The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 25

Classified ads CQ.Tfi The Honolulu Advertiser irk- Thursday. October 25, 1984 de NFL Major injuries blindsi 'r nmm i i ii.iihii By Christine Brennan Wathintfon Pont Service The topic wasn't pleasant, but it was bound to come up Monday in the Boston office of Sports Advisors Group, a company that represents professional athletes. It was the day after Denver Broncos wide receiver Clint Sampson, one of the firm's clients, was knocked unconscious by a head-on collision with Buffalo Bills free safety Don Wilson. Another client was in the office that day. In 1978, during the preseason, Darryl Stingley, a wide receiver for the New England Patriots, was hit by Oakland Raiders cornerback Jack Tatum.

Now, Stingley is paralyzed from the neck down. "I brought it up," Stingley said. "I saw the replay Sunday night and, immediately, I thought how ironic it was. He was wearing No. 84, which was my number.

It just really sort of made me cringe." In Miami, Dolphins coach Don Shula caught a replay of the hit. "It looked like Stingley," he said. And Wilson, as he watched Sampson placed on a stretcher to be air-lifted to a hospital, thought of that, too. "I didn't want to be somebody who hurt a guy like that," he told the Denver Post. As it turns out, Sampson suffered a concussion, loosened teeth and cuts to his lip and tongue.

He still is hospitalized in Denver, and will be out "a while," his coach, Dan Reeves, said. On the day Sampson lay motionless on the Rich Stadium turf, San Diego tight end Kel-len Winslow, the leading receiver in the league, severely damaged ligaments in his right knee and might not be able to play again, Detroit running back Billy Sims tore up his happen to him." Others mention artificial turf, especially because of the frequency of knee and ankle injuries. "If the cows can't eat it, I don't want to play on it," said Washington running back Joe Washington, who got his foot caught on a tackle by the New England Patriots defense and injured a knee. "My injury wouldn't have happened if we had tear-away jerseys and it wouldn't have happened if the game was not on AstroTurf." The Redskins have put 26 players on injured reserve since the beginning of training camp and have 13 on the list now. "There's no pattern," said Bubba Tyer, Washington's head trainer and president of the NFL Trainers Association.

"I wish I knew why this is happening. The players have been getting bigger and faster gradually. They're bigger and stronger, but the guys they're hitting are bigger and stronger, so they should be able to ward it off. "But it does seem to me there are more key injuries and more severe injuries." Redskins coach Joe Gibbs hasn't seen any replays of last weekend's injuries. "I'm mired in my own," he said, smiling.

"It seems like there are more injuries this year. This is a rare thing for us. We went two years without them. We've had a lot of bones and knees. It's a hard question to answer." Linebacker Pete Cronan.

who broke a leg in the Redskins-Los Angeles Raiders exhibition game, has been on injured reserve since mid-August. "It's the nature of the business," he said. "I feel sorry for Kellen Winslow, but guys who run patterns across the middle run a risk. They know there's a risk; It's a violent game." iixX UPI file photo Injuries are just part of the game in the National Football League, and this season has been no exception. right knee and underwent surgery, and Washington center Jeff Bostic suffered damaged ligaments that also required surgery.

They followed others to the. injury list, such as Atlanta running back William An-drews (nerve damage in a knee), Miami running back Andra Franklin (knee), Seattle running back Curt Warner (knee) and Atlanta kick re turner Billy Johnson (knee). There are many others. "It just seems like you're hearing about a lot of prominent people," Shula said, "especially with the Winslow thing." The magnitude of the injuries is one thing; the quantity is something else. There actually have been fewer players placed on injured reserve this season than last.

After eight weeks of the 1983 season, 90 players were on injured reserve. At that stage this season, there are 81. There are several theories why so many injuries to vitally important players have occurred this season. One is the increasing strength and speed of the players. "We are getting bigger guys who are running as fast or faster than they did 10-20 years ago," Shula said.

"Even the little guys have gotten stronger." Another is the frequency of passing. "Because the game has opened up so much in the last 10-15 years," Stingley said, "most teams are throwing more, and. each time a pass is thrown, the receiver goes up. And each time the receiver goes up, there is a chance that what happened to me could Channel 13 sports no longer in the dog days have reaffirmed that opinion and the station has made a bigger commitment, adding eight new positions, among them a sports director's job held by Jim Leahey, and investing $1.2 million in new equipment. Blangiardi said the last ratings book gave the station a 50 percent increase in its ratings and that advertising revenues have climbed 38 percent, partly because of sports.

"We did an overnight (ratings survey) after our first Sunday night (delayed UH football) game and our ratings were on a par with the network affiliates," he said. albeit shakily, from kiddies to curveballs. "That was sort of the genesis for what we've done since," said Rick Blangiardi, KHNL's general manager. There are many things the small Sand Island-based independent has done progressively better in the five months since: NCAA baseball regionals, one-day delay on University of Hawaii home football games, UH Wahine volleyball and State Little League championships. And recently, it signed to do 11 Hawaii Pacific College basketball games, including the December HPC Invitational Tournament with North Carolina, Missouri and Arizona and conference games against UH-Hilo, Chaminade and BYU-Ha-waii.

