Battle Creek Enquirer from Battle Creek, Michigan • Page 31

Enquirer and News, Battle Creek, Apr. 8. 1 973 C-3 t- tubulin mm 1 UCLA star visits here Super sub Tommy Curtis has roots in Albion Young Dan Meyer being groomed as future Tiger star a nice feeling and helps build team spirit." How did Tommy Curtis, a promising youngster with a Michigan background, get to UCLA? It's a long story but here are some of the high spots of it He was born in Albion but at an early age he went with his mother to live in Tampa. Fla. His mother has a doctoral degree in social education and is an authority in this field.

Tommy enrolled at Leon straight NCAA championship and its 75th straight game victory. Coming off the bench and sparking UCLA is nothing new for Tommy. In fact, coach John Wooden of UCLA calls Tommy "my super Tommy doesn't mind being the No.l sub on the No.l collegiate team in the nation. He rather cherishes the role, although it was new to him when he decided to enroll at UCLA. "I never sat on the bench in my life before." he recalled as he related how his role fits into the UCLA styleof play.

the team. He wanted me to be No. 6. As a result I was red-shirted (kept off the varsity) for one year until I could work into being the No. 1 substitute.

"This is what makes Wooden such a great coach. He knows his players and how to mold them into a winning combination that loves to play basketball the way it should be played. "Some players can't come off the bench and get hot. Fortunately, I've been able to come off the bench and provide the spark. I think it's because I have the natural speed and shooting ability to give the team a lift." "When I come off the bench, I feel that I'm needed and my teammates respond.

They seem to say 'here comes Tommy, now we can really It's Here's how Tommy explains it "Just by talking to me and watching me. coach Wooden knew exactly how I would fit into his overall team plans. He did not want me to be No. 7 on i J. i troit's minor league base at Lakeland.

"All I ever played all my life is third base, except for about 1A I m.vviiui mvivi said, while waiting for a Tiger exhibition to begin. Manager Billy Martin had asked Evers to send Meyer to him so Martin could see him against a major league opponent. "When they told me I was coming over here to play in a game I went home and thought about it all day. I was like this." Meyer said, shaking his arms to indicate nervousness. He likes to consider himself a good fielder, "but I have to work at it.

It doesn't come natural." But hitting, that does come natural, he said. "Yes, I don't seem to have any trouble. There's no reason why I can't get at least one hit inanygamelplay." The blue-eyed blond went 9-for-10 in one doubleheader at Bristol, and he batted .409 in the Florida Instructional League last fall. "I can hit any kind of fast ball or curve," he said calmly. "I haven't seen many sliders, so 1 can't say much about them." Meyer, who got married last November, will likely be assigned to the Class A Lakeland Tigers of the Florida State League.

"He might work his way up from Class A to Double-A (Montgomery) this year." Evers said. "But there are too many guys who have earned the right ahead of him to play Triple-A." Nevertheless, a good season could put him on next year's Tiger spring roster and give him a shot at the 1974 second base job. held by 13-year Detroit veteran Dick McAuliffe, who will be 34 next year. geared to old era BY BILL FRANK Albion has a UCLA basketball connection. He is Tommy Curtis, the nation's No.l super sub on the undefeated national collegiate championship UCLA team.

Tommy was in Albion this past week to visit his father, a contractor, and other relatives. Being in Albion is like coming home to Tommy. He was born there and returns every summer. Albion is fully aware of Tom-. my and his basketball exploits.

Fans in Albion watched on television as Tommy came off the bench to spark UCLA in its victory over Indiana in the NCAA national semfinals in St. Louis a few weeks ago. UCLA went on from there to beat Memphis State in the title game and notch its seventh Baseball By RALPH KEYES Gannett News Service The Los Angeles Times Baseball is geared to a bygone era. The game was designed for a backdrop of foxtrots, horseless carriages, and nickel cigars. Ideally, one should watch it under an afternoon sun, beer in hand, chatting with fellow spectators.

Baseball can be more a setting than an involvement, the excuse to get away almost like fishing. Football, basketball, and hockey, of course, are geared to inciting the flow of adrenalin. Professional basketball requires players to shoot within 24 seconds in the National Basketball Association and 30 in the American. Football penalizes a team for delay of the game and hockey is nothing if not speedy. All this is not to suggest that baseball as we know it lacks tension.

