PLATI-'TUDES IS BACK!!
A notes column penned by David Plati, who is completing his 20th year as Colorado’s Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations.
Welcome to Plati-?Tudes... I know; this started out weekly, then bi-weekly; then it became more or less monthly, or bi-monthly, but with the last one in December, it now appears to be quarterly. All I can say is I hope that it was worth the wait!!
TRIVIA QUESTIONS... CU?Mark Simpson began his 28th season as CU men’s golf coach this spring, as he took over from the late Les Fowler in January 1977. What was the No. 1 song in the country the first week of 1977 (and bonus kudos if you can name the song that supplanted it)? Seinfeld I?Kramer had two phone numbers in the series. What were they? Seinfeld II?What movie supplied the most actors who made cameo appearances during the course of the series (four total)?
TRIVIA CORRECTION... Kudos to P-Tudes reader Ben Sturgell for pointing out my last Seinfeld trivia question had an incorrect answer. The picture in Jerry's apartment, thought to be Yankee Stadium, is in fact a picture entitled "take me out to the ballgame," by artist James Rizzi. Ben’s great detective work produced a couple of links confirming the error: http://www.seinfeld-fan.net/pictures/episodes/the_stall/the_stall011.jpg and http://www.dodgers2001.com/multimedia/poetry/summer_game.html.
VALENTI VAULTS TO THE TOP... Congrats to former CU student and graduate equipment manager Chris Valenti, who was named head equipment manager for the Denver Broncos on January 29. Chris first joined the Broncos in 1997, just in time for the club’s back-to-back Super Bowl titles. The 29-year old graduated from Golden High School, and then spent four years with the Buffs as a student manager before serving one year (1996) as a graduate assistant; he had a great run at CU, as the Buffs were 48-10-2 during his stay; in fact, throw in the two Bronco Super Bowl years, he had a seven-year span where the teams he worked for went 71-16-2 (and four CU bowl wins to go with Denver’s Lombardi trophies). He replaced Doug West, who took an executive position with Reebok after 11 years with the Broncos.
NACDA DIRECTORS’ CUP (formerly the Sears Cup) UPDATE... Colorado’s fourth place finish earned the Buffaloes 80 points in the NACDA Directors’ Cup Standings, as skiing was the first of nine NCAA winter titles decided for 2003-04. Track was decided later the same day, with the Buffs picking up 46 for the men’s 28th place finish and 36 for the women’s 38th place effort. CU was in 13th place in the final fall standings with 197 points (Michigan led with 482), but has positioned itself well within the top 10 with its new 359 total (I didn’t do the math for all the track scoring; CU will also earn points for the women’s team making the NCAA tournament). The Buffs were the top ranked Big 12 school in the standings in the fall, ahead of No. 22 Nebraska (166), No. 23 Texas A&M (163) and No. 31 Missouri (129).
SI SURVEY REVIEW... Our December survey was right on in some regards and missed by a mile in others when looking at the numbers Sports Illustrated came up with in its state of Colorado sports poll. The biggest surprise might have come in the state’s biggest rivalry question; CU-Colorado State was the runaway winner (which of course we’ll gladly take), but in our poll, the Broncos-Raiders were easily the first choice. The P-Tudes poll showed 55% preferred college to pro, whereas the SI poll had 63% preferring the pros, with another 23% saying they liked both equally (which is why it was kind of interesting to see a college rivalry win out in its polling). Our poll showed heavy major league interest in the Cubs and Cardinals, which anyone will tell you when you’ve seen those teams play in Denver, yet in the SI poll, they weren’t on the radar. Both polls agreed handily that Al Davis was the “Enemy of the State” and that John Elway was the greatest athlete to ever play in the state (though he received 77% of the SI vote to 48% here; David Thompson, third in the P-Tudes poll, got no love in the SI top four. Overall, CU was well represented in the magazine’s poll.
TWO TO ATHENS... The count is up to at least four people with ties to the University of Colorado who will be participating in some capacity at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Assistant athletic trainer Wendy Veatch is the latest addition, as she will join former CU track star Alan Culpepper, who is competing for the U.S., and former sports information directors Mike Moran (USOC) and Tim Simmons (USA Volleyball). Hopefully the list will continue to grow!
APPLE FROM THE TREE... Larry Marks, a ’64 CU grad who lettered in wrestling for the Buffs, wrote in to tell us that his daughter, Dara (CU ’97), has made a name for herself as a professional mountain biker. Joking that it cost him about $1,000 in medical bills for falls down Boulder Canyon, Larry said his daughter first became interested in the sport as an undergrad at CU. Well, fast-forward to 2003, and Dara was ranked sixth in the NORBA series in cross country and fifth in short track. In September she took 35th in the world at the World Championships in Switzerland and the following week, she placed 29th at the World Cup finals in Austria. He added that as a senior, she was captain of CU’s women's club softball team. So congrats, Dara, we’ll be watching for you in ?04!
ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR... No, not a snap count or a basketball ref counting a 5-second violation; four, as in quadruplets, is what former CU Assistant SID Preston English (1996-98) and wife Barbara are expecting later this spring. Preston tells us the best guess is somewhere between the last week in May and the second week in June, though the longer the better since quads are usually born premature. They know what sexes the kids will be, but don’t want to publicly reveal; no names have been selected as of yet... SO, sounds like time to offer up some suggestions. You guys could go the former SID colleague and student assistant route (Ollie, Colleen, Brendan, Matt, Curtis, Pakalani, Zak, Sheree, Kacey, Devin, Nellie, Aberle, Francone, Roogow); the single name celebrity road (Sting, Cher, Bono, Prince, Pele, Nene, Hammer); if all boys, after the ’27 Yankees’ murderers row (Babe, Lou, Earle, Bob); if all girls, after the Spice Girls (Sporty, Spice, Posh, Ginger and/or Baby); a matching first name to go with your last name (Bad, Proper, Oxford, No Habla); or four names that will sound cool when the third grade teacher takes roll, last name first (Test, Teacher, Dictionary, Literature). Congrats, B & P!
LIVING LEGEND... With the passing of Russell “Sox” Walseth, another one of CU’s greats with links back to first half century has left us, leaving a precious few who connected the World War II days (or before) with the present. In my most recent Plati-?Tudes poll, I queried the survey group on who they now believe is CU’s greatest living legend. I received 106 responses, with Bill McCartney the runaway choice with 44 votes (41.5%), with Hale Irwin, Eddie Crowder and Joe Romig all receiving 10 or more votes. Here is a roll call of the names that came in on the ballots:
Bill McCartney (44)
Hale Irwin (17)
Eddie Crowder (14)
Joe Romig (10)
Burdette Haldorson (4)
Dick Anderson (3)
Bobby Anderson (3)
Ceal Barry (3)
Carroll Hardy (2)
Frank Bernardi (1)
Bill Crowder (1)
Darian Hagan (1)
Bill Marolt (1)
Cliff Meely (1)
Non-Athlete: Scott Carpenter (1).
Bret Pruehs perhaps summed it up best as to why McCartney was the runaway vote-getter among those polled: “Coach Mac's national championship season serves as the benchmark and single most defining moment in CU sports. His impact is evident on the football field in the tradition he established that continues today through Gary Barnett, and his impact on the university as a whole is broad. I can attest that my own awareness and interest in CU was first sparked watching Coach Mac's Buffs beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, and I know the magic of that season was discussed among my classmates 10 years later.”
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Q & A WITH A BUFF... Mark Simpson is in his 28th season as head coach of the CU men’s golf team, and recently presided over his 400th event when the Buffaloes finished ninth at the John Burns Intercollegiate in Honolulu. Prior to departing for the trip, a member of the crack P-Tudes team (okay, me) caught up with Mark and had him reflect upon his previous 27 seasons and 399 events.
Q: What was your first tournament like as a head coach and how do things differ today?
Simpson: “The game itself has changed tremendously in the sense that the equipment has changed. The golf courses that we played 25, 28 years ago are essentially the same that they are today, other than tree or shrub growth, but they don’t play the same. We’ve played in Albuquerque in the Tucker (Invitational) every year, and that course plays different than it did when I started simply by how far the golf ball goes. A shot into the green that required a 6- or 7-iron in 1978 might very well be a wedge shot today. The structure of college golf remains the same. There were a few dual matches back then, but not many. The whole flavor of college golf shifted to, ?take five and count four’ right around when I became a head coach. The other big change is how much the golf companies are involved in college golf. When we first got started, we barely could get to a tournament, let alone supply the team with uniforms. I think I gave the guys three golf balls for the tournament, now they get a dozen, along with shirts, pants, bags, all given to us by the golf companies.
A huge deal to us is that after Steve (Jones) came here, he got three clubs and a dozen balls from Titleist, and that’s part of the reason that he remained loyal to them for so long.
“The numbers have also grown since then. I’d say that there might be close to twice as many that have golf programs right now; back then, only 10 put an emphasis on college golf in 1977, but now about 150 have said that they want to win a national championship and fund the program that way.”
Q: Describe your coaching style and how it’s changed through the years?
Simpson: “The first thing I learned is that the players are not looking for a friend, they are looking for a coach. I thought the ?I want to be a friend-type’ mentality was the way to go before I really became a coach; I started out wanting all of them to like me. But after a few years, the mentality sunk in that they didn’t want a friend, they wanted to be coached, be mentored. My understanding of the game has simplified to the point where I can present methods to them that explain why they played poorly, and why they played well. The sport of golf hasn’t changed; the basic principles are still those, basic.”
