The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 27

Tennessee, TSV Football .2 CMrattott, KtwowlI 4 Pro Football Exhibitions 5 Pro, Amateur Scoreboard, 6 Kick Sullivan's Outdoor. DayctU Wever Honored .10 4 ft SUNDAY Section August 29, 1982 -Clinic estival' roved SSAA 1 1 jHz Bowl ByT is going to be involved. But we're off to an excellent start this year. We have Minnie Pearl as our honorary chairman and now we have three championship games, too." The new plan will be financially beneficial to most playoff finalists. In past years, Class A finalists have averaged payoffs of approximately $825, Class AA $1,600 and Class AAA $4,200.

Under the Junior Chamber plan, schools will receive expenses plus guarentees of $1,500 for Class A teams, $2,500 for AA and $4,000 for AAA. TSSAA Executive Director Gill Gideon presented Board members the results of a survey of schools, showing an overwhelming majority approved the moving of the football playoffs to a central site. IT PASSED in every section of the state with East Tennessee voting 55-25 in favor of it while Middle Tennessee approved 68-11 and West Tennessee endorsed it 49-8. "It's obvious the schools liked the idea," Gideon said. "I like it for twp reasons.

As purely a football fan, it will afford me the opportunity to see three fine games played in ideal surroundings; "From the TSSAA standpoint, I like it because it will add additional pageantry to the games. It will assist fans from the schools in the Eaststate and Weststate who won't have to make the long trips they have made in the past. I'm also excited about the cooperation and willingness to work together that the Junior Chamber and Vanderbilt 's Athletic Department have exhibited." Clippard said he hopes to work out final kinks in the plan with the next few days. "I HOPE to meet with (Vanderbilt athletic director) Roy Kramer very soon and see about ironing out final details," Clippard said. "Having three games instead of one won't triple our work, but I'm certain it will double it.

However, it also will eive us a greater opportunity to help the Physical Therapy Clinic." A number of other states play their championship games at a central site. For instance, Missouri has parlayed it's "Show-Me" Classic Day at Busch Stadium in St. Louis to a statewide sporting and social event. If the tie-in with Vanderbilt's facility is sue- cessful this year, there is little doubt that the arrangement will be renewed repeatedly. Clippard thinks a long-term arrangement would be mutually beneficial to the schools and Nashville.

"I foresee the possibility of this becoming a great weekend for the people in the state," Clippard said. "I envision football fans coming from other areas and spending a night or two in Nashville to visit the tourist attractions with the Clinic Bowl Festival the focal point of it all." THE CLINIC Bowl began in 1950 and developed into the most prestigious post-season game (Turn to Page 5, Column 1) By LARRY TAFT The.TSSAA State football championship games are coming to Vanderbilt. A plan to turn over the championship games to the Nashville Area Junior Chamber of Commerce was unanimously approved yesterday by the TSSAA Board of Control in a meeting at the TSSAA Building in Hermitage. The Clinic Bowl Festival will be held Dec. 4 at Vandy's Dudley Field.

The Class A championship game will begin in early afternoon followed hv the AA and AAA games. "WE'RE EXTREMELY pleased," said Scooter Clippard, who co-chairs the Clinic Bowl with Charles Warfield. "We hope to finalize all aspects of it within a few days. "I think it's great for the future of football and for the Physical Therapy Clinic at Vanderbilt, which is our main concern. More work certainly With his first managing.

"That includes Bill Livesey (Yankee player development chief) and Larry Schmittou (Sounds president) down to the coaches and players. Everybody." Nashville fans whooped it up, too, outside the clubhouse, anticipating the playoffs. Nashville will face Knoxville in a best-of-five series for the Western Division championship. The Oates was' damp, however, from the flow of suds in the lock-erroom. "We clinched, it here last year," said third baseman Erik Peterson amid the celebration.

"I feel sorry for the clubhouse manager." "THIS VICTORY speaks for the work of a lot of said Oates, who guided; the team in hand-shaking session among the Sounds followed in the infield. Then came the traditional lock-erroom fare. "It feels super," said manager Johnny Oates in the craziness of the winning dressing room. "We haven't had many laughers lately, so there was no reason to pect this one to be an easy game, either. Nothing can dampen this clincher, though." By MIKE MORROW Tenncssean Sports Writer CHATTANOOGA The Nash-ville Sounds officially bought their ticket to the Southern League playoffs here last night.

