The Spectrum Vol. 64 No. 74

T H E I N D E P E N D E N T TSHTEU D NETP E PN UD BE LN I CTA S TT IO NA I VTEI R Y FA T T HBEU U FF E T1 B 9U 50 I NED UN D EO NFT TPH UEB LUI C OSNI T O NA I VLEOR,S S I TI N Y CA FFALO, SINCE 1950

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Monday, April 27, 2015

Volume 64 No. 74

A Phyzical life

KAINAN GUO, THE SPECTRUM

Former UB football player Phil Zickl has played semipro into his fifties – now he has a new goal TOM DINKI

YUSONG SHI, THE SPECTURM

EDITOR IN CHIEF

When Brian Goldsmith first saw Phil Zickl during warm-ups for the Buffalo Gladiators’ semipro football camp, he assumed Zickl was one of his new coaches.

Zickl had a six-pack and big biceps, but he was 51 years old. He played as a lineman for UB in the 1980s, almost a decade before Goldsmith was born.

Then Goldsmith saw Zickl put on pads.

He thinks he’s an actual player, Goldsmith thought. He’s going to hurt himself.

Goldsmith did not go easy on Zickl when, during a practice, he was called to lead block on a running back sweep and Zickl, playing outside linebacker, stood in the way.

Football is an unforgiving sport – even in the semipro world. Every play is an opportunity to grab the coaches’ attention and claim a spot on the field. And as Goldsmith puts it, “When you go in for a hit, it’s hard to let up.” Goldsmith delivered a blow to Zickl’s midsection and leveled him to the field.

“I thought I put him in the hospital,” Goldsmith said.

But the spry “old guy” popped back up off the field without needing an ambulance or so much as an examination by the team’s medical staff.

“Nice hit,” he told Goldsmith before running back to the defensive huddle.

Whoa, most people my age couldn’t take that hit, Goldsmith thought as he walked back to his own huddle.

For the next three seasons, from 201114, Goldsmith watched new players make wrong assumptions about Zickl. They’d ask, “Who’s the old guy?” and “Is this guy really playing?” only to later exclaim, “That old guy can hit.”

They call him ‘Phyzical’ – a play on words of his name and also homage to the miracle, banana peel-eating fitness regimen that allows Phil Zickl to play football in his midfifties. *** Zickl’s been defying odds for his entire 55year life. He’s an anomaly in every sense.

He’s played football into his fifth decade but he almost didn’t make it out of the womb

Zickl looks down at his Syracuse Express jersey in the Clark Hall locker room. He won two national championships with the Express the ‘80s.

sports reporter from The Daily News, thinks Zickl likes the camaraderie. American Football Association President Dave Burch said older men play semipro because they want alive. He grew up with coordi- to prove they can still do what they did at nation their peak. problems but says he’s most comfortZickl can’t give just one answer. There able on the dance floor and on a football may not be one. field. He was born dyslexic, but became an As for as how he can still play, Zickl’s anavid reader. He was a frat brother at UB but swer ranges from good genes to a bizarre claims he’s never been drunk. He’s known and rigorous workout routine to a guardian for big hits on the field angel. He says he’s not but his father can never unique – it’s his life exZickl’s been once remember his son periences that led him losing his temper. The defying odds for to where he is that’s only concussion Zickl special. his entire ever sustained came “I am not special – I during an old-timers 55-year life. He’s am fortunate. The spewrestling match for his cial part of it was the Batavia, New York high an anomaly in equation that led to my school. final result,” he said. every sense.

And in an age where But Zickl’s footconcussions and football career is in limbo. ball are synonymous and NFL players in Semipro football teams are now beginning their twenties are leaving behind millions in workouts for the upcoming season but Zickl fear of head trauma and other injuries, a 55 doesn’t have a team. What he does have, howyear old playing football for nothing seems ever, is a new goal: giving back. He wants to even more odd. spread the wisdom he’s gained as a teacher, The logical questions are how and why? personal trainer, social worker, support counHow does Phil Zickl still play football? selor and camp director over the And better yet, why does he still play? decades. He might His daughter Daneale thinks it’s the love even toss of the game. His father Randolph thinks it’s a combination of enthusiasm and a lack of injuries. Bill Bruton, a Batavia

KAINAN GUO, THE SPECTRUM

Phil Zickl with three of his jerseys from his football career, which include (from left to right) his UB Bulls, Syracuse Express and Buffalo Knights jerseys.

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UB student questions Associated Press style guidelines

in an exercise tip or two.

Zickl idolized Father Nelson Baker, a deceased Buffalo priest who many are advocating for canonization because of his charitable work with children.

Now, Zickl dreams of meshing a business model with a charitable one. He wants to create a business that will educate people about fitness, longevity and how to keep doing what you love well past middle age.

He hopes one day he’ll make enough money to start a scholarship fund for young people.

It’s his way of honoring Father Baker.

It may be far-fetched. He’s been struggling to find work. He’s substitute teaching on the side. Zickl knows he has to get his professional business situated first before he can think about playing football this season.

He has a new dream. A new running back to tackle. He doesn’t have all the details figured out yet, but he does have a snappy name.

He calls it ‘Phyzical Phitness.’ *** The oldest person to ever play in the NFL was 48-year-old George Blanda. The semipro world is different – it’s not rare to see guys in their fifties still strapping on shoulder pads and helmets.

Zickl is far from the oldest semipro football player. An 81-year-old just kicked in the annual semipro football Casino Bowl in Las Vegas last month. But that’s the thing – most players taking the gridiron past their 40th birthday only kick or play on special teams. Even Burch only played on the kick return coverage team at age 50.

Zickl started at linebacker for the Buffalo Knights last summer.

He didn’t set out to redefine old age. He did it by accident.

After playing his last season at UB in 1981, he played semipro for 15 years and retired from the sport in 2000. In the ’80s, he was a two-time semipro national champion with the Syracuse Express and had even made the front page of a local Syracuse newspaper’s sports section.

What more do I need? he thought.

In 2000, he retired at age 40. He figured it was time to be a fan of his five-year-old daughter, whether she was playing youth soccer or was in the school play.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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UPD conducts ‘Vehicle Break-In Report Card’ checks aimed at preventing break-ins

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UB senior will teach in Panama after graduation as recipient of Fulbright Scholarship

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ubspectrum.com

Monday, April 27, 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015 ubspectrum.com

Editorial Board EDITOR IN CHIEF

Tom Dinki MANAGING EDITOR

Alyssa McClure OPINION EDITOR

Tress Klassen COPY EDITORS

Anne Fortman Natalie Humphrey NEWS EDITORS

Gabriela Julia, Senior Ashley Inkumsah Charles W Schaab, Asst.

Marlee Tuskes, Asst.

FEATURES EDITORS

Tori Roseman, Senior Dan McKeon Dani Guglielmo, Asst.

Bobby McIntosh, Asst.

ARTS EDITORS

Brian Windschitl, Senior James Battle Kenntheh Kashif Thomas, Asst.

Grace Trimper, Asst.

SPORTS EDITORS

Jordan Grossman, Co-Senior Quentin Hayes, Co-Senior Andrea Weidel, Asst.

PHOTO EDITORS

Yusong Shi, Co-Senior Kainan Guo, Co-Senior Angela Barca, Asst.

Emily Li, Asst.

CARTOONISTS

Harumo Sato Joshua Bodah

CREATIVE DIRECTORS

Kenneth Cruz Jenna Bower, Asst.

Professional Staff OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

Helene Polley ADVERTISING MANAGER

Kevin Xaisanasy Alex Buttler, Asst.

Melina Panitsidis, Asst.

ADVERTISING DESIGNER

Tyler Harder Derek Hosken, Asst.

