1987_04 The Daily Collegian April 1987

              Tuesday, April 28,1987
Sports
Page 9
Collins coaxes 'Dogs into wins
Confidence carries FSU to No. 5
By Darryl Howerton
Contributing Sports Writer
If anything can go wrong, it won't
Collins' Law.
Fresno State senior golfeT Ken "Silver
Lining" Collins grVes new meaning to the
phrase "good attitude"
When faced with a collegiate career-
ending injury last year, Collins called it "a
blessing in disguise"
When playing in absurd conditions at
the Arizona State Sun Devil-Phoenix
Thunderbird Tournament, in '85. he dubbed
the 50 mile-per-hour gusts of wind and
rain "a dream tournament."
Heck, if Collins were three-over-par in a
tournament, he'd probably say, Tm just a
'double eagle' away from getting back on
track."
Collins carries a 74.74 stroke average
for the fifth-ranked Fresno State golf team.
He plays on the same team with the All-
American candidate trio of* Kevin and
David Sutherland and Tun Loustalot along
with freshman phenom Ron Ewing, so
"K.C." does not bask alone in the
limelight
How could he? He's having too much
fun helping the Bulldogs become a golf
powerhouse and national championship
contender. Fresno State has won five
tournaments already this year and earned
four highest-ever rankings from 18lh-to-
12th-to-10th-to-9th-to-5th. One of the
nine coaches on the rankings panel gave
FSU a first-place vote
"It's land of a scary thought to think we
are good enough to win the national title,"
Collins admits of this storybook season.
"So maybe were walking hand-in-hand
with fate"
Tuesday Collins and the Sutherland
brothers were tuning up for this weekend's
Sun Devil-Thunderbird Tournament by
hitting golf balls outside of Beiden Field.
But they weren't rutting the balls like
normal golfers would. Each of the
Sutherland brothers were shagging Collins'
shots 160 yards away catching ball-after-
ball wearing baseball gloves.
This ain't no normal golf team.
T guess I'll be known as the guy with
the winning attitude," Collins beams.
These guys, always give me a bad time
because 111 always sarcastically confront
someone and say, "YOU don't have a good
attitude' They're always giving me a bad
time about something."
He always gets- the butt of jokes because
he's always dishing them out. He's a
man's man, a golfer's golfer, and just an
all-around good guy.
"It's hard for me to sit here and talk
about Ken and sound like a coach at the
same time" says Watney. '"We're
especially close as Christians and in our
player-coach relationship. He's an
extremely good person and I have a
special feeling about him."
David Sutherland chirped in. Teah, one
time Coach put his arm around him and
.said, 'You're like a son to meThey're so
close Ken jokingly calls him daddy sometimes.
The way this Bulldog unit gets along
together, it appears these defending PCAA
Champions are destined for something
more in '87. But all the hoopla may not
have occurred were it not for a wrist injury
suffered by Collins last year.
K.C. was coming off of an outstanding
summer of winning amateur tournaments.
That coupled with the fact of some faulty
weight-training on his part, Collins
developed tendonitis in his right wrist
The severeness of his season-ending
injury, though, was not realized until he
played in a tournament in the fall of '85.
It appeared that, unless the PCAA granted
Collins an "injury hardship," Ids senior
season and career would finish on a sour
note
"In May (Fresno State athletic trainer)
Ed Ferreira got the verdict from the
committee and he sat me down in the
training room. He was pretty good at what
na did. He gave me this serious speech.
"He says, 'Well, the committee
deliberated and, uh...' He looks at me real
serious, leu me hang for about a minute
after staring me down with all this
negative input Then he says. But they
decided to give you another senior year
anyway.'" ~.
"As soon as he told me thai;" Collins
points out T barked like a dog. That's
when I realized the injury was a blessing
in disguise. If it weren't for the injury. I
wouldn't have been a part of Fresno State's
greatest team ever."
Collins has gone on to place in the Top
20 four times in his "extra" senior season,
not to mention letting his attitude rub off
on his teammates ala King Midas. One
time this year. Ken made a 240-yard shot
to score a "double eagle" by shooting a
"2" on a par-5, 512-yard hole.
How rare is a double eagle?
Tve never seen one in all my nine
years of coaching." Watney acknowledges.
Collins just thinks it's another act of
fate in this magical year. The hole is four-
and-a-half inches wide and I couldn't even
see the pin. I'm 270 yards away and I dunk
it. I couldn't do that if I sat here for the
rest of my life and hit balls."
