Sports
{Spectator numbers decrease while others play ball
By Sara Bauder
Staff Reporter
Softball may have lost some of its
spectators in Lincoln, but the number
of players remains high, according to
Vem Hass, program coordinator of
men’s and women’s athletics for the
Lincoln Parks and Recreation De
partment.
“Back in the mid-’50s and the
’60s, the bleachers would be full for
softball games,’’ Hass said. “Now, a
well-attended game might have 25 to
50 people watching it.’’
Hass said a really special game,
such as a rivalry between two com
peting companies, will attract the
most spectators but that an average
game will have very few people
watching it.
“Unless you have a husband, son
or a daughter playing, you probably
won’t go to a game anymore,” Hass
said.
Hass said no admission is charged
at the games.
“You can see a game every night
of the week except for Saturdays,”
Hass said. “A fan can see varying
degrees of talent and different dia
monds in the city.”
Hass said although spectator
numbers arc down, softball is still a
big game in Lincoln for players.
The Parks and Recreation Depart
ment has 689 teams participating in
its summer program, Hass said. He
said he expects about 150 to 200
teams to participate in the fall pro
gram.
Hass said those teams are divided
according to the type of softball they
play — fast- or slow-pitch — and how
often they play each week Men can
participate in slow-pitch or fast-pitch
fames either once or twice a week.
here is a slow-pitch league for men
35 years old or older and a coed slow
pitch league as well.
Women have both slow-pitch and
fast-pitch leagues which play either
once or twice a week
Hass said the women’s fast-pitch
league is dwindling in numbers.
“Slow-pitch is an easier game to
play,” Hass said. “It doesn’t take as
much time to learn as fast-pitch. I
think it attracts people who haven’t
been around the game.”
Hass said another reason for the
decline in the number of women who
play fast-pitch is the growth of the
coed softball leagues.
“A lot of women are taking their
one night a week for softball and
playing coed with their husbands or
boyfriends,” Hass said.
Between 70 and 80 percent of this
year’s softball teams will return to
play again next year, Hass said.
Hass said the department recruits
new teams with advertisements,
mailings and word of mouth.
The coed league plays a seven
week season and will have a double
r*—— —.. .
elimination tournament July 8
through 11. The other leagues play
10-week regular seasons, including
tournaments, and run through mid
August.
Hass said there will be team tro
phies for 1st through 3rd places in the
tournaments, but no individual tro
phies.
Individual trophies were discon
tinued several years ago to cut costs,
Hass said. The trophies are paid for
with funds from the players’ entry
fees, he said.
“I wish we could go back to the
individual trophies, but we probably
won’t because of the cost involved. ’ ’
Hass said.
Hass said the money generated
from entry fees is used to finance
improvements to the diamonds and
other costs of operating the softball
league.
Improvements this year included
outfield fences and restrooms at
Sawyer Snell and an asphalt access
road at Mahoney Park.
Hass said entries for the fall soft
ball leagues will be accepted until the
second or third week of August. Play
in those leagues will probably start
the week after Labor Day and run
through the beginning of November,
Hass said.
Anyone interested in playing soft
ball in the fall leagues should call the
Parks and Recreation Department,
Hass said.
William Lauer/Dally Nebraskan
Don Milligoss is safe at second base after the late flip from
shortstop John Webb to second baseman Ron Witt.
Assistant added to NU ‘family'
Purveyor of Fine Beers and Billiards
B\ .left Apel
Staff Reporter
A family atmosphere helped Jeff
Smith become the new part-time as
sistant coach in the Nebraska men’s
basketball program.
Smith said he wasn’t overly sur
prised to be named Nebraska’s new
assistant coach because Comhusker
coach Danny Nee said earlier that he
did not want to bring in a coach from
another program. He said Nee did not
want to break up the "family atmos
phere" which diminished when
Huskcr assistant Arden Reid re
signed.
Reid resigned in March. With
Smith taking his place, Jeff Reinert, a
27-ycar-old former player/coach in
ihc Australian professional basket
ball league, was named Nebraska’s
new graduate assistant coach.
Smith said he was happy to hear
that he was named as Nebraska’s new
assistant
*1 was surprised to be named in
some ways. Smith said. “But
Danny said he didn’t want to bring a
new family in. He said he wanted to
keep the same family he had, so I’m
really looking forward to the chal
lenge.”
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Smith, 29, said he was surprised
by his promotion because it occurred
before he planned. He said he had not
planned on becoming an assistant
coach at the Division I level for sev
eral years.
Smith said he does not expect his
promotion to cause any drastic
changes. He said he still plans on
teaming with Roger Grootcrs, Ne
braska’s director of academic pro
grams, to oversee the scholastic prog
ress of Nebraska’s athletes and per
form a variety of other tasks.
‘‘I don’t think it will be a real
drastic change,” Smith said. “We
haven’t really defined what my role
will be yet, but most things should be
consistent.”
Smith said he thrives on the pres
sure of becoming an assistant coach
in a major college program.
“Any time you assume a new
position, it’s going to be a chal
lenge,’’ he said. “But I’ve seen the
program for a year and I feci with my
job I can use the pressure in a positive
way.’’
Smith said he is excited about the
future of Nebraska basketball. He
said the Huskers have the privilege of
playing in the Big Eight, which he
calls the best conference in the coun
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try, and also have the luxury of be
coming a mature team.
Next season, three of Nebraska’s
starters - guard Clifford Scales, for
ward Beau Reid and center Rich King
- all will be entering their third year
in starling roles. The Huskcrs’ roster
also will possess senior center Rich
ard van Poclgcest, who has been a
part-time starter throughout his ca
reer, and Dapreis Owens and Carl
Hayes -- both second-year players
who formed the nucleus of a recruit
ing class that was nationally ranked
two years ago.
we ve been waiting tor our mas
to mature. That’s one thing you can’t
leach,” Smith said. “Now that they
have matured, we’re looking forward
to the future. We hope the admini
stration, faculty and student body is,
too.”
Smith said he would like to even
tually secure a coaching position at a
non-Division I school. Prior to doing
that, he said, he would like to learn
the fundamentals of Division 1 re
cruiting and complete the 15 hours he
needs for his masters degree in ath
letic administration.
”1 think this is a logical step to
ward all of that,” Smith said.
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