THE SPECTRUM Monday, April 27, 2015 Volume 64 Number 74 Circulation 7,000 The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Feedback, Opinion and Perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union or news@ubspectrum.com. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style and length.

If a letter is not meant for publication, please mark it as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number, and email address.

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The Spectrum offices are located in 132 Student Union, UB North Campus, Buffalo, NY 142602100

OPINION Expanded Metro Rail should align with intelligent regional priorities It’s hard to argue against the expansion of public transportation – especially in Buffalo, where the need for improved infrastructure and alternative forms of transit is clearly established.

So although there’s much to consider and question about the proposed downtown extension of Buffalo’s Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) Metro Rail, there’s no doubt that it’s an exciting prospect that aligns with the city’s needs.

Two proposals remain as potential expansions for the rail system, which currently stops short of the waterfront.

The rail could end up continuing to a remodeled Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Terminal, which would feature shops, restaurants and a skyway to the First Niagara Center, home of the Buffalo Sabres.

Alternatively, the extension could run along South Park Avenue – one block closer to the Sabres’ arena – but without the remodeled terminal.

Both proposals make it clear that the burgeoning downtown region continues to draw attention not just from the public but from city officials as well.

With new facilities like HarborCenter and Buffalo RiverWorks and tried-and-true attractions like First Niagara Center and the waterfront, the area in question is undoubtedly a draw to tourists and residents alike, boosting the energy and the economic impact of the city’s downtown.

An expanded rail service could help bolster this area further.

The current Erie Canal Harbor Station doesn’t provide immediate access to the waterfront area downtown – though the Special Events stop, open on selected dates, does extend closer to Canalside.

An expanded rail would contribute to the increasingly modernized feel of the downtown area.

And on an incredibly optimistic note, the proposed rail lines would reach far enough to provide easy access to two proposed sites of a new downtown football stadium.

Currently, the lack of convenient

Proposed downtown Metro expansion is exciting, but city should also look beyond the waterfront

African Americans are more than just a color Why a UB student is unhappy with AP style guidelines

ILLUSTRATION BY HARUMO SATO

JASHONDA WILLIAMS

STAFF WRITER

public transportation is one factor mitigating support for a potential waterfront location for the Buffalo Bills’ stadium.

But there are other areas of Buffalo that also merit consideration for Metro Rail access.

While this extension would make accessing venues like the First Niagara Center exceedingly convenient, the area is already accessible by public transit. In contrast, other regions of Buffalo remain completely neglected by the Metro Rail. Areas like the Larkin District – which is quickly growing – or the communities in the Southtowns could be dramatically transformed by an expansion.

Although these extensions would be larger-scale, they would also do much more to increase ridership and reach new populations within Buffalo.

If the city is going to spend millions of dollars on a railway expansion, it would be wise to consider putting those funds toward more than a two-block extension.

Though the current proposal certainly has merits and would benefit the downtown area, that region of Buffalo already has plenty of factors helping boost its allure. Locations beyond the downtown hub deserve some of the spotlight – and the funding. email: editorial@ubspectrum.com

‘A’ for effort, but environmental issues linger City initiative to improve recycling rates and reduce water pollution offers potential, but also uncertainty

A renewed focus on Buffalo’s efforts toward environmental responsibility has made it clear that while the city has made definitive progress in reducing its impact on the environment, there’s still a long way to go.

Several promising initiatives were unveiled last week, but disheartening news about the city’s failure to prevent pollution somewhat mitigated the announcements and served as a reminder of the need for specific and consistent improvement.

After revelations last year that Scajaquada Creek was essentially a cesspool filled with approximately a half-billion gallons of sewage and dirty storm water, shockingly little has been done to address the issue.

The creek continues to exist as an environmental eyesore, crammed with muck and mire that impedes the survival of any aquat-

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ic life. Garbage remains in the water for weeks on end.

With attention once again directed at this issue, city officials have agreed to send a seasonal worker to the creek on a weekly basis – certainly a simple method to address the problem.

But only time will tell if action is actually taken, or if this is yet another empty promise. Public Works Commissioner Steve Stepniak originally stated that the city would be more proactive about the creek’s environmental health back in July, when the problem first arose.

Now almost a year later, another city initiative might end up helping improve the state of the creek as a fortunate side effect.

The city has started a program to encourage residents to collect rainwater runoff from their homes to alleviate the burden on the sewer and storm water system, which

can become overwhelmed by Buffalo’s precipitation-heavy winters.

When the system is overburdened, sewage is sent into local water, including Scajaquada Creek.

To address the problem, the city’s initiative provides 1,000 free downspouts and rain barrels to the first residents to contact the city.

The city is offering the materials to additional residents for $100 or $200, depending on the size of the barrel.

The idea is promising, but its success relies entirely on residents’ motivation and their willingness to spend at least $100 on the project.

Similarly, Buffalo’s renewed effort to improve its recycling rates is admirable, but also dependent on the actions of city residents and the ability of officials to effectively promote and incentivize the program.

After the introduction of Mayor Byron Brown’s recycling program in 2012, residential recycling rates increased by an impressive 81 percent. But because the city’s recycling was so minimal to begin with, its current rate of 23 percent

Every other race gets the satisfaction of being called the politically correct term but African Americans are subjected to being identified as just a color.

We are more than that.

I found myself confused and outraged one night when I read The Spectrum course book. It said that when writing someone’s race, “Use Caucasian, not white; use black, not African-American.”

The Spectrum course book is the mandatory textbook that students enrolled in The Spectrum class, English 394, must purchase. It explains article structure and Associated Press (AP) style.

The last thing I wanted to do was approach our editor in chief in a hostile manner about the situation. I wanted to research this fully and get all the facts before I went to class the next week upset at the wrong person.

According to Norm Goldstein, stylebook editor for the Associated Press, the Associated Press uses the lowercase ‘black’ primarily because it reflects a common language usage found in newspapers and magazines.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

still falls far below the national average of 34 percent.

It’s admirable that Brown, even with such a dramatic increase, is still determined to improve the city’s recycling. His commitment sends a valuable message to Buffalo residents, making it clear that he holds the city to a high standard when it comes to environmental considerations.

But this program, which focuses on promotion through simple slogans throughout the city and a second phase of the campaign conducted though social media, doesn’t do much to incentivize recycling and instead prioritizes public awareness.

Brown’s initial program offered free recycling bins, yard waste collection and city-sponsored recycling programs for electronic and hazardous waste. These sorts of action-based improvements should also be emphasized in the public awareness program.

It’s encouraging to see attention directed to Buffalo’s environmental impact. But now it’s up to the city’s residents to take advantage of these programs that make it easier – though perhaps not easy enough – to be environmentally responsible. email: editorial@ubspectrum.com

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Monday, April 27, 2015

The branding initiative UB works on better defining university’s brand as part of UB 2020 COURTESY OF UB PHOTO DATABASE

MARLEE TUSKES ASST. NEWS EDITOR UB is working on a four-phased branding initiative to answer the question: “Who is UB?” When UB announced plans for UB 2020 back in 2011, the university had plans to redesign how people viewed the school. This brand initiative planning first began in 2013 and included the creation of the downtown Medical Campus and a focus on a more research-driven approach to learning. While the initial phase just ended, phase four is set to be completed midfall semester, according to John Della Contrada, UB spokesperson.

This brand initiative will provide UB with an opportunity to show value, said Nancy Paton, vice president for University Communications.

Ologie, a Columbus-based marketing company teaming up with Marshall Strategy Inc., a San Francisco-based branding company, is the vendor for the project. UB is paying Ologie $314,000 for the contract. The average bid for the project was $527,450 and the selection process of Ologie involved 60 university representatives. The money for the contract came from investment funding – not students’ tuition, Paton said.

