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Tony Williams came to the University this fall as a
freshman with a driving ambition: he wanted to be
one of the three male members of the Husker Yell
Squad.
To prepare for the cheerleading tryouts in March,
Williams went to all the football games except the
road games at Oklahoma and Hawaii, attended all the
home basketball games and even submitted new
cheers to the Yell Squad. "I really wanted it bad,"
said Williams, who was a cheerleader while attending
high school in Omaha.
But he wasn't chosen in the tryouts to fill the one
male vacancy on the Yell Squad and under the
present rules he won't get another change to try out
since only freshmen are eligible - to become new
members of the squad.
A similar fate has occurred to other students, but
Williams and other students are further upset because
all the male cheerleaders are now from the same
fraternity (Theta Xi) and six of the eight female
cheerleaders are members of sororities. Williams
argues that the present selection system (where
selected cheerleaders and the Yell Squad's to faculty
advisors are the only ones voting) inbreeds a Greek
dominance of the squad.
Williams is proposing that the selection committee
be widened to include people outside the Yell Squad,
the male membership be increased and tryouts be
opened to sophomores and juniors as well as
freshmen.
But his proposals are meeting with resistance from
Yell Squad officials. William Tuning, one of the Yell
Squad's faculty sponsors, said, "We don't see a better
system at the moment."
Tuning, an assistant professor of physical
education, had the following points in rebuttal to the
proposed changes:
--People outside the Yell Squad are not normally
qualified to pick the best cheerleaders. "Eight to 10
years ago outside people-like members of Mortar
Board and Innocents Society-were involved in the
selection process," he said. "But it didn't work
because they didn't know what they were judging and
they finally asked to be relieved."
-The squad could not be enlarged because it would
increase costs as well as hinder the performance of
the squad. He said the squad has a limited budget
from its sponsor, the athletic department, and added,
"We think we get a better performance out of 11
people than 22 people."
--Allowing sophomores and juniors to try out
would limit the squad's effectiveness since
cheerleading is a difficult job that is best suited to a
three-year stint. "Sophomores spend the first year
learning the job," he said. "By the time they are
juniors they are productive members and by the time
they are seniors they are really productive and good
teachers."
Tuning denied the present selection system
discriminates against non-Greeks. "We take the best
people as we see them," he said.
Why do Greeks dominate the squad?
"The Greeks care more," Tuning answered. "They
push their members to try out. Any time you have an
organization pushing something you are going to have
better results than individual effort."
This is not the first time the membership selection
of the Yell Squad has been attacked. The squad has
also come under attack becauae of the quality of its
game performances or lack of.
Obviously the Yell Squad could use some changes.
But change is such a conservative and traditional
institution only comes slowly.
It seems improbable that someone outside Yell
Squad could not pick a good cheerleader. It also
seems odd in this age of equality to have three males
and eight females on the squad. And finally, it seems
a gross injustice to limit tryouts to freshmen. Surely
it doesn't take three years to learn to shout, "Go Big
Red."
Probably one of the most astute comments was
made by an opposing Big Eight football coach who
said, "The only things wrong with the Nebraska
football team is its cheerleaders."
Here is a joke with some local interest:
Once upon a time there was a UNL professor who
was such a genius that he had trouble communicating
with people. In order to solve his communication
problem, he sought treatment from a doctor, who
had invented a machine that could lower people's
intelligence.
The doctor strapped the professor into a special
chair and turned on the machine. As the machine
started lowering the professor's IQ, the doctor was
called out of the room to take a phone call from his
verbose wife. The wife talked on and on and when
the doctor finally returned the machine had lowered
the professor's I Q to 45.
The doctor was frantic and immediately turned off
the machine. "Say something," the doctor
commanded to the patient. "Say anything so I know
you're alive and have intelligence."
"G-o B-i-g R-e-d," mumbled the patient.
Tracksters eye comeback
after relay disappointment
After a lackluster performance at the recent Kansas Relays,
the Nebraska track team sets its sights this weekend on the
final leg of the 1972 relay circuit-the Drake Relays in Des
Moines.
The Huskers will enter four relay teams-the mile, two-mile,
sprint medley and distance medley--as well as Horace Levy in
the 100-yard dash.
The Huskers will be trying to come back from a poor
performance last week at the Kansas Relays where they
managed only fourth-place finishes in the mile and two-mile
relays, despite the fact that the mile team ran a season best of
3:08.6.
Two former Husker standouts-miler Greg Carlberg and
sprinter Charlie Green-will also compete in the meet.
County drops Rodgers charge
PLATTSMOUTH-Cass County Att. James Begley said
Thursday a charge of possession of marijuana would not be
filed against Nebraska football star Johnny Rodgers due to a
lack of evidence.
Rodgers and a companion, 20-year old John H. Grant of
Omaha, were arrested April 22 on Interstate 80 near
Greenwood on suspicion of possession of marijuana. Rodgers
was a passenger in Grant's car, which was stopped by the State
Patrol for speeding.
The court found Grant guilty and fined him $100 and costs
on a charge of possession less than one ounce of marijuana.
Grant was also assessed $42 in costs for speeding 87 miles per
hour.
Rodgers, an All-American flanker, has two other court
appearance scheduled for May in Lincoln's Municipal Court on
traffic charges of running a red light and driving on a .
suspended license.
PAGE 12
Soccer club seeks identity
by Kent Seacrest
Eric Davies, like Bob Oevaney, has a
. Nebraska football team. But if Devaney's
team ever played Davies' squad it would be
one of the most unusual games ever played.
The reason is that Devaney's football is
the American-style and Davies' football is
the Association-style, or - in other words,
soccer-the world's most popular sport.
The Huskers' other football team, better
known as the UNL soccer club, is a unique
squad. Its 24 players, consist of
under-graduate and graduate students and
one assistant professor of
botany-player-coach Davies. Its members
also come from all over the world. Nine
countries are represented: the United States,
Jamaica, Peru, Colombia, Turkey, Germany,
Ethiopia, Nigeria and England.
"We've got many nationalities on the club
and they all play a different styltt of soccer,"
Davies said. "The team is roughly half
Americans and half foreigners. Generally
speaking, the American players are stronger,
healthier and more competitive. However,
the foreign players have better soccer skills."
The soccer club receives no funds from
the UNL Athletic Department and before
this year the team supported itself. "But
finally somebody came to our rescue,"
Davies said. "Corn Cobs, the Council on
Student Life and especially the Recreation
and Intramurals Department have been very
kind in helping support the team this year.
But we still don't have a regular budget."
The other problem facing the club is lack
of recognition. "Most people don't even
know a soccer club exists on this campus,"
Davies remarked. "We are plagued with an
identity crisis."
But despite these problems the club has
managed to compile an 11-5-4 record over
their fall-spring season.
During the recent Big Eight soccer
tournament, the Huskers won their first
tournament game in their four-year history
by defeating Iowa State. The UNL club
finished seventh in the conference
tournament.
Davies believes Nebraska will be the host
for next year's Big Eight soccer tournament.
"Next year we'd really like to have a good
team to represent Nebraska in the
tournament," Davies said. "This year we can
beat the local college teams, but we just
can't beat the Big Eight schools. We may
have the biggest stadium (Memorial
Stadium) in the Big Eightbut we also have
one of the worst teams in the conference."
This Sunday at 2 p.m. the football club
will play the Omaha Internationals, a
semi-pro team. The game will be played at
Peter Pan Park because the other Big Red
football team has spring football practice in
Memorial btaoium. j
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1972
