January/February 1993 - Vol 7 Num 2 by Sports Spectrum

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HIS IS ABOUT BASKETBALL.

Women's basketball. I'm sorry to admit it now, but there was a time in my life when I didn't think too much of the idea of girls playing basketball. Oh, I was proud of my older sister, who played small college hoops at Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga. But it wasn't the same, I thought. She played before women's basketball was allowed to be unshackled from the 6-on-6 confusion that hardly resembled the fast-break style of play that makes basketball so much fun to watch. It was basketball, but not by much, I concluded. And I was excited that the women's coach of the college where I played in Ohio moved up the ranks of coaching until she was the varsity women's coach at Indiana University, right there alongside Mr. Knight. But despite these halting steps toward acceptability;llagged behind in my interest for girls' and women's roundball. I hate to admit it, but I just was not sure I wanted to share the sport I loved and practiced by the hour with the female segment of the population. I was not convinced they could play the game as it should be played.

I have a feeling there are many other men out there who share those feelings I once had- who think of girls' and women's basketball as second-class. I also have a feeling it's time to turn that thinking around. Have you watched the II o'clock news highlights from local high school basketball recently? Did you catch the NCAA women's semifinals between Stanford and Virginia last spring as you were waiting for the men's games to come on the tube? Did you see the U.S. Olympic team in action from Spain? These young women can play! This is not a game for the slow of foot or the dull of mind. It is a fast-breaking, aggressive, divingfor-loose-balls, jump-shooting, inyour-face-defense kind of game. Sure, there are no above-the-rim acrobatics, but there's enough grace and style on the floor to help you not think about that. It has helped me to have a junior-high-age daughter who has been bitten by the basketball bug just as surely as her dad was back in the days of Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. It encourages my appreciation for the game to know that she can dream of many of the same opportunities 1 dreamed of in basketball. And it helps to know that there is nothing to stop her from acquiring the same skills I developed through countless hours of practice. And it has helped to see the development of such stars as Lynette Woodard (Sports Spectrum, 1988), Heidi and Heather Burge (SS, March-April 1992), Jennifer Azzi (SS, July-

August 1992), and many other fine Christian athletes. The growing respectability that these women have brought to their sport- and up-and-coming stars of the game will build upon- is not limited to basketball. Women's sports, helped in large part by govern ment rulings that encouraged schools to develop parallel and equal programs, continues to grow. As it does, we intend to increase in our coverage of this pleasant phenomena. An example of that is the article Karen Rudolph Drollinger has written about the International Christian Cycling Club (page 26). Although this club has both men and women, it is dominated by female cyclists. During the sports year lying ahead of us, keep an eye on the young women we feature in Sports Spectrum. They are leaders both on the playing surface and off because they know personally the One in whom "there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female" (Galatians 3:28). Whenever you can, get out to the game. Whether it is high school girls' volleyball, basketball, or soccer or college women's softball or track, go find out just how talented and dedicated today's women athletes really are. And if you know about any whose story you think needs to be told in Sports Spectrum, let us

6 The Mark of a Champion Mark Price may look like th e boy next door, but when he plays the Cavs get better by Rob Bentz

10 Against the Odds What can you do when life puts more obstacles than opportunities in your path? by David Egner

~~ Dave Branon, managing editor Sports Spectrum

Photography Credits: COVER: Tim Defrisco/AIIsport; p. 2 Jerry Wachter/AIIsport; p. 3 (lop left) Daytona International Speedway, (top right) Focus on Sports, (bottom left) Phoenix Suns, (bottom right) Phil Hossack/Winnipeg Free Press; p. 5 LA Entertainment Group; p. 7 Jim Gund/AIIsport; p. 8 Jerry Wachter/Focus on Sports; p. 9 Jerry Wachter/Focus on Sports; p. 10 (left) Focus on Sports, (right) Tim Delrisco/AIIsport; p. 11 (left) Jerry Wachter/Focus on Sports, (top) Mike PoweiVAIIsport, (bottom) Focus on Sports; p. 12 (left)Ken Levine/AIIsport, (right) Jonathan DanieVAIIsport; p. 13 Focus on Sports; p. 14 Bill HaiVAIIsport; p. 15 Focus on Sports; pp. 16Âˇ17 Daytona International Speedway; p. 18 Bill HaiVAIIsport; p. 19 Daytona International Speedway; p. 20 Dave Black/AIIsport; p. 22 Andrew D. Bernstein/NBA Photos; p. 23 Phoenix Suns; p. 24 (left) Andrew D. Bernstein/NBA Photos. (right) John McDonough/NBA Photos; p. 25 Phoenix Suns; p. 26 Phil Hossack/Winnipeg Free Press; p. 27 Kevin Lundberg; p. 28 Ray Smith/Victoria (BC) Colonist: p. 29 (both) Courtesy Intern ational Christian Cycling Club; p. 30 Focus on Sports. 2

S P O RT S S PECTRL!M â&#x20AC;˘ JANU A RY/FEBRU AR Y 1 993

q) lSCOI'~'J'Wo iiS( I t>liBliSHERS

4 Open Court Ace returns from Sports Spectrum readers SS Fan Poll

Clippings Sports news worth a second look

The Prince of Wheels Now that King Richard has retired , will Kyle Petty inherit the crown as the monarch of auto racing? An exclusive Sports Spectrum interview

Legends Catching up with David Thompson by Tom Felten

12 Leaderboard

With Peter Millar, Mike Holmgren, Reggie White

Airing It Out Breaking the cycle of sports addiction by Tom Felten

20 The Birth of the Rockies First of a three-part look at baseball's new mile-high team by John Long

Discovering the Pacific

Wheels of Thunder

A unique group of cyclists look for a ticket PauiVVestphaland to ride as they pedal Randy Pfund have both arrived as NBA coaches toward some lofty goals by Karen Rudolph by John Ed Baker Drollinger

The Swirsky Report by Chuck Swirsky

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M::A::N: AG:IN:G-:E: D IT~O=R~Da::::ve:-;B;:::ra=no=n::MA::;R:K~ET::IN:Gi:PR:O:DU,;::C~commentator;

Volume 7, Number 2 SPORTS SPECTRUM MAGAZINE A DISCOVERY HOUSE PUBLICATION. PUBLISHER Dave Burnham; TION MANAGER Tom Felten: ART DIRECTOR Steve Gier: PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Rob Bentz: ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Lisa Ouist; ADVISORY COMMIITEE Chuck Swirsky, ~~~sF D~~~o~R~~~idR:~~~r~g~~t~~~~~~~~~,;,p~~~~~~:·2i:~~ery House Publishers; Ralph Drollinger, President, Sports Outreach America; Kyle Rote Jr., TV sports

SPORTS SPECTRUM is produced six times a year by Discovery House Publishers. which is affiliated with Radio Sible Class. a nondenominational Christian organization whose purpose is to 9

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of Zondervan Bible Publishers. SPORTS SPECTRU M subscriptions are available for $1 5/year or $1 9.50 outside the USA (in US funds) by writing to SPORTS SPECTRUM subscriptions, BoK 3566, Grand Rapids, Ml 49501·3566, by calling toll free 1· 800·653·8333, or a FAX to 1·616·957-5741. SPOR T S S P ECT R UM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1993

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1·800·853·8333 ' New subscriptions, change of address, Or Other COrrectiOnS 3

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more than Sports Illustrated. In the September/October 1992 issue I was really impressed with the article about lckey Woods. Hey, we might see him do the shuffle in heaven! - PAU L MCGU IRE Louisa, Ke111uc/.:y

Buffaloes and Booze I was reading your at1icle "Sp011s and Alcohol" and was in agreement with what Dave Branon wrote. A prime example of this abuse is at the Colorado University, where alcohol is sold at the football and basketball games. They are the only school in the BigSand probably one of the few in the nation- where this is done. I know you have had articles in your magazine about the Buffaloes' head coach Bill McCartney, and I know he has spoken out on certain issues. He has 13 years left on his contract and has a lot of influence at the school, yet he remains mute on this issue of booze being sold during his football games. It's time programs like CU and coaches like Bill McCartney wake up on this issue. - DANIEL A. NOSAL Lillie Rock, Colorado

We checked it out, and Dan is right: Colorado University is the only Big 8 school that sells beer at theirfootbal/ games. Perhaps the best thing for readers in Buffalo cot mil)' to do is to letthe administration at CU know yourfeelings about this problem. -Ed.

lchey in Heaven I' ve been receiving Sports Spectmm since January. I love it 4

ll Sporis Milieu I am 34 years old, married with two children. l do not practice a sport, but as a born-again believer I rejoice at what the Lord is doing in this milieu. It is with great joy that I got Sports Spectmm. First, we do not have a sport magazine in France. Second, the percentage of Christian sportsmen is very low in our country. Most of the time we hear about Christians in sports in the secular media. And I often doubt the truthfulness. I enjoyed the article about golf player Bernhard Langer (September-October 1992), who is a German. There are also other Christian sportsmen in Germany. Since ! met the Lord in 1977, my heart goes out for the Christian sportsmen. After that I look for my own country to win. Thank you for doing a good job based on our Lord Jesus Christ.

also making the right decisions in greens and reds . If this is true, life-to serve Christ- that you how can he see the traffic lights? could feature in an article some- JONATHAN STAHNKE time? Seeing how Christian offiColorado Springs, Colorado cials handle the criticism on and off the field would be an encour- • This could be a major concern agement to them and I am sure to : for motorists living in the greater • Piffsburgh area. Perhaps one of any other Christian officials. - DAVE SNYDER our co/or-blind readers will write and give you the right answer, Mountville, Pennsylvania Jonathan. -Ed. Thanks for your "official" suggestion It is important to remem- Got an Opinion? Send us your questions and comber the valuable and influential colllributions officia ls make to ments: Sports Spectmm Leffers, Box 3566, Grand Rapids, Ml players, coaches, and fans. -Ed. 49501-3566. Not Seeing Red Correction: In the NovemberIn your September/October 1992 December edition, Vince Nauss' issue you had an article about name was spelled incorrectly in the Andy VanSlyke. In this article "Shoebox Treasures and article Andy stated he could not see

- DANIEL STENTZEL

Official's Ti:ane Out I have been receiving your magazine for a couple of years now and have truly enjoyed the articles on the many Christian athletes you have featured. Being a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PlAA) soccer and baseball official, I can see firsthand the need for positive Christian role models for high school students to look up to in the sports arena. Are there any officials that you have been able to find who are S P O RT S SPE CTR UM • .JANUAR Y /FE B R UAR Y 1993

Cardboard Tragedies."

