The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 23

tgjgiAgyn 10, mi t.THOtMNSftiAH 3-C Wilma Rudolph joins TSU football fund raising drive By TOM WOOD Sports Writer More than 30 yean after stunning the sports world by becoming the first American woman to capture three gold medals In one Olympics, Wllma Rudolph runs In fast circles. The Clarksvllle, native and former Tennessee State Tiger belle women's track star still travels the world as one of sports' more charismatic personalities and is noted as a motivational speaker. Last night, she attended a TSU alumni reception and dinner to help raise money toward a new football stadium for her alma mater. Today, Rudolph will give the commencement address at TSlTi summer graduation. It gets under way at 10 a.m., at Gentry Center.

"It's always nice to come back to Nashville and to Tennessee, to see my old friends, to see my mentor famed Tigerbelles Coach Ed Tern-plel" Rudolph said. "All the years I was at Tennessee State, I practiced at the very track and field at Hale Stadium which they are now hoping to replace. It's a good feeling to see something Is finally being done. "I would be pleased to see the stadium seats named after Coach Temple for all the fabulous work he's done for the school." The Tigerbelles program used to be one of the most recorgnlzed In the world, thanks to Rudolph and her teammates. She still gets upset when she sees the hard times the program has fallen onto.

"I'm really disappointed," Rudolph said. "I know the thing that's needed most Is money. You can't run a top program without It They have everything else they need. "You can't do any better than Coach Temple. He's devoted his life to Tennessee State and the state of Tennessee.

I'd hate to see the program die. It hurts." The world first heard of Rudolph In 1956, when she claimed a bronze medallion In the Melbourne, Australia, Olympics. But she exploded Into the spotlight in the 1960 Rome Olympiad, where she won the 100- and 200-meter dashes and In the 4x1 00-meter relay. There, the world learned how she had overcome a series of childhood illnesses to become the fastest woman alive. She also starred at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics before retiring, but has attended every Olympiad since.

Rudolph says she is looking forward to the 1996 Olympics In Atlanta, and will be there in a new role for her besides fan and former star. In the true spirit of capitalism and the American way of life, Rudolph plans to be part of the already huge 1996 Olympics merchandising campaign. She will sell "Legends" memorabilia, recalling her past accomplishments. Rudolph urges all Nashvlllians to attend at least part of the 1996 Olympics, calling It a once-in-a-llfe-tlme opportunity for most people. "I wasn't always able to take my family so far, even though I have been to every Olympics," she said.

"Now this will be a chance for everyone to go, since It's in the South. When not making world-wide speaking engagements, Rudolph Is active with a foundation she backs. "One I'm Implementing now In New Jersey Is In conjunction with the housing authority HUD, I go Into the Inner city and run activities for them." Former Vol Davis preparing for first combat with Eagles Memories of defector still live been compared to the Indianapolis 500, with several players arriving in Chicago with speeding tickets. "We cut that out" linebacker Jim Morrissey said. "We're driving safely now." Falcons roll: Chris Miller threw four touchdown passes, three to Michael Haynes, to make Jerry Glan-vine's return to the Astrodome a successful one as the Atlanta Falcons thrashed the Houston Oilers 36-7 last night Haynes caught five passes.

Including touchdowns of 57, 67 and 34 yards, for 225 yards to lead the Falcons to their second straight exhibition victory. Miller played through the first series of the fourth quarter and completed 10 of 20 passes for 274 yards. He also teamed up with Haynes on a 60-yard pass early In the fgourth quarter. Glanvllle, who coached the Oilers four years before becoming head coach at Atlanta last season, was escorted onto the field by six uniformed officers and four black-clad aides prior to the game. He drew heavy boos during pre-game introductions.

i i ILL Georgia has recovered from a pulled hamstring and may see action for the Giants. Kelly starts: Buffalo's Jim Kelly, the league's top-rated passer last year, will make his preseason debut at home against the Detroit Lions tonight Kelly Injured a hamstring right before the Bills opened training camp, then aggravated the Injury on the first day of camp. Among those missing from Buffalo's lineup will be defensive end Bruce Smith, who's still recovering from knee surgery, and linebacker Darryl Talley, who remains a contract holdout Detroit quarterback Rodney Peete has a groin injury and likely will be replaced by Andre Ware. Injuries also will sideline two of the Lions' promising rookie receivers, Herman Moore and Reggie Barrett Speed zone: The Bears shut down their camp In Platteville, and headed back to the Chicago area to finish their preseason workouts. The return trek In past years has Ttmssran News Services CINCINNATI Philadelphia rookie offensive lineman Antone Davis continues his NFL education tonight when the Eagles take on the Cincinnati Bengals in a preseason game.

