• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1987-04-10_Vol52_No23_09

Sport s The Western Carolinian 9 April 10,1987 Cats Maintain Division Lead Davidson Pulls to Within a Game and One-Half Western Carolina University stayed on top of the Southern Conference south division baseball standings by splitting a doubleheader at Furman University last Saturday. Meanwhile, Davidson College picked up a half-game on the Catamounts by winning two games in a three-game series at The Citadel. WCU owns a 8-3 division record which is one and one-half games better than Davidson's 7-5 mark. Furman is in third place with a 4-7 record followed by The Citadel at 4-8. Each school has six games remaining on its south division schedule. The Catamounts will host The Citadel in a three-game series this week at Ronnie G. Childress Field and will travel to Davidson for three games, April 17-18. Both series in the north divisoin — Appalachian State at Marshall and East Tennessee State at VMI — were cancelled due to the weekena s heavy snowfall. ASU is on top with an W record and VMI is one game back at 7-2. Marshall is 3-6 and East TennesseeState is 0-9. The top two teams in each division will meet April 24-26 at Asheville's McCormick Field for the Southern Conference's double- elimination championship tournament with the winner advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Prior to this weekend's key series with The Citadel, the catamounts will travel to Athens, Georgia for games Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon with nationally ranked Georgia. Georgia was ranked 17th in the latest BASEBALL AMERICA poll and will take a 20-9 record into Tuesday evening's game. WCU owns a 22-16 overall record. WCU and Furman were scheduled to play three games last weekend in Greenville, SC, but rain forced a postponement of Friday's scheduled doubleneaaer until Saturday. Therefore, the single game scheduled for Saturday was cancelled as Furman is now allowed to play baseball on its campus on Sunday. The game will not be rescheduled. Furman jumped on Western's pitchers and shutdown Western's bats in the last innings for a 10-7 win in the first game Saturday. The Catamounts collected 14 hits, led by Keith LeClair's grand slam home run in the second inning. In additon, Clint Fairey hit a solo home run in the sixth inning, his sixth home run in a seven game stretch. Stewart Keyes shutout Furman over the last six innings in the second game as the Cats coasted to a 10-1 win. Keyes gave up only three hits to push his record to 5-1, his fifth straight victory since a Feb. 21 loss at UNC Charlotte. Fairey extended his hitting streak to nine games with three hits and Mike Carson had two hits and two rbi. Over the last eight games, Fairey has compiled a .612 batting average (19 of 31) with 12 rbi, six home runs, three doubles and two triples. He has moved into the No. 2 spot on the Southern Conference hitter's list with a .407 average. For the season, he has 10 home run, 10 doubles and 34 rbi. Third baseman Clint Fairey's .412 batting average leads all Western hitters and places second in the Southern Conference. Fairey, whose father played pro ball, and whose brother plays at Clemson, also leads the Cats with 11 home runs, and boasts 39 RBIs — second only to Skip Nelloms' 42 Fairey has batted .612 over the past eight games. j^,^ HASKETT phofo TNTRAMURALS Right handed pitcher Tim Sinicki is 4-3 after 10 appearances, with an ERA ot 4.69. Sinicki last pitched in Western's 10-7 loss at Furman. MARK HASKETT photo This Week's Baseball Apr. 11 (Sort) Apr. 12 (Sun) Apr. 14 (Tue) Apr. 15 (Wed) The Citadel (2) The Citadel East Tennessee St. last Tennessee St. 12:00 noon 1:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. HOME HOME away HOME 1. Women's Intramural Bench Press contest will occur Tuesday, April 14th in Reid Weight room at 8:00 o.m. Sign-ups occur from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., and 7:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. in Reid Back Equipment Cage, intramural T-shirts will be awarded to each first place contestant, to contestants establishing or tying all campus records and the MVP. Ribbons will be awarded for first, second and third place. 2. Men's Intramural Bench Press Contest will occur Wednesday April 15th in Reid Weight Room at 8:00 p.m. Sign-ups occur from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., and 7:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. in Reid Back Equipment Cage. Intramural T-shirts will be awarded to eachfirst place contestant, to contestants establishing or tying all campus records and the MVP. Ribbons will be awarded for first, second and third place. 3. Results of the Men's Intramural Trap Shooting Tournament — All Campus Champion, Herby Young and Tom Rogers scoring 21 hits out of 25 attempts. EARLY BASKETBALL SIGNEES KENNY BROWN (6-0,160, Guard, Maury High/Norfolk, VA) -1 st team all-state -1 st team all-district, all-region, all-Tidewater -NOrfold Basketball Player of the Year -Averaged 18.4 ppg; 7.5 assists per game •With him starting af point guard, Maury High posted a 59-11 record MIKE COTTRELL (6-2,175, Guard, Cullowhee Hlgh/CuHowhee, NC) -1st team all-state (ASSOCIATED PRESS, first Team) as a Junior and senior -Led state n scoring as a jantor (29.1 ppg) -NCHSAA Class A Player of the Year as a junior -2nd on state's aII-time scoring list -Set a state record tor sophomores with 588 points -Averaged 27.8 points/7.1 rebounds; 51% FG/82% FT/2.2 steals -Selected to play in McDonald's Derby Classic in Louisville, KY MITCH MADDEN (6-6H, 197, Forward, Robert E. Lee High/ Staunton, VA) -2nd team all-state -Averaged 19.0 points/9.0 rebounds -Selected to play in Virginia's East-West All-Star Game -1st team all-city/county; all-district; alt-region -61% field goal shooter -Defensive player of the year on all-city /county team COOP! One of the "Bruise Brothers" Makes it Big By CHRIS GEIS SPORTS WRITER Walk over to the Ramsey Center one afternoon, and into the athletic offices, and you'll likelyfind a