Gymnasts win five straight I
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska women’s gymnas
tics team won its fifth straight team title
this season when it won a quadrangular
at Kentucky.
The seventh-ranked Huskers dis
posed of Kentucky, Illinois and James
Madison with a score of 195.15.
Kentucky placed second (194.50), and
Illinois followed with a 194.00.
The Cornhuskers were led once
again by senior All-American Heather
Brink, who turned in a season-high
score of 39.425 in the all-around, giv
ing the senior her second all-around
title of the season.
Brink won her fifth title on the
vault with an impressive score of 9.90.
She is currently ranked No. 1 on the
vaults nationally.
The vault proved to be the key fac
tor for Nebraska’s team title. As a team,
the Huskers scored a 49.10 on the
vault. Junior Amy Ringo and sopho
more Laura Goss set career highs with
a 9.825. Freshman Jen French also tied
her career best with a 9.80.
On the bars, the Huskers had anoth
er individual champion when freshman
Julie Houk tied a career high with a
9.90 score.
Sophomore Bree Dority will red
shirt the remainder of the season.
Dority, who was injured before the sea
son, will undergo knee surgery.
Nebraska will next be in action
when it hosts Big 12 foe Iowa State in a
dual on Tuesday at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center at 7 p.m.
Allaire leads rifle team to season high
From Staff Reports
Following its best score of the
season, the Nebraska women’s rifle
team is hoping for an invitation to
the NCAA meet in March.
The Cornhuskers shot a score of
6,123 this weekend at a sectional
match in Cincinnati by Xavier
University. Freshman Nicole Allaire
once again led NU, scoring 1,170
points out of a possible 1,200 in the
smallbore competition. She scored a
389 out of400 in the air rifle compe
tition.
NU finished second overall
behind Xavier, which scored a 6,161
in its meet.
Coach Karen Anthony liked the
results.
“I’m very pleased with how the
team shot, particularly in the small
bore rifle,” she said. “It’s extremely
difficult to shoot your best scores
with the match pressure of knowing
this one performance determines the
opportunity to compete at the
NCAA championships.”
NU tennis splits weekend matches
From Staff Reports
The No. 63 Nebraska men’s tennis
team fell short in its upset bid Friday
with a 6-1 loss to Texds A&M at
Woods Tennis Center but rebounded
on Sunday with a victory over
Creighton by the same score.
On Friday, NU got its only victory
from Jorge Abos Sanchez, who
scored a 7-5, 6-4 win over Cody
Hubbell in the No. 3 single slot.
The Huskers had opportunities at
the No. 2 and No. 5 slot, but lost three
set matches. No. 1 singles player
Lance Mills returned from an injury
to play at the No. 4 slot but lost in
straight sets, 7-5,6-1, to Keith From.
Sunday played out as a different
story, as NU cruised over the
Bluejays. Sanchez moved to the No. 1
slot and squeaked by Haakon
Nygaurd 5-7, 7-6, 7-6. Only Adnan
Hadzialic lost at the No. 2 position.
Nebraska swept the double competi
tion and got victories from Kai Reike,
Fungai Tongoona, Andrew Wiese and
Ryan Haith.
Nebraska Coach Kerry
McDermott said a tougher mentality
helped the Huskers vs. CU.
“We were a lot more aggressive
today than we were against Texas
A&M,” McDermott said. “And that
worked in our favor.”
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West victorious in All-star game
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Vince
Carter started things off with a dunk
worthy of a contest, Tim Duncan and
Shaquiel O’Neal layeuped like MVPs
and Karl Malone got involved as little
as possible.
In an All-Star game that was
almost a microcosm of the first half
of the season, each star had a chance
to show his specialty - and most of
them did.
Behind 24 points apiece from
Duncan and Kevin Garnett, 22 from
O’Neal and 14 assists from Jason
Kidd, the West defeated the East 137
126 on Sunday in the 49th version of
the league’s showcase event.