It will be the first NFL game for the first-round draft choice from the University of Tennessee. He ended his three-week holdout earlier this week. His education started immediately at training camp in West Chester, Pa. The Eagles lined him up against All-Pro defensive end Reggie White, also a former Tennessee, who collected 1 4 sacks last season. "I felt pretty good," the 325-pound right tackle said.

"He has a lot more experience than I do, and I've got a lot to learn, but at least I'm out here doing it" The Bengals are coming off a 24-20 loss to the Detroit Lions, while the Eagles lost 17-13 to Buffalo. Bcllchlck's battle: Former New York Giants assistant Bill Belichick. now the head coach at Cleveland, leads his Browns against the defending Super Bowl champions tonight (7 p.m., Channel 2). "I know a lot of people there and a lot of players," said Belichick, who was with the Giants for 12 years. "It's a little different from any other team we'd be practicing or playing against But my main focus is the Cleveland Browns and what we have to do." Halfback Rodney Hampton out of REGLA, Cuba (AP) They have torn down all reminders of Rene Arocha at Alberto Alvarez Stadium, where the Cuban defector learned his trade.

No longer adorning the walls in the small shrine at the venerable park, Arocha's chiseled smile and brawny build have been relegated to the pink stucco house 50 yards down the road. These were supposed to be the finest of times for the prideful suburb of Havana, watching Arocha help Cuba win the gold medal in the Pan American Games at nearby Latino Americano Stadium. But now Regla is coping with the loss or betrayal of Its favorite son. And nowhere does the pain cut deeper than in the pink stucco house where Arocha grew up. Here, Arocha's 91-year-old grandfather, Bernardo Rodriguez, who pitched for the Cuban national team In the 1920s, and Arocha's 20-year-old wife, Evel-isy Alonso Esquivel, welcome visitors.

But mostly, they cry. "He lived for his grandson," Evelisy says. "And I lived for my husband. But Rene loved baseball more than he loved his country." On July 10, Arocha, a 25-year-old right-hander who had played dp A family friend listens as Evelisy Alonso Esquivel, wife of the first Cuban baseball player to defect to the U.S., says she doesn't know if the Cuba government will let her rejoin her husband. raw Saturday Night Racing fY Ult Modds Limit td Sportsman Suptr Strut 4 Cylinders Ftndtr Btndtr Bombtrs for Cuba's national squad since he was 15, set out in the footsteps of another of Regla's sons, Jose Canseco, who left here as an infant Without telling a soul In Cuba of his Intentions, Arocha walked out of Miami International Air- 100 LAP POWDER PUFF CUNNINGHAM MOTORS RACING SERIES DERBY XT ViKWwV SPORTSMAN CALL 254-1031 TO PLACE YOUR CLASSIFIED AD Gates (615) 643-TRAK Racing Open 20 miles north of Nashville Starts 4:00 p.m.

1-65 North, Exit 1 04, then 4 mile West 7:30 p.m. Carrie, will you marry me? MMM(DlMI port and Into a waiting car, the first Cuban baseball player ever to defect Since then, he has had good times and bad. He must wait more than a year to resume his baseball career, thanks to a rule that forbids major league clubs from signing Cuban players until they obtain VS. resident status. That means Arocha might have to wait until next August to resume his baseball career.

Jesus Torres, who played In the St Louis Cardinals organization from 1957 to 1961, coached Arocha since he was 7 years old. "Rene never talked about leaving," Torres says, "never complained about the revolution. But he always wanted to talk about my experiences playing In the United States. What was it like? He loved to hear stories, anecdotes." Torres said the government told him to tear down the photos of Arocha that hung in the shrine in the bowels of the stadium. "That was hard because I love him so much," Torres says.