tall, muscular man named Louis Cooper. He is an intern this semester in the athletic department. Cooper works on athletic department sales and promotions, things the department's interns are expected to do. But Cooper is no ordinary intern. You see, Louis Cooper is a professional football player, and he is back at Western Carolna to do something very few of his colleagues have done: earn their college degrees. Opponents and teammates alike can remember Louis Cooper's days at Western Carolina probablyveryvivldly. And they probably shake when they do so, because Cooper was, as a linebacker, what they call a hitter. Players didn't forget when they got hit by Cooper — that is, unless theu got knocked unconcious and had amnesia. The Coop was an all-Southern Conference performer and a l-AA all-America pick. He was part of the 1983 club that went to the NCAA championship game and the '84 team that was ranked in the top 20. This year, as a linebacker and special teams player for the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs, he was an important part of the team's 10-6 season and first trip to the NFL playoffs in 16 years. Cooper pldyed linebacker for the Chiefs and was named the team's special teams player of the year in his second year with club. Cooper is one credit away from his sports management degree, and his internship this semester will enable him to graduate in May from Western after five years in school. "It's kind of strange to come Other Cat Pros... Dean Biasucci, in his second year as a place kicker with the Indianapolis t ous Clyde (Serious Threat I Simmons, in his second year as a defensive lineman with the Philadelphia Eagles Tiger Greene, in his second year at Green Bay after playing his rookie season in Atlanta. Was named lo John Maddens All-Thanksgiving Day Team for his performance from the cornerback position against Detroit. Noted for his mile-wide mean streak. Wayne Tolleson, a former football and baseball standout, starts at the shortstop position for the Sew York Yankees. Eric Rasheed a former WCU wide receiver was signed by the New Jersey Generals. I'nfortimately, the Generals had an exlstance failure a short time later. back," he said recently. "You're looked upon as a guy who played sports. It's hard to change the percepton people have of you, that you're a student rather than a football player. But I've shown I can do other thngs besides play football. "I think it's great for athletes to come back and get their degrees. So much can happen that can take away from you everything you have — something like a knee injury or such. It wipes out football real fast, and athletes need to have something to be able to fall back on. I'm going to have that with my degree." A promise to his mother long before his college football career got under way is the main reason Cooper says he is back, however. "I promised my mom that I'd get my degree. She's a school teacher in my hometown in South Carolina, and this is the keeping of a pact I made with her before I got my athletic scholarship." Louis Cooper will tell you he's independent, and you can tell he's got plenty of pride. Both things have a lot to do with why he's back to get his degree. "Guys with no options are guys who can't exist in society. They're the guys with menial jobs. I could never do that. I have too much get up and go. I want to be somebody." Cooper is the exception from a system that produces athletes who are used only for their athletic abilities and whose academic progress often times is ignored, or at least poorly monitored. "There are guys with great athletic ability, and they're taken advantage of by the system. They're used, and then thrown away. It's really disturbing," say Cooper. "Now the NCAA is out to end some of that stuff, and that's good, because I don't apreciate what's been happening." Being used by the system is something Cooper wouldn't let happen to him. He came to Western, took advantage of the opportunity to get a free education, and played football well enough that something he didn't plan on — playing in Ihe NFL — came along for him and offered him another option. He While at Western, Louis Cooper was an all-Southern Conference performer and a l-AA all-A mericapick. He played on the 1983 NCA A championship finalist club, and the nationally ranked 1984 team. A l Kansas City, he was named the Chiefs'special teams player of the year in his second season. developed as a person, he says, because that's what he wanted to be - not just a football player. "If you're lucky, like I was, you'll play in the NFL." he says. "But the world has so much to offer you, and you have so much to offer the world. My mom used to tell me, 'Son, the world don't owe you a damn thing,' and she was right. I owe the world a lot. We're here to serve soc iety a nd be pa rt of it. If we do our best, develop to our best, stay strong, we'll be contributing to society. Through our education we get better, I think; if we don't take advantage of those opportunities we're just taking up space." Cooper blames the system, not the athletes, for many of the problems in today's world of college athletics. "A lot of athletes are cocky, but I don't think it's their fault. It's society's fault. These guys are built up as superhumans. Then, in the real world, they feel like, 'Hey world, you owe me for being so great.'" Cooper's opinions are well developed, and he has strong feelings on many of the issues most discussed in athletics today. Here's a sa mpler of what he had to say one afternoon. On how to treat college athletes: "We deserve certain privileges. It's hard to be an athlete and have to producein the classroom, so why not be lenienta little. I don't think we should ever give grades to athletes, but maybe see COOP next page 0

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1987-04-10
  • Date digitized: 2019-04-09
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 15"
  • Pages: 14 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1987-04-10_Vol52_No23
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library