National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

September 1, 1997

St. John's soccer team has a year to remember

St. John's soccer team has a year to rememberThe last nine months have been special for members of the men's soccer team at St. John's University (New York).

The list:

In December, the Red Storm won its first NCAA team title by capturing the Division I Men's Soccer Championship.

In July, the team accompanied President Donald J. Harrington to the university's newest campus in Rome, Italy. While there, the Red Storm attended the first-ever commencement exercises of the Graduate Center -- and received an audience with Pope John Paul II.

The team also got in a wealth of sight-seeing, visiting the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Pantheon and St. Peter's Basilica.

The Red Storm also played some soccer, going 2-1 against quality European competition. On the second leg of its journey, the team also witnessed the Charity Shield match in London, which pitted FA Cup winner Chelsea against Manchester United, winner of the English Premier Division. Manchester United won a thriller on penalty kicks in front of a standing-room only crowd at Wembley Stadium.


Historic scholarship

Another "first" recently took place at The Citadel.

Mandy Garcia, an 18-year-old cross country runner, became the first female scholarship athlete at the traditionally male military college.

Citadel abandoned its all-male admissions policy last summer after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar policy at Virginia Military Institute was unconstitutional.

"I love the challenge," Garcia said. "I love people to tell me, 'No, you can't do it.' I love people to doubt me. I prove them wrong."

Garcia will train alongside 15 men on the Bulldog cross country team.

For a while, Garcia will carry an unusual burden. She will compete as a one-person team for Citadel at various meets and at the Southern Conference championships.

VMI, also a Southern Conference institution, is in a similar position. Commissioner Wright Waters said allowances were made for both schools to compete with individual athletes rather than five-person teams.

"When they came and asked for our help," Waters told The Associated Press, "we backed out of the way and asked what we could do for them. We've waited 77 years. Whenever we talked women's sports, we were always two teams short."


Writing contest

The National Soccer Coaches Association of America is looking for quite a few good writers.

Individuals who have had a story published in the 1997 calendar year are eligible for the NSCAA's second annual soccer writing contest. The deadline for submission will be December 5.

Winners will be recognized at the NSCAA's annual convention January 14-18, 1998, in Cincinnati.

For more information, call the NSCAA at 800/458-0678.


Scholarship Games

West Texas A&M University is working to keep its athletics program in the mainstream of the university's overall mission.

In all games played the weekend of September 18-20, net revenue will be split equally between academic general scholarships and athletics grants.

The weekend begins with a game featuring the nationally ranked women's volleyball team, followed the next night by a soccer match involving the 14th-rated Buff men's soccer team. The weekend concludes with a football game September 20.

"The Scholarship Games is a novel concept using athletics as a vehicle to help raise money for the university's general scholarship fund," said athletics director Ed Harris. "Our goal is to sell out Kimbrough Memorial Stadium, which would mean 20,000 people pulling together to help raise academic scholarships for the general student body."


Even up

In the strange-but-true department, sports information Mike Korcek reports that Northern Illinois University has scored 14,111 points since it began playing football 95 seasons ago. Total allowed? Also 14,111 points.

-- Compiled by David Pickle


Milestones

5 years ago: The NCAA Special Committee to Review Financial Conditions in Intercollegiate Athletics meets for the first time September 20, 1992, in Chicago. In appointing the committee, the NCAA Presidents Commission specifically identified five areas of study: (1) elements affecting financial control and financial integrity; (2) the amount, source and basis of financial aid for student-athletes; (3) the need to provide equitable athletics programs for men and women; (4) compensation of athletics personnel; and (5) the influence of athletics foundations, booster organizations and media revenues. The special committee is chaired by James E. Delany, commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. (The NCAA News, September 28, 1992)

10 years ago: For the first time in the 81-year history of the NCAA, membership tops the 1,000 mark with the election of 14 new members. The total number of 1,004 includes 795 active members, 105 conference members, 51 affiliated organizations and 53 corresponding members. The figures represent all-time highs in the respective categories, and the total of 1,004 represents a 1.3 percent growth over the 1986 total. Division III continues to be the largest membership division with 321 members; Division I has 292 members (including 105 Division I-A members) and Division II has 182 members. The Association was founded in 1906 with 38 members. (The NCAA News, September 2, 1987)

15 years ago: U.S. District Court Judge Juan C. Burciaga rules September 15, 1982, that the NCAA football television plan violates the Sherman Antitrust Act. The decision will permit NCAA institutions to negotiate television rights to their own football games, independent from appearance and other limits in the NCAA television plan. Burciaga's ruling came in response to an action filed by the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia Athletic Association. The Association argued that its plan's limitations were necessary to protect attendance, distribute television revenue and avoid the development of a college football elite. A week after Burciaga's ruling, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay in the case and set a schedule for the NCAA's appeal. (The NCAA News, September 27, 1982)

25 years ago: The NCAA Council, meeting in a special session September 17, 1972, approves a two-division reorganization plan for consideration at the 1973 Convention. Under the reoganization plan, the existing University and College Divisions would become Division I and Division II. (NCAA: The Voice of College Sports)