Phase one was discovery and definition, according to the new UB Identity and Brand Strategy website. Phase two is positioning, messaging development and application. Phase three is market testing and the launch and phase four is measuring success.

This initiative is important for higher education. With higher learning and technology evolving, it is key for UB to evolve along with it, which is why this brand initiative is “the right thing for the university to do at this time,” Paton said.

UB is in the process of completing a four-phased branding initiative that will increase the value of the university and the excellence UB provides, according to Nancy Paton, vice president for University Communications. The planning for this brand initiative began in 2013 and should be finished by mid-fall semester.

The brand initiative is geared toward bringing “inclusiveness” to UB. A survey was distributed during phase one and brought in about 4,500 responses from students, alumni, faculty and staff, exceeding the original goal of 1,650 responses.

Even with a greater response than expected, some students aren’t aware of the branding initiative. Alyssa Fortuna, a junior biology major, said she was not aware of any such plan.

“I think they could give out more information about this, through email or even do sem-

inars about changes they could be making and how they would benefit the students,” Fortuna said.

While many associate branding with a logo or name, Della Contrada said that’s not what the initiative is about. The goal behind this brand initiative is to make UB more relevant and allow the university to stand out among other universities.

Paton said there will be a greater awareness of UB coming out of this initiative.

“There will be a heightened distinction about who we are and the excellence we provide,” Paton said. “It will lead students who may not have previously considered us to consider us.”

She said the branding initiative will bring more faculty and research programs to the university as well.

In 2013, UB Athletics was rebranded in order to bring awareness to the fact that UB is the largest public university in New York State. Although athletics and academics are connected, this branding initiative isn’t associated with that change, Paton said.

As the value in higher education increases, the hope for this initiative is to increase the value of UB as well.

The brand initiative is set to draw in more students and faculty by bringing an “understanding of current awareness and perceptions of the university among critical local, national and international audiences,” Della Contrada said.

While phase one – which just ended this past week – was more research-based, phase two – which is set to begin in June – is about what can be learned from the research obtained during the initial phase.

A new website – UB Identity and Brand Strategy Initiative – was launched on Thursday and will be actively updated with any news regarding the initiative. The website even allows for anyone to contact by email with any questions, ideas or concerns regarding the initiative.

Paton said this branding initiative is what will drive UB to even further success.

“If we move forward on this strategy, it will really be critical to our success,” Paton said.

“I’m really excited about that.” email: news@ubspectrum.com

African Americans are more than just a color

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The Associated Press also claims it uses black instead of African American because that’s what black people want to be identified as.

John Neville, editorial page editor for The Buffalo News, told me that “black is acceptable for a person of the black race.

African-American is acceptable for an American black person of African descent. Use Negro only in names of organizations or in quotations. We use white rather than Caucasian.”

After looking deeper into the situation, I realized that being identified as ‘black’ wasn’t the only issue. I saw that black was not capitalized as it was for Asian or Hispanic. I believe that is another sign of disrespect toward African Americans.

Although race isn’t necessary in most cases, when it is mentioned people should be identified correctly and respectfully.

I would like to be called African American and when being identified as Black, it should always be capitalized out of respect – if we are indeed saying that Black and African American are interchangeable.

I can understand why the Associated Press might not think that this is a problem or why most publications follow its guidelines without questioning. Because Black is a common way to identify people of the African American race, I can see why journalists would think it is acceptable to do the same.

Regardless of the AP rules, The Spectrum should make changes to properly acknowledge the diverse group of students it represents.

I immediately took to social media and searched the Internet to see if there was some rule I was missing before I got an-

gry. I posted a picture of the page in my course book on my Instagram that night.

It didn’t take long before my peers were giving their opinions. My followers on Twitter were also outraged and felt that they shouldn’t support The Spectrum.

I was relieved and proud to see all the comments and retweets from fellow UB students. But as a reporter for The Spectrum, the last thing I wanted was to tell everyone to stop reading the newspaper. I feel that The Spectrum has a duty to make sure students feel well represented by its publication.

There is no excuse for students to be told how to identify someone and The Spectrum has the ability and power to change the way it teaches the course and identifies African Americans. This newspaper is supposed to be a well-rounded publication, but it would no longer be “well-rounded” if African American students decided not to work for The Spectrum or read the paper.

I was angry at The Spectrum, our editor in chief and the Associated Press for the disrespect I thought they had for my culture and my people. And even though other students understand my frustration, I don’t want the African American students at UB to be angry with The Spectrum.

But for the sake of the African American population at UB, the course book guidelines should be changed.

I want to make it clear that students’ opinions matter and their voices should be heard. When quoted and acknowledged in the paper, we deserve to be identified with respect. email: jashonda@buffalo.edu

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Monday, April 27, 2015

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University Police give out easy A’s KAINAN GUO, THE SPECTRUM

UPD ‘Vehicle Break-in Report Card’ checks aim to prevent car theft and break-ins

UPD checks vehicles on campus to make sure they’re not susceptible to break-ins or theft and leaves ‘Vehicle Break-In Report Cards’ indicating to students whether their cars are susceptible to break-ins.

CHARLES W SCHAAB

KAINAN GUO, THE SPECTRUM

ASST. NEWS EDITOR

University Police Lieutenant David Urbanek said when he came to UB in 1987, he would see people walking through the parking lots checking cars.

They were looking for easy money.

“I remember doing dorm openings and seeing guys walking in from the neighborhood, just sitting down and watching,” Urbanek said. “You leave your stuff unattended … they take it.”

UPD conducts ‘Vehicle Break-in Report Card’ checks on vehicles on campus to make sure they’re not susceptible to breakins or theft. The checks give drivers a failing or passing mark. Patrols look to make sure vehicles do not have valuables in plain view, keys left inside or open windows, among other things that could make the car a target for thieves. “[The check] takes a few seconds, which is as quick as a potential thief would take your things,” Urbanek said.

Since 2008, UPD has done major checks on vehicles. September is its “big effort” month while the spring checks are more of a measurement to see if the percentage that failed in the fall has dropped, according to Urbanek. UPD checked 5,474 vehicles on North and South Campuses in September 2014 and 829 failed.

Urbanek runs the permits of every car that fails the check and sends each one an email with a crime prevention message.

UPD has reported two vehicle breakins so far in 2015 and there were four vehicle break-ins in 2014, according to Josh Sticht, deputy chief of police. There were six motor vehicle thefts reported on campus in 2011, four in 2012 and four in 2013,

Nicholas Gross, a sophomore environmental design major, holds a ‘Vehicle Break-In Report Card’ which he said he received last fall. UPD administers these report cards in an effort to reduce vehicle break-ins.

according to UB’s crime statistics.

The Break-in Report Card program was developed and initiated by former UPD patrolman Wayne Colton, currently an investigator with UPD, in the spring of 2008.

Colton noticed a spike in vehicle break-ins on campus and nationwide, which he attributed to the increase of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in more vehicles.

With just a few vehicle break-ins reported at UB in the last few years, Colton said that vehicle break-ins have “pretty much been eliminated from campus.”

The effort is not just a crime prevention effort, but also an effort to slightly change human behavior, Urbanek said.

“We do a lot of preventative stuff so [students and visitors] don’t have a negative consequence which would make their experience here negative,” Urbanek said.

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Urbanek said a patrol once spotted a vehicle with its windows rolled down and keys and a cell phone in plain sight. He said that the patrol doing the check tried to contact the owner of the vehicle, but the phone was in the car. “[UPD] waited with the vehicle until the student returned,” Urbanek said. “They could have taken everything.”

Jenna Schratz, a senior health and human services major, said she’s received one report card in her four years at UB. “I thought it was funny I failed … but it made me a little more cautious,” Schatz said. “It’s a thoughtful gesture on UB’s part.”

