Sports
Thursday, February 8, 1996 Page 9
SPORTS OPINION
Mitch Sherman
Father and son
fulfill dreams
with signing
BELLEVUE Wednesday
morning across the nation, years of
dreaming came true.
Thousands of football players
signed national letters of intent, be
coming a part of the world of college
football.
Willie Miller, one of 18 high
school seniors to sign with Nebraska,
sat near the front desk of Bellevue
West High School at 9:15 a.m., open
ing the official documents shipped
from Lincoln. His father, Willie
Miller Sr., looked on, his face beam
ing with pride.
The elder Miller never played
high school football. As a student at
Mosspoint (Miss.) High School, his
parents wouldn’t let him participate
because a player at the school suf
fered a broken neck before Willie
Miller Sr. had a chance to go out for
the team.
I really feel like I would have
been a heck of a football player,” he
said, “but instead I watch Willie and
see myself through him.”
A retired major in the U.S. Air
Force, Willie Miller Sr. lives in Mis
sissippi, hundreds of miles from his
son, two daughters and wife, Doris.
In July 1992, he moved away from
his family to run a drug-infested,
low-income apartment complex
owned by Doris’ parents.
Doris’ father is suffering from
Alzheimer’s disease, and her mother
has grown too old to collect rent
from the unreliable tenants. Because
Doris is a nurse, her parents moved
to Bellevue to live with her, and
Maj. Miller left his family to take
care of the apartments.
“I felt like I wasn’t doing the
things that I should do for my son,”
Willie Miller Sr. said. “But under
the conditions, I really didn’t have
much of a choice. I had to realize
that it’s something that would ben
efit the family.”
The eider Miller returned to Ne
braska every Thursday during the
football season last fall. At his son’s
games, he paced nervously behind
the fence that separated the side
lines from the bleachers.
On more than one occasion, he
hopped the fence and ran onto the
field to congratulate his son after a
touchdown.
“Sometimes even the coach had
to come over and hold me back,”
Willie Miller Sr. said, “but I couldn’t
help it. My adrenaline was pump
ing. If he scored a touchdown, I’d
want to go out there and let him
know I was proud of him.”
On Wednesday morning, Willie
Miller Jr. scored big. His father was
on hand to watch his dream come
true, and over the next few years,
he’ll seehisson play in aComhusker
uniform.
Maybe this time, he’ll be able to
stay in the stands.
Shermaa is a jaalor aews-edltorial
major aad the Daily Nebraska! sports
editor.
NU falls short in comeback bid
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Ne
braska basketball team showed it still
has a heartbeat.
Trailing by 20 points with 12:01
remaining, the Cornhuskers’ pulse
began to rise as they mounted a furi
ous comeback, eventually taking a 98
97 lead with 12.4 seconds left.
But the Tigers hushed the heart
beat momen
tarily, pulling
out a hard
fought 99-98
win in front
of a crowd of 13,300 fans at the
Heames Center on Wednesday night.
Despite five players scoring in
double figures and shooting a season
high 59.7 percent from the field, Ne
braska dropped to 15-9 overall and 3
■K
Missouri 99
Nebraska 98
5 in the Big Eight and lost its fourth
straight game.
TTie Huskers were led by a 20
point effort from Jaron Boone that
included him making 4-of-5 3-point
ers. Tom Wald added 11 points, 10 of
which came in the second half.
Missouri improved to 14-8 and 4
4 in the conference.
“We kept playing ourselves back
into it,” Nebraska coach Danny Nee
said. “We were playing very resilient,
but losing by one point is not a moral
victory.”
Nebraska took its first lead since
the first half of the Jan. 31 game at
Kansas State when Wald made a 3
pointer to give the Huskers a 98-97
lead.
But that lead lasted only 5.4 sec
onds.
Missouri’s Kendrick Moore was
fouled by Bernard Garner with seven
seconds remaining as Moore was driv
ing to the basket.
Then Wald tried to revive the Husk
ers. He took the inbounds pass from
Venson Hamilton and dribbled the
length of the floor, but as Wald drove
through the lane, his jump shot
bounced off the backboard and fell off
the rim.
Hamilton was there and had a
chance to win the game with a tip, but
it fell short as time expired.
“We had two balls on the rim, and
if either of them go in, we walk out of
here happy,” Nee said.
Wald wasn’t happy.
“I had a good shot at the basket,
and I should have hit it. That’s all
there is to it,” Wald said. “It was a
layup. I don’t know what more you
could ask for.”
Nebraska was whistled for a sea
son-high 34 fouls, and Mikki Moore,
Tyronn Lue, Erick Strickland and
Terrance Badgett all fouled out of the
game.
Missouri guard Jason Sutherland
made 14-of-14 free throws, extending
his school-record streak to 32 straight
successful free-throw attempts. Those
14 points from the line were half of
Sutherland’s game-high 28 points.
In the first half, Missouri made 20
of-23 free-throw attempts, and for the
game, it converted 40-of-47,85.1 per
cent.
“We showed in the second half that
we can still play,” Moore said. “We
don’t give up. The old Nebraska is
back and the rest of the Big Eight
better look out.”
Scott Bruhn/DN
Nebraska recruit J.R. Edwards signs his letter of intent Wednesday afternoon at his home in Lincoln. Edwards’ mother, Janet Banks
watches. Edwards, from Lincoln Southeast, was one of 18 high school seniors to sign with Nebraska.
Huskers sign 18 recruits
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
Eighteen of the nation’s top high
school seniors signed letters of intent
on Wednesday to become members of
the Nebraska football team.
Despite having to abide by the
stricter academic
requirements, Ne
braska coach Tom
Osborne said he
did not feel the
Signing
quality ot ms
team’s recruiting
class had dropped.
The new aca
demic require
ments, Osborne
*-- said, eliminated
about one-third of the Di vision-I play
ers this year.
“It was just a little harder and took
a little longer ” Osborne said of re
cruiting this year. “But I don’t think
that will slow us down any.”
Osborne said he did not agree with
See RECRUITS on 11
1996 Nebraska football signees
Name Hometown HL WL Pos.
Sasho Becvarovski Crown Point, Ind. 6-5 255 OL
DeAngelo Evans Wichita, Kan. 5-9 210 RB
Clint Finley Cuero, Texas 6-1 190 QB
Carlos Polk Rockford, 111. 6-2 220 LB
David Webber StLouis, Mo. 6-3 275 OL
Tampa Bay
offers job
to Brown
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
Nebraska receivers coach
Ron Brown was offered an as
sistant coaching position with
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on
Wednesday.
Brown met and interviewed
with Tampa Bay coach Tony
Dungy for about six hours at
One Buccaneer Place, the Tampa
Bay Bucs’ headquarters.
Dungy, who will take over
for Sam Wyche next season, said
in a phone interview Wednes
day night from his hotel room at
the Tampa Bay Airport Marriott
that he and Brown decided to
take a few days to think about
their meeting before making a
decision.
See BROWN on 10