This was the first All-Star game
since 1998 because last year’s was
canceled by the lockout, but the play
ers hadn’t forgotten how to play .one
of these games. Heavy on the fancy
stuff and short on fundamentals, the
players put on as much of a show as
they could - and Carter’s portion of it
happened right off the bat.
The first basket for the East was
an alley-oop dunk by Carter off a pass
from Allen Iverson, whil£ the second
bucket was a breakaway slam by
Carter that closely resembled one of
his best from the dunk contest
Saturday night.
Carter did a 360-degree spin to
his right, rather than doing it the easy
way by spinning left, and dunked the
ball with two hands.
The East tried to give Carter
another spectacular dunk in the first
minute, but Grant Hill’s alley-oop
pass off the backboard was too hard.
Later in the quarter when Eddie Jones
tried to zip a pass to Carterand
Iverson deflected it out of bounds,
Jones grimaced at Iverson as if to say
“It’s him, not you.”
Iverson led the East with 26
points and nine assists, while Ray
Allen had 14 and Carter 12.
O’Neal and Duncan were named
co-MVPs, the first time the award has
been shared since 1993.
O’Neal also had nine rebounds
and three blocks, while Duncan had
14 rebounds and four assists. Kobe
Bryant added 15 for the West, while
Michael Finley and Kidd had 11
apiece.
Malone, who wasn’t happy that
the NBA threatened him with a five
game suspension if he failed to show
up, played just three minutes - all in
the first half - and missed his only
shot.
East leads the series 31-18 but
had its three-game winning streak
snapped.
After the breakneck start keyed
by Carter’s dunks, the pace slowed
early in the second quarter as the
reserves got their minutes. Allen and
O’Neal injected some life back into
the game - Allen with a Carteresque
drive and dunk; O’Neal by dribbling
coast to coast for a layup and then fol
lowing with a fast-break slam and an
alley-oop dunk off a pass from Kidd
complete with a chin-up on the rim.
Carter, who won the slam-dunk
contest with a dominant performance
Saturday night, had a pedestrian dunk
for the final basket of the first half,
cutting the East’s deficit to 64-59.
The third quarter was show time
again, at least while the starters were
in. Kidd threw an alley-oop pass that
banked in (he did not call glass),
O’Neal did a 360-degree slam of his
own, cheating on the first 180
degrees (NBC microphones caught
him saying “It wasn’t a 360, it was a
257”), and Bryant made a sky hook
reminiscent of something out of
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s repertoire.
Heavy on the
fancy stuff and
short on
fundamentals, the
players put on as
much of a show
as they could.
The West started the fourth quar
ter with a 10-2 run, led by five points
from Finley, to go ahead 109-99, and
the East never made a run the rest of
the way.
Kidd came up with the final high
light play of the night with 2:48 left,
tossing an underhanded pass 18 feet
up in the air that Bryant converted
into an alley-oop dunk.
Carter had a chance to close the
game with a flourish, but a full-court
pass to him was thrown too far, and he
ended up trying to shoot the ball from
behind the backboard.
Notes: Among the courtside spec
tators were Magic Johnson, Evander
Holyfield and Bill Russell. Michael
Jordan sat eight rows up from the
floor - three rows in front of commis
sioner David Stern ... Jerry
Stackhouse was the last player to
check in after sitting out the first
15:57. ... Hill sat out the second half
after losing a contact lens. He did not
bring a replacement. ... The players
wore their own teams’ uniforms
rather than East and West uniforms as
they did before 1997. The East wore
white because the West includes the
Los Angeles Lakers, who wear gold
home uniforms.
Landry remembered as innovator
He won for a good chunk of his career and invented goal orientation
DALLAS (AP) — When Tom
Landry was fired as coach of the
Dallas Cowboys, many people said
there would never be anyone like him
again. Eleven years later, that seems
truer than ever.
Landry’s death Saturday night
brought new reflection on his legacy.
After dusting off the old stories and
statistics, his accomplishments are
even more impressive today.
It’s difficult to imagine one per
son doing so much, so well, for so
long.