Q: What’s the difference between recruiting now and when you started in 1977?
Simpson: “In 1977, my best guess is that there were one, two or maybe three coaches at the United States Junior Championships. Last summer, there were 93. That’s a reflection on how the sport has grown and how all of us look at the big tournaments in the summer. The junior golf association’s growth is obviously big, and there are many more opportunities now for a young golfer to take his or her game on the road. Twenty-five years ago, it was a word of mouth deal, you rarely saw kids form outside your own state. Now you can see players from all over the world. The recruiting process is about the same, but the evaluation process has totally changed. And when I started, I received 30, maybe 40 letters from kids with an interest in playing; now I get something like six or seven hundred.”
Q: Any good recruiting stories? How did you discover Steve Jones (his first recruit)?
Simpson: “The U.S. junior was at Hiwan in 1975 or 1976, and I didn’t attend because I wasn’t head coach then. But one of the kids on the team said there’s a kid from Yuma that you really need to check out. That was in March, and he was talking about the previous summer. So I went down and watched Steve play in the local U.S. Open qualifying at Columbine. He shot, I think, an 86 in the morning, and came back with a 72. If he had shot 86-85, I probably would have backed away. Then he finished second in the state stroke play, and I offered him 75% of a scholarship. Then New Mexico State got on him, and I got scared so I offered him a full ride. I learned later that full rides were extremely rare back then, and still are today (schools are allotted 4.5 scholarships for men’s golf).”
Q: What are some of the funniest stories you’ve seen during your tenure?
Simpson: “Well, the funniest is when Charlie Luther lost yardage on his first collegiate shot (it hit a tree and landed behind the tee). He was very nervous, his first meet, so I told him just to be calm, make a par, and that he didn’t have to do anything spectacular. So he strikes his ball, and it goes ?Bang!, Bang!’ His shot had hit the ladies tee markers about 20 feet ahead of him and went straight up in the air and came down three feet behind. So he’s holding his pose, but he didn’t know where the ball was until it landed. So I told him, ?Don’t worry, even Bo Jackson lost yardage on his first collegiate carry’ " and he said, ?Well coach, there are lot of ways to make a par.’ That was a fun time, because we wound up winning that tournament (the 1988 New Mexico State Coca Cola Classic) and that night at dinner, we just couldn’t stop laughing.”
Q: What are you most proud of?
Simpson: “One thing I certainly am proud of is looking around and seeing the guys who have gone through the program, seeing where they are today and what successes they’ve become in life. I try to keep in touch with as many of them as I can. I’m also proud of the graduation rate that they’ve put together, and am proud that we’ve done things right through the years and more often than not have been nationally competitive.”
Q: This is hard to do, but if you had to pick a 12-man Ryder Cup-like All-Star team of the players you coached, who would make it and why?
Simpson: “Well, based on what they did in college, meaning their competitiveness, their successes and approach, the first five would include Steve Jones, Jonathan Kaye, John Lindberg, Bobby Kalinowski and Scott Petersen. Then I’d add Kane Webber and Ben Portie, Rick Cramer, Terry Kahl and Mark Crabtree, Matt Call and Joe Liley. But you know, I could fill a second team just as easy.”
Q: Do you have any regrets that you’ve basically dedicated your professional life to the game of golf for 30-plus years?
Simpson: “No, not at all. I don’t look at it that way. I have a love for the University of Colorado, golf, and working with young men. So I look at it that I’ve dedicated my occupation to, not my life.”
Q: Would you have remained in coaching for this long if you weren’t at your alma mater?
Simpson: “I think I probably would have. But that kind of question is too difficult to answer. I remember the day I was named head coach, at that time, it was the best day in my life, a huge deal to me. At that point, being fortunate to be named as a head coach at the University of Colorado was and is a privilege to be able to serve in that position.”
Q: Anything elusive out there that you really want to accomplish?
Simpson: “I still have a strong desire to win an NCAA championship and bring that to Colorado. A conference championship would be nice, but if I had to pick one or the other, the national championship is what I’d really like to achieve for the school.”
Q: Who was the best ball striker you’ve coached? Best putter? Best manager of his game?
Simpson: “The best ball strikers were Rick Cramer, John Lindberg and JK (Jonathan Kaye). Tom Lee, Ben Portie and Steve Jones are all right there as the best putters. And John Lindberg was a great manager of his game. He had a lot of shots, and he knew when to apply them better than anyone I’ve ever seen. He definitely played to his strengths, and that’s what a good manager does, he plays to his strengths.”
Q: What’s the one thing you love about coaching? And the one thing you hate?
