additions give Carleton 13 varsity programs for men and 13 varsity programs for women.

Milestones: Coaches -- Richard Naylor, Hanover College, 600 victories in baseball ... Lou DeMartino, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 400 victories in baseball ... Jerry Haugen, St. John's University (Minnesota), 400 victories in baseball ... Augie Schmidt IV, Carthage College, 300 victories in baseball ... John Sirianni, Simpson College, 300 victories in baseball ... Stan Hyman, Albright College, 100 victories in baseball ... Wayne Perry, Hanover College, 100 victories in football ... Tim Sinicki, State University of New York at Binghamton, 100 victories in baseball.