Campus organization seeks to strike out violent behavior

Most sports teams name just one MVP -- most valuable player -- each season. But, if Edgewood College's Gerry Przybylski gets his way, there will be an entire campus full of MVPs.

Przybylski, a senior pitcher and captain for the baseball squad, developed MVP, Men for Violence Protection, nearly two years ago. The campus organization began as a class project for a Male Roles in Society course that required participants to develop a community-service project that applied the concepts taught in the course.

Przybylski said Edgewood baseball coach Al Brisack suggested the idea of having a men's violence group. "We felt we had an opportunity to teach people and make them more aware that men have choices, and they can choose not to act violently toward women," Przybylski said.

Although MVP began with just six members, all of whom took the course, membership has swelled to 25. Most of them are student-athletes, even though the organization is open to all males on the campus.

In addition to hosting numerous speakers on campus and distributing white ribbons during National Violence Awareness Week in April, MVP has sponsored the "Hands Project," in which students dip their hands in paint, place an imprint on a large banner with the words "these hands will never be used for violence," and sign their name under the impression.

"We have received strong feedback from people wanting to know more about the group and how they can help," said Przybylski, who hopes to continue to build the membership and to expand MVP to other campuses.

St. John's (New York) site will 'habla espanol'

St. John's (New York) may have happened upon starting a Web trend when university officials launched in April what is believed to be the first multilingual intercollegiate athletics Web site.

"Because we're in New York with the different cultures and backgrounds, we wanted something that would fit us, but would be differentiating from the rest," said sports information director Dominic Scianna.

The site, redstormsports.com, was developed in partnership with College Sports Online, and gives users the option of translating pages into Spanish or Italian by clicking on one of the corresponding flags on the home page.

Other newly added features to the site include live statistics and Web-casting in Spanish. In addition, a Game-Day Central section provides key information such as weather forecasts, lodging and dining information for Red Storm fans planning to attend an athletics event.

According to Rick Cole Jr., associate athletics director for external affairs at St. John's, the drive to revamp the Web site grew out of an evaluation of all athletics communications efforts.

"We wanted the Web site to be comprehensive, transformational and differentiating. We're real proud of it," he said.

The reaction has been all good thus far.

"People love it," Cole said. "We're the first, but I think there will be many within the year. Once people see there's a way to do this, why wouldn't they do it?"

Jacksonville pitcher redefines save situation

As a pitcher for the Jacksonville University baseball team, Ashley Roque has recorded three saves this season.

But, none was bigger than the one he recently made off the field.

One evening in April, the junior reliever was traveling on the highway when the car in front of him swerved to avoid another vehicle that had pulled in front of it. The driver, Laura Beth Thompson, lost control of her car and slammed into some pine trees where it quickly caught fire.

Roque rushed to Thompson's aid. When he arrived at the crash scene, the underside of the hood of the car was engulfed in flames. and both doors were smashed.

Roque managed to pull Thompson out through the shattered driver's side window and carry her to safety just before the front seats of her car went up in flames.

Thompson was in intensive care in stable condition. Roque, who was uninjured during the incident, said he did think about the possibility of the car blowing up, but there was nobody else there.

"I only did what any normal human being would have done," he said.

-- Compiled by Leilana McKindra

Number crunching

Looking back

20 years ago

Here's what was happening at the NCAA in May 1984:

The NCAA Executive Committee approves a proposal to implement an NCAA-administered drug-testing program that will include testing for stimulants at championships and random testing of student-athletes in specified sports for anabolic steroids at campus sites during the academic year.

Statistics reveal that women's basketball players shot an average of 44.01 percent from the field, 65.32 percent from the free-throw line and scored 139.36 points per game (both teams combined) during the 1984 season. Men's players shot an average of 48.08 percent from the field, 68.9 percent from the free-throw line and scored 136.34 points per game.

Davidson College captures the team title in the 1984 Division III Women's Tennis Championships. Principia College's Courtney Allen wins the singles title and teams with Suzy Verheul to win doubles.

30 years ago

Here's what was happening at the NCAA in May 1974:

The 1974 men's basketball championship establishes a 10.8 television rating, representing an increase of 8 percent over 1973. The series had an average of 7.1 million homes per minute viewing the games, compared with the 1973 figure of 6.5 million.

The NCAA Council issues a resolution stating that the Association believes the Department of Health, Education and Welfare draft regulations concerning Title IX would endanger the financial ability of many colleges and universities to support intercollegiate athletics for either men or women. In the resolution, the Council also stresses its support for the growth of women's sports.

* Iowa State University repeats as the Division I men's gymnastics champion. Stanford University's Steve Hug wins his third individual all-around title