Nothing is more nerve-wracking than a-tie game in the bottom of the ninth with two out. the winning run on base and a 3-2 count on the batter. But such suspense is of a differ Tommy out to go to Ferris State to visit his step-brother. Robert Wesley who is doing well on the track team. "I've got relatives all over the country," he said.

His mother was one of 15 children in her family and his father was one of eight in his familv. His grandfather. Dr. E. CD Rogers, founded the Central Life Insurance Co.

of Tampa. He died in 1951. Tommy (so named in high school because of his Tommy-gun accuracy from long range) spoke freely of UCLA and his teammates. He wasn't surprised to learn that Bill Walton, his All-Ameri-can superstar teammate, turned down a $2 million offer to turn pro after the NCAA finals. Walton and Curtis are juniors.

"Money just isn't that important to Bill. Anyone who knows him. knew he would not give up his final year of collegiate ball. He has too much pride. He loves basketball.

"Bill feels that there is plenty of time to play pro basketball after next year. Yes, I'm sure he will play pro ball. He's a great player and feels he owes it to the game to keep playing." Tommy also plans to play pro ball "if the situation is right." He has an independent mind and has several lucrative busi Curtis almost went to U-M ness offers waiting in the event he does not play pro ball after next season. He stands 6-1 and. weighs 175.

His major in college is pre-med in psychiatry with a minor in social sciences. Incidentally, Tommy was surprised after the NCAA finals when he saw someone wearing a BC athletic jacket in a St. Louis hotel lobby. It was Chuck Turner, Battle Creek Central cage coach. He walked over to Chuck and asked "Are you from Battle Creek?" Chuck was stunned.

That broke the ice for Chuck, Tommy and Bill Walton to have a long chat. Tommy said, "When I saw that BC jacket I thought I was home." Tommy also was surprised to learn that Willie McCarter is coaching at Harper Creek High School. "Yes. I know Willie. I met him in Portland through Sidney Wickes of the pro Portland, team.

Willie was a great player and I'm sure he is a fine coach. He played a whale of a game for Drake in a losing cause to UCLA in the 1969 national semis." When informed that Willie planned to start a basketball clinic for youngsters in Harper Creek next summer, he said "Tell Willie I'll be over this summer to help him." ONLY) PH. 962-4029 frenzied it was designed to be soothing. The game is a waltz, not rock roll. The difficulty doesn't lie so much with baseball as with a society which has speeded up around it.

Older fans are dying off. and the new generation demands faster sports, just as it prefers faster dancing and faster cars. Not coincidentally, perhaps, the Public Health Service recently reported, in a study of psychological distress, that complaints of nervousness and tension were especially rife before middle age. Within a cross-section of the population, such symptoms rose steadily for both men and women until around the age of 40. then steadily decreased with advancing years.

Nevertheless, according to Dr. Lawrence Kolb, director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Hospital, symptoms of anxiety increasingly affect us all a fact which he attributes to the speedup in communication and transportation. To this might be added these other anxiety-inducers: the preference for showers over baths, traffic jams, too much coffee, the scream of jet planes overhead and speed-reading. What this country needs is to be calmed down, not jazzed up even further. Just as we might all benefit from reading Proust, so we might all find solace in watching a graceful and methodical game of baseball.

If nothing else, the very de-liberateness of baseball has the power to compose. Anyone who sits for two or three hours seeing pitchers tug at their uniforms and batters rapping out fouls may feel a certain frustration, but the experience is ultimately restful in its own way, rather like sitting in church. So let's leave the national pastime the way it is. Sharon favors Whitworth in Dinah Shore golf meet BY LARRY PALADINO Dan Meyer, one of the hottest "2 prospects to hit the Detroit Ti-f gers system in two decades, may be only one season away from making it to the big leagues. He one year away, possibly two," Tiger General Manager Jim Campbell said recently.