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Sports ~ews 'Worth a Second Look

Spo:rts Spectruan Daily Goes on the lli.. " G OOD MORNING, THIS IS CHUCK SWIRSKY. L AST NIGHT IN THE NBA ... "

That' s a sound that can become a welcome routine around your house as you get ready for each new weekday. Sports Spectmm rad io is going daily. In the fall of 1990, Sports Spectrum radio with Chuck Swirsky went on the air for an hour each Saturday, giving you the inside story on top Christian athletes in sports today. And now you can hear Sports Spectmm every day. Sensing a need to present the unique Sports Spectmm perspective on the daily sports news, we have begun offering three drive-time sports reports each Monday through Saturday on the Sports Spectrum radio network. Chuck Swirsky will bring you up-to-date on what happened the night before in the worl d of sports. He' II give you scores, game highlights, interviews with key players, and as always, his own inimitable outlook on what is happening in sports. To find out what stations in your area carry our morning sports repor1s, call 1-800-598-722 1. And if you discover th'at you can't hear Chuck in the mornings on Sports Spectmm, call your local station and suggest that they get in touch with us. When it comes to sports, we've got you covered. Mal~e It a Daily Double In addition to listening to the Sports Spectrum dai ly radio reports, you can get fur1her encouragement and challenge

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li ve on is in Pete's two sons, Helping to keep the memory Jason and Joshua. Both are avid ali ve is Frank Schroeder, basketball players. Pete and /~ executive producer of LA '-l.\olo.w.r..a,.·~ ~ Productions, the Jackie Maravich's oldest son is this year in the same year of ~ Louisiana-based comschool as Pete was in the ~ pany that 2 years ago movie- eighth grade. And ~ released The Pistol , ~ a movie about Pete. according to reports, just as thei r grandpa Press and their dad Pete The film, which told e the story of the did, the Maravich brothers can c::..:t beginnings of Pete's light it up on the court. Besides the influence of Pete's -=~ competitive career life through the family-oriented ~ as a skinny eighthmovie and through his testimony ~ grader, has introof faith in Jesus Christ, which ~ duced Maravich to a ~ whole new generation of has been heard on Focus on the basketball fans. Family and Sports Spectrum "It's almost like it has taken his radio, there is another tool that thousands of future Pistol Petes legend and moved it up another step," Schroeder explains. "Kids are using. from a new book called Headline who had never heard of Pete got It's called Homework Sports Devotions. Written by to know him through the movie." Gordon Thiessen, a former memBasketball, a four- video series of drills that the Pistol used to The movie quickly became a hit ber of the University of Nebraska when it was turn himself football team, the book grabs a headline from the spor1s page and from a skinny released by the kid into a basSony corporation discusses how it relates to some of on home video. ketball showlife's real issues. For 16 weeks, it man. If you For example, Thiessen menwatched The was one of the top tions the free-throw shooting prowess of Ginn y "Deadeye" I00 videos in the Pistol, you can country. And soon see how well Doyle, who made 59 consecuit wi ll be rethe drills work, tive foul shots for the University of Ri chmond. Then he talks released by LA for Adam Productions to a Guier, the about the connection between broader, familyyoung man who the concent ration it takes to do oriented market. played Pete in what Doyle has done and the There is good the movie, meditation it takes to be successnews for anyone ful in dai ly Bible study. spent hour after It's an interesting blend of hour practicing who followed the the things Pete spor1s and spirituality-giving you phenomenal career of the man who impor1ant new information that talks about in can be learned about both. scored more points .___ ___,._c:-::c=,-,-,=-::-=--=-' Homework than any other col- .& Adam Guier, who portrayed Basketball. And To find out more about Headline lege basketball Pete Maravlch as an eighth grader for a younger player and who led in The Pistol, may soon get a generation of Sports Devotions, write to Cross the NBA in scor- chance to reenact a part of Pete's hoops fanatics Training Publishing, 2407 West ing in 1977-or life as a high school senior. who came Jo/111 Street, Grand Island, NE for any young fans - -- - - - -- - - - along after 68803. who have only recently begun to Pete's day, LA Productions also The Legend get to know Pete. LA Productions has available a video of highis considering a sequel. According lights from Maravich's showLives On time days at LSU. to Schroeder, the next installment Five years have passed- half the length of his NB A basketball in the Pete Maravich story would revolve around his senior year of For more on Maravich, write to career-since Pete Maravich's high school. LA Productions, 9751 Buttercup surprising death, yet the legend li ves on. Another way the legend may Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70809. SPO R T S S P ECTR UM • .J A NUAR Y/F EBRUARY 1 993

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He ~nay not have the prototype NBA body or a flam,boyant personality, but Mark Price plays big enough and speaks loud enough to lead one of the best team,s in pro basketball By Rob Bentz

s II :30 TuESDAY MORN ING and prac ti ce i s nearin g an end. Sweat drips from every forehead as the Cleveland Cavaliers run the floor in a controlled, fullcourt scrimm age. As back-up point guard Terrell Brandon breaks for the ball , he slides off a pick and gets tangled up with forward Danny Ferry. The two Cavs exchange a fl ying elbow and a headlock before teammates can separate the players. The scrimmage continues, but so do the word s between Brandon an d Ferry. Teammates hold off both players a second time as their personal conflict grows. Tension run s high between Brandon and Ferry, and their confrontation seems to be creating stress for everybody on the court. A veteran player escort s Danny Ferry to one corner of the gym, while head coach Lenny Wilkens takes Terrell Brandon to the opposite corner. From. yet another corner of the Cavs' tiny practi ce gym at Richfield Coliseum comes Mark Price. He j ogs in to replace Brandon and defend against Steve Kerr. But before new action begins, Price pushes Kerr in the chest and quickly gets in hi s face, taunting him with a mock threat of, "Come on, let's go!" Immediately the tension and silence on the court is broken as laughter breaks out throughout the gym. Mark Price the fighter? No. Mark Price the comic? Maybe.

Mark Price the leader? Yes. Despite this displ ay of vociferous reverse psychology, Mark Price is not a vocal leader. He's not loud. He's not abrasive. He's not a guy who's going to run on the floor and start yelling at his teammates to get them fi red up. And he's not a guy who's going to let tension continue until practice ends. But he is a guy who understands that a team looking to make a run at the NBA title doesn' t need distractions. He's the guy who realized that something had to be done to break the tension and get practice back on track. And his tongue-in-cheek fight routine was j ust what the team needed. William Mark Price stands 6 feet tall and weighs about 180 pounds-ti ny by NBA standards-but the leadership that number 25 provides the Cavaliers makes him stand tall in the NBA 's land of overgrown timber. Price's value was never more visible than during the 1990-9 1 season. Just 16 games into the season, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee-earn ing him an appointment with a surgeon and pulling him out for the year. The Cavs won only 2 of their next 20 games. Mark recalls that the injury and subsequent rehabi litation were the biggest disappointment of hi s NBA career. " My lowest point was when they took off the cast," he told the Akron Beacon Joumal. " My leg looked like a wet noodle. I kept staring at my leg and won-

SPORTS SPECTR UM â&#x20AC;˘ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1993

<Ill Imagine a 路 backcourt of Mark Price and Kevin Johnson.

until KJ was ed in 1988. Now Price calls th e Johnson the toughest person he has to gua rd. When they w e r e teammates , they " went at It pretty good" in practice, Price says. " I wouldn't w a nt to work aga ins t KJ e v e ry d a y , I ' ll tell you that. "

JIM GUNo/ALlS~T

dering how I would ever play basketball again." The injury disappointed the Cavaliers too. Although they had begun that season picked to be one of the best teams in the Central Division, they finished with a 3349 record-sixth place in their division. With Price in a cast, the Cavs were in trouble. "People make a big deal when I' m out there and when I'm not," says Price. "But the Cavs have put a lot of responsibility in my hands. As the point guard, I'm kind of the quarterback of the team. I just try to go out and try to make my team better." Better is exactly what the Cavaliers were in 1991-92 with their starting point guard back in the lineup. They finished the regular season with a 57-25 record and took the eventual world champion Chicago Bulls to game 6 in the Eastern Conference finals. During their fine '9 1-92 campaign, the Cavs were without Mark Price for I0 games, and they won only 5 of those. With him in the lineup they were 52-20. Teammate Kerr sums it up, "He's just a great player. You can't help but admire the way he plays." Everybody knows that Price can score; he's averaged 15.9 points per game for his NBA career. And everybody knows he can dish out assists; he's averaged 7 assists per game for his NBA career. But what he does best is lead. He doesn' t lead by barking out commands or fist waving. Price leads by example. "I' m not a rah-rah type guy. I think day in, day out, guys know what they' re goi ng to get from me. I just go out and play hard. I think if I go out and play hard, the guys are going to follow . And we' ve got a bunch of guys that do that night in and night out." One of the guys is fellow backcourt mate Craig Ehlo, who appreciates Price's leadership. "You can' t say enough about his basketball leadership. He doesn' t push anything on anybody; he just leads by example." Price's desire to lead does not stop when the final buzzer sounds. It's a pattern of life that has its base in something far more important than basketball. "I just try to be consistent every day and show guys that what I believe in is real, not just a passing fancy," says the man who has thrown his share of fancy passes. "Christ is the corn erstone of my life and everything I do revolves around Him." His soft-spoken, down-to-earth style seems to be working, if the comments of those who know him are any indication. • "Mark's a good family guy. He's really quiet, but he works hard and tri es to do all the right things," explains Cavs center Brad Daugherty. "He's just a very good person." • c raig Ehlo says, "I reall y appreciate the way Mark does things both on the court and off the court. His lifestyle rubs off on a lot of these guys." • cavs chapel leader Tom Petersburg adds, "Mark is one who gives credibility to the gospel, that it actually works in a man's life. It shows up in his character. His lifestyle just backs up what he believes." To a large degree, Mark's lifestyle speaks loud and clear today because the lifestyle of his father Denny Price spoke clearl y to Mark while he was growing up in Enid, Oklahoma. "My dad is one person I' ve admired my whole life 8

.A. Price and teammate Craig Ehlo lit It up from beyond the 3-polnt line 170 times in the 1991-92 season-the eighth best tandem In the league. They are on target to surpass that number this season.

more than anybody else-seeing his consistency in his faith through the difficult times as well as the good times. He's been consistent, and he's never wavered. "I think all of us sometimes try to hide behind what our parents believe and think that's what counts for us. I grew up in a Christian home and went to church all of the time, but it wasn't until I was 17 that I reall y made the decision to trust Christ as my Lord and Savior." From that point on, Mark changed his attitude toward others. "There were always people telling me that I couldn't do this or that I couldn' t do that," Price says, referring to people who doubted his basketball abili ties. "I kind of held grudges inside my heart against people. When I accepted Christ as my Savior, He took that away and it didn't bother me anymore." For Price to make it to the NBA, though, he first had to overcome one bothersome doubt of his own- he was afraid his size would hinder him. "You know, I'm not the biggest guy in the world out there trying to play. I' ve had to overcome a lot of stereotypes that were placed on shorter players." Overcome them he did. First as a prepster at Enid High School. And then in college at Georgia Tech, a school that had sent one assistant to Enid 17 times to see Mark play. The assistant convinced head coach Bobby Cremins that Price was right for Tech. Although it did n' t bot her him so much anymore, Price was still the target of doubters. How could a slow, short, white kid from a small town in Oklahoma make

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it in Division I, much less in the country's toughest conference (Atlanti c Coast Conference). And how could he ever dream of playing in the NBA? "I' ve always been a pretty dri ven person, a person who's wanted to succeed. And I've worked hard to do that," says Mark. "I' m thankful to the Lord for getting me into situations where I can show what I can do." At Georgia Tech, Price helped turn a 4-23 team into a squad that was the number one preseason pick going into the 1985 campaign. Along with teammate Bruce Dalrymple and wo men' s Player of the Year Cheryl Miller, Price graced the cover of the college basketball special issue of Sports !llrtstrated in 1985. But even after a great career for the Yellow Jackets, there were still doubters. Bypassed completely in the first round of the NBA draft , Price was picked 25th by the Dallas Mavericks. They immediately shipped him off to Cleveland for a future second round draft pick. The league had seen 6-footers come and go many times before, and the Mavs thought Price was too big a risk. Dallas GM Norm Sonju has commented that it was one of his worst deals in basketball. Price's success has led NBA scouts and general managers to forget about the "too short, too slow" tag that

