--I . ' . M ■ -. ■
Former star
fights past
rough times
As much as Richard Grace tries, he
can’t foiget the fall.
He can’t forget the fall from the
high bar—while practicing a “routine”
layout double-double — in late De
cember 1995 that fractured his right
fibula.
He can't forget the falling sound of
his jaw hitting the floor days later at a
local bar, when his wife of two weeks
told him she wanted a divorce.
And he can’t foiget the fall of his
Olympic dream die next month, when
judges gave him a zero for his vault at
the USA Championships in Knoxville,
Tenn.
Today, Grace walks into the Ne
braska training room as a retired gym
nast, helping prepare the Comhuskers
for a run at die 1997 national tide. Each
day, he faces the unbearable pain stem
ming from that horrendous series of
events.
And each day, Grace uses every bit
of character in his power-packed, 5
foot frame to erase that time from his
scarred memory. •
“It sucked,” said Grace, an impor
tant member of NU’s 1994 national
championship squad. “It was not a
good year. I try to put it behind me and
focus on all the good things.”
Eight months after winning the ’95
all-around title at the NCAA Champi
onships, Grace appeared poised to
make the U.S. Olympic team and ful
fill what he calls his “ultimate goal.”
Married to his four-year girlfriend
on Dec. 16,1995, Grace and his bride
headed to Jaipaica for their honey
moon. When he returned to Lincoln,
Grace broke his teg, less than a month
before the USA Championships, a
meet at which he needed to finish in
the top 15 to advance to the Olympic
Trials. . *' ••• ' —
The next week, she left him.
“We went out for four friggin’
years,” he said,“and then she said she
didn’t want to be married.”
But Grace Dersevered. rehabilitat
ing after USA Gymnastics denied his
petition to skip the championships. In
15th place entering the final event of
cmnpidsotie^race hobbled dqwn the
runway toward the vault .
“The judges said I did my*vault
wrong,” he said. “But they wejgsfeoing
to flash a 7.5, which would hav^easily
kept me in competition.”
Then the meet director intervened.
Grace got a zero. ; 4
“Right then it was over,” said
Grace, who didn’t watch one minute
of the Summer Games on television.
“It was the end of my career. At that
time, I hardly left my house because
of the divorce. I became a hermit. It
was the worst thing ever.”
■The worst is now over for Grace,
who will graduate in May and prepare
for the LSAT. He wants to be a lawyer,
and he wants to forget the pain.
Slowly, it’s going away.
_ . • -- *
Sherman is a senior news-edito
rial major and a Daily Nebraskan
senior reporter.
_ ' — ~ : . '= > Jast Calderon/DN
■PS COOKIE EBflH dives for the ball against Creighton. Belcher, who is from Mexico, Mo., piais 3fl mMoo from Ms bomotowi.it Ussoprt tonight.
Comhuskers go for
fifth straight win
tonight at Missouri.
__: _0 ,
By Patrick Wyman
Staff Reporter
After handing Missouri its biggest
loss of the season Saturday night, the
Nebraska basketball team now has to
worry about the Tigers taking out their
frustrations on them.
The Comhuskers (11-5 overall and
3-1 in the Big 12 Conference) go for
their second straight win over MU (9
8 and 1-4) tonight at 7 at the Heames
Center in Columbia, Mo.
NU also tries to win its fifth straight
game and fourth consecutive league
win since losing to conference-leader
Colorado Jan. 4. w.
Although Mis- %
sotfri has lost four
of its last five
games and two
straight at home,
Coach Danny Nee
said the Tigers will
step up their per
formance follow
ing Saturday’s 76
53 loss.
“I guess the
psychological
edge now goes to Missouri because
they’re playing at home,” Nee said,
- ; - Sml <
“and you’ve got the revenge factor also.”
Nee said the Huskers will try to
duplicate Saturday’s performance. Just
four days ago, NU held Missouri to a
27.4 field-goal percentage, but that will
be difficult to do because the Tigers
are in their own arena this time.
“We’re ready to play,” Nee said.
“Playing games on the road in the Big
12 it’s very difficult to win, and we just
have to find a way to win.”
That could be easier said than done
considering that Nebraska is just 2-8
against the Tigers in the Heames Col
ter in the past 10 games. NU lost 99
98 last year in Columbia after beating
No. 14 MU 78-75 the season before.
Please see TIGERS on 8
Huskers have concerns with Tigers
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
If the score from last Saturday’s 82
66 Nebraska victory at Missouri means
anything, the Comhuskers will win
easily when the two teams meet again
tonight.
out uoacn
Angela Beck has
looked beyond
that score to rec
ognize some con
cerns for when the
two teams play to
night at 7 in the
Bob Devaney
Sports Center.
“I guess if
we win by 16 at
Missouri,” Beck
said, it would be fair to say that this is
a game we should win. The thing we
are most focused on is to be prepared
and to beat the teams we are supposed
to beat.
Beck said the Huskers (13-1 and 3
1 in the Big 12 Conference) are not
having any trouble focusing for the
Tigers (7-11,0-5) after examining die
statistics from last Saturday’s win.
Missouri was the first team this sea
son to have fewer turnovers than the
Huskers. The Tigers had 11 turnovers
in the first 10 minutes against Ne
braska, but had only 12 turnovers the
in die final 30. NU is forcing 32.2 turn
overs per game. The Huskers had more
turnovers than MU with 25 Saturday.
Missouri is also die only team to at
tempt more field goals than Nebraska in a
game this year.
“We’ve been averaging 15 more
shots at the goal than our opponent and
they had two more than we did,” Beck
said. “I guess the exciting thing was
that we won because when that hap
pens we don’t win.”
The Huskers won thanks to the play
of senior Una McClain.
“I think (Tina) has more in. her,”
Beck said. “I don’t want her to be our
leader, but I want her to be somebody
that you know fen- the moments she is '
on the floor.”
McClain’s 14-point performance
against the Tigers has put her back in
die starting lineup. The 5-10 forward
started the first 11 games, but with a
knee injury and an average of 8 points
she lost her starting spot to Jami Kubik.
McClain replaces Jami’s sister
Nicole tonight.
Nebraska out-rebounded Missouri
41-30 Saturday, which upset Missouri
Coach Joann Rutherford.
“We got out-rebounded and that
shouldn’t have happenedbecause we are
taller than they are,” Rutherford said “We
have to come out and play some good de
fense and more match-up.” .
Note:
Guard Amy Gusso tore her anterior
cruciate ligament in her knee at prac
tice Tuesday and is lost for the season,
Beck said. Gusso, a 5-6 guard from
Spearflsh, S.D., had seen playing time .
in every game this season. f
F 30 AnnaDeForge 5-11 Jr.
f ' 'im
G24JamiKubik 5-11 Jr.