Nicholas Gross, a sophomore environmental design major, passed his vehicle break-in report card and said the program was a good idea to keep people aware of not leaving out their valuables. “[The program] will stop people from leaving valuables in plain sight and easy to steal,” Gross said.

Madeline Bartels, a senior biology and psychology major, said that while she’s not sure the program is necessary, she does think it’s helpful. She said there are a lot of people that are naïve about what they leave in plain sight in their cars.

“It is an eye-opener for some kids to see there are people who will go around and steal things from cars,” Bartels said.

Bartels said she got annoyed about the

report cards after she got more than one on her car in a few months time.

“I started to wonder what UPD is actually doing all day besides giving these reports,” she said.

UPD also provides a patrol of all the parking lots on the campuses.

“We are not deterring from other duties, we can still take calls [while checking cars],” Urbanek said “We are deterring thieves, whoever they may be … It’s about theft prevention.”

Urbanek said that this program is helping to improve the quality of life across campus by reducing crime and theft. UPD wants to encompass more and grow as an intellectual institution, according to Urbanek. “[We] are always asking, ‘How can we better serve the people that we have?’” Urbanek said. “[When checking cars], we’re not out to get someone.”

Another preventative effort UPD takes is checking dorm room doors to see if they are open and unattended. UPD has been doing this for the past five years in first- and second-year dorms on North and South Campuses. If the door is unattended, UPD will leave a door tag on the outside and inside of door.

“Nobody wants their stuff stolen,” Urbanek said.

email: news@ubspectrum.com

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ubspectrum.com

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

After spending almost all of the first 50 years of his life in Genesee County, Zickl moved to Erie County in the fall of 2010 for better employment opportunity. He was divorced and his daughter was in the 10th grade.

She was going to want to spend more time with her friends than her dad anyway.

“That’s when I really thought I should be involved in something I’m passionate about,” Zickl said.

He made a call to Buffalo Gladiators’ offensive captain John Augustine about taking a coaching position in early 2011. He would even just keep stats if that was what it took to get back in the sport.

But when he called Augustine to see if the Gladiators had any room on the staff, Augustine, who’d seen Zickl at a fitness center, said, “Phil, you’re in way too good of shape to be on the sidelines. Come play for us.”

Zickl was taken aback. Sure, he had worked out religiously in his 10 years of retirement and still had six-pack abs, but to play football with players as much as 30 years younger?

Augustine told Zickl he was in better shape than half of the team.

“Turns out he was right,” Zickl said. *** There is no such thing as a short conversation with Phil Zickl.

“If you get into a conversation with Phil, you better be in for the long haul,” Randolph said.

A comment about the weather will turn into a story about him playing with the Batavia Bandits in the ’90s or his philosophy on life. Start to tell him about yourself, and Zickl will probably discover a mutual friend or place of work. It once took Randolph and Zickl’s brothers an hour to get through the Syracuse airport because Zickl kept running into people he knew.

“We rolled our eyes and said, ‘We’re never going to get out of here,’” Randolph said.

But don’t get Zickl wrong. For as much as he likes to talk – and he sure can talk – he believes everything he says.

“We are just all one unit of humanity. I don’t care how old you are, young you are, physical difficulties, emotional difficulties, mental difficulties. Everyone is equal across the board,” Zickl says. “I don’t just say stuff for show.”

Zickl was a socialite at UB as a fraternity

Monday, April 27, 2015

KAINAN GUO, THE SPECTRUM

Phil Zickl sits on a bench outside Clark Hall on South Campus, which served as the UB football team’s locker room during his playing career with the team from 1979-82.

YUSONG SHI, THE SPECTRUM

With his UB jersey in hand, Zickl sits on the steps of Clark Hall where he and the UB football team would exit before games.

brother in Tau Kappa Epsilon, but he never The couple took an hour drive in “snowy, needed alcohol. He says he was a designated blowy” weather, Randolph said, to a hosdriver before the phrase existed. He didn’t pital in Batavia. After finally arriving at the like the taste. He thinks it may be a blessing hospital, doctors discovered that the unfrom God that he doesn’t. No matter how born child’s shoulder had pinched off his good of an athlete you are, you’re going to umbilical cord between his mother’s hipbe better if you don’t use drugs, according bone. to Zickl.

At one point, doctors thought there was He’s a dancer too. no way the unborn People have always Zickl was going to surThe kid that told him he has good vive, and there was conrhythm. had coordination cern his mother wasn’t going to either because But Zickl was not aldifficulties and she had lost so much ways the outgoing athlete, dancer and frater- needed a physical blood. In Erie County in 1960, doctors didn’t nity brother. He used therapist became do caesarean sections, to be a kid with learnaccording to Zickl. ing and physical disthe best dancer abilities.

“What they did [in in his second Erie County] was they *** allowed the fetus to die As Zickl puts it, he grade class. and delivered the fetus was “kind of born stillborn and figured, dead.”

His mother, Anne, passed away in March ‘Young mother, she’ll have a chance to have of 2014 – her birthday is Sept. 1 so Zickl another child,’” Zickl said. “So thank goodwore No. 91 for the Knights in honor of ness my mother’s obstetrician was in Geneher. Although his mother is not around to see County.”

Zickl was delivered through a caesarean tell it anymore, Zickl’s “certainly heard the section, but the doctors thought he might story enough times.”

On a March night in 1960, almost three be dead.

“I was purple head to toe – no pulse,” weeks before her due date with her second Zickl said. “I was pretty much not living for son, Anne felt she had to use the bathroom. a short amount of time.”

Upon entering the bathroom, she found The doctor instructed the nursing staff blood everywhere. The family was living in Amherst as Randolph attended UB’s law to pour a bath of hot water and a bath of school, but Anne’s obstetrician was in Bat- cold water. He then dipped the near lifeless infant Zickl from the hot water to the cold avia.

“We grabbed a bunch of towels and water.

Zickl described the method as similar to wrapped her up and in the car we went for a very hazardous ride to Batavia,” Randolph “in the summer time when it’s really hot and someone comes up from behind you and said.

squirts you with a hose – the reaction is, ‘Ahhhh!’”

The shock of the temperature transition from the hot water to the cold water caused Zickl to take his first breath.

And although he had survived, the effects of his oxygen deprivation would linger. He had lost brain cells.

Zickl experienced reading disabilities and coordination problems growing up because of his difficult birth. He’s dyslexic. He could form the thoughts in his head, but “couldn’t get it down the neck, shoulder, down the arm and hand to the pencil to present it.”

He watched his brothers and other classmates understand things he could not. He thought to himself, How come I don’t get this?

He came home from school one day in tears because he couldn’t understand the things others could.

“My mother explained to me that I would be able to do the exact same thing my brothers could do and other kids could do,” Zickl said. “But I was just going to have to work harder at getting it. I was going to have to make more of an effort to succeed at these things.”

His mother made sure he was assigned to the teacher in the district who was most welcoming toward children who had educational difficulties. Kids would get 30 minutes to finish a test. Zickl got 45. He started seeing a Special Education teacher who served as his tutor and coordination coach.

She delivered physical therapy before it was even formally offered in the school district, according to Zickl.

And so the kid that “avoided reading like the plague” was then reading everything from Sports Illustrated to books about animals, nature and mysteries. The kid that had coordination difficulties and needed a physical therapist became the best dancer in his second grade class.

This philosophy of extra effort hasn’t left him. ***

Monday, April 27, 2015

Zickl knows most people probably think he’s crazy.

He’s putting himself at risk for injury by playing the most physical sport he can for no compensation. While the Syracuse Express supplied some health insurance coverage for him in the ’80s, most semipro teams do not.

And Zickl doesn’t take it easy on the field, either.