MARK PRICE IS AN ABSOLUTE OEAO· EYE from the charity stripe. Curing the 1SS1·B2 eeaeon, he connected on 270 of ese free throws for a .S47 percent· ega. His percentage was not only good enough to lead the entire NBA last sea· eon, but It also ranked as the second highest single season free throw per· centage In NBA history. Price says there are four keys to being a supceseful free throw shooter. 1 . USE REPET TION Find a routi ne on

you're at the line. YOUR ELBOW IN Don't let your elbow "fly" out. Keap the alba In and underneath the ball. 3 . LOO AT Y O UR TARGET Be sura to focus on the basket . A look-away pass looks nice, but a look-away shot looks like a mise . 4 . FOLLOW THROUGH ON YOUR SHOT Be sure your wrist Is bent toward the basket after you've released the ball. If you do these things and spend a lot of time practlcln~ou can be a good free throw s hooter. l,.-1

e . KEE

MARK

C HAMPI O N

they once labeled him with. Now they can look at players with similar characteristics as possible future NBA success stories. Pl ayers like Mark's brother Brent. Brent was the second round draft pick of the Washington Bullets in last year's college draft. Mark understands that his success has probably taken some of the heat off Brent regarding stereotypes, but he is concerned that people might ex pect Brent to be someone he isn' t. "I hope people aren' t comparing him to me; he's his own person. I hope people will just judge him on Brent, because I think he's a good player." And Brent isn' t Mark's only basketball playing brother. Matt was a standout at Phillips University back home in Enid, where Denny is the head coach. One big, happy basketball family. Price is finding that the close family atmosphere he grew up with is difficult to dupli cate with hi s ow n wife and daughter. The grueling travel schedule that is an inevitable part of NBA life '--------~'-LJ.Ri*w.~:RiFOCU5c"" it7ss;;:POO Oii,"Tts takes a chunk out of the time Mark gets to spend with his 2-year-old daughter .A. Although the free throw Brittany and his wife Laura, who is pregnant with the percentage list Is the only couple's second child. place you'll see Mark "Being away from my fami ly, that's probably the Price listed among the toughest part of my job," Price explains. "I hate being league's top ten, he gives away from my family, but fortunately for us we get a the Cavs a sense of direction that can't be meafew months in the summer where I can be home all of sured with slats. the time." Also vying for Mark's time are the fans. Spread out over three tables in the Ri chfield Coliseum media lounge are dozens of letters from fans eagerly awaiting a response from the Cavs' All-Star point guard. Why is Price so likable? Maybe it's his intensity on the court. Maybe it's because he doesn' t boast about his skills. Maybe it's because he just seems li ke a regular guy. In just a few minutes of conversation with him as he sits relaxed after practice in a sweatshirt and blue jeans, one can see why. He's not caught up in himself. He's unassuming. And he's got a genuineness that makes him easy to relate to. His popul arit y doesn' t end with fan mail. Mark receives so many requests for speaking engagements that the pastor of his church helped to set up a committee to handle them all. When Price considers his speaking opportunities, one important factor is the opportunity to talk about his faith. "A lot of people don't realize how much Mark does in the ministry," says chapel coordinator Petersburg. "He's a man who is personally motivated to share the gospel. It isn't that he should do it because he's a role model or an athlete, he really has a desire to do evangelism." Mark's personal motivation to tell others about his fait h comes from his love for Christ and his intense desire to please Him. It 's something this "quiet leader" of the Cleveland Cavaliers does loud and clear. And isn' t that the mark of a true champion? D

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Did Kirk Gibson or Spud Webb face the kind of battle Elijah was up against on Mount Carm,el? of the 1988 World Series. The upstart LA Dodgers were underdogs to the mighty Oakland A's. The big bats of Canseco, McGwi re, Lansford, and Dave He derson seemed too powerful; the pitching of Stewart, Welch, and Storm Davis, backed up by the untouchable wizardry of Dennis Eckersley, would silence the likes of Marshall, Sax, and Scoscia. And no one thought even LA's tough pitching staff could shut down the thletics. It was game one of the Series. The Dodgers went into the bottom of the ninth trailing 4-3 and facing Eckersley, the premier relief pitcher in baseball (45 save , 11 walks all season, 2.36 ERA). The first two batters went quietly. Then Mike Davis hung in there for a rare walk from Eck. Manager Tommy Lasorda sent a hobbled Kirk Gibson to the plate. He could only swing from one leg; he couldn' t run. After two quick strikes, it seemed hopeless. Then Gibson lined an Eckersley breaking ball into the right field seats for a stunning victory! The Dodgers went on to win the Series in five games. ln his only Series plate appearance, a crippled Kirk Gibson homered to win the game and inspire the Dodgers to the world championship. Injuries are not the only factors that can put us at a disadvantage. For some, such as NBA basketball stars Mugsy Bogues and Spud Webb, it's size. For others, it may be poverty, a lack of education, or a family torn apart divorce or alcoholism or abuse. Who knows the inner some people face to overcome feelings of inadequacy or inferi01ity or fear? What gives any of us the resources we need to go up against insurmoun able odds and win? What qualities enable us to overcome enormous obstacles and find victory? And how does God help His people? We can leaJn from a man named Elijah. This rugged prophet of Israel went up against unbeatable 450-to-1 odds ... and won. The exciting story is told in the Bible in I Kings 18. (You might want to take about 4 minutes to read it.) Elijah stood alone against 450 priests of Baal in a winner-take-all showdown on Mount Carmel. The contest: Whic h god wo uld miraculously ignite an altar with fi re from heaven? T WAS THE FIRST GAME

By David Egner

The prophets of Baal were up first. They prayed and chanted and wailed all day. They even cut themselves to show their dedication, but they struck out. Their god was silent. Then Elijah stepped in. He ordered his altar to be soaked with water- he may as well have tried to bat agai nst Nolan Ryan while using an inkpen. Yet Elijah was undaunted. At the words of his brief prayer, a blazing fire from heaven consumed his altar entirely. God had shown His awesome power and helped his outnumbered prophet. When we face huge obstacles-whether physical, competitive, or spiritual, we can learn from Elijah. If we develop four qualities evident in his life, we too can beat the odds. Intense Faith

It was El ijah who threw out the challenge on Mo unt

Carmel. The worship of Baal, an idol, was destroying Israel. The people were turning their backs on the one true God so they could worship this false pagan deity. So Elijah, led by God, threw down the gauntlet. He wanted to show Israel that Jehovah was real and that this pagan deity was nothing. It seemed terribly risky. Elijah went against the odds because he had an absolute, unmoving faith in the reality and power of Jehovah. When we have that same kind of faith, we too can face and overcome the huge obstacles in our li ves. Think about Bobby Jones, the slender Philadelphia 76er who was one of the best defensive players in the NBA. Bobby Jones had epilepsy. Most people would not have even thought about enduring the tigors of NBA play with a condition like that. But Jones had faith ·n himself, his ability, his physicians, and most of all , the Lord. He b~Jieved that God would help him and him in the NBA, a~d e did. I faith is essentia~ it overng immense obstacles.

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nching

Even t

lv t e tou gh had unquesin the God of Israel, it took great courage for him to climb Mount Carmel and challenge the prophets of Baal. On that mountain he saw no friendly faces. There were no cheerleaders yelling his name or fans waving "Our

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God is Number I" banners. Elijah knew all too well the cruelty of King Ahab and the wickedness of Jezebel. Would the soldiers be able to protect him from the mob? Would God keep His ord and protect him? Would th y kill him if he won? They surely would if he lost. Elijah stood his ground. He did not cower or run. He had the courage that comes from kno)Ving and believing that God keeps His wOrd. What went through the mind of Jackie Robinson when he first trotted out to second base for the old Brookl yn Dodgers-thus becoming the fi rst black major leaguer? No one questioned his ability. He was All-Star material-one of the best to ever play his position. But what about Robinson's guts? Would A~ the pressure, the animosity, the seething ,:r hatred break him down? His courage #.&..so was strong against enormous odds, ~#'~ and he broke the barrier of prej u1' dice for major league baseball. And what abo ut Heather Farr? This golfer heard her doctor say the terrible word cancer. Yet she's fighting itand winning. She's out on the course, playing competitively, because she's got the kind of courage that overcomes the obstacles of life. Athletes who overcome obstacles have courage-a courage made even stronger for those who trust in qod. Relentless Perseverance

People who go against the odds don't know the meaning of the word (!.tit. When others would stop, they keep going. emember Gail Devers? She was the 1992 Olympic sprinter for the USA who took the gold as "the fastest woman in the world" by narrowly winning the 100-meter dash. A year before, this bubbly, lightning quick runne~ was so ill she had to be carried. She had Graves' ,:r Disease (the same condition George and Barbara~ Bush have). It can be controlled by medication- but it was a Beta blocker, a drug banned by the Olympic committee. So Gail opted for radiation, but the side effects were devastating. Her feet were gross ly swoll en. Amputation became a real threat. It was discovered that her body was reacting to the rad iation, and her treatment was changed. A month later, she began her comeback. Less than a year after that, she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated with a gold medal glittering around her neck.

People who overcome huge obstacles are not quitters. T ey stick it when their ies and minds are pleadin g with them to stop. The contest on Mount Carmel began at awn and lasted until dusk. Elijah cou ld have looked over at those 450 priests glaring at him and ql it? But he stayed on that mountain until sunset, when his perseverance paid off in a stunning fireworks display that turned the contest into a rout. God strengthens and rewards our courage. Effective Prayer

On Obstacles ARK PRICE REACHED HIS GOAL Of playing in the NBA. But most of us fail to fulfill our athletic dreams. We are too short or too slow or can't hit a curveball or keep c urving a golfball. The obstacles stack up so high we just can't get over them. So how do we look at life when we have NFL dreams and high school ability? Are we to be angry at God for not making us run like Carl Lewis or for not giving us a serve like Arantxa Sanchez Vicario's? A better way to look at things is from a perspective given to us in the Psalms, a book that has given hope to people for thousands of years. Noting God's creating power, the writer said, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (139:14). All of us, no matter what our limitations, were made exactly as God Intended us to be made. Even some athletes, like Jim Abbott, OJ Simpson, Madeline Manning Mlms, Tom

Dempsey, and Jim Elsenreich, had to overcome A person who has put his faith in Jesus Christ has a fo urth debilitating defects or illnesses or Injuries to advantage that enables him to reach world-class status. grab victory in the face ,of Like them, we need to look past our obstaclesdefeat- prayer. ' not dwell on them- If we want to succeed. Here's the report about what Yet we can't do It alone. We need to keep in mind happened with Elijah: "At the the words of Paul, a well-worn, often imprisoned, time of the sacrifi ce, the and routinely suffering man who ran Into more prophet Elijah stepped forward obstacles than an NFL halfback. "I have learned to and prayed ... Then the fire of be content whatever the circumstance," he said. "I the Lord fe ll " ( I Kin gs can do everything through Him who gives me 18:36,38). With God's interstrength" (4:11 ,13). That's the best attitude to have vention, the prophet had won the Battle of Mount Carmel. when obstacles slow us down. Prayer focuses our heart on To find out more about facing life as it comes, the God of inexhaustible power, write and ask for the free booklet How Can I Feel not the obstacle of oppression. Good About Myself? The address Is Sports In God we find the strength and Spectrum, Box 3566, Grand Rapids, Ml 49501. D conviction to go on. Elijah knew that. So does Susan Anderson, a Christian who lost a finger in an accident, yet who went on play pro basketball overseas. So does Matt Johnson, a high school tennis player who co,npetes despite having no hands. So can you. With God, you can go against the odds. It may not be in sports. It could be in anything where you're the underdog: mastering algebra, learning to be comfortable wi th people, dealing with a limitation, coming back from unwise choices. It takes an intense faith in God, unflinching courage, unbounded perseverance, and effecti ve prayer. With the Spirit of God to help you, you can do it. You can be victorious against the odds. This is the victOJ)' that overcomes the world, even ourfaith (I Jo/111 5:4).

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• Athletes Who are Leading by Exanaple

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• were really prepared. "When God opened the door, we weren't sure whether we were full y equipped," recalls the man who keeps the Kings equipped. "But we made ourselves available, and that's the most important step. It was a step of faith." Despite a strong "religious" presence in Poland, Millar noticed that "some people had not heard the gospel." Their ministry had perhaps the greatest impact on Marcin ... ,.v.. Suszczewshi, the kids are out of school and we Millars' translator. "He asked spend time together." why we came to Poland, and Why, then, did he travel to when we told him, I never saw a Poland- separating himself from look like that on anyone's face. his children for 2 of those preHe was really attentive to what cious weeks? Because Pete and we were saying." Before the 2 Ramona were on a mission. weeks were over, Marcin had The impetus behind that misaccepted Christ as his Savior. sion was a car accident in 1987. The Millars invited Marcin to While driving in Edmonton, visit them this past summer, Millar suddenly lost control of his enabling their children to car. It was destroyed, but he meet him. The mission trip walked away with minor injuries. "I realized I could have been killed or seriously hm1," he says. "I started to think 'what would happen?' and I wasn't sure. My wife was already a Christian, but I had put up walls." After studying and praying, he went to a church in Boston during a road tri p and gave his life to Christ. "I knew my life was different when I came out of that church." Then he got the opportun ity to go to Poland. "My wife had been praying that we would go to the next step [in our faith]. Shortl y after, a pastor called and left a message saying he was heading a mission team to Poland. When I heard that, my first thought was, 'We're going.' " That's exactly what happened, although Millar wondered if they EIALLSI'OAT

