National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

October 14, 1996

briefly

Bloomsburg hits ground running

In the future, when Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania tries to remember a kind of September, it will want to follow the example of 1996.

During the first month of the school year, Bloomsburg athletics teams went 35-2-1 in five team sports, good for a winning rate of 93.4 percent. All of the teams were ranked in Division II polls at some point in the month.

Three teams didn't lose in September, and the two teams that did fell to opponents who were ranked Nos. 2 and 3 in the most recent national rankings.

The five teams were field hockey (11-0), women's soccer (8-0-1), football (3-1), men's soccer (7-1) and women's tennis (6-0).

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Power flowers

Emory University took an interesting walk on the wild side this summer when the Olympics came to Atlanta.

In what sounds like an excerpt from a spy novel, a "flower shop" on campus actually was a cover for the U.S. women's gymnastics team.

The Emory Wheel, the campus newspaper, reported that the now-famous Olympians were housed in the Connally House, formerly a fraternity house, for their entire stay in Atlanta. The need for security was real, so Emory officials tried to keep the housing arrangement as quiet as possible, which was difficult.

Right away, neighboring fraternity Beta Thete Pi erected a banner that read: "Beta loves the U.S. gymnasts." The gymnasts liked the sign, but down it came.

As the Games progressed, the interest of the media grew, and the whereabouts of the gymnasts became an even more carefully guarded secret. Those who inquired were told that they were staying at a "prestigious college" (Emory fits that description; see the following item).

Because it was so important that their location remain a secret, those involved referred to Connally House as the "flower shop," to the coaches as "the florists" and to the athletes as "flowers" when speaking over walkie-talkies, which could be monitored by the press. The code words were selected because the huge numbers of flowers sent to the gymnasts ended up at Connally House.

Ultimately, the athletes came to enjoy their accommodations and passed on an option to return to the Olympic Village when their competition ended, preferring to keep their floral arrangement for an extra week.

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Top 30

Everybody would expect the eight Ivy Group institutions to dominate U.S. News and World Report's ranking of the 229 "best national universities."

Next best?

That honor goes to the University Athletic Association, with seven members found among the top 30 on the list. Those UAA schools are the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, Washington University (Missouri), Emory University, Carnegie Mellon University, Brandeis University and the University of Rochester.

The conference, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, claims 200 academic all-Americans, 39 NCAA postgraduate scholars, 62 individual national champions or players of the year, and 10 national team champions.

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Streak comes to an end

It's almost unfair that streaks in less-publicized sports are noted only when they end, but such is the nature of publicity.

For the record, kudos should go to Jennifer Vejvoda, Truman State University's No. 3 tennis player, who claimed 47 consecutive matches that dated back to the spring of 1995. She finally lost a match in late September to a player from Western Illinois University. Vejvoda is 73-10 for her career in the No. 3 singles position and 61-30 in doubles.

-- Compiled by David Pickle

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News Quiz

1. How much is the record direct distribution of funds to the membership that is included in the 1996-97 NCAA budget? (a) $50 million; (b) $100 million; (c) $135.7 million; (d) $188.4 million.

2. Which of the following is ranked first in this year's NCAA preseason ranking of toughest football schedules in Division I-A? (a) Iowa State University; (b) University of Nebraska, Lincoln; (c) University of Kansas; (d) University of Oklahoma.

3. True or false: The NCAA's membership total of 1,203 active and provisional, conference, and corresponding members is the highest in Association history.

4. As the Association's largest membership division, Division III includes how many active member institutions? (a) 246; (b) 305; (c) 351; (d) 399.

5. How many of the 147 proposals appearing in the Second Publication of Proposed Legislation for the 1997 Convention were submitted from the Association's committee structure through the NCAA Council and/or NCAA Presidents Commission (excluding the deregulation package)? (a) 47; (b) 57; (c) 65; (d) 66.

6. True or false: The NCAA Administrative Review Panel has reviewed more than 1,300 cases since its inception in 1993.

7. In which high-school sport did the largest number of girls participate in 1995-96? (a) basketball; (b) outdoor track; (c) volleyball; (d) fast-pitch softball.

8. True or false: A recent study indicates that the percentage of women coaching intercollegiate women's teams has increased since 1994.

ANSWERS: 1 - c; 2 - d; 3 - True; 4 - c; 5 - b; 6 - True; 7 - a; 8 - False.