Newspaper Page Text
Page 11
The Panther
April 11,1980
Long Adds An Extra
Point to AUC Athletics
(Photo by Terry McMullen)
(left to right) Rufus Jackson. Schlitz Brewing Company; Chico Renfro, WIGO Radio and Atlanta
Braves; and Xrs. William (Bill) Lucas Foundation.
Free Agency Is Key To Security;
Owners Feel It s Bad for Baseball
BY Veverly Y. Byrd
Panther Sports Editor
Clark College athletes will be
recipients of awards at the first
annual Atlanta University Center
Athletic Banquet to be held at
the Stadium Hotel on May 2 by
the Extra Point Club of Atlanta.
Outstanding athletes from
Clark, as well as Morehouse,
Morris Brown and Spelman, will
be honored for their
achievements in athletics in the
AU Center.
The Extra Point Club is a non
profit organization and was
founded in 1947 for the purpose
of stimulating the interest of
every youth in sports
competition, recognizing
achievement of youth in sports
and promoting athletic events.
Ralph A. Long, president of
the Extra Point Club and
graduate of Clark, said that the
banquet is the first of such in
Atlanta honoring the AU Center
athletes.
“We will also highlight the
evening with the induction of
outstanding Atlanta University
Center athletes into the Extra
Point Club Hall of Fame,” said
Long.
"These inductees were active
through the 1930s and have con
tributed much to the field of
athletics.”
Clark athletes to be inducted
at the banquet will be the late
Ralph C. Robinson who lettered
in football and served as a coach
atClark; LeslieC. Baker,football,
basketball and tennis; Charles
McPherson, Sr., football, basket
ball and later coach at Clark;
Raymond Wainwright, who
retired as Director of Athletics
for Atlanta Public Schools, foot
ball and basketball; Ralph A.
Long, Sr., football, basketball,
tennis; Ms. Almeta Hill, tennis;
Ms. Laura Demery,tennis; Aaron
position as the "achillis heel” of
the Bucks. But with Brian
Winters, David Meyers, Johnson,
Quinn Buckner and “Big Bob”in
the middle, Milwaukee can play
with the best that the N.B.A. has
to offer.
And Milwaukee’s bench isn’t
chopped liver either, with Junior
Bridgemann (leading all sixth
men in the N.B.A. in scoring),
Sidney Moncrief, Lloyd Walton,
Terry Cummings, and Richard
Washington all chipping in.
The Bucks are by far the
deepest team in the Midwest
Division and I’m picking them to
not only win the division but to
also be one of the top four
finishers at season’s end.
The N.B.A.’s Pacific Division
features three of the best six
teams in the entire league.
The Los Angeles Lakers, the
Phoenix Suns, and the defending
world champion Seattle
Supersonics have each been in
or around first place for most of
the year.
Watson, football and basketball;
Raymond Mathis, football; Tom
Fagan, football; Albert Watts,
football; and Leonida S. Epps,
presently Director of Athletics at
Clark, football, basketball.
“The Extra Point Club
members are dedicated to true
sportsmanship and scholarship,”
Long said. “We follow our youth
programs very religiously and
keep records of scholarship of
character of our youth.” —
“We are dedicated to
true sportsmanship
and scholarship
— Long
The Joseph Schlitz Brewing
Company and its local dis
tributors are sponsoring the
AUC Athletic Banquet. Co-spon
soring the event with the Extra
Point Club is WLGO Radio.
The Extra PointClubhasfuture
plans for an All-Star Tournament
for Georgia basketball players,
sports clinics and other activities
such as the Georgia Invitational
Basketball Tournament.
Long said, “We hope and feel
that all of these activities will
help to expose our youth to
sports, responsibility,
scholarship and character
building.
Other officers of the Extra
Point Club are Marshall Arnold,
vice-president; Robert Still,
treasurer; and Horace Griffith,
secretary.
Los Angeles and Seattle are
currently in a virtual deadlock
for first place with Phoenix only
four games back. All three teams
possess players with the ability to
push their teams "over the
hump.”
Phoenix has Paul Westphal,
Alvin Adams, Walter Davis and
Len “Truck" Robinson.
The Supersonics have Gus
Williams, Dennis Johnson, Jack
Sikma and "Downtown” Freddie
Brown.
And the Lakers have Keith
(Jamaal) Wilkes, Norm Nixon,
Earvin "Magic” Johnson, and
most importantly, Kareem Ab-
dul-Jabbar, the prototype
basketball center and unques
tionably the best in the league.
If I had to pick a winner in this
division, it would be LosAngelos
because, in my opinion. Abdul-
Jabbar would be the difference.
Seattle and Phoenix will battle
for second place but I’m quite
sure that all three teams will
easily make the play-offs.
BY AL RICHARDSON
Panther Reporter
Ever since Andy Messersmith
and Jim “Catfish” Hunter signed
precedent setting free agent
contracts in 1974, there has been
heated arguments between
owners and players as to the
effect of free agency on baseball.
At one time, there was no such
animal as free agency, but
Messersmith and Hunter won
their “freedom" in major court
rulings and opened the doors for
other major league stars most
notably, Pete Rose and Nolan
Ryan.
For those of you who don’t
know, free agency is the concept
by which players are allowed to
play out contracts with their
respective teams and then sign
on to play with the highest
bidder.
The owners raise numerous
points supporting their view that
free agency is bad for baseball.
For the players, free agency
represents the opportunity to
obtain the one tangible bene*
that every man wants FINAN
CIAL SECURITY.
The average length of a
baseball player’s career is five to
seven years, that’s not a long
time. Because of the nature of
professional baseball being big
business it is neither economical
nor practical to let aging or “slip
ping” players hang on. So when a
major league player outlives his
usefulness, he’s simply let go.
The players contend that free
agency can serve as a financial
buffer for players who are either
"underpaid” or approaching the
end of their careers. After all, just
because one stops playing
baseball itdoesn’tmeanthatyou
can stop supporting yourself and
your family. Free agency offers
the kind of lucrative long term
contracts that insure financial
security after a player’s career is
over.
The Major League Baseball
owners have a number of gripes
to air over the concept of free
agency.
Number one: Free agency
contributes to dissension on ball
clubs with some players earning
four to five times as much as
others.
Number two: High priced free
agents who don’t produce on
the field represent financial
losses to their owners.
Number three: Owners pro
ject that with escalating salaries
and free agency running ram
pant throughout the leagues,
baseball teams will begin to lose
money in the near future.
When analyzing the owner’s
“plight,” one must remember
that each and every pro baseball
team makes atremendous profit,
yearly, no matter where they
finish in the final standings.
Lucrative television contracts
have eliminated the need for
teams to be competitive and
high attendance figures have
enabled owners to easily pay the
salaries of their starts and free
agents.
So it’s not as bad as the owners
would like one ot believe.
Nolan Ryan and Joe Morgna,
head a list of 23 free agents who
have all signed fat contracts
totalling over 27 million dollars
for the 1980 baseball season. All
agreed, to a man, that future
financial security was the major
.consideration in their respective
signings.
As new Boston reliever Skip
Lockwood put it, “I think the
clubs have found they can sign
players for a lot of money and
they don’t lose money. They
make it back in attendance. Con
trary to what they thought, free
agency has turned out to be a
tool that can be used ot help
baseball.”
Congratulations To
PANTHER SPORTS
Editor For Being
Chosen 1980
Scholarship Winner
By Association Of
Media Women
NBA Championship from page iq