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The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, November 13, 19865
Fenner: on or off,
always confident
Dy MIKE OERARDINO
Assistant Sports Editor
Confidence.
Many call it the mark of a leader.
Others consider it essential for
success. Some term it the telling
difference between a winner and a
loser. But here, submitted for your
perusal, is an alternate observation:
confidence is the one attribute in
which Derrick Fenner has never
found himself lacking.
From the time he was a young boy
growing up as the only, and some
what spoiled, child in his parents
home in Oxon Hill, Md., Fenner has
carried with him a supreme assured- ..
ness, something he prefers to call an
"optimistic attitude." Over the years,
his positive self-image has reaped far
more benefits than it has caused
problems.
That is until Fenner stepped out
of the warm, sheltered environment
of constant reinforcement that his
home life provided and entered
instead a faraway zone of never
ending pressure. A place where a
man was only as good as his last
performance, where his superiors
continually tried to mold him into
a "team player," and where nearly
two decades of ego-buildup threa
tened to come crashing down upon
him.
No, Fenner did not enlist in the
United States Army. Worse yet, for
him, he decided to play football for
the University of North Carolina.
That's not a simple proposition for
a 19-year-old who drives a candy
apple red, 1986 BMW (his parents
gave him the $24,000 car complete
with a red mobile phone). Nor is it
easy to subdue the feeling of omnip
otence that comes with having more
girlfriends ("You got a calculator?"),
clothes (MTo me, a lot is when you
could go for a year wearing some
thing different. and jewelry ("I'm
going to get more for Christmas")
than Don Johnson, Bruce Willis and
your average Arab sheik combined.
Just a sophomore, Fenner is
closing in on the 1,000-yard mark
for the season (he needs 122 in the
final two games). But in order to
appraise his success, one must look
beyond the gaudy statistics compiled
by Fenner the player and focus on
Fenner the person.
Over the past 15 months, the
duration of his career as a tailback
in Chapel Hill, Fenner has proved
to be both a godsend and a devilish
enigma. While everything about
Fenner his size (6-foot-4, 220
pounds), his speed (4.5 seconds in
the 40-yard dash) and his Herschel
Walker-like moves adds up to
certain fame and fortune, he has not
yet elevated his star to its potential
celestial height.
"It's difficult," he says with a hint
of frustration in his voice. "Once I
do something well, something else
happens and then I'm back down
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again. But I'm going to get there.
I'm not the type of person who's
going to keep his head down."
Here is a Top-Three, list of the
more famous Fenner Flubs:
1. The Bus Incident The most
celebrated of Fenner's many mishaps
directly followed his most productive
game. After grabbing the national
rushing lead with a 216-yard showing
against The Citadel in this year's
opener, Fenner missed the next
week's trip to Kansas because he
missed the team bus.
According to Fenner, here's the
real story: On the night before the
Kansas trip, his roommate mistak
enly set the clock for the wrong time.
When Fenner finally woke up at 7:53
a.m., long after the UNC bus had
departed, he got in his car and drove
to the airport himself. There he
caught up with the team, but was
told by the coaches that he would
not be allowed to go because he had
violated a team rule by missing the
bus.
2. The Fourth-Down Wimpout
More infuriating than the Kansas
mistake for many Tar Heel watchers
was Fenner's tiptoe out of bounds
on a fourth-and-one play at the N.C.
State five early in the game. Fenner's
refusal to lower his shoulder to get
the critical yardage loomed much
larger after UNC lost by one point.
In all fairness, he was nursing an
injured left shoulder sustained the
previous week against Wake Forest.
"I was still hurt, but I wanted to
play," he says.
3. The Fumble In The Bayou
With UNC down 10-0 to Louisiana
State in the second quarter, Fenner
fumbled at the Tiger goal line when
he tried to leap over the top of the
pile. The game eventually became a
blowout, but the fumble was still
costly in terms of momentum.
Afterwards, UNC head coach Dick
Crum pointed out there was a "huge
hole about a yard to the left if the
running back would have stayed on
the ground."
A close dishonorable mention was
Fenner's bowl-over of Crum in the
Florida State game. That inadvert
ent tumble along the sideline broke
Crum's leg and was all the more
ironic considering it came the week
after the Kansas fiasco.
Why is Fenner the one Tar Heel
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Enigmatic tailback Derrick Fenner battles a Georgia Tech tackier
who continually finds his way into
the eye of the storm? The answer may
lie in his love-hate relationship with
the UNC coaching staff.
"I think I'm probably the first
player that they (the coaches) have
seen with such an attitude as I have,"
Fenner says. "It's rather hard for me,
I guess. Since I can remember I've
been a little slack on things. IVe
always had an optimistic attitude
about myself.
"I don't think I'm conceited,
though I might get a little arrogant.
