The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

May 25, 1997

If leaping over fences and running into burning buildings to save people are actions usually associated with superheros rather than with 118-pound collegiate wrestlers, Chad Hay, a red-shirt freshman wrestler at the University of Illinois, Champaign, may need to go shopping for a superhero cape of his own.

Hay, a 19-year-old native of Sandwich, Illinois, and a two-time Illinois high-school wrestling champion, had just come from the Sandwich High School prom with his date, Melissa Paulson. They had stopped by her home so she could change clothes before a post-prom dance.

Suddenly, they heard a loud commotion in the mobile-home office underneath the Paulson apartment. Debbie Weinlader was pounding on the office door and screaming that a nearby mobile-home garage was on fire. Hay hopped into Weinlader's car and she took him to the fire.

When Hay arrived, the fire had already started burning the mobile home itself. Hay leaped over the home's deck railing and entered the house through a sliding-glass door. Once inside, he located Lloyd and Myrtle Schmidt and helped the couple (who had to be persuaded that he was not there to rob them) out their front door.

According to Sandwich fire chief Richard Kell, another 30 seconds inside the house could have been lethal for all three of them.

"Initially, Chad wasn't in immediate danger," Kell told The Beacon News, "but in seconds, you wouldn't want to have been there. He definitely saved those people's lives."

Hay also used a hose to help contain the fire, which had spread to a nearby shed and was threatening another home, until the fire department arrived.

No one was injured in the blaze, which caused between $80,000 to $100,000 in damages. The local fire department said the fire was caused by the spontaneous combustion of oily rags the Schmidts had used earlier in the day while staining their deck.

Hay said he really wasn't trying to be heroic. "It was just instinct, I guess," he told the Beacon.

"I couldn't just stand by to watch. I don't think I could have lived with myself if there were people in there and I didn't do anything."

Gold Whistle winner

Edwin "Durwood" Merrill of Hooks, Texas, has been named recipient of the 1998 Gold Whistle Award of the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO).

Merrill is a 21-year veteran umpire in the American League.

The award is presented annually to an official who is recognized for community involvement, achievement in officiating and a reputation of strong integrity and ethics.

The 11th Gold Whistle Award recipient, Merrill is being recognized for this work with the Hooks Christian Services Charity, an organization he founded to provide food, clothing and toys for the underprivileged in his hometown and the surrounding area.

The award will be presented July 21 during the 17th National Convention of Sports Officials at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis.

'Sweet Destiny' for CWS

ESPN and ESPN2 will feature Todd Thibaud's song, "Sweet Destiny" from his critically acclaimed album "Favorite Waste of Time" as the main theme song for the network's NCAA College World Series coverage, which begins this month.

Thibaud, who has recorded the album with independent label Doolittle Records in Austin, Texas, has had his songs appear on "Melrose Place" and "Party of Five."

--Compiled by Kay Hawes

Division I notes

Facilities: Georgia State University recently named its existing Panthersville softball complex for outgoing coach Bob Heck, who initiated fast-pitch softball at the collegiate level in Georgia ... Ground will be broken soon for a new softball field at Kent State University ... Niagara University's two-year-old ice hockey complex will be expanded and upgraded through a $3 million gift from Robert and Connie Dwyer of Summit, New Jersey ... Pennsylvania State University trustees have approved a major renovation and expansion of Beaver Stadium. The expansion, expected to be complete for the 2001 football season, will add about 10,000 seats to the stadium and will significantly increase and improve restroom and concession facilities, improve handicap access and upgrade locker rooms. The cost is estimated at $84 million ... The University of Pittsburgh board of trustees has approved $1.4 million for design funds and miscellaneous expenses for a proposed convocation center.

Sports sponsorship: The University of Alabama at Birmingham will discontinue its men's track and field and men's cross country teams, effective after the conclusion of the 1997-98 academic year ... Women's golf and women's water polo will be added to the varsity intercollegiate athletics program at Bucknell University, beginning with the 1998-99 academic year ... The University of California, Berkeley, has added women's lacrosse as a varsity sport, effective at the beginning of the 1998-99 academic year ... The University of Cincinnati will eliminate varsity programs in men's tennis, men's indoor track and field, and coed rifle beginning next fall ... The University of Louisville will add women's golf, softball and rowing, effective with the 1999-2000 season ... The University of Vermont has upgraded its women's ice hockey program to varsity status.

Conference affiliation: Florida International University will join the Sun Belt Conference July 1, giving the league eight members for the 1998-99 academic year ... Trustees at Mercyhurst College have approved membership for the men's ice hockey team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.