19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER

HOOP HOTBEDS
Sir:
Here in the Boston area, we have known of basketball coach Kevin Mackey since 1971, when he was turning out great schoolboy teams at Don Bosco High. His success at Cleveland State, "The Mouse That Roared" in this year's NCAA tournament (Bolts Out Of The Blue, March 24), is only the start of a great story. As for Ed Bryant, the Cleveland State recruit from Prince Edward Island College, yes, that is a hotbed of hoopdom. PEI, St. Francis Xavier and Acadia all recruit heavily from Boston-area schools, and the cage game is more popular than hockey in the Maritimes during the long winters.
BOB COAN
Cambridge, Mass.

PRIDE OF POTSDAM
Sir:
The Potsdam (N.Y.) College community is beaming with pride after Douglas S. Looney's fine story on the Bears' undefeated NCAA Division III championship season (Bearing Up Nicely, Thank You, March 24). However, in the short interim since the article was written, a former Potsdam player, Derrick Rowland, has signed a contract with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, amending the statement that Potsdam has never sent a player into the NBA ranks. Rowland, who didn't even start on his high school basketball team, was an All-America on Potsdam's first national championship team in 1981 and has toiled in the Continental Basketball Association for the past five years. He never abandoned the work ethic that coach Jerry Welsh instilled in him as a Potsdam Bear, and it is nice to see him rise to a position that is a rarity for the true student-athletes in Division III.
BILL MITCHELL
Assistant Basketball Coach
Potsdam College
P.S. I'm the good-looking fellow in the picture with Coach Welsh and Troy Turner.

BAPTIST'S REVIVAL
Sir:
I would like to remind you of the OPENING TIPS item "Six Teams To Pity" in your special college basketball issue (Nov. 20). Alexander Wolff listed Baptist College as one of those teams, but his pity should have been saved for Baptist's opponents. The Runnin' Bucs of coach Tommy Gaither put together a 21-9 overall record while winning the regular-season and tournament championships of the Big South Conference. This same "pitiful" team was considered for a postseason bid in the NIT. Bernard Innocent (a 6'10" senior from Haiti) and Hen Hinson (a 6'4" junior whose uncle, Roy Hinson, plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers) made all-conference and all-tournament, with Hinson being named tournament MVP. Gaither was named conference Coach of the Year.
JEFF BURKHAMER
Assistant Basketball Coach
Baptist College
Charleston, S.C.

BIRD VS. THE BIG O
Sir:
The article As Nearly Perfect As You Can Get (March 3) by Jack McCallum compared Larry Bird with six basketball superstars, one of them Oscar Robertson. Comparing Bird with Robertson is like comparing apples and oranges. Bird's role on the court is completely different from the one Robertson played, and when one realizes that, one is then able to see clearly who should be called the superior player. Robertson's role was to shoot, pass, steal, play tenacious defense and—the most vital aspect of the game—run the offense. McCallum mentioned that Bird's shooting range and rebounding ability surpassed Robertson's. Why would the Big O make a 30-foot jumper when he could maneuver his way through opponents and take a better percentage shot? And if I am not mistaken, he always did just that. Rebounding is another story, because the job of a play maker is not to rebound, but to run the plays, and the job of a forward is to get the rebounds.

When a game was on the line, when the team needed two points, when there was no one else to turn to, the Big O was there. People who had the privilege of watching him in action viewed his basketball heroics as "common" phenomena. I guess that is why some people have forgotten how superior he was. I, of course, will never forget. You will always be No. 1 in my heart, Dad!
MARI ROBERTSON
Cincinnati

Sir:
I agree with McCallum that Larry Bird is one of the greatest all-around players the game has ever seen. However, when he said that Oscar Robertson did not rebound as well as Bird, I had to go check the record books. Robertson, 6'5", playing mostly at guard, grabbed nearly 1,000 rebounds one season (985 in 1961-62, a season in which Robertson averaged a triple double). Bird, at forward and 6'9", has never gotten 900. Only when the Cincinnati Royals acquired Jerry Lucas and his 20 or so rebounds per game did Robertson realize he could go back to being a "regular" guard again and get only seven or so rebounds per game, along with about 30 points and 10 assists.

Don't be misled by career averages. Bird has not yet peaked and started his statistical descent. A total of 985 rebounds at guard says a lot more to me than 800-plus at forward.
BUDDY JOHNS
Madison Heights, Mich.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
Sir:
Frank Deford's article on basketball in Roman Catholic universities (A Heavenly Game?, March 3) contains a put-down of what counts for intellectual creativity in those institutions. The writer quotes the following from a "Catholic historian": "Original research became original sin."

As the historian responsible for that quote, in an essay on Modernism published in 1971, let me advise your readers that the statement (embarrassingly glib when seen out of context) was written to describe the state of theology and philosophy only, and only during the period from 1907 to '60. To apply my statement to schools whose research record today is quite respectable is an unfair rap. To Frank Deford: five Our Fathers and five Hail Marys.
MICHAEL V. GANNON
Gainesville, Fla.