The station will resume one-day delay coverage of the 15-day sumo tournaments from Japan beginning next month, Blangiardi said. Also, preliminary talks are under way with UH concerning a Rainbow baseball package in 1985 for viewing not only in Hawaii but possibly in Japan. Blangiardi said the station will "definitely be bringing; in major-league baseball next year, either the Dodgers or Padres," on a weekend and occasional prime-time weekday basis, i That is a major-league turn By Ferd Lewis Advertiser Staff Writer In May. when KHNL-TV (Channel 13) televised the Western Athletic Conference championship baseball series, a cameraman made a mad dash to a phone in the press box between games. "You've got to feed my dog," he hurriedly pleaded over the phone to a friend.

"We've never done baseball before and I didn't know it would take this long." KHNL, formerly KIKU, had never done any live remote programming before, except Professor Fun shows. In that one day KHNL made the jump, around for a station whose sports programming once rarely went beyond sumo highlights. But it wasn't an unexpected turn, given the background of its new general manager. Blangiardi, a former UH football player and assistant coach, said local sports was an area he intended to target when he took over the station in February. And the WAC baseball championships provided the first opportunity.

"For 6 hours this station held a 47-share (of the television market), which proved that if we had the programming, people would watch this station," Blangiardi said. Subsequent ventures, he said, has its One of the things that allowed KHNL to take Rick Blangiardi Prime mover behind KHNL See Sports on Page C-2 Sumida making grade Wahines to play improved Tigers athlete student as i mi mimmmmmmimmmmmmmmifmF nW -J. i 9 'PX i By Ann Miller lii erliwr Stuff Wrilrr University of the Pacific, a preseason choice to win the 1984 NCAA women's volleyball championship, plays the University of Hawaii-Manoa, the two-time defending NCAA champion, in a two-match series tonight and tomorrow night at Klum Gym. First serve each night is at 7:30. Despite the rosy future painted for it, UOP has had more than its share of problems the first two months of the season.

But that could be a blessing. The past two games, rallied to win the next two, then fell to UCLA in the fifth and eventually placed fourth. But the Tigers, ranked No. 4 in the Tachikara Top Twenty (UH coach Dave Shoji gave UOP its only No. 1 vote), already might have lived through their quota of problems for this year.

Last month, they lost to 14th-ranked Penn State in five games. Said Liskevych: "The first 10 matches, we have a lot of talent, but we really just went through the motions. As hard as a coach tries to prepare his team well, my team gets more motivated for teams like USC. Stanford and Hawaii, teams of that nature. We didn't play anybody of consequence.

The loss" to Penn State was the best thing that could have happened at that time. We knew we had to work harder." That surge of hard work was blunted two days later when All-America setter Jan Saunders suffered torn ligaments in her left ankle during practice. Saunders, a senior, had never missed a start since coming to Stockton. She isn't only one of the best players in the country, but also the Tigers' heart and soul. ior varsity to one of its many Big Island Interscholastic Federation titles.

Sumida moved up to the varsity last year, quarterbacked Kona to a 10-0 league record and won all-BIIF honors. Sumida did not play Pop Warner football because of "parental discretion," as he diplomatically puts it. His parents Sue, a high school English teacher from-Ohio, and Norman, principal of Konawaena's night school now support the football venture. Aaron Sumida feels some of his quar-terbacking talent was developed in baseball. He is a pitcher and catcher.

"I probably developed some of the arm mechanics and throwing techniques that have carried over," said Sumida, a 6-foot-l, 175-pounder. Though football has become a big part of his life these last three falls, Sumida says "academics come first and then football." But he looks forward to a college career, saying, "I want to go as far as I can get in football. I don't have any idea how far that could be." Sumida said he has never struggled to balance sports and academics. "I try not to let one conquer the other. There are academics within football.

There's a lot of reading. The mental part of the position helps me to use my mind." Sumida was delighted when Barry rewrote Kona's playbook between seasons, turning to a double-slot offense with one running back. "It's quite a different offense, totally "That ojjense and their passer has taken football on the Big Island to a new plateau." Wayne Abalos, a former Waiakea and Kohala football coach By Hugh Clark Advertiier Big Inland Bureau KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii Even if he had never picked up a football, Konawaena High School quarterback Aaron Sumida would be counted as an exceptional student Sumida, a senior, has all-star credentials well beyond the football field. He has a 3.7 grade-point average in college prep work, is a member of the honor society and is enrolled in calculus and physics classes. Sumida is considering several Mainland colleges, including Harvard and Purdue, places where he could pursue studies in electrical engineering.

Sumida also is student body vice president, a member of the Future Farmers of America, and spends his weekends earning spending money as a landscape maintenance worker. As if he doesn't have enough to do. Sumida also plans to play his third season of varsity basketball and baseball later in the school year. Sumida, who has been called "the best quarterback in the state this year" by his coach. Jim Barry, did not begin playing competitive football until his sophomore year He helped lead the Konawaena jun years, the Tigers saved their problems for the last month of the season, hardly an ideal time to struggle.

Two years ago, a late-season letdown kept -V Liskevych Aaron Sumida '777ere are academics within football' different," Sumida said. "It got St. Louis a lot (in 1983), and I knew it would do something for us." In seven league games, Sumida has passed for 1,463 yards and 17 touchdowns, completing 55 percent (87 of 158) of his passes. Because he is such an exceptional athlete, it has been suggested that Sumida has a brighter future other sports, particularly baseball. But Sumida believes he has found his best game.

"Football is my best, ability-wise. And it's my favorite now." Pacific out of the Final Four, which was held at the Spanos Center on the UOP campus. Last year. I'OP coach Terry Liskevych sat on the bench shaking his head in despair during the semifinals of the Final Four at Lexington. Ky.

His team yost the first two See Vahitrs on C-5.