PAGE 22
THE DECREE
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15,1974
Golf And Tennis: The Teams
ByFLIPFILLIETAZ
It occurred to me last month
before the vacation break that
not much had been written on
the tennis and golf teams this
spring. Regardless of whether
our sports teams win or lose
they are still performing for
Wesleyan College and they
should be recognized. I will
attempt to recap some of this
‘lost’ athletes who spent many
hours practicing and playing for
the college on the athletic field.
Poor Coach Scalf! After four
lean years of steak and wins he
ran into ground beef and losses.
Led by senior Charlie Herring,
Wesleyan’s number one man at
tournament time, the golf team
left itself in water traps and
sand traps throughout the
season. Elbert Wan*pler, miss
ing at tournament time because
of a May Term trip, was our
number one man before he left
and losing him definitely hurt
our team’s ’hances of winning
anything. With Wampler gone
everyone moved up one
position was amply filled by
Lang Hardison. He is a transfer
student who will be back next
year. The number four slot was
taken up by a soccer trans
plant, Charlie Read. Read, in
cidentally, set a few records
this season. During the tour
nament he shot a fantastic 122
for 18 holes. A enormous 18 on
one hole. His teammate John
Jarema, playing out of the
number five position, was at
tempting to break Charlie’s
record but fell short of the
mark by getting a 102. Bob
Martin, catcher on the baseball
team, played number six in the
tournament and shot in the
mid-eighties. Not bad for a guy
who didn’t get more than a few
days of practice.
Coach Scalf had an impos
sible rebuilding job as golf
coach this year because he had
to replace Terry Britt, Jim
Thornes, Doug Ball, Ned “No”
Goode and Bob Woodard. Britt
was All-District last year as
well as All-Conference as was
Thornes. Losing five golfers is
a tremendous loss. Fortunately
Goode, Wampler, Hardison and
Biggs should be back next year.
These players as well as some
freshmen prospects should help
put Wesleyan back on top of the
conference next year. After
being champs four years in a
row it is tough to accept what
happened to the golf team. Two
guys, whose names need not be
mentioned, that were on the
team at the beginning of the
season failed to show up for a
match and this had to hurt the
team’s morale and perfor
mance. Bad luck is part of the
game but bad attitudes do not
have to be tolerated so Coach
Scalf ‘asked’ these two to leave
the squad. It is a sad state of
affairs when others have to
suffer because of irresponsible
acts.
Look for the golf team to
improve next year. It should be
easy to improve on this year’s
3-9 record. I should like to point
out that Elbert Wampler
played on a bad knee during the
season and it is a tribute to his
athletic ability that he could
even compete. Coach Scalf has
lost enough hair over the years
and let’s hope he won’t lose
anymore next year.
I have a very strong emo
tional attachment to Wesley-
an’s tennis team. After gra
duating last year I thought sure
that this year’s team would fold
without me. To my disappoint
ment they did not. What they
did was to continue winning in
the same tradition that Coach
Jimmie Purser instilled in the
team some five years ago. Who
will ever forget that first year?
David Walker, Tom Geraghty,
Doug Kozlozski, Allen Winter,
Martha Crew, Tom Howell,
Bruce Ankuda and yours truly.
Coach Purser did an almost
unbelievable job turning the
program around. And he did it
by recruiting two players that
have been the nucleus of the
tennis program for 4 y«ars. I
don’t think two finer tennis
players could take their places.
Jack Casey and Martin Saun
ders are just two great tennis
players. Without them Wesley
an tennis would never have
amounted to a damn. Saunders
is probably the best singles
player the college has had.
Short for a tennis player he still
possessed the ability to hit the
big serve, the winning volley
and the overhead smash. I’ll
miss Martin, as many of us will,
but I for one will next forget his
tremendous contribution to
Wesleyan tennis. Thanks Mar
tin.
And there’s Jack Casey.
Easily the best doubles player
in Wesleyan tennis history.
Jack had the uncanny ability to
return impossible shots. Look
ing more like a carrot on two
legs than a tennis player, he
gained the respect of Dixie
conference opposition by mak
ing the All-Conference team 3
out of the first four years he
attended Wesleyan. I’ll never
be embarassed to say that I am
proud of the way my former
teammate performed on the
court.
Ed Stiles eptomizes what a
gutsy player is. I emphasize
gutsy because at the athletic
banquet Coach Purser correctly
pointed out that, “Ed Stiles is
the only player on the team
who does everything wrong.” A
better characterization could
not be written. As unorthodox
as he is he certainly deserves
credit for keeping the guys in
line. One thing puzzles me
about Ed. How can an
out-of-shape player who has not
played a match in almost a year
defeat Stiles in three sets? Ed
played number code 3 this year.
Mike Long moved up from
the number three singles
position to number two this
year. He made it to the finals of
the conference tournament this
year losing to Jim Costa of
UNC-G. Wedding bells will be
ringing for Mike in June and
hopefully this will not hurt his
game for next season. He is
likely to be Saunder’s replace
ment at the number one singles
position.
Freshman Gary Quam filled
the number four position. He
lacked experience in tourna
ment play and unfortunately
this hurt him in the conference
tournament when he lost in the
first round: But Gary is going
to be a good one for Wesleyan.
In years to come he may re
write the record books.
Number five singles player
Terry Jones is a transfer
(Continued on Page 23)
S6a
The 1974 Wesleyan Tennis Team. First row: Terry Jones, Martin Saunders, Gary Quam, Eddie Stiles. Second row: Jack Casey, Dan Weber, Mike Long, Tom Gainor,
Sandy Saunders, and Head Coach Jim Purser. {Photo by Henney.]