Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 23

lintoln Journal Friday, September 15, 1978 23 Sports Tomey hoping bag of tricks can put Hawaii over rainbow ByMlkeBabcock Staff Sports Writer A little tomfoolery gone awry? No, probably just the unexpected from a football coach who has established himself as being unpredictable. If you can't lick 'em, trick 'em. When Hawaii's second-year head coach Dick Tomey made his debut last season, he didn't waste any time befuddling the opposition. They must have thought he picked up a copy of "Ripley's Believe It. Or Not" instead of the play book.

On the Rainbow Warriors' first snap from scrimmage under their new head coach, they tried a play well, this is how it went. Quarterback Jeff Duva lined up at flanker back, and as the Rainbow press guide describes it, they "ran a reverse flea-flicker good for 30 yards to set up a field goal." Not your basic fullback-up-the-middle type game-opener but a good way to A 64 junior and a 64 senior anchor the defensive front: Tom TuineL a 240-pound tackle who had 11 unassisted tackles against New Mexico, and Mike Arvane-tis, a 230-pound end who looks a little like Bill Walton. "They've got some good linemen," Osborne said. And since Tomey coached four years under Pepper Rodgers at Kansas (1967-70), you can figure he won't be surprised by what the Huskers can do. "I've coached against Nebraska six times," he said.

"I've watched them play a lot in my 14 yeais of coaching, and they're just as awesome as they ever were." But let's see how they react if Tomey tries one of those Rainbow specials. You can never tell what will happen if Nebraska has been lulled to sleep with complacency. "Every time we go into a game like that, we're in for trouble," Osborne said. clue-in the increasing number of Hawaii fans that their new coach wouldn't be an ordinary one. But there's more.

In Tomey's second game as head coach, Hawaii's first team offense ran its first three plays from scrimmage without a huddle. The Rainbows picked up a first down, and Tomey substituted an entirely new unit, which proceded to run three more plays without a huddle. You can bet even Indiana's Lee Corso would be envious of that kind of approach to play-calling. So if you're one of those people who has been laughing this week about Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne's excessive concern with.Hawaii's football team, quit laughing. Nebraska and Hawaii are slated to kick off at 1:30 p.m.

Saturday at Memorial Stadium, and with Tomey calling the plays, anything might happen on th4 opening snap. It certainly won't be mundane, and if the past is any indication, someone will seen," Osborne said. "Not the top four or five, maybe, but the bottom teams. "Tomey has really done a good job: number one, they don't give up, and number two, there aren't as many obvious things you can take advantage of." Fullback Wilbert Haslip is the Rainbows' top running back and not someone of whom the Huskers can easily take advantage. He gained 127 yards against New Mexico and needs 388 yards this season to become Hawaii's all-time leading ground-gainer.

"I think their fullback is probably as good as we'll see this season," Osborne said of the 6-0, 215-pound senior from Santa Ana, Calif. "Their down linemen are rangy guys, and they play hard," he said. "Their safe-tyman No. 11 struck me as being pretty good, too." Blane Gaison, a 6-0, 185-pound sophomore from Kaneohe, Oahu, is the safety now. He was a freshman quarterback two seasons ago.

"That time Hawaii wasn't out-manned; we caught them in some man-for-man coverage, completed some passes, and they just fell apart," Osborne said. "Hawaii has a better running game than California," he said. "But they're not a better passing team." Even so, the season before Tomey appeared on the scene, Hawaii passed for 800 yards. Last year Duva he didn't line up at flanker all the time passed for 1,487 yards and 10 touchdowns. Against New Mexico last Saturday, Duva went through a stretch in which he completed 10 in a row and finished with 12-of-16 for 125 yards and a touchdown.

The Rainbows are a loose team; they're relaxed and at times unpredictable, but they're not crazy. As a result, Hawaii comes into Lincoln with its 22-16 opening-game victory and the respect of Osborne and his Huskers. "They could probably play with some teams in the Big Eight from what I've Sorley NIP 'Maine' man Mathison will quarterback the freshman team this fall Osborne says Sorley has the edge on the others for one big reason experience. "Tom has a good understanding of our offense," the NU coach says. "We have a much more complicated system than most teams.

A quarterback has to be around here a couple of years just to absorb what we do." Osborne says Quinn's best assets are size and speed. "Jeff is the best runner," Osborne observes, "but has the least experience. He's shown great improvement, lie was No. 3 on the freshman team two years ago." Quinn is now a red-shirt sophomore. Hager is a better balanced quarterback, Osborne says.

"He does a reason SI L. Nil VTf or NU-Hawaii lineups NEBRASKA OFFENSE HAWAII No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr.

Pos Yr.wt. Jt. Name No. 89 Miller 4-4 222 Jr. TE Jr.