"But we have to do it because in Cuba, when anybody betrays the Scouts question Arocha's age and skills, saying he might really be 27 or 28 and his reported 92-mph fastball might be more like 86 mph. But others say he is a legitimate Tennessean reporter Carrie Ferguson Is In Cuba visiting family and watching the Pan Am Games. She dropped us this note: "I could leave Cuba $15,000 richer. Juan promises he'd come up with It as soon as he could. The catch? I have to marry him.

The second Cuban who proposed to me didn't offer me arty money. But these men don't want me, they want me to be their ticket out of Cuba They promise It would be a marriage In name only. Stranger still, Juan met up with another reporter, told him I had Interviewed him and that I was considering the offer! I'm notl" Medals update Through yesterday's events County 8 Tot United States 51 60 40 151 Cuba 75 34 19 128 Canada 7 11 23 41 Mexico 3 6 18 27 Colombia 2 10 11 23 Venezuela 1 10 12 23 Brazil 6 2 11 19 Argentina 0 5 11 16 Dominican Rep 0 13 4 Jamaica 10 2 3 Nicaragua 0 12 3 Trinidad 110 2 Chile 10 1 2 Ecuador 0 11 2 Puerto Rico 0 11 2 Panama 0 10 1 Peru 0 10 1 Uruguay 0 10 1 Guatemala 0 0 1 1 Haiti 0 0 1 1 Surinam 0 0 1 1 Men's basketball wine: The U.S. lumped to an 18-0 lead on the way to a 1 16-58 victory over the Bahamas to go to 4-0 in men's basketball. Quarterfinal play opens Monday.

Today's highlights: The U.S. women play Cuba, while Brazil meets Canada in the women's semifinals. The gold medal game Is tomorrow. Link facing test at Hillwood ber of the football coaching staff. "It takes me three minutes to get here from home," said an excited Barr.

"It's not that I wasn't happy there I was. But change is good for everybody." Barr, who had been at Maple-wood for 12 years, is a 22-year Metro coaching veteran. Street promoted: Ezell-Harding President Ronnie Sarver announced yesterday that assistant Mike Street will serve as the school's Interim head football coach, replacing Donnie Keeton. "Mike Street has served Ezell-Harding as a very capable assistant for the last two years, and before that was a successful head coach at Nashville Christian School," Sarver read from a prepared statement "As an assistant he Is familiar with the system and will be able to provide more stability and continuity to our football program for the 1991 season. We are grateful for his willingness to accept this assignment at such short notice, and look forward to the beginning of the season." This will be the second time the 36-year-old Street has succeeded Keeton, who resigned Tuesday to become head coach at NCS for a second time.

Street took over at Nashville Christian when Keeton By MAURICE PATTON Sports Writer Newly named Hillwood football coach Jerry Link knew what he was getting into when he took over following the resignation of Phil Crammer. As an assistant last season, Link helped Hillwood finish 10-2 and gain the second round of the TSSAA Class AAA playoffs. However, 22 members of that team graduated this past spring. "Out of those 22, 16 played," said Link. "Eight of those were three-year starters.

"We're basically starting from scratch. We're doing a lot of teaching, but we knew we'd have to do that because this team Is so young. We're a long way from where we want to be, but we're getting better everyday." Senior punterplaceklcker Daniel Kustelskl feels it hasn't been a major transition from Grammer, who Is now at Fairvlew, to Link. "It's definitely different; Coach Link's been running us a lot" said Kustelskl. "But it's not that much of an advantage, since he was an assistant here before." Barr moves: Former Maplewood boys track coach Jim Barr has moved across town to Hillwood, where he will also serve as a mem left for Ezell-Harding originally.

Back In business: Marion County is closer to a defense of its Class AA state football championship following action by the county commission Thursday night The commission voted to give the Marion County School Board $450,000 for the upcoming school year, which is expected to allow the board to replace half of the money alloted for coaching supplements last year. The board had originally trimmed $40,000 out of Its budget for supplements, before cutting out another $39,999 and leaving only $1 for coaches at the county's three high schools Whitwell, South Pittsburg and Marion County. "It depends on what the school board does Monday night" said Marion County football coach Ken Colquette. "If they vote half of the supplement back in, we're going to do it and hope we get our money. If they don't we're going to have a coaches meeting and I don't know what we'll do, to be honest But I have a feeling there won't be any football here." The school board Is expected to replace the $40,000 at Monday's meeting, with the difference to be mafle up by a $1 surcharge on tickets this year.

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