The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 11, 1991 Page: 10 of 16
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10 FRIDAY. OCTOBER 11, 1991 THE RICE THRESHER
Pam Brooks
sophomore hurdler
FROM PAGE 10
they're out they have to maintain
about a C+ average.
Athletes at Rice have a different
admission standard than the rest of
the student body, but it beats the
pants off the NCAA minimum. Rice
doesn't bat an eye when the associa-
tion proposes raised standards that
send other schools' coaches into a
cold sweat And there aren't any illu-
sions in the athletic department Stu-
dents who aren't up to par know it,
and they work harder.
Griswold heads up a whole sup-
port network which includes one-on-
one help with schedules and majors.
Griswold also checks in with profes-
"Don't tell
Yalonda
I'm here."
sors twice a semester and keeps
coaches up to date. She stays on top
of new degree requirements and pro-
vides tutors on request Part of her
job is counseling, part is travelling
with teams to make sure they study,
part is reassuring recruits about
Rice's high graduation rate for ath-
letes.
With her quiet patience and slow
style of speech, Griswold handles
the academic guidance for
about 350 athletes.
She works mostly
with freshmen, get-
ting them on track
and preparing them
for the realities of
college life. While
many athletes use the
support network
regularly,
others
are more independent and fend for
themselves.
Griswold agrees that woman ath-
letes are more likely to take on re-
sponsibility sooner. "There are very
few professional woman athletes,"
she says. "[Women] are going to
come to Rice with a little bit of a
different perspective."
A1990 report says that 57 percent
of all scholarship athletes major in
managerial studies; 27 percent ma-
jor in human performance and health
sciences. However, the reason may
be less because they want an "easy
major" than because the system
guides them in that direction.
Griswold says, however, that she
does not shunt students into those
departments. If someone is unsure
about a major, she asks them what
kind of job they'd like to have when
they finish school, then points them
in the right direction. But for an ath-
lete that wants to tackle a more chal-
lenging major, Griswold's honesty
can be daunting. Practice makes it
difficult to schedule required labs
and may mean taking summer school.
Shaw, who is majoring in electri-
cal engineering and computer sci-
ence, comments, "They say that pro-
fessors are not always supportive.
But people like Julie are not always
supportive. She tried many times to
get me not to even major in that... But
I told her, you know, I didn't come
here just to play football."
"I look at their high school
background. Ill look and see if
it seems realistic," Griswold
says, pointing out that many
students at Rice switch from
engineering into other majors.
"You've got to tell them that its
going to be hard."
Lovett sophomore Lievkov-
sky, who is considering a psy-
v chology major, says she
felt pushed toward
\ managerial studies
or human perfor-
in a n c e .
"[Griswold]
doesn't think
we're smart
enough to
handle certain
things,"
Lievkovsky says.
"I'm not going
to put someone
that is not ready
to take the 'big
three' in the 'big
three,'" says
Griswold, who is
starting her sixth
year here.
As to the ques-
tion of professors'
attitudes toward ath-
letes, there is no real
consensus. Some feel
discriminated against,
others feel professors
are open and extra
helpful. "A lot of pro-
fessors just look at ath-
letes as regular stu-
dents," says Andrews, a
managerial studies and
sports management
double major. "And that's
pretty much all we ask
for."
But majors in sports
related subjects agree
that those professors are
biased for athletes, while
many others are biased
against
Athletes say that Rice
Why all the pain
and sweat and
threat of injury
and late plates
and late night
bus rides and
showers twice a
day? For the
food? For the
free tennies?
is special because coaches recognize
that athletes have academic commit-
ments and encourage them to finish.
"But it gets kind of hard because
there's a lot of forces that are keeping
you from getting your degree. Like
as far as the Honor Code goes, they
hawk you. They look at you con-
stantly. Some professors don't like
athletes, and they grade a little harder
on athletes, like we're trying to get a
free ride or trying to get over on
them. And then there's the athletic
event That's very demanding."
Another big problem is trying to
catch up after missing a lot of school.
For that reason, players do not skip
classes when they're not at away-
games. "IVeseenfootballplayersrun
laps for skipping classes," says fifth-
year trainer Wade Smith. But prac-
tice can often get in the way of stud-
ies.
Hooks remembers his freshman
year, when he had to take ECO N 211
tests at 7 p.m., right after practice.