255 6-6 Scanlan 82 73 K. Clark 6-4 275 Sr. LT Jr. 245 6-4 Guild 74 54 Cotton 6-5 245 Sr. LG Sr.

240 6-0 Wright 71 57 Saalfeld 6-4 237 Jr. Sr. 220 6-3 Johnston 50 67 Cooley 6 0 235 Sr. RG Sr. 240 6-2 McElrov 68 74 Ohrt 6-4 244 Sr.

RT Sr. 255 6-6 Clark 77 84 Smith 6-3 194 Jr. SE Jr. 190 6-2 Cabral 19 12 Sorley 6-2 200 Sr. QB Sr.

190 6-0 Duva 10 32 Hipp 6-0 200 Jr. IB So. 200 6-0 Bell 42 35 Berns 6-2 205 Sr. FB Sr. 215 6-0 Haslip 31 22 Brown 6-0 176 Jr.

WB Sr. 175 6-2 Little 27 NEBRASKA DEFENSE HAWAII No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr.

Pos Yr. Wt. Ht. Name No. 81 Cole 6-2 206 Jr.

LE Sr. 230 6-4 Ardenetis 60 55 R. Horn 6-5 259 Jr. LT Jr. 250 6-4 Tuinei 88 51 Welnmaster 6-0 216 Jr.

MG So. 230 64 Ulufale 72 97 Barnett 6-5 242 Jr. RT Sr. 250 6-5 Sports 89 96 Andrews 6-4 223 Sr. RE Fr.

180 6-3 Roberts 58 40 Dunning 6-3 216 Sr. LB Sr. 220 6-0 Voeller 34 38 Kuni 6-1 218 Sr. LB Jr. 245 6-1 Talaesea 61 29 Pillen 6-0 183 Sr.

So. 185 64 Gaison 11 16 Fischer 5-9 165 Sr. CB Sr. 180 5-10 Hanawahine 20 34 Means 6-0 172 So. CB Jr.

180 5-11 Coloma 23 9 Gary 5-11 184 So. So. 190 64 Jardine 35 Site: Memorial Stadium. Kickoff: 1:35 p. m.

Broadcasts: KFAB, KLIN, WOW, KFOR, KRNU-FM. be left scratching his head. "Our major concern is our team," Tomey said. "We'll be working on things we didn't do well in against New Mexico." That's a harmless enough statement until you know the case-history on Tomey's Hawaii team of a year ago. Then you begin to wonder: what did he REALLY mean? Can you imagine the kind of guard-eligible pass plays Tomey must be concocting for the Huskers? It's enough to leave a conscientious coach like Osborne sleepless or, at least, having nightmares about fake field goals, cross-field laterals, and centers lining up 10 yards away from the rest of the offensive line.

But before you tell yourself the circus is coming to town, consider that this is a much-improved Hawaii football program, and these Rainbow Warriors will bear little resemblence to the ones Nebraska pummeled 68-3 two years ago in Honolulu. their view of the unsafe condition of the first turn. "It's terrible," said veteran rider Wayne Anderson of Cairo. "The tractors can't even get through. It's uneven and those are 100 critical yards in a race.

Some horses wouldn't be able to get through." Mervin Kruger of Lincoln had the most realistic comment of all. "Our lives are worth more than all the money they bet through the windows," he said. "We gave them every chance to fix it and they didn't. We gave them every shot in the world and they just didn't take it seriously enough." Georgia Jackson termed the track "bad." "At Grand Island (Former Park), it was bad, but not nearly as bad as this," she said. "All you'd have to do is hit one of those hole's and you'd go down.

"To race, the horses would have to go more than halfway (on the turn) wide to get around it and you can't run races like that, she added. feel Ali already has fought once too often last Feb. 15 at Las Vegas when Spinks, an overwhelming underdog making his eighth pro fight, won the championship on a split 15-round decision. But many Ali fans and they are legion consider their idol's loss a fluke. Ali said he wasn't mentally or physically ready for what most people felt was a mismatch.

Lem Banker in Las Vegas lists Ali as 2-5 and Spinks as 2-1. The Reno Turf Club lists Ali as 5-11 and Spinks as 9-5. "I'll weigh 215 the next time," said Ali after losing the title he hopes to regain to become the first fighter to have won it three times. "I'll be in better shape." Ali looks to be in shape George Benton, Spinks' assistant trainer calls it 36-year-old shape but he missed his weight goal, weighing in Thursday at 221 pounds, 34 pounds less than his first-fight weight. Spinks, who weighed 19714 in Las Vegas, came in at 201.