But to me, I think it's kind of good
to be arrogant and optimistic rather
than pessimistic. Because if you're
down on yourself, you're not going
to get anywhere."
Therein lies Fenner's "problem."
The Spirit of Christ has Returned!
"...Lo! He Who is the Ruler is come. Step out from
behind the veil in the name of thy Lord, He Who
layeth low the necks of all men. Proclaim then unto
all mankind the glad-tidings of this mighty, this
glorious Revelation. Verily, He Who is the Spirit of
Truth is come to guide you unto all truth. He
speaketh not as prompted by His own self, but as
bidden by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the
All-Wise." . -Revealed by Baha'u'llah
("the Glory of God")
Founder of the Baha'i Faith
The Baha'is lovingly invite you to investigate this new
Revelation from God.
Write: Baha'is of Orange County
GhSHill, NC 27514 -EES!X-
Friday November 14
7:30 pm Room 211
UNC Student Union
SALES
Paige Ivey
Kimberly Thigpen
C.T. Weiss
Amy Parke
DTHDan Charlson
He's good, he knows he's good and
he has very little difficulty sharing
the news that he's good.
His relationship with his team
mates is improving, he says. "I think
they like me pretty much. Last year,
I got a lot of crap about me doing
this and having that. But now I think
they accept who l am and what I
am."
With regard to the UNC fans,
most of whom alternately cheer and
curse their star tailback's actions,
Fenner is just as independent. "I
hope they look at me as a great
athlete and a pretty good guy. If they
don't, well, then they have a
problem."
Truly spoken like a teenage tail
back with an optimistic attitude.
Student tickets are available for the Blue-White basketball
game, which will be played after the Virginia football game
on November 15th. This game will be played in the air
conditioned Smith Center and the halftime will be only five
minutes (so you can get out in time for the rest of your
Saturday evening plans). Present your student I.D. and
athletic pass at the Smith Center box office between 8:00
AM and 5:00 PM. Students may also purchase guest
tickets at $5.00 in addition to their complimentary student
tickets. Student groups of 20 or more are welcome to send
a representative to the Ticket Office with the groups'
athletic passes for block seating.
Soccer set to roll
to title in NCAAs
By EDDY LANDRETH
Staff Writer
At the beginning of each year,
teams set goals. For some, it is
to have a winning season. For
others, it may be a conference
title. For the UNC women's
soccer team, the goal is a lofty
one: the national championship.
Anything less than the national
title for this group is rated as a
disappointment, but they rarely
come away disappointed.
Before finishing second in last
year's tournament, UNC won
four consecutive national cham
pionships. This year, the Tar
Heels are the favorite to return
to the top.
After finishing the regular
season 21-0-1 and ranked No. 1
in the country, the team begins
the pursuit of another title against
Santa Barbara at 1 p.m. Sunday
on Fetzer Field.
Santa Barbara beat Cincinnati
1-0 this past Sunday, in the first
round of the NCAAs, a round
UNC missed by virtue of a bye.
UNC head coach Anson Dor
rance said the week off gave the
team a chance to rest and get back
to the basics.
"WeVe done some things tac
tically that are going to help us
organize," he said. "It's nice to
have a break where we can review
things and get back to our fun
damental movement."
Dorrance said that although
this is a playoff match, there will
be no drastic pre-game changes.
"We prepared differently only in
that we've got more time to
prepare, so we can be more
committed to total organization."
The team played a blue-white
scrimmage this past weekend and
star forward April Heinrichs hurt
her knee. Senior midfielder Mar
cia McDermott said that if Hein
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richs can't play, she feels the team
will come together.
"April is a great player, but we
have a capable front line even if
she can play," McDermott said.
"This is still Carolina."
Henrichs said that the condi
tion of her knee is something she
and the coaches monitor on a
day-to-day basis. "Right now,
we're not rushing trying to get
back to practice. We're more
concerned with being able to play
(Sunday). If it's not 100 percent,
I should be able to play anyway."
For both Heinrichs and
McDermott, this is the last chance
for a national title.
"It's special since it's my last
tournament," McDermott said. "I
think about it all the time."
"If we were to lose, it would
be pretty hard to deal with,"
Henrichs said. "Two of my friends
from home play for Santa Bar
bara. They end their careers and
I end my career, so I'm kinda
nervous about that."
The trademark of this year's
UNC team is the defense, with
15 shutouts to its credit. Henrichs
said Santa Barbara will test that
defense.
"I'm not sure weVe played a
team with as much scoring poten
tial," she said. "They play very
physical and they play a good
counter-attack game."
According to Heinrichs, men
tal preparation is the most impor
tant aspect of getting ready for
this match. "After losing last year,
we want to try to evaluate what
maybe went wrong," she said. "In
general, we're trying to stay very
relaxed and not feel as though this
is it, we have to win."
"We're very relaxed. All we
have to do now is go out and play
with enthusiasm."
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