"What I kept thinking was, when we
were at practice, man, those guys
that don't have football could be
studying all the way from 12 noon
'Those guys
that don't have
football could be
studying all the
way from 12
noon until seven
at night. I would
fantasize about
that."
until seven at night I would fantasize
about that"
The scooter mystery: perqs
Of course, being an athlete is not
one long sob story. Most atheletes
get free tuition, free travel, and, in the
case of the basketball team, you can
toss in a pair of Nike Airs. But foot-
ball, which brings in the most money,
seems to get all the perks. Note: this
does not include free Honda scoot-
ers. Players buy those. Themselves.
Every Friday night before home
games the football team beds down
in the Marriott Hotel. The team looks
fondly on these Friday nights, which
are ostensibly for relaxing and con-
centrating on the game.
What they're really for, though, is
eating. After a full dinner complete
with Blue Bell, the players have an
optional "Christian share time."
Speakers could be anyone from an
astronaut to an Air Force general to
World Heavyweight Champion
Evander Holyfield. And it's all about
as patriotic, mom, and apple pie as
you can get
Next is a strategy meeting and
then another dinner hamburgers and
Pepsi. And Saturday? "Well, we usu-
ally wake up and have a big break-
fast," says one of the assistant
coaches. "And then, before the
game, we have lunch."
Training table is another
fringe benefit The department
can't afford to feed all the ath-
letes, so the big guys get it
basketball and footbalL Other
teams eat at Luby's occasion-
ally, especially during season.
Strength Coach Keith Erwin,
who does nutritional counsel-
ing and plans the menus for
the training table, explains that
he keeps a close eye on the diet
of the "boys." "We try and keep
red meat out of the diet Some
days it is totally fish and totally
pasta. Some days, there's no des-
sert"
Today's entrees, however,
include a goulash of macaroni
with ground beef and chicken
fried steak with gravy. "If the
player knows, say an offensive
lineman, that his body fat's too
high, he's going to take the gou-
lash. They know [which they're
supposed to takej," says Erwin.
A glance around the room
reveals every plate piled high
with steak goulash. Boys will
be boys.
Football players are regarded
as the most isolated of the ath-
letes, even by other athletes. They
don't practice in the gym with ev-
eryone else, they have at most one
meal a day in the colleges and even if
they live on campus, they room with
other football players.
Freshmen arrive two or three
weeks before classes start and have
plenty of time to bond before
anyone else gets there. Dur-
ing Orientation Week the team
is practicing twice a day—
which doesn't leave much time for
Waterworld or other get-to-know-you
activities.
Volleyball players, too, arrive early
forthe season. Butthefactthatthere's
only 11 people on the team makes it
less likely for them to form a subcul-
ture all their own.
At night, football players, along
with most athletes, are not game for
midnight pizza or, say, mud football
in the quad. In fact, Griswold gives
every athlete a page-long handout on
"how to say no."
For the other teams, there are
other bonuses. Fifth-year golfer Brad
MacGuire, now an assistant coach,
really relishes the traveling. Even
though he doesn't get much time to
enjoy his surroundings, trips to
Cancun or the Bahamas with his five
best friends and a coach he abso-
lutely loves, the All-Southwest-Con-
ference golfer says, can't be beat
The Moment of Truth
Okay, so why do they do it any-
way? Why all the pain and sweat and
threat of injury and late plates and
late night busrides and showers twice
a day? For the food? For the free
tennies? Nope.
While many athletes could not
get into Rice without athletic scholar-
ships, more of them could not afford
to come here without the money. For
every one who feels penned-in by
economic necessity, there are two or
three who consider themselves lucky
to have a skill that others don't have,
a skill that will put them through one
of the best colleges in the country.
And then, of course, there's win-
ning.
"Why? To win," says Kindred.
"Winning is what counts," says
Shaw.
"I love basketball. I love it Even if
I weren't on scholarship, I would have
to play," says Stiner.
Most football players have never
seen the MOB. The cheerleading
squad doesn't show up at swim meets.
And at Rice, the captain of the team
does not get the MOS of his or her
choice. But there's a little glory thete.
Making All-American. Beating
Baylor. A tv. camera Goofing around
with the team
"Those normal wieners will never
experience that," jokes Glaze.
"Playing football keeps me out of
trouble," says freshman running back
Yoncy Edmonds. "And I know that if
I'm playing football, I have to keep
my grades up so it helps with grades.
It's fun, I mean, I've been doing it all
my life. To stop now would be... bad."
Brad MacGuire
fifth year golfer
"•j
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Zitterkopf, Ann & Howe, Harlan. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 11, 1991, newspaper, October 11, 1991; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245793/m1/10/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.