Simpson: “The one thing I love is to see them come in as raw freshmen, and to see how much they mature after spending four or five years in the program. It’s really special to see that, along with the opportunity to compete. The most exciting time of the year I’ve always thought is at the tail end, the conference championship and then the NCAA’s. What I hate is all the red tape and bureaucracy you have to go through now.”
Q: What’s the greatest thing about the game of golf?
Simpson: “The greatest thing is that it teaches maturity in the sense that you can’t blame anybody or anything for your failures, you can only point the finger at yourself.”
Q: Have you ever scored a hole-in-one or a double eagle?
Simpson: “The best round I ever had in competition was a 63 at a 9-hole course in Moab, Utah. I have not had a hole in one in competition, but I’ve had two, when I was playing with a bunch of coaches 20 years ago, and the other was at the par-3 course at Boulder Country Club when I was playing with my daughters.”
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THE P-?TUDES MAILBAG... Some questions e-mailed in recently, the answers of which I felt were interesting or important enough to share.
Q: Where is there a write-up on how or why are the names of certain players that are displayed in Folsom Field?
A: Good question, and we do need to do a better job of explaining those; last names are displayed on the press box fa?ade with jersey numbers and are also listed in the football media guide in our University of Colorado Hall of Fame section. In a nutshell, the players who earn the right to have their jerseys displayed have qualified for having their jersey honored. To do so, there are several ways to qualify, including but not limited to: becoming a unanimous first-team All-American, two-time All-American or three-time All-Big 12 Conference performer; winning a postseason award or trophy (i.e. Heisman, Thorpe, Butkus); or winning a national player of the year honor.
Q: The CU men had an incredible run at home lately... anything of significance they accomplished with it?
A: Hidden inside the numbers are the fact that Ricardo Patton’s Buffaloes went 15-1 at home in Big 12 Conference play the last two seasons (9-1 against the Big 12 North, 6-0 against the Big 12 South). That makes Colorado one of the few teams in league history to have defeated all 11 other members over a two-year span.
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COOL WEBSITE II... Many of you liked the 80s music website I mentioned in the last P-Tudes, so those music “buffs” (heh heh), here’s another, if you like perusing old lyrics. This link takes you to the top 100 songs of 1977 with the words to each: http://www.webfitz.com/lyrics/Tbl1977.html. Ah, but if you change the year in the tag line, other years appear (the home page of the site is http://www.webfitz.com/lyrics/lyricsbb.html; 1950 through 1983 are covered). Enjoy!
NICE SEASON, JUSTIN... Congrats to former Buff placekicker Justin Zaitz, who transferred to Northern Colorado in time last fall to become the Bears regular placekicker for 2003. With talented freshmen Mason Crosby and Kevin Eberhart in the fold for the Buffs, Zaitz wanted to play and found a home at UNC, where he made 47-of-54 PAT kicks and 8-of-15 field goals (long of 44) for 71 total points, third on the 9-2 Bears.
THIS WEEK’S NUMBER... 375. That’s the number of points Colorado’s nordic ski team scored in last weekend’s NCAA Championships in the Lake Tahoe area, as the Buffs claimed their first ever national cross country ski title (CU finished fourth in the overall standings). CU had finished second in nordic points seven different years, but broke through in 2004 as Alaska-Anchorage was second (354) and Utah third (323.5). The good news? CU returns 10 of the 11 skiers who participated in this year’s NCAA’s, and 17 letterwinners overall as the Buffs will try to reclaim the national title next winter for the first time since 1999.
THIS WEEK’S NUMBER III... 641. When the Buffs take the court in the first round against Cal-Santa Barbara in the NCAA Women’s Championships, it will be Ceal Barry’s 641st game as head coach at Colorado. She will officially pass Frank Potts as the person who has coached the most events at Colorado as a head coach; Frank Potts had 640 (615 track, 25 football) and Russell “Sox” Walseth 604 (506 men’s basketball, 98 women’s basketball). That trio are the only ones to top 600 events as a head coach at CU.
TRIVIA ANSWERS: CU?Rod Stewart’s Tonight’s The Night opened in the top spot in 1977; after over a month run, Leo Sayer’s You Make Me Feel Like Dancing knocked it out of the No. 1 slot. Seinfeld I?In the first year, he gave it as 555-8643; later on, he had it changed to 555-3455, which was one off of 555-FILM (it debuted in the infamous “Movie Phone” episode). Seinfeld II?Ruthless People (1986). The four from the movie who also appeared on Seinfeld: Bette Midler (who played herself in the “Rochelle, Rochelle” understudy episode); Judge Reinhold (the close talker); Helen Slater (Becky Gelke, or “the blonde in the blue sweat pants”); and the most obscure?Janet Rotblatt (she appeared in “The Stakeout” in 1990; she was the police chief’s secretary in the movie).