• Peter Millar Equipped To Help THEHOCKEY SEASONcan be long and grueling. From mid-August till late in May, the grind of games, practice, travel, and long days away from home can take its toll on the players. For people like Peter Millar, equipment manager for the Los Angeles Kings, it's even worse. His days are longer than Corey Millen's or Paul Coffey's. He's on the job before the stars report to the rink and he's there after they leave. Millar arrives at the Great Western Forum as early as 7 a.m. to make sure Tomas Sandstrom's uniform is ready and Luc Robitaille's skates are properly sharpened for morning practice. When the game's over, the equipment must be packed away, which means Millar wi ll not leave until nearly midnight. When the Kings go on the road, he has to make sure the gear is packed, loaded, unloaded, and available when the team needs it. So for at least 8 months of the year, Millar has little time to spend with his wife, Ramona, and their children, Matthew II , and Ashley 9. There is a benefi t: "I have 2 1/2 months in the off-season when the 12

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took Peter and Ramona away from their children, but Peter said he wouldn't hesitate to go again. "I spend so much time away from them during the season, but we thought it could benefit everyone in the long run- and it has." D - Lois Thomson

• Mike HolTngren Hands-on Approach MIKE HOLMGREN LEARNEDEARLY that he could tmst his hands with a football. Not till years later, though, did he learn to tmst his life in God's hands. Now he has a hand in helping kids make that discovery. Like most boys who grew up in the shadow of San Francisco's Kezar Stadium, Mike dreamed of playing for the 49ers. But unlike most boys, he quarterbacked his high school team to a state championship and caught the eye of USC scouts. His dream of

••••••••••••••••• playing pro football was on track. What wasn't on track was his spiritual life. "Although I had accepted Jesus as my Savior as an 11-year-old and attended church each Sunday, I quit taking my faith seriously when I reali zed what a good athlete I was," he admits. "My faith had been filed away. God would just have to wait on the sidelines." Because of injuries at USC, it was Holmgren who was sidelined for much of his college career. • Yet he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1970, only to be released before training camp. His hopes were revived when the New York Jets picked him up as Joe Namath's backup. Preseason went well, and Holmgren seemed certain to survive the fin al cut. But one week before the first game of the regular season, he was on a jet headed home instead of being a Jet headed for Shea Stadium. "I was crushed," he recalls. "I had put everything on hold to pursue my success in sports. My only goal was to play football, and now it was not to be." It was then that Holmgren let go of his grip on football and began to pay attention to his relationship with God. "I rediscovered the truth of Proverbs 3:5,6," he says. "Those verses reassured me that if I focused on trusting the Lord, He would take care of my future." That future include'd another crack at the NFL. Five years of college coaching paved the way for Holmgren to become offensive coordinator for the 49ers. For 6 years he choreographed the magic moves of Joe Montana and helped lead the team of his boyhood dreams to two consecut ive Super Bowl championships. Now, as head coach of the Green Bay Packers, Holmgren has discovered new dimensions to the game. For instance, wins aren't as

frequent as they were in Candlestick Park. But now he knows how to handle losses without letting them mess up his life. "I made that mistake once before," the Packers' coach confesses. "My wife Kathy and I have covenanted together that if winning ever begins to undermine my walk with the Lord, my marriage, or my relationship with my three daughters, I' ll leave football on the line of scri mmage." That commitment is behind Holmgren' s involvement in a summer camping program near San Francisco. It's the camp where Mike and Kathy met as junior high students and where they now own a cabin. Because he understands firsthand the selfcentered motives that drive teenagers to shelve their faith in order to pursue short-sighted goals, Mike invests time and money at Mission Springs Camp each summer. In addition, he and Kathy mi x it up with the kids at the swimming pool, on the basketball court, in the dining hall, or in a game of touch football. "When kids ask me what we pray about in the lockerroom, I tell them you don't ask the Lord to win games. You ask Him to

help you set an example and to keep things in perspective." TI1at's the kind of thinking kids need to hear about. And they get it best with the genuine hands-on approach of people like Mike Holmgren. - Greg Asimako~tport!os

• Reggie White Hitting the St ..eets ThE 6' 5", 285-POUND FRAME of

Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Reggie White has often stmck fear into opposing qum1erbacks. But for a while fear sacked White. "I, like a lot of other Christians, dealt in fear," says White of the anxiety that goes along with reaching out to others. "People need love. I want to be that type of person to stand in the gap." The former University of Tennessee standout has found himself quite a large gap, even for a man of his stature. Every Friday, White combines preaching, humor, and autograph sessions on the streets of Philadelphia and neighboring Camden, New Jersey. "I didn't want to subject myself or my family to getting shot," said White as he talked about his fears. "God showed me

S PORTS SPECTR UM • ..JANUARY!f' EB RU ARY 1993

that if I got shot there, I'd rather die where I was called." So far he hasn' t run into any shootings or druglords. Not that he's hiding-White preaches in the heart of gang territory. White has not come alone to the city. He brings his wife and two children and usually other teammates. The list includes former teammate Keith Jackson as well as current Eagles Keith Byars, John Booty, Eric Allen and Antone Davis. The response has been good. On one cold day, White and Davis visited with the Camden High School football team, challenging them to excel on the field and in the classroom. "It was something for Reggie to come out here," said CHS football player Johnny Cm1er. "He's a role model. I've been looking forwm·d to meeting him. It was a positive message about Jesus." Carter, li ke all of his teammates, is an African-American. He li ves in a city where burnt-out buildings li ne the streets and drug dealers hover on many corners. Yet Reggie White sees hope. "The inner-cities are where revival is going to be," he says. "Not in the church- in the streets." White doesn' t just preach. He visits with the elderly and helps clean up the local neighborhoods. In the past the minister of defense ministered mainly to suburban people. Not anymore. "White-led ministries can't have an effect like blacks can," the eighth-year player says. "A white brother led me to Christ, but it's gonna take black men to reall y affect black communities." While Reggie may not dri ve fear into his opponents forever, there is one thing he won' t stop doing-telling others about Jesus Christ. Proclaims White, "I 'II be doi ng this for the rest of my life." D - Jef!Smitlr 13

.._ Kyle Petty, who once tried to climb racing 's summit with the Peak Team, has joined forces with Mello Yello and his career has taken a turn for the top.

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As the son of King Richard, Kyle Petty is the heir apparent to the crown--yet he is 1naking his own way on the NASCAR circuit In his best year yet, Kyle Petty was in the running for the Winston Cup championship on the November day his dad retired in a spectacular event in Atlanta. Now Kyle alone represents a family that has been racing stock cars for nearly 50 years. Kyle talked with Sports Spectrum about how he fits into the Petty racing family- and about how his faith has become a vital part of his life. Sports Spectrum: Is it true that a purple Road Runner had an impact in your getting started as a race car driver? ltyle: That's a car my fath er won. In 197 1, he won Daytona, and Chrysler gave him a Road Runner. Wh en th ey shipped it to Petty Enterprises, it got caught in a flood. It was wiped out when we got it. So we just rode around in it and had fun in it. We li ved only half a mile from the race shop, so we'd drive it up and down the highway and through the fields and everywhere. The center of our universe was the race shop, so I always maintained an interest in racing, and I always wanted to work on cars. By the time I got out of high school, all I wanted to do was drive a race car. SS: When you were growing up, you r dad was a top driver, yet there ""'HALLiALLsPoor was another driver who influenced you, wasn' t there? l{yle: When I was growi ng up, Charlie Glotzbach came along. He dro ve a purple car. He drove a Dow Chemicals car, a Superbird, just like my father drove. So I kind of associated it with the purple Road Runner. I think that's why I pulled for him. SS: Many fathers want their sons to grow up and do the same thing they do. How did your dad feel about your following in his racing footsteps? ltyle: I don' t know. He never encouraged me, but he never discouraged me either. He never said, "This is what I (Continued on page 18)

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want you to do." But he never told me, "I don't want you to do what I do." I think he is proud that this is what I do. But in the beginning, I don't think it was one way or the other. SS: Did your dad help you to get into raci ng? ICyle: I came around at just the right time, because my father had always run Chryslers, and in the late 70s he switched over from Chrysler products to GM products. So we had two or three old Dodges sitting around. When I got ready to start driving a race car, it was just easier and cheaper for us if I drove a Dodge. It was also easier because my grandfather raced and then my father raced, so there was a lot of publicity around it. It was easier to go to a sponsor and get some money from them. SS: You are the first third-generation driver to win a NASCAR event. The first NASCAR Petty was your grandfather Lee. Tell us a little about him. ICyle: My grandfather started in the late 40s. He was hurt in a bad accident at Daytona in 1960 or 196 1.

He ran a couple of times after that and then never raced again. During his career, though, he won 3 championships, and 53 or 54 races. He was a dominant force. SS: Your clad is one of the most popular men in th e country. What wa s it like growing up with a famous father? ICyle: I grew up with a father who in the early 60s was winning a lot of races and doing good, but still a lot of people didn' t ~now who he was. It wasn' t until the mid 70s that the sport began to really take off, and a lot of people began to realize who Richard Petty was. By that time, we had seen it go from two people coming up to him during dinner and asking for autographs to 15 people. It was a gradual progression for us. SS: What kind of pressure do you feel living up to your dad' s reputation? ICyle: Well, I don't feel any, and I never have. I think that is a tribute to the way that my mother and father brought us up. We were the son and daughters of a famous parent, but we dicln 't have to live up to any expectations. The only expectations we had to live up to were what we wanted to do and what we wanted to be. When I started, I think a lot of fans thought I was going to be the 18

.A. Petty & crew enjoying victory lane after winning the 1991 Goodwrench 500.

second Ri chard Petty. But I knew I was just trying to learn. I was just like anyone else. They put my father up on a pedestal, but I wasn't that way. My deal is to go out and do the best I can, win as many races as I can, and just be happy with what I do. When I run a race, if I feel like I gave it 11 0 percent, then I'm happy with it. SS: Describe the feelings you had in your first competitive race. ICyle: I was li ke a kid in a candy store. I was excited that I was 18 years old and that they turned me loose in a race car that would run 200 miles an hour. That's all there was to it. I don't think there were any feelings of being nervous or anything like that. When I look back on it I 0 years later, I should have been scared to cleat h. SS: Could you take us through a big race and explain what happens before, during, and after the race. ICyle: Nothing. I know that doesn' t make sense, but it's just nothing exciting. When you've done thi s for so long, it's just like anything else. You show up at the race track at 6:30 or 7:30 in the morning. You talk to the crew and make sure everything's all right. Most of the time you go to two or three sponsor hospitality tents to sign autographs. Then you come back to the garage area where they keep the cars, and then you have a drivers' meeting. Then Max Helton has a church service for us that lasts about 30 or 45 minutes. Then it's time to put on your uni form, go to driver introduction, and get in the car. The next thing you know, you're racing. As soon as the race is over, you' re looking for a ride to the airport so you can get home. SS: You mentioned Max Helton and the chapel program on the NASCAR circuit. How has that program affected you? ICyle: Well, it has helped me personally. I think it's important, and I thi nk it's important for each driver and each crew member. Max doesn't have j ust a church service on Sunday. You're looking at the tip of an iceberg. For each dri ver and each crew member what's really important is the Bible study that Max has on Thursday nights or the counseling that Max will go through if you' re having problems. He's there every day from 7 in the morn ing to 5 in the afternoon, j ust like us. I thi nk when the fans walk through and see usDarrell Waltrip or Lake Speed or Bobby Hillin-sitting in a church service, that's a good witness for Jesus Christ. The fans might be saying, " Man, I would never have thought that about Darrell, or I would never have suspected that this guy would have gone to church every Sunday morning." But I think what Max does the rest of the time is more important. It's just what he calls it- Motor Racing Outreach. He reaches out to us. SS: You mentioned the Bible studies and the counseling al ong with the Sunday chapel service, is that a vital part of Kyle Petty's race week? ICyle: Oh, yes. Definitely so. There are a lot of peopl e who go to church but never understand the Bible. They're just going through the motions. I think that's where you' re living by the law and not by grace. Max will preach on a book of the Bible for Gmonths. At the same time, the Bible stud y takes us more in depth into it. In a 30-minute sermon, you 've only got so

