Tuesday, September 23, 1986
Page 6
Daily Nebraskan
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Mud sport
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Freshman Mark Thien of the Abel 4 mud-volleyball team
tosses the ball back to the referee after a diving miss. The
weekend tournament was won by the Acacia-Alpha Omi
cron Pi team.
Verster finds stiff
By Jim Ballard
Senior Reporter
This is the seventh in a series
of stories that feature foreign
students who are athletes at
UNL.
When Jean Verster stepped off the
lane from South Africa, he wasn't sure
lie had made the right decision.
"1 nearly got on the plane and went
back," he said.
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Richard WrightDaily Nebraskan
The reason for that was that he had
just come from a Sout h African summer,
where it was 100 degrees, to a Nebraska
winter where it was 50 degrees below
zero with the windchill factor.
"1 had never seen snow before, and it
was kind of nice for the first few days,
but then it got too cold," Verster said.
"But it is nicer to run in cold weather.
It works out better than the heat."
Verster was first contacted by Ne
braska assistant track coach Mark
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Caray does it all for WTB
By Bob Asmussen
Niqht News Editor
CHAMPAIGN, III. Current Nebras
ka I -Hack Terry Kodftra Is dealing with
the expectations of being the son of a
famous father. WTBS sportscasler Skip
Caray said he knows what Kodgers is
going through.
Caray is the son of a broadcasting
legend, Harry Caray. Caray is a former
4SL Louis Cardinals and Chicago White
Sox announcer. He is currently the
Chicago Cubs announcer and a Bud
man. Skip Caray said growing up with a
famous father led to problems for him
as an announcer.
"In some ways it helped, but in other
ways it was very harmful," Caray said
Linebacker
By Tim Hartmann
Staff Reporter
Freshman linebacker Chris Caliendo
said he's hoping to get more playing
time in the freshmen team's second
game of the season, against Pittsburgh
State on Sept. 29, than he did in their
season opener.
It wasn't a lack of playing time that
kept Caliendo on the bench when the
Nebraska freshmen opened their sea
son at Ellsworth Junior College of Iowa,
it was the referees. He was ejected on
the second play of the game for fighting.
Despite the early adversity, Caliendo,
a scholarship recruit from Brookfield,
Wis., is still happy he chose the Corn
huskers over the other schools that
recruited him.
"Nebraska is No.l. I wanted to go
with the best," he said.
Illinois, Minnesota and several Div
ision I-AA and Division II schools re
cruited Caliendo, a 6-2, 225-pound
player. He was also recruited by his
home-state university, Wisconsin.
"Wisconsin recruited me heavily my
junior year," Caliendo said. "In my
competition ranmimg at NU
Devenney during his senioryear in high
school. However, it wasn't until a year
later, after he attended a South African
college, that he decided on Nebraska.
"After graduating from high school, I
was offered track scholarships at Ne
braska, Georgia, UCLA and some other
places, but I had a real good relation
ship with my coach, so I decided to stay
in South Africa," he said. "But that
v i - 7 i
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Nil S
Jean Verster crosses the finish line during an indoor track
meet last spring. Verster returns as one of Nebraska's top
distance runners.
before Saturday's Nebraska Illinois
game. "If your dad is a lawyer and you
follow him into the business, everybody
says, 'Isn't that nice.' But if you're in
the public eye in this kind of business,
people, accuse you of nepotism. Anil
with some justification that would be a
nat ural assumption. But just because
you're somebody's son doesn't mean
you can't do the job In that particular
business."
Caray said it took him awhile to
adjust to some of the criticism.
"Nobody knew my name. I was Har
ry's kid," Caray said. "That's a great
compliment to him and perfectly under
standable, and at age 47 I understand
it very well. At age 19 and 20 1 didn't
understand it. I sort of fought against
happy 'to be with best'
senior year they didn't recruit me until
later in the season, and by that time I
had already made up my mind I was
going to Nebraska."
Caliendo was an all-state selection
at linebacker, where he averaged 10
unassisted tackles and seven assists
per game during his senior season at
Brookfield East High School. His team
finished 5-4.
'Nebraska is No. 1.
I wanted to go
with the best.'
Caliendo
"We had a couple of bad breaks at
the beginning of the year," he said.
Besides playing linebacker, Caliendo
was also a two-year starter at center,
and was named all-conference at that
position his senior year. He was also
chosen to play in the Wisconsin Shrine
All-Star game.
One of the players at Brookfield East
didn't work out, so I decided to make a
break for it."
After Devenney contacted him for the
second time, Verster had to make a
quick decision.
"I decided to come two weeks before
I left. I didn't know where Nebraska
was, exactly, so it was exciting," he
said.
Since coming to Nebraska, the jun-
Daily Nebraskan File Photo
it."
But, Caray said his father's fame
hasn't harmed their relationship.
"I'm very proud to be his son," Caray
said. "People ask me what it's like,
well, hell I don't know, he's the only
father I ever had."
Caray said he first got away from
being "Harry's son" when he went to
work for WTBS.
"Wben I went to Atlanta, very few
people knew who my father was, and
they didn't give a shit," Caray said. "I
made it on my own."
Caray said he's happy that he and his
father have been successful in the
broadcasting business.
See CARAY on 7
last year was Cary Caliendo, Chris'
brother. Nebraska and several other
schools did not recruit Cary because he
had arthroscopic surgery performed on
his knee. He finally signed with North
ern Illinois. The two brothers will
square off on the field on 1989 and 1990
when Nebraska and Northern Illinois
play each other in Lincoln.
The Caliendos would have liked to
play college football together, but
they're satisfied with the way things
ended up.
"We both wanted to play college
ball," Chris said. "It we both went to
the same school, great, but, we weren't
going to go out of our ways."
Caliendo said he's glad he came to
Nebraska and can be part of their foot
ball program.
"I love it, it's great," he said.
He also likes Lincoln.
"When I first came here during two-a-days,
I didn't (like it)," he said.
"When school wasn't in session I was
sort of homesick and I really didn't like
it. I thought, 'God, where am I?' As soon
as school started everything picked up
and I love it. It's a great place to be."
ior from Johannesburg has been im
pressive. Last season he was an All
American cross country runner after
finishing fifth in National Collegiate
Athletic Association Championships.
Verster has also been a NCAA qualifier
in outdoor track. He is the current
1500-meter event Nebraska record
holder.
"In South Africa, the top guys are the
same standard as here, but there isn't
as much depth," he said. "I had to get
used to running against good oppo
nents every meet here. It's always the
same."
Verster said if everything goes well
this season, he'll be trying for Olympic
qualifying time in the mile race.
"I want to run a 3:57 in the indoor
and a 3:38 outdoor (indoor events are
measured in yards, outdoor events in
meters), and I should be running that,"
he said.
He added that he preferred track
over cross country but enjoys the longer
running of cross country because it was
relaxing.
Another key reason for transferring
to the United States was because of the
chance offered to run internationally.
Because of sanctions against South
Africa, athletes are not permitted to
run outside their country.
"You never know what's going to
happen. Maybe five years from now,
South Africa will be competing inter
nationally," he said.
Verster said he has not had much of
a problem with being from South Africa.
"The midwest is very conservative
and open minded. They don't take one
side, so in general I haven't had many
problems," he said.
Running internationally is a goal
Verster said he has down the road, but
if it doesn't work out, he still wants to
stay associated with the sport.
"I wouldn't mind getting a coaching
job at the college level," he said. "But
only in track and field and only at the
college level."