The Sounds outlasted the Chattanooga Lookouts 10-7 before a crowd of 2,311 at Engel Stadium which included a group of Sounds boosters as loud as the hometown faithful. The Sounds needed either a victory over the Lookouts or a Knoxville win over Birmingham to clinch the Western Division's second-half title, so the Nashville club used an early lead and survived a Lookout comeback effort to erase the suspense. BOB SYKES "struck out Kelly Gruber with the bases loaded to end the game, and a lengthy liiii'l WITH JOHN BIBB I SPORTS EDITOR series begins in Knoxville for Games 1 and ,2 Thursday and Friday, with Game 3 at Nashville's Greer Stadium Saturday. Any other necessary games in the Series would follow at Greer. There are three games remaining in the regular season, including a 6:30 (CDT) matchup with the Lookouts here tonight.

The Sounds close out the regular season with two games at Columbus. THE SOUNDS built a 9-2 lead at one point last night with lefthander Ray Fontenot working the first six inning to record the win. But Chattanooga, with mascot Chief Lookout firing an ear-ringing gun to accentuate each score, made a gallant comeback to make it interesting. The Sounds scored in four of the first five innings, including a four-run fourth inning. Four Nashville hits in the third led to a three-run rally, including a two-run double by Buck Showalter.

The Sounds' fourth was highlighted by a one-out two-RBI double by Matt Winters. GARRY SMITH hammered his fifth home run of the season high over the scoreboard in left field in the fifth, and it looked like the Sounds would coast to the second-half title. Then came the Lookouts. Chattanooga had scored one run in the first and another in the fifth, but the Lookouts sent nine men to the plate in the seventh, scoring five runs and making a game of it. Reliever Frank Ricci was shelled on four consecutive hits, including a bases-loaded triple by Dwight Taylor.

Another run-scoring triple by Jeff Moronko brought on right-hander Guy Elston, who worked until the fi Getting His Cap On Straight AS AN ASSISTANT football coach at Vanderbilt, Bob Patterson had a way of letting Commodore linemen know when he was with their performance and ready for improvement. He would climb atop a blocking sled, turn his coaching cap around, and let loose a string of exhortations to reinforce his views eri how the game should be played. the Vandy squad soon learned to watch Patterson's cap, tf it jr. stayed squarely on his head, everything was running smoothly. On the other hand, if the visor went to the rear of Patterson's head, look out.

LAST APRIL, when Patterson assumed his new command as athletic director at MSU, he seemed to have his cap on backwards from the very start. For one thing, he was definitely under the gun. Memphis State president, Dr. Thomas Carpenter, upon naming Rex Dockery football coach on Dec. 17, 1980, had indicated this could be i xm Ay 1 Staff photo by Dan Loftm 3 1IBIIUI.II1)(.HUII I vn the school last-ditch effort to keep playing football.

"If we don't get more people in the stadium, in five years we won't have to worry about football. We'll be out of business," Carpenter said. In such an environment, Patterson was the fiercest Tiger of them all. His list of per-" sonal appearances, campus and community conferences, led to 20-hour work days as he spread the word of big things happening at MSU. Among other results of his labor, MSU had its second biggest season football ticket sale in history, 14,600.

At the end of a 1-10 football campaign, Memphis State had shown the 11th largest percentage Increase in attendance of all NCAA schools. Just the other day, the bottom line of nal out in the nmth. Nashville added a run in the eighth on an RBI-single by Otis Nixon. Lookout starter, Mike Jeff-(Turn to Page 4, Column 1) Helping Hand For A Fan Vanderbilt' Hank Whitman, left, autographs a I dores Pat Saindon and Joe Wheeler, right, wait potter for young fan Jeff O'Guin while Commo-1 their turn during Fan Day at Dudley Field. I All Th Bob Patterson jmw Jones At wanay iv Field Are In Speeches, Not On By JIMMY DAVY Vanderbilt punter Jim Arnold entertained yesterday at the University Club, imitating Commodore sports publicist Lew Harris West Texas drawl.

The assembled group of writers and television sportscasters from across the Southeast were appreciative, laughing and applauding. However, thev mav have spect in the league. A lot of teams found out we could play." Taylor, a five-year man who last year was among the NCAA passing statistical leaders, bristles at the suggestion that Vanderbilt would be categorized any longer as a darkhorse. The word, actually, is complimentary. Particularly for a team, like Vandy, that is pulling itself off the SEC floor.