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OA'fTONA INTERNATlONAl SPEEDWAY

a._....lag YoUit Baclcll a Competition on the NASCAR circuit can pit fnÂˇends against friends at 200 miles per hour. Kyle Petty talks about how he handles that dilemma. IT'S JUST LIKE WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG and you used to play playground basketball with your friends. Somebody would foul you and you wouldn't like It, so you'd get Into a scuffle. But It didn't make any difference, because when the game was over with you all went to the hamburger stand and got a hamburger, because It was just a game. It kills me when I read about other athletes and how serious they take what they're doing. Like In a hundred years, somebody's going to know what somebody really did I Thomas Jefferson and those guys wrote the Constitution. That was important. Barry Bonds hits 40 home runs In a year and nobody Is going to know that In another 15 or 20 years. So I just don't think there Is a lot of what we do that's critical. When you're on the race track, and you're running 200 miles an hour, you have to trust the guy In front of you. There Is a large quantity of trust here, because this Is not a sport where you go In for a lay-up and you know that guy Is going to block you hard. In our sport, if you go In to the first corner for a pass, and somebody does something to you, It's a life and death deal. It Is not a bruised elbow or a bumped knee. You have to trust the guy you are racing with. D

--,- --------------------much time, you just hit the high spots and that's about it. So !think the Bible studies, where you go in and you sit for an hour or an hour and a half, that 's a little more in-depth for us. That's something that as a group of drivers we've never had before. And something I think a lot of us count on. SS: Tell us how you came to know Christ as your personal savior. l(yle: I grew up going to church with my mother and grandmother. I was going through the moti ons, going to Sunday school, and going to Bible school in the summertime. You go through the whole thing, and you get the surface. I don't think you ever really realize what's going on. They expect you to pick up on faith in Christ for some reason, and you just don't. When I was 15, niy uncle was killed in a pit road accident. It was he and I working together, and the car came in for a pit stop. The left front wheel bearing was on fire. And we had to get a water tank. At first, I took the air hose and he took the water hose, but then he said, " No, you take the water hose, and I' ll take the air hose." As he was filling up a tank, the tank exploded, and it killed him. I realized how close I had come to being the guy with the air hose. I think it made me sit down and investigate a little bit further, and think about things. I realized, i f I am going to be in thi s sport, then there has to be somebody to protect me, because you can' t do it on your own. And I just gave my life over to the Lord. I said, " Here it is, God. This is me, whatever You want to

do with me, do with me and I' ll head in that direction." Every time I get in a race car, and every time I go to a race, I turn everything over to Him. I say, " Here is the steering wheel, You drive. I'll j ust ride today." SS: How do you share your faith with your friends and to the general public? IC:yle: Just by the way I act. I think there are a lot of people who will say one thing and do something totally different. It's that way in all walks of life. But when people see a change, and they can visually see you act differetit or be a different way, I think that's a stron ger witness than standing there and explaining every book in the Bible to them. It's tough when you've run a race and somebody has wrecked you and you' re hot under the collar. You have to take a minute and compose yourself. There are a mill ion people watching. How you respond will affect somebody's life a whole lot more than it 's going to affect yours. SS: Is it difficult to maintain a reasonable fami ly life with your schedule? IC:yle: It's hard. I think it puts all the pressure on Patty, my wife, to make some semblance of normalcy at home. When I' m gone and something happens that needs my discipline, it's tough for me to j ust walk in the house and discipline a child. I' m still trying to get used to that. I think it puts a lot of pressure on Patty to keep everything normal. SS: At Tal ladega in 199 1, you were in a seriou s wreck. We see it from the TV standpoint, but you see the big cloud of smoke and all of a sudden you' re crashing- not knowing what's on the other end. What are you thinking when you' re driving into a pile-up like that? IC:yle: You think you are going to make it out. You don't ever think you ' re going to crash. You never feel li ke you're going to be in it. You ' re still driving and still turning and still braki ng and standing on the gas, and doing a million different things trying to avoid a wreck. So you never give up and say, " Hey, I am in this wreck, it's over with." I don' t think you ever give up, no matter what. When something happens, you don 't have time to be afraid and you don' t have time to feel any fear or anythin g. Wrecks are just a part of our sport, but you never think about it. SS: You came back and had a great year in 1992. You fi nished fifth in the Winston Cup standings and won a couple of races. What kind of goals do you have for yourself for 1993 and beyond? IC:yle: Just do the best you can and that's all. I have never really been a goal-oriented person. I know every race I go to, I want to win. I figure if you go to each race with that attitude, then it's like building a house. If you can put each block into pl ace, then you build a strong foundation and build a strong house. If you are sidetracked at what the windows are going to look like and what the roof is going to look like before you get the brick work in place, then it 's going to be a weak foundation. It is just like your Christi an fai th, unless you know the fundamentals and unless you start with a good foundation and build your house on the Rock, it's going to fall. I take life one day at a time, one week at a time, and one race at a time.

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In a Zone of Their Ovwn By John Long HIS HAS BEEN A LONG,

long process," begins Mike Swanson, vice president of public relations for the Colorado Rockies. "Over 5 years in fact, to get major league baseball's attention so they would know that Denver wanted to be part of the show." The city of Denver has a long tradition in baseball, and the people there feel it's about time the big leagues arrived. "The Triple A Denver Bears have played here forever it seems," Swanson says. "A couple of years ago they changed their name to the Zephyrs so that, if we wanted, we could call our expansion team the Bears." They didn't want to. They chose the name Rockies because they "wanted to find a way to make people throughout the Rocky Mountains feel a kinship to our team," says Dean Peelor of the Rockies' public relations department. "When you think of this area, the most obvious characteristic is our mountai ns, and so we want to be attractive to fans from the entire Mountain Time Zone." Swanson, a veteran baseball man who spent 7 years with the Kansas City Royals ( 1972-1978), has been instrumental in modeling the teams' business operation after the fledgli11g Royals of the 1970s. The fact that the Rockies would look for people from the Royals' system is not surprising since the Royals are widely seen as a highly successful expansion team. The Rockies will use Mile High Stadium as their temporary home while their new baseball park is under construction. Mile High has some obvious drawbacks. The asphalt warning track will have to be replaced, the foul poles will have to be raised 20

from the current I0 feet, and the outfield dimensions- 335 feet in left, 420 in center, and 370 to right-are odd. But no big deal. Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium do just fine with some rather odd home run distances. After 2 seasons in Mile High, the Rockies will open a new park that joins a growing number of modern, old-fashioned stadiums. Modeled after Baltimore's Camden Yards, the park will seem turn of the century, yet it will deliver state of the art comfort. The new stadium deal went a long way toward ti pping the scales toward Denver when the National League voted to expand. But the new field wi ll not have a dome, and that means weather is a concern as baseball arrives in the mountains. There's always a chance of snow. However, given the makeup of the schedule and the average rai n and snowfall days, three or four postponements can be expected. That number is comparable with the rest of baseball. Temperatures are often in the 70s on April afternoons. Fans in Chicago are treated to sleet and snow in the early

weeks of the season every year, so the Denver weather will probably be no more a factor than it is in the northern cities. Season ticket sales of more 25,000 give the Rockies breathing room as they assemble a competitive team. With a guaranteed attendance of roughly two million, and with a legitimate shot at much more, the Rockies can stick to their plan of developing a certain kind of player. Denver' s high atti tude causes balls to jump off the bat, often turning a single into extra bases. Consequentl y, the team has indicated they will sign young, very fast, complete players, not high salaried veterans simply to

Bob Gebhart, Player Personnel Director, says that he will be looki ng for pitchers who can keep the ball down. "All mistakes will get hit. The aliitude is a factor, but any pitcher who throws stri kes and keeps the ball down can be successful here. We aren't overl y concerned about the altitude. We are concerned with acquiring pitchers who can consistently hit their spots and keep the opposition off the bases, so if a ball does fly to the gap, we won' t get hurt too bad. "Whether a pitcher earns $700,000 or minimum wage, we want to sign intelligently, and we hope the fans will be tolerant

John Elway will no longer be the best baseba ll player who call s Mile High Stadium his home fi eld whe n the Rock ies play ball for the first time in April

while the team learns to play together. Our first four choices in the amateur draft were righthanded pitchers, and Joe Niekro is worki ng with them at our Bend, Oregon, farm club. They've done very well. We signed more draft choices than any other club, 40 out of 50, and one of them, John Burke, is a local high school star. It gives us one more li nk to our fans."

draw fans. Peelor explains that the Rockies want players who are "young, have great wheels, can cover the gaps and hit with controlled power."

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600C)6000066 •• Who was the first woman to dunk in basketball game?

-- ----· CHUCK SWIRSKY, host of Sports Spectrum radio, is also sports director of WGN Radio in Chicago and playby-play voice of the DePaul University basketball team. Here are some questions sports fans like you asked Chuck. Wondering? Have you been wondering about a sports question but didn't know where to turn? Turn to Chuck. If you have a question about sports, send your question to "Stump the Swirsk," Sports Spectrum, Box 3566, Grand Rapids, MI 49501. Chuck on Radio Sports Spectrum radio is on the air live each Saturday at noon Eastern time nationwide. Call1-800-598-722 1 to find out where you can hear Sports Spectrum. Or write to us at Sports SpectrUfll for a radio log.

a college

Chuck: Who comes up with these questions? In 1984, 6' 7" Georgeann Wells of West Virginia slammed it home. Her Mountaineers lost the game however. They were beaten by Charleston 11 0-82.

•• Who is your favorite athlete of the Chicago area teams?

Chuck: It's hard not to love the grace and dominance of Michael Jordan. He is the most gifted player the game of basketball has ever seen. Mike Singletary, Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, Jere my Roenick, and Carlton Fisk are all future Hall of Famers and all very high on my list.

• Gould you tell me 0

about the Miami Dolphins' middle linebacker John Offerdahl?

Chuck: With plea~ure. Offerdahl has been in the NFL for seven seasons and is one of the game's best at his position. He was drafted in the second round of the 1986 draft out of Western Michigan. John is a smart, compet~tive player who has made a comeback following a major knee . i!Uury. Offerdahl's other interests include the bagel company he owns and the involvement he has in the Miami community.

•• Tell me about the Ice Bowl.

Chuck: You must be talking about the Packers-Cowboys championship game on December 31, 1966. I'll never forget watching the

game in the comfort of my living room thinking that the players had to be crazy. The game-time temperature was 13 degrees with a 15 mile per hour wind that made it miserable for everyone. The game came down to a dramatic ending and the Packers walked away with a 21-17 victory. Green Bay went on to win the first Super Bowl two weeks later topping the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.

•• How good is Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues?

Chuck: Every team in the NHL would love to have a sharp-shooter like Hull. Brett, the son of NHL legend Bobby Hull, is a prolific scorer who got a wakeup call in 1988 when the Calgary Flames traded him to the Blues. Before the deal, the Flames thought Hull was too laid back. Hull caught fire with St.Louis, and the rest of the NHL is now singing the Blues!

•• I'm writing from Canada and I'm a huge fan of boxing. I'm curious if Muhammad Ali ever fought George Ghuvalo?

Chuck: On March 29, 1966, Ali had to go the distance to beat Chuvalo by unanimous decision in a fight in Toronto. George gave The Champ everything he could handle and then some.

in similar fashion, topping them four games to two. e

• What is the triple crown in baseball, and who was the last player to win it? Chuck: To win the triple

crown a player must lead the league in batting, home runs, and RBI. The last time it was done was 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski of the Red Sox put it all together. Yaz hit .326 with 44 home runs and 121 runs batted in.

• Who was the 0

Cleveland Indian who won Rookie of the Year honors in the early 1980s?

Chuck: Joe Charboneau was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1980. The Indian outfielder·designated hitter batted .289 with 23 home runs and 87 runs batted in. Quite a year for a rookie! By 1983, Joe was out of baseball. It was one of the truly sad stories of baseball.

•• Where did Rickey Henderson go

to college?

Chuck: Henderson bypassed college for minor league baseball. He broke in with the Oakland ballclub in 1979 after spending three seasons in the minors. Henderson attended high school at Oakland Tech, and he graduated in 1976.

•

• When was the last time the Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup?