STICKING UP FOR U.S. TENNIS
Sir:
I wonder if Douglas S. Looney (Squeaker For Our Boys In Sneakers, March 17) was reporting on the same Davis Cup match I witnessed in Guayaquil, Ecuador. To call it an "uninspiring 3-2 win over Ecuador" is irresponsible and continues to lead your readers down the well-trodden media path that ends in the conclusion that something is wrong with American tennis. At last look, the U.S. had 11 of the top 30 players, followed by Sweden with six and then France and Czechoslovakia with three each.

I predict that Looney's tune will change when the U.S. Davis Cup team, "shaky" as it is, plays Sweden in the final round.
BRIAN S. PARROTT
Director, U.S. Davis Cup Staging
Portland, Ore.

U.S. LUGERS
Sir:
Miroslav Zajonc (The U.S. Is On The Fast Track At Last, March 3) is without a doubt the top luger in the U.S. program at this time. We all have high hopes for him and the rest of the team for the Calgary Olympics. However, there are two points in Jack Falla's story that I would like to clarify.

The U.S. Luge Association was more than happy to accept Miro, along with anyone else from another country, as a member of our organization. The only thing the USLA does not allow is participation by a non-U.S. citizen on the U.S. National Team, unless that person is due to receive U.S. citizenship prior to the next Olympics. For obvious financial reasons, and in order to produce the best U.S. Olympic team possible, we must adhere to this policy.

Also, Miro won the U.S. national championship in singles only in 1985. He won the singles and doubles titles in 1986. I was the 1985 U.S. doubles champion with my partner, George Rhein of Spring Valley, N.Y.
RICHARD KOLKO
Atlanta

GAMBLING AFTERMATH
Sir:
Sam Toperoff's story, in your special report on gambling, about the reunion of former Seton Hall basketball players Art Hicks and Al Senavitis ("Arthur? What Did You Do?", March 10) really struck home. I was a student at Seton Hall when the point-shaving scandal broke in the early '60s. We all were very upset to hear that Hicks and Hank Gunter had fixed some games. The article mentions that Hicks has his life together and that Senavitis is an educator, but what has happened to Gunter? Most of my classmates felt that he would have been a very capable pro.
BOB BELCUORE
Basketball Coach
West Orange High School
West Orange, N.J.

•After touring with Hicks for two years on a Globetrotter-like team, Gunter (above right) returned to the New York City area, where he has since worked at half a dozen jobs, including managing and then supervising two McDonald's over 17 years. He is now employed by a wholesale frozen-food distributor, married (to a nurse) and the father of three boys, ages two, five and seven. Gunter says, "I always wanted to say I'm sorry. After my Seton Hall days, I never got in trouble. I used to dream of a [team] reunion, a happiness thing. Then you wake up. What really reached me in the article was when they were calling Seton Hall 'Cheatin' Hall.' I always had dreams of hitting the lottery and giving half the money to the school. I'd like to reach the guys and tell them I'm sorry personally. What Artie and I did to Seton Hall was not fair. I'd just like to rectify that."—ED.

Sir:
I was one of the tricaptains on that 1960-61 Seton Hall basketball team, together with Kenny Walker and Ron Olender, so the article brought back some memories.

At one point, Art Hicks states that the critical moment for him came when he heard some of his teammates say that they were going to keep the ball away from the "niggers." Since we all roomed together in one building, McQuaid Hall, and since there were only three or four other guys who played a lot, I assume he was talking about us.

If he was, I feel sorry for him, because he still hasn't been able to face the real truth about himself. Whatever motivated Hicks to ruin his own career—not to mention damage the reputation of the basketball program and the school—is still locked within him.

It wasn't prejudice and it wasn't bigotry. We were all in the same barrel, fighting for a little recognition, trying to bring our team back into the NIT. We lived together, ate together and played together. There was never black or white. We were all one. We all had a cause.

In 1961 Art Hicks hurt a lot of people in more ways than he will ever know, but he did it because of his own greed, his lack of respect for his friends and his lack of love for anything but himself. I hope he realizes that someday.
BILL BROOKS
Rutherford, N.J.

DAVE SIME'S DAUGHTER
Sir:
As a die-hard Duke fan, I loved your March 17 cover and Curry Kirkpatrick's article (One Devil Of A Team). But true Blue Devil loyalists also must have read FACES IN THE CROWD with interest. Is Lisa Sime, the high-scoring forward for Miami's Ransom-Everglades High girls' soccer team, the daughter of Dave Sime, Duke's former world-class sprinter?
JAN DEVOS
New York City

•Yes, she is. For another look at father (as he appeared with Bobby Morrow on our July 2, 1956 cover) and daughter, see above.—ED.

PHOTO

DONNA GUNTER

PHOTO

LUIS A. MELENDI

PHOTO

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