"I DON'T like the word. Or, Skywriters on Page 3 Vanderbilt scholarship athletes only gave half-hearted imitations of Southeastern Conference football players. Now, the players are not only more entertaining, but so is the Commodore football team. "I believe so," said Whit Taylor, Vandy's preseason All-SEC quarterback. "First two years I was here, the guys just wanted to get the games over with.

Last year, I think we earned some re- the missed the significance of pcriormance. Patterson's first year in the job was made public. The flood of red ink that inundated Memphis State athletics had subsided. Before Patterson, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1981, MSU's athletic department had a deficit of $531,981.08. For the year ending June 30, 1982, the program wound up $498,414 in the black.

IT'S A MILLION dollar turnaround, accomplished to a great degree by a nationally-recognized basketball team, private donations and the sizeable increase in football attendance. "We're just getting started," Patterson said yesterday morning. "We have some excellent people working for us, and as our football record improves, our progress will continue." I don't think Patterson has straightened his cap. Not yet, anyway. He's still a bundle of enthusiasm, and the long hours are still commonplace.

But, he definitely has eased his point of view on one of the matters that could have significant influence on MSU athletic affairs. For example, about this time last year, Patterson demonstrated great restraint when his efforts at rebuilding the school's athletic program shared daily news space with the town's push to gain a National Football League expansion franchise. A loquacious, gregarious guy with a talent for making friends, Patterson nevertheless flared at the suggestion an NFL club might be coming to Memphis. Careful not to ruffle feathers, though, Patterson's public response to the NFL idea was noncommital. To close associates, however, Patterson's cap definitely was on backwards.

"AN NFL CLUB here will bring us to our knees," one source quoted Patterson as saying. "That was a year ago," Patterson responded when I asked about hfs reaction to the continued efforts to get a pro team in Memphis. "Since then, I've changed my thinking 180 degrees. We've conducted some studies, particularly In New Orleans where Tulane met the challenge of the professional Saints. That situation seems to have worked in Tulane's favor.

There are problems, of course, but the Memphis pro interests, many of whom are strong supporters of our program, have convinced me we will benefit from the association." If NFL expansion does, indeed, come to Memphis, Patterson's Tigers will be sharing Liberty Bowl Stadium with the pros. Already there are plans to boost the stadium to more than 70,000 seats if such a development occurs. It's this sort of thing that has led to THERE WAS a time when here," he told the touring media. "Seldom have you guys had the opportunity to hear the same Vanderbilt football coach four years in a row." Maclntyre has survived, perhaps thrived, because the team has doubled its win column figures each of the past three years. From one win in 1979 to four in 1981.

But, neither Maclntyre, nor offensive coaching whiz Watson Brown and the magical passing game, has become as symbolic of Vanderbilt's new football hopes as Taylor. Taylor, called in Vandy publicity the Perfect 10 (that's his uniform number), four years ago was a 5-11 defensive back with a surgical shoulder. He was told he might be able to continue playing as a defender, but he couldn't ex-, pect to throw very well. SEC DEFENSES wish that had been an accurate diagnosis. Last fall, he hit 58 of 357 passes, good for 2,318 yards and 15 touchdowns, despite missing three games.

"I feel the burden to play well. Coach Brown told me when he came that 'if the offense goes pushover. Or anything like that," the Shelbyville rifle said. "I think we've earned more consideration, more respect." Taylor was the spokesman for the Commodore players although he was accompanied to the luncheon by Arnold, tight end Al-lama Matthews and linebacker Joe Staley. Head coach George Maclntyre picked well.

Each of these players characterizes the Commodore team having risen from obscurity as high school slgnees to become among the best at their positions in the highly-competitive SEC. Even Maclntyre confesses that perhaps he, too, has survived in a most unique way. 'TM PERSONALLY glad to be Kotar Condition Still Guarded NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Doug Kotar, the former New York Giants running back, remained yesterday in guarded condition in a hospital intensive care unit here, according to a hospital spokesman. Kotar, 31, has a malignant, inoperable brain tumor, his doctors said.

"He is still in guarded condition and that's about all I can tell you," George Gaymon, assistant administrator at the Hospital of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, said. After performing eight hours of surgery on Kotar Tuesday, doctors suspected his tumor was malignant. Their preliminary findings were confirmed Friday when laboratory analyses were completed. Kotar was traded to the Giants from the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1974, and went on to become their fourth all-time rushing leader. (Turn to Page 3, Column 1) (Turn to Page 6, Column 3).