Chuck: You have to turn back the clock to the 1974 and 1975 seasons. The Flyers defeated the Boston Bruins in the '74 Stanley Cup Finals, four games to two. In the '75 finals they defeated the Buffalo Sabres

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At the helm of two proud and powerful NBA Pacific Division franchises are a couple ofmen who took different routes-but have the same destination • By John Ed Baker NOVEMBER 6, 1992, 40-year-old Randy Pfund of Santa Barbara, Califo rnia, posted his first vic tory as head coach of an organized team in a recognized league. II just happened to be in the NBA. II also happened to be a di vision win. By two poi nts. On the road. In overtime. And right after his best player had announced that he was not going to play anymore. When the Lakers beat the LA Clippers, the transplanted Illinois bachelor joined a small fraternity of NB A coaches who had never taken the wheel of a smaller ship before navi gatin g the hi ghes t waters of the basketball world: Dan Issei, Garry St. Jean, Lenny Wil kens, Pal Riley, Dave DeBusschere. And Randy Pfund. Pfun d? Is th ai pro no un ced li ke it 's spelled? (No, the "P" is silent.) Did you say he's fro m Illinois? (Yes, Wheaton.) And what team did you say he' s with? (Only the Los Angeles Lakers.) His name is not exactly legendary yet. But a lege nd hired him, and legends endorse the choice. Lakers' GM Jeny West said of Pfund, "He's really a confident guy, and the players are behind him. He has a great cou11 demeanor and understands the game." Veteran Laker James Worthy said, "Randy's not like a rookie coach. He's the p ~r fect coach to play for. Caring, knowledgeable, he really knows the game. He's really given us a new breath of life." Right place, right time, right Randy. So how does a Cru sader from Wheaton College end up in what many consider the most glamorous job in the NBA? Pfund's odyssey of discovery has been chronicled as a one-of-aN

..,. Randy Pfund has made a smooth transition from making suggestions to calling the shots during his rookie season as head coach of the Lakers.

ANOAEW O. 8ERSN$TEIWNBA PtiOTOS

kind Cinderella story. Pfu nd himself, however, said after the Lakers' May 18 hiring announcement, "II wasn't exactly like going out to LA in a covered wagon. II was all very normal to me." "Normal" 10 Randy Pfund meant learning basketball at an early age from his father, Lee Pfu nd, who played briefly for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945 (a pitcher, Pfu nd was 3-2 in 15 games for the third-

<II Paul Westphal, who was an outstanding floor leader- scoring 12,397 points and playIng In 90 playoff games during his playing career, now leads from outside the lines.

place Dodgers). In 1952, the year Randy was born, Lee became head baseball and basketball coach at Wheaton College. Over a 24-year career at Wheaton, Pfund the elder accumulated 362 wins, including a stretch of 56 consecutive conference victories and a 1957 NCAA Division II national championshi p. It seems natura l that the young Pfund would attend Wheaton, the hometown Christian college that produced Sen. Dan Coats (R- Ind.); Richard Halverso n, chaplain to the Senate; Dick Helm and Donn Nelson, both assistant NBA coaches; and of course, Billy Graham. Randy Pfund's impaet on the Crusader basketball program still shows in today' s record books: Most career assists, most assists in a single game, fourth in career field goal percentage, sixth in career scoring, and seventh in career free throw percentage. Pfund once scored 40 points in a game. After college, Pfund's first goal was coaching, which meant that teachi ng history at Chicago's Glenbard South High School (where he coached the freshman "B" team) was not enough. So Pfu nd wrote leiters to 30 colleges and uni versities around the country, offering his services. He got no promising feedback from 29 of them. But one coach-Chet Kammerer from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California- responded. Pfund crossed the coumry to assist Kammerer for room and board

only, and found odd jobs for a survival income. Not imagining that he'd ever get closer to the NBA than washing Chicago Bulls uniforms as he had done years earl ier when Wheaton was a practice site, Pfund was nevertheless on the right track in hooking up with Chet Kammerer. Legendary Lake r play-by- play ma n Ch ick Hearn call s Kammerer "a marvelous man with a great basketball mi nd." Salary or no salary, it was a great way to gain experience and coaching savvy. A Lakers' connection eventuall y developed between Pfund and longtime NBA presence Bill Bertka. Bertka and his wife Solveig operated a scout ing service, and they hired Pfund as a parttimer during his Westmont clays. After his eighth season with Westmont, Pfund got the "dream call" from Pat Riley, who followed Bertka's recommendation to replace the departed Dave Wahl with Pfund as Laker's assistant. After 4 years as a scout for Riley, Pfund was moved to a spot on the bench alongside Bert ka as a top assistant. Testament to the success of the combination is fou nd on the first page of Riley's bestselli ng book, Showti111e, as the acknowledgements begin "To Bi ll Bertka and Randy Pfund. Your constant support has made me grow." When Riley made the jump to the New York Knicks, he offered everything he could to entice Pfund to follow. Instead, Pfund stayed in LA, where West came up with a matching counter offer. "Jerry West came within an eyelash of hi ring him instead of Dun leavy," reports Hearn. "The way it turned out is better for everybody. Dunleavy was a tremendous coach, and so was Riley. There's a lillie in Randy that he learned from both of them, and that's going to make hi m an outstanding coach." Byron Scott agrees that Pfund drew from both coaches under whom he served. "He has a lot of both of them in hi m. He's not as hard as Riley, as far as work, work, work, 'cause Randy likes to have fun. Mike was real easy-going. We didn't work as hard with Mike, but we're working a lot harder for Randy." Following the 1991- 1992 season, Sacramento interviewed Pfund for their top job, but he chose to stay in LA. Then, just after Pfund refused the Kings' offer, Dunleavy announced his move to Milwaukee. 'The timing was amazing," said Pfund. "I could have easily accepted the job up there 3 clays prior to Mike's announcing he was leaving the Lakers." But he didn' t, ancl soon he wa the Lakers' head coach.

SPOR r S SPECTRU M â&#x20AC;˘ JANUAR Y/FEB F1U ARY 1 993

A. Pfund knows his first season may not be all fun, but he's still looking to win plenty of games.

.,.. Some Suns' may be more tall than Paul, but they still look up to their coach-a five-time NBA AIIÂˇStar.

There is no doubt that Pfund's job changed radically with the off-then on- then finally off again status of the Magic man. "It 's become tougher for us to achieve the level of excellence that was almost commonplace during the '80s," said Pfund. "We're missing one huge piece of that puzzle, but I do n' t approach it like it's impossible we get back there. The '80s were Showtime, and we' re past that. This team can make its own moments." All sig ns indicate that Pfund is the ideal choice for leading the Lakers into a new era. Hearn noted that "his ability to lead people is astounding. He has taken over this group of Lakers, and they really respect him, really like his way of teaching, and I think he's going to be a total success." Worthy expressed the players' affection for the former assistant. "He's been with us a long time. Ever since Riley left, he's been like a head coach to me, even when Mike was here. I love him. I always have. He handles things like a true professional. He expects a lot out of us, and we expect that from him as well." Another part of Randy Pfund's life that may be a key to his success is his Christian upbringing and the continued presence of a strong faith in Christ. A.C. Green, known throughout the league as a devout Christian, says that "He's more than just a coach. I can respect him as a man. It's great to play for a coach who has strong morals, who tries to live a life of integrity and character. You can respect his authority, like the Bible tells us, but when you have a man that's trying to represent that, you really want to do even more." IK E PFU ND, PAU L WESTPHAL made his debut as head coach in the NBA with a win over the Los Angeles Clippers. But if Randy Pfund rose from near anonymity to pilot the Lakers, Westphal's ascension in Phoenix was accompanied by brass bands and tickertape parades. And just as the departure of Magic means big changes for Pfund' s future, the arri val of a superstar heralds Westphal's arri val. What the average NBA fan knows about Phoeni x is that Charles Barkl ey was acquired for Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang, and Tim Perry. What most people might not know is that the Suns are a remarkable part of the life of Phoenix and that no other name is more synonymous with the Suns than Paul Westphal. Mayo r Paul Johnson calls Westphal "o ne of Phoenix's finest citizens." He can't go to church or have dinner in a restaurant without being recognized.

The Suns' flamboyant owner Jerry Colangelo, who says "I do things instincti vely," broke with traditional practices in the hiring of Westphal. When asked to join Cotton Fitzsimmon's staff as an assistant 4 years ago, Westphal received an unprecedented promise from Colangelo that he would succeed as head coach whenever Fitzsimmons stepped down. Westphal is a name associated with the best in Phoenix basketball. In a city without a pro championship of any kind, the Suns shined brighter than any team in the city's history with their trip to the NBA Finals in 1976. Westphal was in his rookie year with the Suns, leading the team in scoring with 20.5 points per game. But perhaps Westphal will be remembered best for a mental play during the triple-overtime fifth game of those finals. Then OM Colangelo recently recounted the famous "time-out incident" in what he calls "the greatest game of all time."

Number 44 called for time when the Suns were down by one with one second on the clock in overtime against Boston. Coach John Me Leod was initi ally upset, kn owing he was out of time-outs and the Celtics would get a free thro w. But Westphal was thinking a step ahead. "He made the call in a situation where we' cl be penalized by giving up a free throw," recalls Colangelo. "In order to get the ball out at mid-court, the old rule said that we had to stop play. The Suns' Garfield Heard hit a turn-around shot that put it into another overtime." Boston went on to win the game and the series (4-2), but Colangelo saw "the first real indication that Paul Westphal had something special going for him. Here

S PORTS SPE C TRUM â&#x20AC;˘ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1 993

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was a thinking ma n's player wit h the potential to become an outstanding coach." Westphal finished his playing career in 1984 as a fivetime All-Star, the Suns' fourth leadi ng scorer (9,564 pts), and one of four Suns to have his number retired. In 1989, his jersey number 44 joined Connie Hawkins', Alvan Adams', and Dick Van Arsdale's in the Phoenix rafters. Many players have followed illustrious on-court careers with other roles in and around the game, some in front offices, some in broadcast booths, and some in coaching. Westphal was one who knew he wanted to coach long before he joined the NBA. In a March 1972 press release from USC, where he played in college, Westphal was quoted as saying, "I wou ld li ke to coach someday." Beginning when he played for Bob Boyd at Southern Cal, Westphal studied the coaching styles of some of the game's best. Being aro und Red Auerbach, Don Nelson, Red Holzman, McLeod, and Fitzsimmons, as well as playing alongside the likes of Pat Riley and John Havli cek, was not a bad way of begin ning a coach's education. But between his playing days and his 1988 reunion with the Phoenix organization, Westphal learned the coaching ropes for himself at a modest level. Before Westphal arri ved at Southwestern College, the tiny Phoenix Bible school of 250 students sported a 3-20 record wi th a team of " 15 short white guys" who played in a nearby junior high school. Westphal told the LA Times in 1986, "I' m loving it. This is the lowest level of college coaching you can find. This has oiven me a chance to test my theories." His theories ~vere sound enough to yield a 21-9 record in his first turn at the wheel. Then came a step up to Grand Canyon College (now University), also in Phoenix, where he posted a 26-12 mark in 1986- 87. His second and final year at GCC saw the Antelopes go 37-6 enroute to a NA JA national championship. Married with two children at the time, Westphal not only tested his wings as a head coach, but accomplished other goals in his time at Southwestern. After moving three times in his last fi ve NBA seasons, the new coach and hi s fa mil y put down roots in Arizo na. And Westphal's ties with Christian colleges extended his public record of testimony for Jesus Christ. That association continues with a Suns organization that has a decidedly clean reputation, with born-again Christians in high-visibility roles in the front office, in uniform, and on the coaching staff. The personality of the ball cl ub is so well-known that some wondered whether the former 76er who slam-dunks over Godzilla would fit in. But Suns' assistant Garrick Barr explains that Barkley's image is "a mythical perception. We've found him to be very straight-forward and hard-working, which goes well with Paul's approach. He's also a good and willing teacher, who' ll take an Oliver Miller under his wing. Good sense of humor, not that easy to get upset. Very much a team player." The Suns seem to be stocked with team players like top assist man Kevin Johnson and unselfish talents like Dan Majerle and Mark West. KJ calls Westphal "a player's coach. He's not regi-