He may not have the speed he once did, but that hasn’t affected his knowledge of the game or prevented him from making big hits. In one of the Knights’ first drills last season, Knights’ defensive captain Chuck Weston said Zickl came “running out like a bat out of hell” and made a tackle a 20 year old would have made.

“He smacks the kid, like Ray Lewis – out his mind,” Weston said.

Zickl laughs that there was a lot of support for his football career from friends and family when he was between the ages of 24-40, but not as much now that he’s in his fifties.

After he tore some cartilage in his knee playing with kids while working as an elementary school counselor in the ’90s, his ex-wife asked the doctor, “So you mean you’re not going to tell him to stop playing football?”

The doctor told Zickl he could continue playing.

When Zickl told his father he was going to play football again at the age of 51, Randolph asked him, “Doesn’t that seem a little unhealthy?”

“You can get injured and all kinds of stuff can happen,” Randolph said. “He didn’t think it would happen to him.”

Zickl says he was blessed with good genetics. He thinks God is looking out for him.

“God has blessed me with being physically capable to do it, so I’m going to use this gift,” Zickl said.

He puts God and genetics above his extensive diet and workout routine – which he follows religiously – as the reasons he is still able to play.

He always puts two clamps on the bar when lifting to “protect the integrity of the weight.” What if a 45-pound weight actually only weighs 44.9 pounds? he worries.

He always does one extra rep in case his form wasn’t good on one of them. A friend recently counted that Zickl did 78 pushups but he only gave himself credit for 77 because his chin did not hit the floor one of the times. He laments the fact he did not work out one day in 2014 – April 21, to be exact. He remembers the date.

Zickl can list off a plethora of the most up-to-date nutrition knowledge. He eats blueberries every day because he read a study that said it’s the healthiest fruit. He carries a water bottle with him wherever he goes and drinks 60-70 ounces of water per day. He also drinks juice – but only if it’s 100 percent pure.

Once during a team meeting after Goldsmith finished eating a banana, Zickl leaned over and asked him, “Are you done with that?”

“I’m like, ‘Uh, yeah.’ And I’m just holding the peel and he goes, ‘Awesome, can I have that?’ And he just ate the banana peel,” Goldsmith said. “Then he went on this tangent about how all the nutrients are in the rinds and you should never throw it away.” *** Zickl said protesting was almost a major at UB before he enrolled in classes in 1978.

He had heard stories about buildings being taken over, sit-ins and tear gas coming through windows. Students were not shy about expressing their disappointment with the United States’ involvement in Vietnam, Zickl said.

UB dropped varsity football and most other sports in 1971 due to the protests and adverse political climate. When Zickl joined the UB football team in 1979 as a sophomore after sitting out his freshman year because of an ankle injury, the Bulls were only in their third season as a reinstated Division III program.

Zickl describes the UB football team of that age as “second-wave pioneers.” The team had to prove that college athletics could be a constructive activity beneficial for universities. The players made sure they went to practice and class.

“Nobody ever verbalized it to us, but we were certainly made aware of the fact that athletics were taken away once and could be taken away again,” Zickl said.

Zickl didn’t receive a full ride to UB because of his status as a football player.

There were no scholarships for D-III, just grants and financial aid. He didn’t play un-

ubspectrum.com

7

der the bright lights of a 30,000-seat arena like UB football players do now, either. The team played on the Rotary Field on South Campus. You could have watched the football games driving down Winspear Avenue.

The locker room was Clark Hall.

After playing offensive guard his first two seasons, a graduate assistant convinced Zickl to switch to defensive end for his senior season.

But a trans-

ages for the children he would assist as 1-21. He then discovered that Baker Hall School, a school for young adults with disabilities and emotional disturbances modeled after the priest’s charitable work, took in children until the age of 21.

Zickl knows it may just be a coincidence – but maybe not.

His infatuation with Father Baker started when he worked as a substitute teacher at Baker Hall in the summer of 2011 and read Baker’s biography, Father of the Fatherless.

*** Phil Zickl walks down into the basement of the Steel Mill Gym in Lackawanna, New York.

The gym is lined with yellow walls and red equipment. An American flag hangs on the wall across the room. There is a familiarity here for Zickl. Several workers and other gym-goers greet him by his first name as he walks through and signs in at the front desk.

“There are some places where you just feel comfortable,” he says. “This is an area of comfort.”

Zickl goes through his workout, lifting weights and doing agility exercises. He knows that at his age, he has to listen to his body. But the regimen is still rather intense. He can still do bench reps of over 100 pounds. All of the muscles in his back are still visible when he does pull-ups.

For one of his exercises, Zickl heads toward the back of gym into the men’s locker room. He reaches his hand out for the wall on his right, lifts his right foot up and closes his eyes.

It sounds simple. But it’s not.

He often shows younger athletes this exercise. They’re able to stand on their foot all day with their eyes open, he said.

“OK, what are we doing next, Mr. Zickl?” they’ll ask him.

Once they close their eyes, they last a few seconds before wobbling over.

fer from a community college started over him.

He graduated feeling he hadn’t done everything he wanted to do in football.

Zickl didn’t know semipro football existed when he graduated, but he found himself making the two-hour drive from Batavia to Syracuse to practice with the Express – the team he’d eventually win championships with. The owner reimbursed him for his gas and tolls – the only compensation Zickl ever received from semipro football.

Zickl never made it close to a professional league. He once had a tryout for an Albany Arena League team and keeps a cutout from a Daily News article about him and his Bandits and Batavia High School teammate Robert Thurston trying out for a minor league combine in Ohio.

But Zickl is content with his career in semipro football. He’s found a lifelong home in it. For him, it’s always been more about teaching and helping. He helped start the Batavia Bandits in 1992 so he could give others the same experience he once got with the Express.

It’s all part of the reason Zickl is content with not playing this year – he’ll sacrifice his playing career if it means getting his dream business started. *** Phil Zickl wants to be Father Nelson Baker – sort of.

When Zickl made his original business cards for Phyzical Phitness, he listed the

“When I read that, I just really got into what he was about and just really wanted to do something and Phyzical Phitness is what that effort is,” Zickl said.

He said he was inspired by Baker to take his interest in children and in starting his own business and put them together.

He’s been working to turn his teaching, coaching and training skills into his Phyzical Phitness business since 2012. He’s recently partnered with friend and former personal trainer client Francesco Sylvester, who can handle the businesses end, in the hopes of revitalizing his dream.

Zickl says it’s because human beings have a tendency to rely on their vision. The exercise takes away the most important sense people use to understand their surrounding environment.

“The majority of human beings are used to be being on two feet,” Zickl said. “To take the most important sense away that helps you understand your environment is a big reason why it makes it remarkably different and more difficult … It’s just asking your body to do something it’s not used to doing.”

Zickl knows all about asking his body to do things it wouldn’t normally be asked to do.

He also knows that when he loses his balance during the exercise, he can always grab the wall.

The secret is, he never does. He hops, focuses and wills the balance to come from within.

Football has always been there for him to lean on. Now he’s letting go. He’s closing his eyes and standing on one foot as he tries to make his dream of Phyzical Phitness a reality.

But if the first 55 years of his life are any indication, Zickl will certainly keep his balance.

His dream is one day he’ll make enough money that the business can fund a scholarship program.

His dream is one day he’ll make enough money that the business can fund a scholarship program – whether it be paying for a toddler to participate in a swim program or funding babysitter costs and league fees so a single, young parent can participate in a bowling league.

It’s his way of honoring Father Baker.

email: tom.dinki@ubspectrum.com

YUSONG, SHI THE SPECTRUM

(Top left) Zickl looks at his name on a list for a UB Athletic Award Banquet from 1979-80.

YUSONG SHI, THE SPECTRUM

(Top right) Zickl sits in the Clark Hall locker room in the jersey he wore for UB from 1979-82.