Landry was a winner.
His 270 victories are third most in
NFL history. His teams reached five
Super Bowls, winning two. They had
a winning record for 20-straight sea
sons.
It’s also worth noting that two of
his Super Bowl losses were to the
Pittsburgh Steelers during their Iron
Curtain dynasty. The other was on a
field goal in the final seconds.
Landry was an innovator.
He revolutionized defenses by
creating the 4-3 formation in 1956,
then in 1961 came up with the multi
ple offense to counter it. Both remain
standards in all levels of football.
He continued tinkering with ideas
and formations. He came up with
things like the “Flex” defense and the
chorus-line routine that had the
offensive line set, stand and reset.
He also borrowed from the busi
ness world. He took such notions as
quality control and definition of
goals and adapted them to football.
Those, too, remain staples from high
school through the NFL.
Landry knew how to persevere.
He lasted 29 seasons in the same
job, an achievement in any field. In
the NFL, it’s astounding.
His first team went 0-11-1, the
NFL’s worst record in 18 years. He
didn’t have a winning record until the
seventh year. Then critics said he
couldn’t win the big one. The
Cowboys became Super Bowl cham
pions in their sixth playoff season -
and again in their 11th.
To put his tenure in perspective,
consider that the dean of current NFL
coachs is Pittsburgh’s Bill Cowher,
who is going into his ninth season.
Another good measuring stick is Tom
Coughlin, the first and so far only
coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars,
who would have to remain in place
through 2023 to match Landry.
Landry was a born leader.
He spent two years as a bomber
pilot in World War II flying combat
missions in a B-17, the same type of
plane his older brother died in.
While still a player with the New
York Giants, Landry added the duties
of defensive assistant, a job that
translates to defensive coordinator
today.
It s difficult to
imagine one
person doing so
much, so well, for
so long.
Landry was a
winner.
His stoic sideline demeanor was a
facade. Landry was an intense com
petitor, but he taught himself to con
trol his emotions, because he knew
he needed a clear head to make snap
decisions. He also was a deeply car
ing person who forced himself not to
get close to his players for fear it
would interfere with personnel deci
sions.
Even the fedora - as symbolic of
him as the blue star is of the Cowboys
- was calculated. It started as a way
to stay warm. Then it stayed because
it looked good and fit Landry’s plan
to project a businesslike attitude.
Although conservative in man
ner, Landry managed to handle his
share of wayward players - including
hard-drinkiirg free spirit Don
Meredith, troubled Duane Thomas
and cocaine-abuser Thomas
“Hollywood” Henderson. That’s
worth remembering when wondering
whether Landry could coach today.
Landry was a superb judge of tal
ent.
He’s joined in the Pro Football
Hall of Fame by five of the players he
drafted, from 1961 pick Bob Lilly to
1977 pick Tony Dorsett. The 1975
Cowboys, the first wild-card team to
reach the Super Bowl, included 12
rookies.
He also had a knack for surround
ing himself with talented assistant
coaches. Dozens of aides went on to
coach elsewhere in the NFL, includ
ing Dan Reeves and Mike Ditka, both
of whom played for Landry and even
tually coached teams into Super
Bowls.
Landry was a model citizen.
He didn’t smoke or drink or
curse. He became a born-again
Christian in 1959 and spent the next
40 years working with religious orga
nizations, including the Fellowship
of Christian Athletes and Billy
Graham’s crusades.
Times have changed so much that
it’s probably not possible for football
to have another figure like Landry.
Ever since Dick Vermeil made
burnout a football term in 1982, there
seems to be another victim of that
professional hazard every year. And
with coaches getting seven-figure
contracts, there’s not much need to
stick around as long.
Landry also was blessed to come
along when pro football was still a
game more than a business.
Imagine an owner today giving a
coach a 10-year extension instead of
a pink slip after going 13-38-3 four
years into a five-year deal. That’s
what Clint Murchison did for Landry.
He knew what Tom Landry
meant, not only to the Cowboys but
all of football.