Meyer, a 20-year-old in-f ielder, has only been in the system one year but what a year it was! Detroit's No. 4 choice in the free agent draft last June while he was at Santa Ana Junior College in California, Meyer immediately reported to Bristol in the rookie Appalachian League. Meyer, who calls El Toro, home, batted .396 at Bristol highest average in pro baseball in the United States in 1972. He hit 14 home runs and drove in 46 in his 65 games, leading the league in to tal bases with 158 and topping third basemen in assists with 97. Subsequently, the 5-foot-ll, 180-pounder.

who bats left and throws right, was named to the league All-Star team. He was Rookie of the Year as well as Player of the Year. "He hits the ball as hard right now as Al Kaline did at the same point in his career." said Hoot Evers. Tigers farm director. Ed Katalinas, chief Tiger scout, said, "If he developes like we think he will, he has a chance to be a superstar." The Tigers, secure at third base with 25-year-old Aurelio Rodriguez, told Meyer to work out at second this spring training season at Tigertown, De- OPEN SUN.

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He had 415 college offers, including 250 from major colleges by the time he graduated. Marks were no problem. He carried a 3.9 average (on a 4 cale) in high school and has the same average at UCLA. He narrowed his offers to the University of Michigan. Tennessee and UCLA.

He visited Michigan and stayed with Gene Brown, former Battle Creek Central sprint star who captained the U-M track team. "I really wanted to play for Michigan," Tommy said. "Caz-zie Russell was my idol in fact, I wore his number in high school (33) and I even dreamed of leading Michigan to the national championship." But, Tommy ended up at UCLA. Why? "It was coach Wooden," he said. "With Wooden, it was soft sell.

There was never any pressure. I just felt, after talking with Wooden and looking around, that UCLA was the place for me. I've never been happier." What does Tommy do in Albion during the summer months? "I play basketball on outdoor courts with the youngsters in town. I rap with them and talk about drug abuse. I tell them about the importance of staying in school and educating their minds." Tommy does this for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

He is captain of the FCA chapter on the UCLA campus. "The youngsters in Albion relate to me and I feel that lam getting through to them. No. we do not have meetings as such. It's a person to person thing." Tommy is interested in all youngsters in Albion.

He was really pleased to learn that Albion High went all the way to the state Class semifinals this season before bowing -out of the tournament. "I remember Eric Burch and Preston Wright when they were little kids," he said of the two Albion High guards who sparked the Wildcats to the state semis. While in Albion, he took time PH. 965-3241 DY A REX LA PRICES Turn Your Backyard into A Fun Center All units are built of heavy cast aluminum. Removable potato racks.l permanent briquets and drains for excess grease are standard features.

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But old Mahjong St. Louis Browns' manager Rogers "Rajah" Hornsby "had me flyin' around, shakin' my legs and carryin' on until I very near passed out. Now. what did all that do formy arm?" Most proposals to "update" baseball by mandating more frantic activity just aren't consistent with the game itself. Prior to this season's rule revision, the most significant change came in 1903 and actually slowed the action by allowing unlimited fouls after a batter had two strikes on him.

Baseball wasn't meant to be contender since it is her home course and she knows every hill and slope. Another is Sandra Haynie." Sharon went on. If Sharon can make the halfway cut. local fans may have the opportunity to see her on television since the Saturday and Sunday rounds will be on TV. The meet, which has a first-place payoff of $25,000, has drawn all the top feminine golfers.

"That's what makes it even tougher, Sharon concluded. "Knowing there's that much cash going to the winner makes the pressure even greater." WRECK REPAIRING INSURANCE WORK FREE ESTIMATES! HAMSUN AVENUE BODY SHOP INC. 321 Hamblin Ave. Phofi 968-6154 INTRODUCING TRAVCO New modal expanded by CUBIC teal Mora living spaca, cupboard spaca, ctosat spaca. Wide naw lines, bold new grilla.

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She left last Friday for Palm Springs to get in her practice rounds for the $154,000 tourney, richest on the proette tour. Sharon has never seen Mission Hills Country Club course where the 72-hole tournament is to be played. But she understands from those who' have played the layout that it is quite long and the greens have many hidden breaks. "That's one reason I pick Kathy," Sharon said. "Besides being a fine all-around golfer she is a fine putter and reads greens well.

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