TOM DINKI, THE SPECTRUM (Left) Zickl does a bench press in the Steel Mill Gym in Lackawanna, New York.

ubspectrum.com

8

Monday, April 27, 2015

Empowerment, unity and vaginal confidence The Vagina Monologues offer a light-hearted approach to combating violence against women BOBBY MCINTOSH

ASST. FEATURES EDITOR

Before the lights dimmed in the Student Union Theater on Thursday, a projector looped a video on a giant white screen asking women: “What would your vagina say if it could talk? … What would it wear?”

Then three women took to the stage and contorted themselves with spread knees and arched backs while talking about the difficulties of “checking out their vaginas.”

When they were done twisting their bodies, they stated over three dozen euphemisms for “vagina” which included, but were not limited to: “poonani, coochie, nappy dugout, vulva, monkey box, pussycat,” and an array of other less familiar terms.

The Vagina Monologues came to UB this weekend.

The award-winning play’s performance ran from April 23-25 in the Student Union Theater, and was presented by V-Day at UB 2015, with proceeds benefitting the national V-Day campaign that aims to end violence against women.

The Vagina Monologues is a play by Eve Ensler – who helped create the V-Day movement in 1998 – based on interviews she conducted with over 200 women to discuss sex, relationships and violence against women.

V-Day at UB runs from Feb. 14-April 30 and presents The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works to raise funds and awareness for violence against women.

The individual stories covered a plethora of themes including orgasms, love, beauty, acceptance of sexual orientation and formfitting clothes. Some monologues made the audience burst with laughter while others

were more emotional.

Ashley Maracle, UB alumna and co-director of the play, has been involved with The Vagina Monologues for the past five years. She said she understands that the show may not be very appealing to a broad audience.

“The show sounds intimidating, or like [students] wouldn’t be interested in it, but I would encourage them to come out and give it a try,” Maracle said.

She said she believes the play is successful because of its comedic touch. It discusses sensitives topics in a funny, non-threatening and non-blaming way, she said.

Audience member Amanda Valentini, a junior health and human services major, didn’t know much about the play but saw the advertisements around campus. She was excited to see “the messages sent out passionately by the actors.”

“They’re in the right direction with all of the educational groups to prevent violence against others,” Valentini said.

Some acts had one woman recite a story and others had multiple actresses discussing a specific theme.

Maracle recited one story describing the abuse and rape of a 10-year-old girl who grew up to fall in love with a woman that made her feel beautiful. The anecdote was both devastating and inspiring for the audience.

The shortest monologue was a simple statistic: Over three million girls in Africa suffer from forced female circumcision each year. Female circumcision is genital mutilation where a woman’s clitoris is cut off.

“You know the cliche of ‘first world problems,’ but after you read about what’s being done elsewhere, you’re like, ‘I have nothing to complain about,’” said Jane Fischer, director of Sub Board I Inc. (SBI) Health Education. “The conditions that women face globally … reading about what they’re enduring, what they’ve overcome and what’s being done to serve them is mind-boggling.”

Fischer is the producer of the V-Day campaign at UB and oversees the financial sponsorship of the program. She and her coworkers organized the V-Day events such

EMILY LI, THE SPECTRUM

​ -Day at UB performs its annual V The Vagina Monologues in the Student Union Theater to promote awareness and to raise funds for an end to violence against women.

as a human trafficking panel, V-Day Zumba and an open mic night scheduled for April 30 in Harriman Hall at 7 p.m.

“The Vagina Monologues and V-Day lends a voice to the women even Ensler interviewed,” Fischer said. “When these words are brought to life, it also helps the women in the show, the women in the audience and even the men in the audience find their own voice too.”

The Vagina Monologues first came to Buffalo in the late ’90s, and after being discontinued for a few years, was revived in 2009 due to student interest in the V-Day movement.

SBI Health Education has been the host organization and sponsor for the V-Day campaign from then on.

Graduate students Anyango Kamina and Isha Sethi said they absolutely loved the performance. Kamina has seen the performance before elsewhere and was excited to see UB’s rendition.

“There were so many perspectives that were brought up through different issues that women have and it was beautiful,” Kamina said. “I loved the parts where they discussed older women because you realized that they weren’t able to talk about these topics when they were growing up. It shows

Abby LaPlaca wins Fulbright Scholarship Student and humanitarian will spend next year teaching in Panama SOPHIA MCKEONE STAFF WRITER

When Abby LaPlaca asked “the troublemaker” in her classroom at Buffalo Public School 76 if he was OK, he said no. But he didn’t want to tell her why – at first. Upon further prodding, LaPlaca got him to open up.

The boy’s uncle had been stabbed just the night before.

“Of course I was not expecting that answer,” LaPlaca said. “This boy is 11 years old and this is what he’s dealing with and he’s in school right now and didn’t tell anyone … This made me realize just how different things are for some kids.”

LaPlaca, a senior Spanish major, has a passion for improving education across all cultures and languages – she calls it her “purpose in life.” She’ll be able to make this passion a reality by spending eight months in Panama next year teaching on a Fulbright Scholarship.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program “is the largest U.S. exchange program offering opportunities for students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide,” according to its website. The program awards approximately 1,900 grants each year and operates in 140 countries across the globe.

Throughout her time in Panama, LaPlaca will teach English for 20 hours a week and work on a youth bilingual literacy project.

“The education system [in the United States] for minorities and recent immi-

YUSONG SHI, THE SPECTRUM

Abby LaPlaca, a senior Spanish major, dances at Filipino American Student Association’s 20th Anniversary Gala 2015. LaPlaca is a lover of international cultures and languages and is excited to be spending eight months teaching in Panama next year on a Fulbright Scholarship.

grants is really difficult,” LaPlaca said. “People don’t realize there’s cultural differences in many of these schools and in the way people learn, and also obvious language barriers.

From what I’ve seen and learned firsthand this is all a really big problem.”

LaPlaca is no stranger to international culture. She taught English in the Dominican Republic her sophomore year as part of a one-week volunteer trip through UB’s Honors College, studied abroad in Ecuador her junior year and studied abroad in Italy over this past winter break.

Her passion for improving education began at School 76, or the Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy, where she interned for two years. She worked with individual or groups of students who needed extra attention, graded papers and tests and assisted the

teacher. Her experiences teaching in the inner-city Buffalo area enabled LaPlaca to see firsthand how difficult the education process is for immigrants, minorities and inner city students in general.

“For one, there is the language barrier – even at 76, where the teacher is bilingual,” LaPlaca said. “At any given time there are kids in the classroom who have no idea what is being said.”

On top of the language barrier, many of these immigrant and minority students are from inner-city neighborhoods and dealing with things that the average U.S. student doesn’t have to deal with.

LaPlaca applied for the Fulbright Scholarship specifically to go to Panama to teach English. She knew she wanted to go to Latin America and liked Panama’s program because she would be teaching in higher education.

“I decided I wanted to work in a university setting so I could teach English to people who could then go teach it to others …

I was trying to go for maximum impact,” LaPlaca said.

LaPlaca discovered her love for Latin American culture accidentally. When she was a freshman – and still undecided about her major – she went with her friends to a salsa dance audition hosted by the Latin American Student Association (LASA). She end-

that this problem is generational.”

Sethi hadn’t seen the play before but said she was glad that she went. The most exciting part for her was the openness of the stories.

“I was thinking, ‘Hey, why the hell haven’t we done this before?’” Sethi said. “There shouldn’t be any guilt associated with being a woman.”

Maracle said The Vagina Monologues has taught her the ability to unite with women for support and has helped her overcome many of her own fears and insecurities.

“V-Day, for me, is an opportunity for women to come together and share their experiences – there’s not a lot of recognized space for that,” Maracle said. “I also think it’s an opportunity to show their solidarity and power, and you don’t see that.”