Tile NAil Connacuon BOTH RANDY PFUND AND PAUL WESTPHAL demonstrated loyalty to their roots in the naming of their assistant coaches, and both tapped into their small college experience with key appointments. Pfund turned to Chet Kammerer, under whom he served as assistant for 8 years at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, an Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school. Kammerer began as a standout player at another NAIA school, Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. While there, he set a state single-season scoring record of 737 points in 1964. In 10 years as Grace's head coach, Kammerer recorded 183 wins before moving on to Westmont. From 1975 to 1992, Westmont captured 359 victories and five district titles. Kammerer's 542 total school and now helps him on the bench. wins ranked in the top five . of all NAIA coaches until his departure for the NBA. "I've always consrdered myself a student of the game," says Kammerer, "but this [the NB~) is a w~~le new game!" Speaking of his former understudy, Kammerer says, We de~rnrtely have changed roles. He's the man in char?e, and I'm tryin_g to,b~ supportrve b~. studying opponents. Then when he says, What do ~ou thrnk? .111 be prep~red. Westphal brought Garrick Barr to the Suns as vrdeo coo rd!n~t?r, assrstant coach. Barr coached at Glendale Community College before JOtnrng Westp.hal at Southwestern Baptist Bible College and then Grand Canyon, both of whrch are in Phoenix. Barr was Grand Canyon's top assistant under Westphal when . . . . the Antelopes won the NAIA crown in 1988. The relationship between Westphal and Barr dates to Avratron Hrgh Schoolrn Redondo Beach, California, where the two were the team's top scorers. Ba.rr strll holds the second-best single-season mark behind Westphal. Barr played hrs college ball at UC Irvine. Barr recalls countless one-on-one games in W~stpha!'s backyard. "I never beat him. There were a lot of 21-20 games, but I thrnk he d let me get close just to make it fun. Paul's always loved to win." -John Ed Baker

mented in his approach. You can talk to him and make suggestions and he' ll li sten." Beyond that is another bond. "We get a chance to fellowshi p on our travels, on our plane, on our road trips, and he never reall y takes advantage of that. He doesn' t try to throw Christianity on other players, but if people are interested, he' s glad to share and give a testimony." Still, as ÂˇKJ says, Westphal is not the type to use his position to force his spiritual beliefs on others. "I think that a person li ves out his faith in whatever he does. If I have players who aren't believers, I'm not going to pull out a Christian principle and say that that's the answer to all our team's problems. As far as coaching, I coach a basketball team to win games, I think that the key is to be honest with the guys, be who you are, and treat them wit h respect as individuals. Everybody's got to walk the [spiritual) road by themselves." John Ed Baker is a f reelance writer who lives in Sante Fe Springs, California. He writes part time fo r a toea/newspaper in the LA area.

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Cruising across the landscape in pursuit of victory, Marilyn Wells and her cycling tea~n ~nates are on a 1nission

By Karen Rudolph Drollinger

FREE PRESS

S PO I~ TS

SPECTRUM • J A NUAR Y/FEBRU ARY 1993

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ITH TWO SEASONS of racing under its spokes, the Wheels of Thunder cycling team steadil y is becoming a force on the road. Their team name capsul izes their goals on the racing circuit: To be like the Sons of Thunder, the sons of Zebedee-James and John, biblical characters who were zealous about telling people about their faith. To add instant credibility to their efforts, the Wheels saw Tim Peddi e, on e of their teammates in the International Christian Cycling Club (ICCC), grab a roster spot on the 1992 United States Olympic team. But it's the high-tl ying women's team that captures most of the attention. Led by former Canadian national champion Marilyn Wells and United States Olympian and world record holder Peg Maass, the energeti c you ng women are potenti al winners every time they race in Nort h America. And wi th cycling the number two spectator sport worldwide, acco rding to ICCC president Ken Evans, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Cherry Creek, Colorado, there's great potential to make an impact on fans and elite athletes alike. "[Other cyclists] respect us as riders-we' re not gits [see "Fred Goes Endo"]-but they' ve also seen somethi ng different," declares Wells. "We've allowed ourselves to be vulnerable, and even while we're riding we encourage other riders. No one else does that. We don't want to be a bumper sticker team proclaiming something we don' t really live. We want to be real people with something different in our li ves." A real racer is what Marilyn Wells is. During the 80s she twice conquered the Tour de France (finishing as high as eighth ) and wo n a major Japanese championship. Desp ite their best efforts, derogatory comments like "get out of my way, git," are sometimes tossed their way because they are a group with "Christian" in their name, according to Wells. When that happens to her, it spurs her to ride harder. "It's bad for them to say that- it backfires on them when they lose to a git !" she says with characteristic confidence. The Scarborough, Ontario, nati ve, now 31, has been married I0 years to Marlen, a former Toronto policeman and a nat ional caliber cyclist himself. He currently is a Denver Seminary student and a youth pastor-

when he' s not busy dreaming up harmless prank s ( such as adju stin g a fri end 's bike so that the chain won ' t sli de onto the big chain ring during a 50-mil e rid e) . Together, Marlen and Marilyn spearhead the work of the ICCC. Mari Iyn shares a story about wearin g clothing with Christian slogans and symbols all seaso n lon g and later having one competitor inquire, "Are you reall y Christians?" "We took that as a compliment, because these athl etes have preconceived ideas of Chri st ia n i t y-yo u can' t race, you can' t have fun , you should be in church- and [amazingly] you ' re good racers?" says Maril yn. "We' re not just passing out tracts. We don' t want them thinking 'oh, here they come again.' We don't appear to be religious, but they do see a difference, and it's not that TV stereotype. " I see thi s ministry the way [missionary] Hudson Taylor saw his: He li ved with the Chinese and he dressed .like the Chinese. We dress like cyclists and we li ve right where our ministry is." With a gritty 40-plus race schedule last summer beg inning in Athens, Georgia, in May in front of 20,000 spectators (where the team earned 4 of the top I0 places) and continuing north to Canada, Idaho, Wyo ming, and Minnesota, and finall y fini shing in South Carolina, the Wheels of Thunder bagged their miles not only on the asphalt but tlying above it. The ICCC launched the competiti ve women's pro tea m in 199 1. Candidates had to be outstanding cyclists, congenial, self-sacrificing, and team-oriented as well as maturing believers in Jesus Christ. Members

SPOR T S S P ECTR UM • JANUARY/FEB RUARY 1 993

Wheels of Thunder: (Kneeling) Marianna Flnol, Marilyn Wells. (Standing) Kim Morrow, Peg Maass, Brenda Brashears, Becky Smith, Carol Lilley.

â&#x20AC;˘ In pursuit of two kinds of victories, ICCC cyclists Brenda Brashears, Becky Smith, and Peg Maass go "on the hammers."

pose at work here that pervades all issues. Initiall y, there was sensitivity in seei ng their teammate Peg come to the Lord by providi ng and not pushing information or literature on her. The Connecticut native spent 7 years on the U.S. national team, a career highl ighted by a bronze medal at the 1985 World Championships. However, she had grown up in an alcoholic home and was pursuing a 12-step program to deal wi th those consequences. "Through that, I was gelling to know my spiritual side and I wanted to know who this God was that I was supposed to turn my life over to. Being on the road competing constan tly, I didn't know people who we nt to church," recalls the 5' 3" 32-year-old. "The ministry [of the !CCC] was the only way I could have been reached. I grew up in the church, but I didn't understand the Jesus connection." "So in the fall of 1988 in San Jose, while I was on a mountai n bike ride, I invited Christ into my life. In a 12-step program, you turn you r problem over to God, but I turned my whole life over to Him." A few months later a race promoter invited Maass to go to Florida to attempt a women's 24-hour paced world record endurance ride. One of the pace riders on the 1/4 mile Clearwater Raceway oval was teammate-to-be Kim Morrow. "She sat out in the wind for hours donating her time, ridi ng with me around the track so I could draft off her. They had told her I rode faster when I tal ked, so we talked about everything from childhood on," giggles Maass, who completed 490.5 miles in a Wheels of _ _ _ Thunder jersey, gaini ng a 1989 wo rld record and more insights about her FRED GOES ENDO ... faith. Morrow, 34, an Atlanta attack- a rider trying to break away from the pack native who became a bonked- out of energy Christian as a teenager can't hold the linlt-{;an't maintain a straight forward course through a Bi ll y Graham cat 1-category 1; a professional crusade and is now marcat 2-category 2 rider; an expert ried to Army Lt. Ernie cat 3-category 3 rider; a novice Morrow, remembers askcat 4-category 4 rider; a beginner ing Maass "about anycitizen's race- no licensed riders thing I could think of to crashfest-a cat 4 criterium that's really squirrelly divert her mind from what she was doing. She rode criterium-a short-course sprinting race 0 from 6 p.m. one night to 6 dropped-the group leaves a rider who is toast p. m. the next. I'd ridden a endo- if you brake too severely, you go endo of couple hours, gone to a ~ Fred- an American word for scuzz; a disrespected rider hotel, showered and slept, git-("g" as in "giraffe")- a Canadian word for scuzz; a disreand when I got back she spected rider was still riding in circles! hamburger-severe abrasions from crashing, also called road rash, raspberries I was really impressed!" hammerhead-a person who rides hard It's Maass' simple and on the hoods-hands resting on top of the handlebars on the brakes compelling testimony that on the hammers- riding hard; pushing the pace often auracts nonbelievers on the drops hammering all the time-see above who knew her before she toast-someone who has gone really hard and has "blown up"; also worn became a Christian and out, cooked fried, baked, shattered have seen visible changes. potato ch~ed-a mountain biking term meaning crashing and bending the front rim Peers probe her to tel l squirr el-all over the road them about this "Christian wanker-nerd, a cyclist who doesn't dress correctly thi ng." we got hammered-we got killed; we lost badly D - Karen Drollinger "As we put the Wheels

include Maass, a Rutgers graduate who's now a cyc lin g coach in Vancouver, B.C., try ing to earn dual citizenship; Kim Morrow, a graduate of Georgia Southern and a pro racing veteran who finished 17th at the 1992 Olympic Trials; Brenda Brashears, a top Oregon rider and a graduate of Li nfi eld College; Becky Smith, an Eastern Carolina University alumnus; and Venezuelan champion Marianna FinoI. "It's not my decision to race. It's the Lord who has called me and who moti vates me," emphas izes Mari lyn, a slender 5'6" biker who, along with Marlen, started the !CCC following the 1986 cycl ing World Championships held in Colorado Springs. "I' m representing the Lord out there and try to do my best. He provides the strength, not to win or place well but to press on and fi nish the race." This squad seeks to minister not onl y to other cyclists, but to each other. Spendi ng ti me with them, a rookie outsider senses that they genuinely like each other. When traveling wi th three, four, or five women sharing a room to cut costs, there could be competition over the shower or clean towels, a need to defi ne their own "space." Perhaps that occurs, but with the team' s mat urity and patience, there's sensiti vity. There's teamwork. And there's a bigger sense of pur_

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SPORTS S PECTR UM- .JANUARY/FEBRUAR Y 1993

THE DEATH OF A C

1ST

Newly hired emergency room nurse Carol Lilley had reported for her first day of work on November 23, 1990, when the call came in. A cyclist had been hit by a car and was being air-lifted to the Swedish Medical Center near Denver. She glanced at her watch. It was 4 p.m. and her husband, Noel Lilley 28 a former British Olympic cycling team member (1984), would still be at th~ bik~ shop where he worked. But as the Air Life helicopter ambulance roared in and the paramedics flung open the doors, she screamed in recognition, "That's my husband!" for a subdural brain hematoma and a severe leg fracture. His condition stabilized during the next day, but then he worsened and slipped into a coma. ~arol sat ~t his bedside and, at a friend's suggestion, began reading Scnpture to htm. A few years before, that friend had received a similar comacausing brain injury. She told Carol how she could hear every word being spoken around her although she was unable to respond . "Noel was not a Christian when we married," she explains as she begins to recount those experiences of 2 years past, "although he respected my faith in Jesus Christ. He was fun, attractive, and liked to do the things I liked. The year before, I had begun praying for his salvation, and I prayed God would do what was necessary to bring Noel to Himself," she says, gently adding, "I really feel the circumstances around his death were a plan of God." Softly and sensitively, she describes how he had left work 3 hours early, had ridden only a tenth of a mile, was not wearing a helmet (a European trait), and that the car's driver was a 60-year-old Christian woman who had blacked out. The first on-scene assistance came from another Christian. "And why was I there at the hospital?" she wondered. "I really felt God's presence in a way I've never felt before. Why was he surrounded by Christians? I really felt there was a A Mountain bike races brought Carol Lilley her greatspiritual battle going on, and although his body est triumphs, but her huswas wasting, his spirit was still very much alive. band's Ill-fated ride In the mountains of Colorado "I shared with him that He needed to be at brought her worst tragedy. peace with God and the salvation message," she says. "After 36 hours of being with him, 1 ~aw tears co~ing from his eyes. I've never seen a comatose patient cry. 1 feel ltke that was h1s message to me that he had made peace with God and accepted the things I was saying." Noe~ 9ied shortly afterward. With the support of her church, her family, and close fnends, Carol began dealing with the grief of being a widow at age 29. The l~ss, s.~e says, i~ "the kin~ of thing that n~ver r~ally goes away. 1 lost my best fnend . Stay1~g 1n touch w1th the automobile dnver has been therapeutic, and Carol has wntten and left plants on her doorstep to communicate her belief that God is sovereign and that she's not resentful. "It takes a lot more to let go than to hold on," Carol says, comparing how even God let go of His own Son. "As much as I want my husband back 1 wouldn't give back the growth I've had. God's fire is meant to refine and not consume, and through this process He's doing just that."