STAFF PhOTO BY RANDY HAMPTON Nebraska quarterback Tom Sorley in action against California last Saturday. Columbus to resume races? Giants disgusted after Bouton win By Virgil Parker Sports Editor "As Maine goes, so goes the nation." Although seldom true, that's a political adage regarded as gospel by many. "When a football offense sputters, it's the quarterback's fault." Nebrasla head coach Tom Osborne feels that's another false assumption many folks make. "The quarterback is just one of 11 players out there," Osborne observes. Referring to the Nebraska situation in the Alabama opener, Osborne admits No.

1 signal caller Tom Sorley didn't have one of his better games, "but nobody else was playing very well either. We did make a change by putting Jeff Quinn in the game under rather adverse conditions deep in our own territory but that done so much because of dissatisfaction with Tom as from the hope that a change might shake things up." Osborne admits that switching quarterbacks, more than any other position, "can sometimes change the tempo and atmosphere on the field. Unfortunately," the Husker head man adds, "that particular time it didn't work. The center didn't get the ball up to Jeff and we had a fumble on his very first play." Nebraska's quarterbacking has been in the spotlight this week as the Cornhusk-ers prepared to host Hawaii. Quinn also entered last week's game against California when Sorley was hurt.

But Lincoln Southeast High grad Tim Hager was elevated to the No. 2 spot for the Hawaii game. "Again, this change wasn't made because of dissatisfaction with Jeff," Osborne insists. "It's just that we think Tim deserves a chance to show what he can do. You can look at practices and scrimmages just so long.

You've just got to let them each perform in a game and see what they do. At quarterback, we can't really prepare more than two for each game. We've got to decide whether that second person is Quinn or Hager." Three others are in the future picture, but Mark Mauer is still sidelined with a bad hip, while Steve Miphaelson will be redshirted this season. Both are sophomores. First-year performer Bruce Football tonight Fourth-ranked Lincoln Southeast and No.

9 Lincoln High collide at Seacrest Field Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the first intra city game of the season. Lincoln High is the home team, so its students and fans should occupy the west side of Seacrest Field, and Southeast's the east side. The game will be broadcast live by radio stations KFOR and KBI1L-FM and telecast live by Cablevision, Channel 9. In other Friday action, Pius meets Omaha Cathedral at Boys Town and Lincoln East travel to Scottsbluff.

All's mental approach has been different talktag and shouting instead of being publicly quiet as he was in February -i for what he considers the biggest bout of his career "because I'm older and I realize it's the last fight. I couldn't go on much longer even if I wanted to." But veteran Ali watchers feel that if he becomes champion again he will fight again. He has retired before. "I don't think it will be the end of his career if I beat him. He can still make commercials," said Spinks, who is aware of a public reluctance to consider him champion.

"He's got to fight like he's the challenger," said Benton. "Anytime Ali throws one punch, he still might get credit for three." The fight, sanctioned as a title bout by the World Boxing Association, will start about 9 p.m, CDT, and will be telecast by ABC, channels 7 and cable 4 in Lincoln. There will be three other title shots on ably good job of running or throwing. His biggest handicap is that he's not very big (6-1, 178)." Don't think the experimentation with Quinn and Hager is anything more than a search for the best possible backup. "Tom is a good quarterback," Osborne says of Sorley.

"A game like the Alabama game was tough on him. When things don't go well, people look to the quarterback. But, when you take an overall look at the Cal game, he did a fine job." Make no mistake. Tom Sorley is Tom Osborne's quarterback. Tim Hager and Jeff Quinn, not necessarily in that order, are his backup quarterbacks.

Period. Period. plenty of critics to silence. "This win gives me credibility, room to breathe." Bouton, who had been out of baseball from 1971-76, was called up from Atlanta's affiliate in Savannah a week ago. In his first appearance, the knuckleballing right-hander was shelled by the Dodgers last Sunday.

"I think people put too much emphasis on my loss to the Dodgers and I would hesitate to place too much importance on my win today," said Bouton, realizing he's only passed one phase of a long trial. "Either I was pretty good or they aren't so good, or maybe it was a little of both. But I'm sure they were trying to hit me." Craig Skok and Gene Garber combined to hold the Giants hitless over the final three innings and saved Bouton's first win since July 11, 1970, when he pitched nnp inning of relief for Houston. "Craig Skok looked like Lefty Gomez after Bouton," said Madlock, visibly disgusted. "I don't want to see him again and I don't want to face him again.

Bouton was a joke." would have blocked several $200 seats. Producer Chet Forte said he had to compromise on his choice of camera placements or the telecast would have been in jeopardy. Bernie Gittelson, author of "Biorythym Sports Forecasting" says Ali will be on emotional and physical highs Friday but in the pits intellectually. However, according to Gittelson Spinks will nearing the low point of all three of his indicators Friday night, making Ali the favorite in the fight There are several other bouts on the card. The other fights include: Victor Galindez of Argentina defending the WBA light heavyweight title against Mike Rossman of Turnersville, N.J.; Danny "Little Red" Lopez of Alhambra, defending the WBC featherweight title against Juan Malvarez of Argentina, and Jorge Lujan of Panama defending the WBA bantamweight title against Albert Davila of Pomona, Calit Pollock said he heard no complaints from either fans or horsemen about the cancelation.

