New helmet designed to increase safety of pole vaulters

Four Saint Leo University student-athletes devised a unique way of connecting the school's alumni with current students, as well as preserving the school's history and traditions.

As the part of the Student Outreach Alumni Program, which was piloted this fall, students personally visited 100 Saint Leo alumni, parents and friends and contacted by phone another 300, gathering recollections of their experiences at the school. In exchange, the students shared their own experiences as current Saint Leo enrollees.

After completing contacts, the students generated reports that were given to the university's president and office of advancement.

The ambitious effort was spearheaded by Denyve Duncan, a two-time all-American softball student-athlete. Duncan came up with the idea after serving as an intern with the school's university advancement department. She said she wanted to design a program that would cultivate alumni while also encouraging closer contact with students.

Assisting Duncan were John Semeraro, a soccer and golf standout who also serves as vice-president of the NCAA Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee; baseball student-athlete Ray Horval; and Wendy Greer, a softball student-athlete.

The group collected reflections from a wide range of alumni, including Charles Henderson, a Saint Leo trustee emeritus who established a scholarship to honor his son, a 1974 graduate of the school who died of cancer a year later; Jeff Bonina, a 1983 graduate of Saint Leo, who was awarded the school's first tennis scholarship; and Charles Touchton, a long-time board member who recalled Saint Leo's transition from a prep school to a college to a university.

The school plans to make the program an annual undertaking.

Colorado memorializes Whizzer White with statue

The University of Colorado, Boulder, honored one of its most well-known graduates last month when the school unveiled a life-sized bronze statue of the late Byron "Whizzer" White, who died in 2002 at the age of 84.

White, the school's first all-American in any sport, served on the United States Supreme Court for 31 years before his retirement in March 1993. He was among dissenters in the landmark 1984 case that gave the College Football Association the right to negotiate television contracts outside of the NCAA.

A three-sport student-athlete for the Buffaloes, White guided the football squad to an 8-0 regular season record and its first bowl berth during the 1937-38 season. He batted .400 for the baseball squad and contributed to the basketball team, which made an NIT appearance in 1938. White, a Rhodes Scholar, also served as student body president.

White went on to play football professionally and serve in World War II before turning to law and politics. He was appointed as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962.

The statue was created by sculptor Rhonda Vickers, who was commissioned by the university. The statue will reside on the club level of Colorado's Folsom Field.

Success on court translates to success in court for Robb

After guiding the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, women's basketball team to unprecedented success just two years after taking over the program, the school recently rewarded head coach Pam Borton with a contract extension through the 2010-11 season.

A key player in negotiating the deal that will keep Borton on Minnesota's sidelines for the foreseeable future was attorney Barbara A. Robb, who is as familiar with basketball as she is with law.

Before she took up law, Robb made the hardwood her court of choice. She was a women's basketball student-athlete at Fairfield University, where she later served as an assistant coach. Robb now spends her energy advising sports executives and coaches on a variety of issues and representing executives and individuals on employment matters. She also maintains a membership with the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.

Robb said combining sport and law was a perfect fit for her because she is passionate about negotiating employment deals and has a love of sports.

Borton took over the Minnesota program in 2002 and led the Gophers to their first appearance in the Sweet Sixteen that same season. The following year, Minnesota earned its first Women's Final Four berth.

-- Compiled by Leilana McKindra

Number crunching

Looking back

5 years ago

Here's what was making NCAA news in December 1999:

• The NCAA and CBS Sports reach agreement on a record 11-year, $6 billion television-rights contract that "bundles" marketing opportunities for all NCAA championships. The contract begins with the 2002-03 academic year and will contain an average payout of $545 million per year. The agreement also contains financial-incentive opportunities for the NCAA to renegotiate after eight years.

• Former U.S. Naval Academy quarterback Roger Staubach is selected as the 2000 NCAA Theodore Roosevelt Award winner. Staubach won the Heisman Trophy while at Navy and also lettered in basketball and baseball.

• The NCAA's most recent drug-testing data reveal a concern for ephedrine use. The supplement was cited as a cause in two positive drug tests. "Student-athletes need to be warned that ephedrine is marketed as a 'natural' product to raise energy level," says Frank Uryasz of the Center for Drug Free Sport. "In this case, 'natural' does not mean 'safe,' and it does not mean that it is approved to take."

• The University of California, Los Angeles, rallies from a 4-1 deficit to beat Stanford University in the 1999 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship. UCLA junior Sean Kern leads the comeback with four goals. The title is the Bruins' third in the last five years.

• The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, regains the Division I women's soccer throne after a one-year hiatus. North Carolina's 2-0 victory over the University of Notre Dame avenges the Tar Heels' 1998 championship-game loss to the University of Florida.