As the end of the V-Day at UB 2015 campaign approaches, both Maracle and Fischer want to deliver the message that anyone can make a difference. Maracle said that she understands that it takes more than one person to make a difference, but maintains hope.

“No problem is too big, anyone can do something,” Fischer said with a smile.

“Coming to the show, volunteering, reading a book, taking a class, educating yourself, anything you do helps.”

Maracle said she said she is eager to continue opposing violence against women.

“We can’t let the message die when the show dies,” Maracle said. email: features@ubspectrum.com

ed up uncovering a “hidden talent” for salsa dancing and a hidden love for the entire Latin American culture.

“The thing that sealed the deal for me [in deciding to be a Spanish major] was joining LASA. I got super sucked in. I really loved the people and the culture,” LaPlaca said.

LaPlaca was encouraged to apply for the Fulbright Scholarship by Elizabeth Colucci, UB’s coordinator of nationally competitive fellowships and scholarships.

“Abby was the perfect candidate for the Fulbright,” Colucci said. “It’s a mutual exchange of cultures so they’re looking for Americans who want to share their culture and their way of life with others … Along with a level of language ability, the students really have to have a clear sense of the country and how they’ll fit into it, so they have to have a good understanding of themselves as well.”

Dylan Burns, a senior architecture major and 2013 winner of the US-UK Fulbright Commission Summer Institute Scholarship, can attest to the international exchange of cultures the Fulbright program facilitates. “[The Fulbright scholarship] turned out to be a great way to experience the city and people [of Nottingham, England]. It was great to see the city in as many different ways as possible and I learned a lot about myself and the direction in which I wanted to take my studies,” Burns said. “People make a place and their stories can be invaluable to us if we take the time to listen to them.”

Experiences like LaPlaca’s time interning at School 76 have shaped her future aspirations. Although she is not entirely sure of her plans, she knows that working with students like the ones at 76 will be part of them.

LaPlaca looks forward to sharing similar experiences in Panama, and being able to learn more about herself and the Latin American culture that she has grown to love.

“When I come back from Panama, I do want to go to grad school to get my teaching certification, I think to do English as a second language, and then I might do Teach for America, or something like that but I definitely want to work in inner-city schools with minority students,” LaPlaca said. email: features@ubspectrum.com

Monday, April 27, 2015 ubspectrum.com

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DAILY DELIGHTS sponsored by Collegiate Village Apartments Crossword of the Day Monday, April 27, 2015

1 Construction girder 6 All thumbs 11 It offers resistance 14 Artemis, to the Romans 15 Ark contents 16 JFK overseer 17 Ghost story, e.g.

19 J. Edgar Hoover’s org.

20 Luce’s periodical 21 Fanatical 23 Some metalware items 27 Tiny village 29 “Mourning Becomes Electra” playwright 30 Record promotion scandal 31 Mean moods 32 Actor’s memorization 33 Atlanta-based station 36 Continental currency 37 Hunts for 38 Falling flakes 39 Rescued from (with “of ”) 40 Blackens on a barbecue 41 Cry of accomplishment 42 Sags 44 Go from site to site?

45 Timber problem 46 Intense,

FROM UNIVERSAL UCLICK

HOROSCOPES

Edited by Timothy E. Parker April 27, 2015 OUT THERE By Marsha Handley

B I N E A I V E N I T

Hoş geldin

Benvenuto

as eyes 47 Kennel club classification 48 Freshman, probably 49 Senatorial affirmative 50 Scraps 57 Type of cap 58 Twofold 59 Practice piece for one instrument 60 Begley and Harris 61 Separated 62 Virgil put him through hell

teaser 24 Cause of many yawns 25 Products of exotic foods before bedtime 26 One of the Jackson brothers 27 Actor Tom 28 “The ___ have it” 30 Mooring sites 32 Bounded 34 Like Erik the Red 35 Bird call 37 “Beat it!”

38 Boutique 40 City in Spain or Argentina 41 Showed a general tendency 1 Bar 43 Bread type requirements 44 “___ waiting long?”

2 It may be boring 45 Great fear 3 Common ringbearer 46 Delivered 4 Collector’s suffix a hand 5 Fireplace frames 47 Modern information 6 Agenda entries unit 7 Fridge 48 Bygone autocrat posting 51 Appetizer selection 8 History class 52 “CSI” proof subject 53 In-flight info, for short 9 Amigo 54 One with 10 Lunchbox item a mother 11 Cause of some chuck- 55 Dangerous ’50s crop les spray 12 Something to kick 56 Take in 13 Domestic 18 Young lady 22 “Is that ___?”

23 Brain

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- Take a close look at the issues being raised by those around you. You may find that you have overlooked something in the recent past.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- Forward motion requires forward thinking, and forward thinking requires you to loosen your bonds to the past. You can do this!

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- You must be patient with those who are not able to keep up with you at every moment. You must respect another’s learning curve.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- The accomplishments you are most proud of will inform efforts that begin today and continue for the coming weeks.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- You’ll know when time is up, when enough is enough, when you’ve reached the end of something finite. Don’t push those boundaries!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- Your interest is high, but your ability to jump in may be restricted by a fear that you don’t entirely understand or recognize.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- A friend’s offer brings you back to life in a way and has you seeing things from a much more positive point of view.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- Your stamina may not be what it was a few days ago, so you must pace yourself and give yourself time to recover as necessary.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Now is not the time to rest on your laurels. The competition could be gaining on you, and you cannot afford to give up any ground right now.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- The concerns you have are shared by many, yet you realize that you may be the only one who has conceived of a solid plan.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) -- Others compare your personal progress to that made by some of the greats who have gone before. Is this really fair?

ARIES (March 20-April 19) -- You mustn’t let your emotions run amok; keep tabs on how you are feeling -- and why -- and make small adjustments as needed.

ACROSS

Monday, April 27, 2015 ubspectrum.com

10

SPORTS Together again

Shannon Evans transfers to Arizona State, reunites with former head coach Bobby Hurley QUENTIN HAYNES

SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR

After being granted his full release from UB earlier in the week, men’s basketball sophomore guard Shannon Evans has found a new home.

Evans announced Friday that he will transfer to Arizona State – a move that reunites him with former Bulls head coach Bobby Hurley, who left Buffalo to coach the Sun Devils on April 9. Evans will have to sit out the 2015-16 season but will have two seasons of eligibility remaining afterward.

“In going to Arizona State, I have a better opportunity for me to play at the highest level to play at in a Power Five conference and play with coaches I trust and started my career with,” Evans said. “It’s something that’s better for me and my career.”

Evans helped lead the Bulls to a 23-10 record and the program’s first-ever MidAmerican Conference Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance last season as a sophomore. He was also named Second Team All-MAC. Buffalo Athletic Director Danny White told The Spectrum on April 20 that UB Athletics was looking to see if Arizona State had any “impermissible contact” with Evans before his release, which could be an NCAA violation. When The Spectrum asked White if he had any reason to believe that Arizona State committed tampering by speaking to Evans before his release, White said he didn’t think it would be appropriate for him to speak about it “at this point.”

Evans told The Spectrum on April 21 that the day he was released was the first time he had spoken to Hurley since the coach left for Arizona State on April 9. Evans said the two “didn’t want to hang up the phone” and wanted to talk for days.

Evans visited Arizona State Friday and Hurley offered his former point guard a scholarship. “[Hurley] told me that I had to earn everything [at Arizona State] like I did at Buffalo,”

Evans said. “He’s a great coach and said he wanted me to join his team. His style of play matched my style of play perfectly and he’s offering me the chance to live my dream.”