Ken's penchant for lighting up the golf
course started in the Sun Devil-Thunderbtrd
Tournament two years ago. Playing in
weather like the famous golf scene from
"Caddyshack." Collins shot a two-under-
par 70 on the final round to lead FSU to a
one-stroke team victory. It was the first
tournament team tide that Collins
experienced as a Bulldog.
"When I shot that 70. I finally felt like
I was a member of the team and not some
dead      weight      hanging      around,"      he
acknowledges.' That   inspired   me   to   play ,
well up until the injury. I'm just glad I got
the chance to come back with the extra
year."
And Ken's return can only help Fresno
State's chances of doing well at the NCAA
Championships.
T think we can win it all," Collins
says. "I really do."
David Sutherland interrupts,   "What do   A winning attitude has helped Ken Collins and the rest of the Bulldog golf team to
you mean, 1 think'?" i a fifth place national ranking.
No more house calls for Doc
Sting tike
a Bee
By Jon Matsune
One of the saddest things sports fans
have to go through is watching the career
of a legendary athlete come to a close; a
tired Willie Mays in a New York Mets'
uniform hitting at a .213 clip, a worn-out -
Muhammad Ali taking a beating on the
ropes at the hands of one Trevor Berbick.
a gimpy-kneed Joe Namath failing to read
the blitz and firing hurried passes into the
hands of opposing defensive backs. ,
This coming week might be the last one
Julius Erving plays professional
basketball because if the Philadelphia
76ers fail to get past, the Milwaukee Bucks
in their best-of-five series, the Doctor's
going to be history and the NBAs going
to be without an all-time great whose
classy personality has graced collegiate
and professional basketball for 19 years.
The Doctor's college days at the
University of Massachusetts and his,
flamboyant American Basketball
Association campaigns with the Virginia
Squires and the New Yoric Nets both left
their share of memories in many of a
basketball mind — ones typified by a big,
dhJJMajaMiaj afro, flying jams launched
from the free throw line and amazing mid¬
air, undcr-ihe-buckct excursions climaxed
by a ball swishing through a net
Erving played just two varsity seasons
for U of M before signing with the
Squires, but his collegiate career still has
to be listed among the most spectacular in
histoy — he averaged 263 points and
20.2 rebounds per contest In five ABA
seasons, the Doctor made five league all-
star teams, won three Most Valuable
Player trophies and led the Nets to two
league titles.
I     It hardly seems that long ago, but it's
been over a decade since Erving entered
the "big league" by signing with the 76ers
and teamed with George McGinrds and
Doug Collins to instantly create one of
the most formidable teams that failed, to
win the NBA Championship. It also
doesn't seem like it's been four years since ,
Erving teamed with Moses Malone and
others to bring Philadelphia that long-lost
title with that brilliant 65-17 regular
season and 12-1 playoff mark. Time flies
when you're having fun, and watching the
Doc pi ay has always been just that
'Throughout Ins career, Erving has
displayed another admirable quality that
may or may not have anything to do with "
basketball. Sports writer Jim O'Brien, who
befriended Erving during the latters stint
with the Nets, presented a simple, but
accurate description of this quality in a
letter to the editor of the 1986-87 Street A.
Smith's basketball yearbook:
Once -while I was interviewing one of
his jjjajaajajj on the Nets, Brian Taylor.
and had my three-year-old daughter Sarah
with me in the clubhouse, Erving did a
small thing — yet a big thing — that I
will never forget Without a word, he
walked from one end of the locker room to
the other, pulled a cold, orange soda out of
the cooler, uncapped it and handed it to
Sarah with a smile. Then he returned to his
locker.
That comes to mind as much as any of
his acrobatic assaults on the basket He
has always been a class act Tve got to
introduce you to my mother.' he once said,
oh about 15 years ago, Toull like her."'
Last May, Erving earned his bachelor's
degree in leadership and administration
from the University of Massachusetts,
some 16 years after he dropped out of the
same school to play pro ball. 1 don't need
the degree to go forward with the present
endeavor with which I am involved," he
said, "But I feel personally that I need to
fulfill a commitment I started in 1968 and
to fulfill a promise to my mother."
Even when performing eye-popping
works of art on the court Erving has
reflected a quiet dignity, an apparent
feeling that he's no better d
else. Thinking back, one can remember
marry an occasion on which he came
through with a crucial bucket
R ecoUecoons of the Doctor bad-mouthing
opponents and referees, rubbing a victory
m the face of a defeated opponent or
displaying anything besides first-class
Saa STING, page 10