"I didn't know about the jockeys' position until about 25 minutes before post time," he said. "The horsemen didn't indicate at any time wouldn't run their horses. In fact, they were eager to do so." Fickler, from Ceresco, said the track may add some additional races to future programs to compensate for the eight lost races. Steward Irv Anderson of Hoskins, a former top rider for the famed Calumet Farms, termed the first turn dangerous, but the rest of the track looked all right." An official from the Nebraska State Racing Commission said there were 1,801 paid admissions in the preliminary attendance count. The track then adds another 909 patrons each day for horsemen and employes so the official attendance was 2,710.

Riders, however, were unanimous in By Mark Gordon Staff Sports Writer COLUMBUS When the bell rings, but a horse balks and won't come out of the chute, he's "left at the gate." But it was the jockeys who balked here Thursday at Agricultural Park and the entire eight-race card was left at the gate. Racing was scheduled to resume Friday and steward Jack Fielder said he was 'lOO percent sure racing will resume." The problem Thursday was what the jockeys considered "a dangerous condition" at the first turn. "It had rained a lot and that had washed some of the sand away," Fickler explains. "Then some more sand had been scrapped away. That left the clay base exposed and when clay gets wet it gets slick.

I think the track was dangerous. I don't blame the jockeys at all But we've been working on it already this morning (Friday) and we'll be ready to go again this afternoon." "We tried everything we could, but it's a tragedy for Columbus," said Bob Pollock, another steward at the Columbus track and the man who supervise all out-state Nebraska thoroughbred races "It's not disappointing from the standpoint of the riders. You've got to respect them. I'm sure some horsemen have some bad feelings," said the Grand Island not a track expert. I don't know if it was too bad to ride.

But it was very unfortunate to have happen." At 4 p.m. Thursday (scheduled post time for the first race), jockeys met with track officials. It was decided the jockeys would not ride, but would wait 45 minutes while track maintenance personnel worked on the racing surface. Shortly after 5 p.m., a second vote was taken and this time the races were called off. TV Sports Scene Friday Boxing All vt.

Spinks, heavyweight title bout, 7 p.m., By United Press International Darrell Evans called it "humiliating." Bill Madlock said it was "a joke." Joe Al-tobelli thought it was "fascinating." Jim Bouton was "overjoyed." And that pretty much sums up last night's 4-1 victory by the Atlanta Braves over San Francisco. There was Bouton the author, the actor, the newscaster setting the fading Giants on their ears with pitches that couldn't do much damage in a china shop. Eight years and countless professions later, Bouton registered the 62nd major-league victory of his career by checking San Francisco on three hits over six innings. He threw 113 pitches, struck out two, walked three and didn't allow an earned run. "I'm ovprjnypd, ecstatic, thrilled," Bouton said, shaking his head over and over again.

"It was enough just to be back, then winning on top of that "I tell you, it's always fun to silence the critics," continued Bouton, who had the card and two of them will be shown by ABC in a telecast that runs from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., CDT. An ABC spokesman estimated 75 million people will watch the telecast from 9 p.m.-10 p.m. There is a television blackout over the area within a 200-mile radius of New Orleans. Louisiana Sports, is estimating a turnout of about 65,000 people in the Superdome and a gate of more than 15 million.

Other notes related to the Spinks-Ali title fight: Nevada oddsmakers favor Ah to win the fight Las Vegas has the odds 2-5 for Ah and 2-1 for Spinks. In Reno, the odds are 9-5 for Spinks and 5-11 for AIL WBC heavyweight titlist Larry Holmes says Ali will win but will "retire rather than fight me." ABC-TV has reached a compromise on positioning of cameras for the fight's telecast The cameras ABC wanted Ali-Spinks fight evokes memories of another era NEW ORLEANS (AP) It's Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks in this Mississippi River town where 86 years ago boxing's modern era dawned, where tonight the Ali Era could end. "It was the old generation against the new. It was the gladiator against the boxer." That was a New York Times description of James J.

Corbett's 21-round knockout of champion John Sullivan Sept 7, 1892 and it is the reason for the great appeal cf the Ali Spinks rematch in the Superdome. All, "The Greatest," is in the role of The Great John who boasted he could beat any man in the house. But the 36-year-old All is not the champion, and Sullivan's gladiator image certainly fits the 25-year-old Spinks better than it fits AIL The Times account of Sullivan's upset quoted him as saying he "had fought once too often in the There are a lot of people in boxing who.