Evans said that he plans to finish out the semester at UB before fully transferring to Arizona State. He said that along with Hurley, his parents and former Buffalo and current Arizona State assistant coach Levi Watkins were “instrumental” in his decision to head to Tempe, Arizona.

Evans called the transfer from Buffalo the hardest decision of his life.

“This is truly the toughest decision I ever had to make,” Evans said. “I love Buffalo – both the school and the community – but I know that this opportunity doesn’t come often. I know that there’s some risk in the move, but for my career, I’m willing to take the risk.”

Evans was known for his flashy on-court demeanor and playing style that made him a fan favorite for UB’s student section.

Kyle Hughes, a freshman business major and member of True Blue, said his favorite Evans moment was the Bulls’ MAC East-clinching win over Bowling Green in Alumni on March 6 when Evans thought the game ended already and jumped into the crowd to celebrate with True Blue.

“The guy was a fan favorite,” Hughes said.

“And for reasons just like that. We loved him.

And he loved to interact with us.”

Alessandro Carusone, a sophomore communication major, said he was initially shocked about Evans’ departure from the Buffalo program and felt the City of Buffalo was “betrayed.” After “cooling off ” for a couple of days, Carusone said he understood Evans’ decision because of his close relationship with Hurley.

“At first, I felt betrayed,” Carusone said.

“But who didn’t? The city as a whole really came around to like Shannon. True Blue loved Shannon. True Blue lived for Shannon. They set off him, he set them off. It was a really good relationship.”

Evans took to Twitter multiple times to speak about his loyalty and love for Buffalo. He frequently used the hashtag #ForeverABull and tweeted congratulations to new Bulls head coach Nate Oats about his hire.

Hughes said he thinks Evans’ heart was always in the right place despite what some may say.

“I definitely think he means what he

says,” Hughes said. “I believe it when he says he loves Buffalo. I’m sure he’s going to find a home out in Arizona where they’re going to be his family – and that’s understandable because that’s what we were here to him.”

Evans’ transfer came roughly four days after he announced his intent to transfer from the program and three days after White granted Evans his full release.

UB Athletics originally told Evans it would block him from transferring to certain schools like Arizona State and other MAC teams. This caused Evans to speak out against White and UB Athletics to several media outlets, including The Spectrum, as he said White did not care about him and his future.

White and Evans met the evening of April 20 and White granted Evans his full release the following day so that the guard could transfer to any school in the country.

Evans has since said White cares about him and called the athletic director’s decision to grant his release a “high class move.”

Evans has spoken of his close relationship with Hurley in the past and Hurley often praised the point guard’s playing style.

The two could sometimes be seen speaking with one another one-on-one outside of the media room in Alumni Arena after games. Evans’ father, Shannon Evans I, is fan of Duke, where Hurley won two national championships as a player.

Former Bulls head coach Reggie Witherspoon originally recruited Evans to Buffalo.

Evans briefly de-committed from the program when Witherspoon was fired in March 2013 but was convinced by Hurley’s hire roughly two weeks later to come back to Buffalo.

Men’s tennis claims first-ever Bulls make comeback MAC Championship against Binghamton, headed to first NCAA Tournament COURTESY OF PAUL HOKANSON

Senior Sebastian Ionescu (pictured) is set to return a volley.

The Bulls defeated Binghamton 4-2 Saturday to claim their firstever MAC Championship in program history.

QUENTIN HAYNES

SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR

The men’s tennis team found itself down 2-0 to Binghamton in the Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship match Saturday. The No. 4 seeded Bulls, who won their final two regular season matches just to qualify for the tournament, looked like they were on their way to falling in the championship match for the fourth time in six years.

Then Buffalo began its comeback.

It won the next three singles matches to set up a potential championship-clinching singles match between Buffalo’s Sergio Arevalillo and the Bearcats’ Frenk Kote.

Arevalillo delivered, and the Bulls (12-10,

2-3 MAC) are going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

Buffalo defeated Binghamton (8-16, 3-2 MAC) 4-2 at Northern Illinois’ Vaughn Tennis Center in DeKalb, Illinois after the match was delayed and moved indoors due to rain.

During the middle of the second set of his match with Kote, Arevalillo, a junior, realized he could clinch the title.

“I was shaky in the beginning,” Arevalillo said. “Pablo [Alvarez] told me he won and it clicked that if I won we can be champions. I really wanted to give our seniors a chance to walk away as champions so I focused and got the win.”

In last year’s championship match against Ball State, junior Pablo Alvarez was ahead in the final match 6-5 before the match went

into a tiebreaker. Ball State eventually won the set 9-7 and the championship match, 4-3.

Alvarez was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Saturday after winning his singles match, 7-6, 6-3 and pairing with sophomore Jonathan Hannestad to get Buffalo’s lone doubles win for the day.

After the tournament, head coach Lee Nickell said Saturday was redemption for Alvarez after the loss in last year’s championship.

“After losing the way we did last year, this was a redemption for Pablo,” Nickell said.

“Overall, this was an unbelievable accomplishment for the program and our players.

We fought through adversity all season and had many things not go our way, so to be here, I’m just happy for our players.”

This was the Bulls’ fourth championship match appearance under Nickell, but their first win. The Bulls fell in the championship 4-0 to Western Michigan in 2010 and 2012 before last season’s heart-breaking loss to Ball State, 4-3. Buffalo’s win ends a 17-year streak in which only Western Michigan or Ball State won the MAC Championship.

KAINAN GUO, THE SPECTRUM

Shannon Evans and former head coach Bobby Hurley embrace after Buffalo's 77-75 win over Bowling Green in Alumni Arena on March 6.

Evans announced on Friday that he will be transferring to Arizona State.

Both Carusone and Hughes said they don’t think Evans’ loss will hurt the team next season. Carusone said he believes guards like freshman Lamonte Bearden and transfer Torian Graham will be impactful players next season and expects a breakout year for Bearden if he stays with the program.

Hughes said he is “confident with Oats’ recruiting skills.” He said losing Evans is hard for the program, but “there’s no reason why we can’t win the MAC again next year.”

Evans ended his Buffalo career with averages of 12.2 points and 4.0 assists per game in 62 total games.

Evans gave final words for the people and the community of Buffalo.

“I truly want to thank Buffalo for all of their support,” Evans said. “Our fans, the media, the people who supported us and doubted us. Everyone. It was a fun two years. If our paths ever cross again, I hope they welcome me with open arms.”

Jordan Grossman contributed reporting to this story. email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Despite Arevalillo and Hannestad’s doubles victory, the Bearcats got the point with two doubles victories themselves.

After senior Damien David fell in his No. 1 singles matchup, the Bulls needed to win four of the remaining five singles matches.

They won the next four to clinch the title before senior Sebastian Ionescu could even finish his matchup against Ishmael Dinia.

Nickell said he envisioned this season as special, even with the struggles along the way.

The Bulls suffered through a six-match losing streak during the season, including an 0-2 start to MAC play.

“I always believed in this team,” Nickell said. “When I schedule our season, I make sure to schedule for our region three top-20 teams in the Ivy League at one point, so our confidence took a bit of a hit during conference time. Still, we got the final two wins of the season and we knew that we had a chance to finish out on top.”

The Bulls had two players receive the honor of making the All-MAC Tournament team, as Alvarez and junior Amar Hromic were both selected to the team.

The Bulls now head into the NCAA Regional rounds, which will be held from May 8-10, where Arevalillo said anything is possible.

“We’re expecting a big-time team,” Arevalillo said. “We expect a top-16 team. You never know … We have all the confidence in winning the tournament and hope for the best.”

This is the third MAC title and NCAA Tournament appearance for UB Athletics this season, as the women’s soccer team and men’s basketball team also won conference championships and received automatic bids to the tournament.

The Bulls’ opponent and location will be revealed during the selection show on April 28. email: sports@ubspectrum.com