iFormer Nebraska gymnast hopes Barcelona is golden
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of
profiles on Nebraska athletes, past and
present, headed to the 1992 Olympics.
By Jeff Singer
Senior Editor
Former Nebraska gymnast Trent Dimas is
hoping his reunion with Nebraska Gymnastics
Coach Francis Allen is a golden experience.
Dimas and Allen will be learning up in
pursuilofa gold medal for the U.S. Gymnastics
team in next month’s Summer Olympic Games
in Barcelona, Spain.
Dimas earned a spot on the squad when he
finished fifth earlier this month in the U.S.
gymnastics trials at Baltimore.
Allen, who has helped lead the Comhuskers
to seven national titles, was chosen by the U.S.
Olympic Committee to head the 1992
olympians.
Dimas contributed to Allen’s last national
championship in 1990, as he was an All-Ameri
can in the high bar and floor exercises.
But Dimas left Nebraska after his All-Ameri
can freshmen year to return to his hometown of
Albuquerque, N.M.
He said there arc many reasons why he left
Nebraska to return home.
“1 wanted to compete internationally, but
having to compete in so many collegiate meets
wouldn’t allow me to do that,” Dimas said. “I
wanted to go and see the rest of the world.”
Allen said Dimas would have become a
better gymnast to compete m Spain if he had
remained at Nebraska.
“Most people who aren’t in a regimented
program usually don’tdo that well,” Allen said.
See GYMNAST on 10
I USC can t stand up
to Nebraska tradition
Usually when ^column is written
about Nebraska athletics in the Daily
Nebraskan, it’s filled with negatives
about Comhusker sports.
Personally, my columns have of
ten been the fuel to the athletic
program’s fire with my critical com
ments concerning our beloved Ne
braska teams.
But I’ve decided that I’m going to
take a week off from writing my pes
simistic views in order to defend the
Huskers from some harsh comments
that the program has recently received
from someone outside the basement
of the Nebraska Union.
Mike Garrett, an associate athletic
director at the University of Southern
California, recently blasted Nebraska
in an interview conducted by the
Omaha World-Herald.
Being a native of the Los Angeles
area, I was offended when I read last
Wednesday’s World-Herald and saw
Garrett’s remarks concerning Ne
braska.
After being rejected as a finalist in
Nebraska’s athletic director search,
Garrett acted just like you’d expect a
rich, stuck-up USC person to react—
by whining.
Garrett basically said that moving
to Nebraska’s program from USC
would be a step down.
Question: Why would a person be
so upset about not getting a job if it’s
such a demise in status from the posi
tion you already hold?
After all, Garrett is in charge of
such sports vital to USC’s athletic
program as water polo, golf, swim
ming, volleyball and tennis, all of
which probably have a total atten
dance this season in double digits (I
didn’t want to use actual numbers and
confuse the USC people who haven’t
taken the popular Southern Cal course
— “Numbers 101: Learning to count
with your shoes on”).
In an analysis of Garrett’s com
ments to the World-Herald, the intel
ligence of the administrators at South
ern Cal really stood out.
•Comment No. 1: “I think across
the board, they don’t play all the
sports we play and expect to win at all
the sports.”
To begin with, the Huskers com
pete in 21 sports, while USC partici
pates in 20.
Secondly, the Huskers won seven
Big Eight championships this season,
compared to USC’s grand total of one
Pac-10 title.
•Comment No. 2: “If you talk
about football over the years, I would
think USC and Notre Dame are the
names you talk about. Nebraska, I
think they’re in the lop five, top 10 in
the country. I don’t equate them to a
Notre Dame or USC.”
Well let’s see, the Huskers fin
ished 9-2-1 last season following an
other Big Eight title, while improving
on its NCAA record strings of 30
consecutive winning seasons and 23
straight trips to bowl games.
The Trojans on the other hand
wound up with a tremendous 3-8
record last year. That gives them a
total of zero consecutive winning sea
sons, and their last trip to a bowl came
after the 1990 season, in which USC
played in the ever-important John
Hancock Bowl. (Just think, at the
same time the Huskers were getting
some sun in Florida, USC got toexpe
rience theexcitementof El Paso, Texas
at cnnstmas-ume. wow:;.
•Comment No. 3: “It’s a step down
(Nebraska athletics), because you have
to work harder to make that program
go. , .
I think the true test of an athletic
program is seeing how many athletes
can succeed not only on the field, but
in the classroom as well.
Southern Cal has produced 19 foot
ball academic All-Americans in its
history, which isn ’t bad for your aver
age school. But Nebraska again has
set the NCAA standard in this cat
egory, even above much-heralded
Notre Dame, as the Huskers have had
45 players standout both on and off
the field. Thanks for another valid
comment, Mike.
Garrett’s bitter words about Ne
braska helped make die-hard Husker
fans’ stomachs tum, but also made it
easy to see why he’s one of the people
in charge at USC—the University for
Spoiled Children.
Next time Mike, take your loss like
a man and leave the Nebraska heck
ling for the trained professionals in
the Daily Nebraskan's sports depart
ment.
Singer Is a senior news-editorial and political
science major and is the Summer Daily
Nebraskan’s copy desk editor and a senior
sports reporter.
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