Vince D’Adamo
Leaving school
for the pros
is no big deal
As another college athletic sea
son winds down, I feel compelled
to sound off about one thing that
frankly makes me sick every time I
hear it mentioned.
I have had it with all the hubbub
about athletes leaving school early
to enter the NFL and NBA drafts.
'jimiLcu, uicic is a iui to uc sam
for athletes like Nebraska defensive
linemen Grant Wistrom and Jared
Tomich, both of whom decided to
stay at NU jObir their senior seasons.
Tomich'^jk®# in the second
round by I^eiihCfc^ans, almost cer
tainly wodfd have gone in round one
had he decided toforgo his filial year.
Likewise witfrjfej^pom this year.
spect Tomich and Wistrom for their
decisions. But if athletes have a
cfiiuice^bccomefirst-round draft
choices and set themselves up for
life — like Kentucky sophomore
basketball player Ron Mercer will
surely do in the June NBA draft —
with a seven-figure-a-year salary,
there is a definite upside.
Who cares if they sacrifice another
year of history classes for the money?
Is anyone saying they can’t go back
to school at any point? It’s not like
somebody is tying these athletes
down with a rope and saying, “If you
decide to leave school early, you can’t
go back.”
Look at Dallas Cowboys running
back Emmitt Smith. Smith, who left
Florida after his junior year in 1989,
got his degree last summer.
The same goes for the Washing
ton Bullets’ Juwan Howard. He left
Michigan after his junior year (1994)
and earned his degree in May 1995.
It makes sense that other athletes
have either gone back and earned a
degree or are taking classes now.
“I think it’s better that they don’t
enter early,” sports agent
extraordinaire Leigh Steinberg said.
“It’s a matter of personal choice.
“But there is a misnomer that
each of the athletes who comes out
early never finish school, get hurt
or don’t make it. The reality is that
these people are motivated to fin
ish their degrees.”
Among those athletes repre
sented by Steinberg who have gone
back to hitting the books are Drew
Bledsoe, Jeff George, Andre Ware
and Russell Maryland.
There is no written law that states
every 17-year-old must attend col
lege. And since people are allowed to
go to college by choice, they should
be able to leave by choice. Nowhere
in the how-to-survive-life-in-the
NFL-or-NBA handbook does it say
that it’s mandatory to finish college.
If you have the chance to set
yourself up for life, as Steve Miller
once said, “Come on, take the
money and run.”
D’Adamo is a senior broad
casting major and Daily Nebras
kan staff reporter.
Matt Miller/DN
TRESSA THOMPSON, Nebraska’s All-American shot putter, has her sights set on the 2000 Summer Olympics
in Sydney, Australia.
Long road leads Thompson
to stardom in shot-put circle
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
State Highway 84, a winding
road in northeast Nebraska, con
nects the world to Bloomfield,
where Jim and Syble Thompson
raised three girls. Their second
oldest daughter, Tressa, a tomboy
before the time she began junior
high, chose an alternate road on
which to leave the Knox County
town of 1,186 people.
Tressa Thompson chose the
straight path to stardom.
Four years removed from
Bloomfield High School, where
she played for the state champion
ship football team in 1990, Th
ompson soon embarks on the next
leg of a journey that she expects
to land her in Sydney, Australia,
for the 2000 Summer Olympic
Games as an American shot putter.
The most storied thrower in
University of Nebraska history and
the most famous citizen in
Bloomfield, Thompson owns
nearly every shot-put record in the
NU books. Earlier this season, she
set the NCAA indoor mark with a
heave of 60 feet, 7 3/4 inches.
“Working with Tressa has been
a learning experience for me,” said
Mark Colligan, Nebraska’s head
throws coach since 1990. “My im
pressions of good throwing as a
coach used to be far less than what
she’s already done. For her not to
be totally pompous and full of her
self, I think that’s the best quality
she has.”
But for this blond-haired, blue
eyed Comhusker, Nebraska serves
as only the beginning, the founda
tion for what she hopes blooms
into a career that places her along
side a quickly growing group of
U.S. track-and-field legends.
After next month’s NCAA Out
door Championships, in which Th
ompson can eclipse the only re
maining obstacle in her collegiate
career, she competes in the U.S.
Track and Field Championships,
June 11 through 15 in Indianapolis.
At that meet, Thompson hopes to
qualify for the World Track and
Field Championships—the world’s
second-most prestigious event be
hind the Olympics — August 2
through 10 in Athens, Greece.
“I plan on doing some big
Please see TRESSA on 11
Tracking
Tressa
In four years at Nebraska,
shot putter Tressa Thompson
has rewritten the Comhusker
record books and established
a new NCAA indoor mark.
Here's a look at her top five
all-time throws, each of which
has occured this season:
Distance Meet
HfMMiiMMMMiMt
(indoor)
(indoor)
50-O Big 12 Championships
(indoor)
Huskers
focus on
Cowgirls
NU opens the Big 12
Softball Ibumament
with Oklahoma State.
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
Entering this weekend’s Big 12
Softball Tournament at Oklahoma
City, NU Coach Rh
thinking about
winning the whole
thing.
insieaa,
Revelle wants the
Comhuskers (26
20 overall and 10
6 in the Big 12
Conference) to fo
cus on the little
things they did at
the end of the sea?
son. NU won nine „
of its final 11 games" included
a seveft-game win
In the last 11 gaihe$/;NU’s bats
have come to life as the buskers hit
.282, improving then- season average
to .244. NU leads the conference with
a .432 slugging percentage and 56
walks.
The fourth-seeded Huskers begin
the tournament at the ASA Hall of
Please see OSU on 10
Tb finish .500
NU must win
last six games
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
in tne last zu years, under tne reign
of Coach John Sanders, the Nebraska
baseball team has finished below .500
once.
The
Comhuskers (25
31 overall and 5
19 in the Big 12
Conference) must
win all six of their
remaining sched
uled games to fin
ish at .500 this sea
son.
Nebraska will
play host to Texas
tonight at 7 in the first of a three-game
series at Buck Beltzer Field. The two
teams meet again at 2 p.m. on Satur
day and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Though the Huskers have no
chance to make the Big 12 Conference
Tournament, the Longhorns (27-21
and 10-14) are one of three teams jock
eying for the final position.
In order for UT to qualify, it must
sweep Nebraska this weekend, Iowa
State must take two games from Mis
souri, and Kansas State needs to win
one game against Kansas.
The Tigers (24-25 and 12-14) cur
rently rank sixth in the league and
Kansas (30-21 and 12-15) ranks sev
enth. Texas is eighth, just one game
behind Missouri.
Please see TEXAS on 10