With the same kind of energysheusedtoattack Tour de France, Marilyn Wells spearheads the work of Wheels of Thunder.

of Thunder together in 1991, God reall y impressed on me that I was made for this with the connections I still had with great people I had raced against. I had a name and reputation that people would recogni ze. They've always known [my teammates as Christians] but me they kn ew as a nonChristian. So when we would share meals together, it would be me and three or four nonbelievers going at it." Although !CCC has been uplifting for the riders, the team struggles with being fully funded like competi tors and actively seeks support dollars from interested patrons. For in stance, accordin g to Marilyn, Tim Peddie had ridden all season in a Wheels of Thunder racing jersey before being released to Team TCBY prior to the Olympic Trials because of their greater potential sponsorshi p. It's a faith venture that is often long on enthusiasm and sh01t on funds. Along with the grueling training (up to 10,000 miles of road work) Peg says she has invested thousands of dollars in personal savings and missed salary (from the 6-month leave of absence granted in order for her to fulfill her racing schedule) and her teammates have made similar stretching sacrifices. "Sports ministry is tough because people say you're just rec-re-a-ting and that it's your hobby," observes Marilyn. "But there are a lot of people who are in sp01ts who will never darken a church door, so we'll ride beside them and present the gospel and invite them to church. "I know there's hope that I have to offer to people that are hurting. I love to hear testimonies about how God changes lives."

Karen Drollinger, a former pro athlete herself, visited with the Wheels of T/umder bikers at a team camp in Colorado Springs and discovered just how gmeling competitive cycling is. Karen lives in the LA area.

!THIN MINUTES, NOEL WAS IN SURGERY

/CCC member Carol Lilley met Noel on training rides around the Rose Bowl. Noel had more than 200 victories and holds several British time trial records. - Karen Drollinger

S P O R TS S P EC T R UM â&#x20AC;˘ JANUA RY/FEBRUARY 1993

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Catching Up With

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By Tom Felten in the small town of Shelby, North Carolina, went off to the conforming environment of a big uni versity. He was well known on the campus of N.C. State because of his incredible basketball skills. Skills that he had honed from a young age. (When he was 5'8" he D AVID THOMPSON could already dunk a basketballtook night it was one of the most as an eighth grader. ) awe-inspiring spectacles in The Skywalker show was playsports. The Doctor was a maring on campus and the man who velous clunker. Dominique defiwas making all the right moves nitely provides some human on the court, made a few wrong highlights. Jordan is the air ones off it. "I joined the crowd. I apparent of all these guys. But, gave in to peer pressure and l David- or Skywalker as he was started drinking. Over the years known-soared and scored with this drinking progressed and it inimitable grace. eventually caused His ver1ical jump, me some severe documented in 1972, Stats Glance problems," was so extraordinary -Averaged 22.6 ppg in Thompson says. that it was listed in eight NBA seasons Initiall y, David's the Guiness Book of -Scored 73 points in one NBA game-second abuse of alcohol World Records. How highest total ever did not diminish high could he sky? -Is second for best field hi s on-court Forty-two incites goal percentage (.673) exploits. He finstraight up! in All-Star history Awards/Honors: ished his collegiate During the past career with honors few years David has -Three time First Team All-American at North galore. And he led jumped into a new Carolina State the Wolfpack to a career. He is Youth - NCAA Division One national champiProgram Coordinator Player of the Year in 1974 and 1975 onship. for the Charlotte - Number one draft pick Later Thompson Hornets. "My job in the ABA and NBA to the pro jumped entails talking to varin 1975 ranks. He signed a ious groups about -Played in four NBA AllStar games, MVP of the contract with the staying in school and 1979 game Denver Nuggets staying away from Most Memorable Career that was the highest drugs and alcohol," Moment: he says. "I share a lot - "Going up against UCLA, ever given to a rookie athlete-2.5 of my own personal who had won 7 consecutive national titles, with million dollars over testimony." their legendary coach fi ve years. His story is John Wooden. And the Near the end of extremely comgreat players they had David' s first year as pelling, because he on that team: Bill Walton, Wilkes, Marcus a pro-in which he has li ved th rough a Johnson, David had displayed his hell-on-earth expeGreenwood-you could skills in the ABA rience. go on down the line. It All-Star game, was It all began back was very exciting to be in college when able to beat them and go runner-up to Dr. J in on to win the national the first slamdunk David, the youngest championship against championship, and of eleven children Marquette." was now playing from a family living

leap (lep), v., 1. to spring through the ai r from one point or position to another. 2. see David Thompson.

~EN

rial wealth. He had made some bad investments and the IRS wasn't going to let him forget it. L'lter, Thompson was involved in a substance abuse related altercation with his wife. "I was placed on 6 months probation and the conditions of the probation was for me to stay clean and sober, and for me to go to counseling once a week, and Julius' team in the ABA finalsattend AA five days a week. I viohe was wiped out. lated probation and they put me in "I made a statement to one of jail for four months," he recalls. my teammates. I told him l was This tragic time in Dav id's tired, real tired. He said, 'Well life turned into triumph when he Dave, I' ve got something to take began talking to, and readi ng the care of that.' He pulled out a botBible with, a minister that visittle of white powed him in ll Leaper Speaher der, laid some pri son. "I lines. I tried it accepted Jesus To inquire into having David and I liked it. Christ as my Thompson speak at your banquet, That white pow- conference, school, church, or Savior and der was cocaine." sports event- write Robert Walker that's when my For David the at: Unlimited Success, P.O. Box li fe turned battle had begun. 13291 , Charlotte, NC 28270. Or around," he His desire for the call (704) 536-2446. says. "My com"white powder" pulsion to use No. 33 Retired overwhelmed drugs and -alcoOn November 7, David's number 33 him and caused hol has now was retired by the Denver Nuggets. him to graduall y He was honored at ceremonies held been removed." lose control of David has during the Nuggets home opener, at his life. The bas- McNichols Sports Arena, against been "dry" for ketball skills everal years the San Antonio Spurs. D were not as now. And, more sharp. His personal relationships importantly, his relationship with were dissolvi ng. his wife Cathy and his daughters In 1982, Thompson, who was Brooke ( II ) and Eri ka (13) has then playing for the Seattle been restored. Supersonics, visited the hottest "Skywalker" now uses the failnightspot in New York. In the ures in his own life to help young early morning hours he was people succeed. He travels the pushed down a flight of stairs and country shari ng his belief that sustained a career-ending knee Jesus Christ is the key to making injury. right choices in this world. And it Just a few years later, in 1986, all began with what some might David lost much of his vast mateconsider a leap of faith.

S P OR T S SPECO:A UM • .JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1 993

AIRING

OUT

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S"J~ -.,...;;:.,, .,_;;r...:r.

Keep sports in moderation or you'll lose sight of what's really important. • By Tom Felten I've got two TVs stacked in the den, Football on channel 3, B-ball on 10. The more I watch, the less I recallJust keeping my eye on the bouncing ball. The radio's on behind my head, Tuned to a game that my team once led. Sports magazines lie all over the floorAnd the mailman just keeps bringing me more. I once had a job-and a family too. Now the kids won't visit; it's sad but true. I wonder why they've moved out of state? Hey, look! The Bears! They're playing on 8! HIS GU Y HAS a serious proble m. He is a "sports spud." (A couch potato that's obsessed with spo•ts.) For this fan, athletics is a god. And that's not healthy. Afte r all, a ly ric fro m baseball's seventh inning classic song read s, "Take me o ut to the ball game," no t, " Let's orde r take-out and watch 'all ga mes." If you spend too much time on stats, scores, and trivia, another part of your li fe will suffer. Like your: • Occupation: Leaving a little early to catch those afternoon games? • Family: Playing another 18 holes tonight, even though it 's your daug hte r's birthday? • Re lationshi p with God: Skipping devotions before

work because you watched that play-off game ' til the wee hours of the morning? Yes, sport s can be add ictive. I've been there. I know the adrena line rush that comes while watching your team pull out a last-second victory. Spo1ts becomes an escape, a getaway from the harsh realities of life. But why do people slip into sports add iction? Here are a few reasons why it's increasingly easier for people to make athletics an obsessio n:

1. The cable connection. We can now immerse ourselves in an ever-growing pool of sports progrnms thanks to cable TV and sate llite di shes. From Sportschannel to ES PN, they've got us smothered, uh, covered.

•

2. Proliferation of sports publications. Magazine and newspaper publishing is becoming more and more targeted. It seems like every sport has several newspapers or magazines giving you the inside scoop. 3. Sportswear. Sneakers. Hats. Jackets. Sweats. You name it. · Every type of clothing seems to have a sports team logo or a sportswear logo-or both-on it. Unfortunately, people are being le ft dead in the streets because someone else wanted their $ 150 high tops or their NFL team jacket.

4. The Sports Marketing Machine. On an average day, Joe C iti zen can pour out a bowl of cereal and come face-to-face with an athlete

on the box, stop for gas on the way to work and get a g lass with his favorite sport team 's logo o n it, drive by a bi llboard featuring one of his favorite ath le tes ha wking something . . . You get the point. We li ve in a sports-dominated culture-with hundreds of ways fo r a sports addi ct to get his or her fix. But what causes sports addi ction? Simple. It 's called tri vial pursuit-striving after something that doesn' t really matter because you' re seeking something that does. People a re crying out fo r

SPOR T S S P ECTR U M ,' JAN U ARY/FEBRUARY 1 993

purpose in thi s world. And they want to be a part of something bigge r than themselves. Often, however, they settle for a substitute. Sports add iction is a pseudo purpose for li ving-one that appears in various fo rms: o verbe aring parents competing vicarious ly through their child's every hit or miss; people spending too much time on the course or at the trac k; TV watchers numbl y vie wing game afte r game, showi ng total di sregard for spouses or c hild re n. If you fee l that you' re addicted to sports, turn to Jesus Christ and confess your addiction. Ask Him to heal you and He will , as you seek to li ve your life for Him. Jesus once said, " No one can serve two masters. Either he wi ll hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other" (Matthew 6:24). You can' t serve sports, or anything e lse, and know the fu ll joy that Christ can bring. On ly by getting our eyes off sports and o n C hri st w i II we be able to be sportsminded w ithout be ing sportsblinded. Then it's a w hole new ball game.

I'm watching a game on my TV, When an old friend calls to share with me. It's not a tough choice- ! know what's right. The screen fades to black and love bums bright. 31

Who i.-. the -.Mo..ld

is Ra.-.dy Ron.tig? A recipient of the Heisman Trophy like Barry Sanders he 's not. He'll never b e the Most Valuable Player of the World Series like Orel Hershiser. In fact, most p eople would probably never have heard of Randy Romig if we hadn't brought him up . But we did, because we know that sports is more than cover stories. We understand that the world of sports features many athletes who will never become a household name yet whose story of faith and dependence on God is worth telling. Sure we put big name stars like David Robinson on our covers-as well famous athletes like Sanders, Hershiser, and Darrell Green; we know what gets your attention. But we also reserve room for people like Loretta Claiborne, a courageous Special Olympics runner; Matt Johnson, a disabled (yet very able) high school tennis player; Nduka Odizor, a pro tennis player with a successful but not headline-grabbing career, and Mike Crain, a karate buff who breaks things with his elbow. And Randy Romig, who doesn't get much ink as a professional fisherman, yet has a tale worth telling. The big names . .. and the little names. It's a balance that let's you know that the important thing about an athlete i::; his faith, not his fame. So make sure you get Sports Spectrum every time it comes out. You don't want to miss a chance to find out on the stories of faith we plan to tell you aboutfrom people you know about. like Michael Chang and Betsy King, to people you don't, like Dale Anderson and LaVonna Martin. Discovery House Publishers Box 3566 Grand Rapids, MI 4950 l-3566

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