Schuckman views competition
Gymnastics more than a sport
By BARB SHELLY
Collegian Sports Writer
, Karen Schuckman is a special gymnast. Her
r9u mes are special more abstract, more
creative. Schuckman has performed floor exercises
to cello music instead of piano. Her outlook on
gymnastics is also special.
"That's the thing I've spent the most time on in
my whole life. It's been my major educational
experience," Schuckman said. "I sort of believe in
it.'
"Gymnastics is a valuable training ground for
s karning skills that Make people better people," she
"You have to compete and cooperate at the
same time.
"Competition isn't all there is. I tend to de
emphasize it. I think I'm at my best when I'm not
thinking about how competitive I am.
"Look at 'what's going on in the world. People
need to emphasize cooperation. You just have to
cooperate with the people you compete against,"
, Schuckman said, meaning that opposing teams still
i'agree on rules and format.
Schuckman, who has competed in the Pan
American games, performed for the U.S. team
which competed against Japan at Penn State and
just missed the cuts for the Munich Olympics, has
had to make difficult decisions about the im
portance of gymnastics in her life.
She started tumbling and working on the balance
' beam at age nine. From there, Schuckman joined
the West Hartford gymnastics club and started
working all-around.
.In eighth grade- Schuckman qualified for the
regional Junior Olympic program. She was invited
to join the prominent Southern Connecticut Gym
nastics team.
00
Lion forward Chris Erichsen returns to the hardwood tonight at Temple. The sen
ior co-captain was averaging 15 points per game when he broke a foot in late Dec-
ember
Victory slips
Lady Gagers
By DARLENE BROBAK
Collegian Sports Writer
This was one time when the Lady Lion
roundballers should have quit while they
were ahead. The Penn State women traveled
to East Stroudsburg last night and had the
lead at halftime, 42-29.
Unfortuately, the rules specify that there
are two halfs to every game, and last night's
- Contest terminated in a 74-73 victory for the
East Stroudsburg girls.
The Lady Lions missed the first end of two
crucial one-and-one foul shot situations with
less than one minute remaining in the game
and, as a result, met'with defeat instead of
victory.
East Stroudsburg, behind the shooting of
Donna Shellenberger (20 points in the con
test) and 6-0 senior Doris braving (18 points
and 14 rebounds) outscored the Lady Lions in
the second half, 45 points to 31 points.
Lady Lion coach Pat Meiser said that the
difference in the game was Penn State's
Viability to connect at the foul line. In the
second period, the Penn State cagers
managed to throw only three of nine shots
through the hoop, bringing their total to nine
of 17 for the game.
' Another statistical column which showed a
noticeable difference was the turnover
department, which Penn State has been
having difficulty with. They led in turnovers;
15-2.
East Stroudsburg countered Penn State's
offensive attack with the same triangle and
Penguins, 76ers defeated
BUFFALO (AP) Center
George Johnson keyed a
defensive effort with 17
rebounds and seven blocked
shots as the Braves defeated
the Philadelphia 76ers 99-89 in
their first home game in
snowbound Buffalo in almost
two weeks Tuesday night.
Buffalo never trailed
against the National
Basketball Association's
Atlantic Division leaders but
had to withstand a fourth
quarter Philadelphia rally
..4
away from
in last half
two defense the Slippery Rock girls em
ployed to defeat them Thursday night. The
Lady Lions had prepared for this defense,
which is a combination of zone and man-to
man, but did a lot of "free lancing" on the
floor instead of operating as a unit.
Hallie Bunk followed up a career-high 27
points she contracted against Shippensburg
•in Saturday afternoon's big win, 83-48, with
a duplicate point total and a team-high nine
rebounds. .
"Halite was the bright spot," coach Pat
Meiser said. "She seems to do well against
East Stroudsburg "
Nancy Kuhl and Sue Martin chipped in 10
points apiece for the Lady Lions.
East Stroudsburg may well be a better
team then its 2-5 record indicates. It has
played a quality schedule that includes such
big-name teams as Queens, Immaculata,
Montclair and Southern Connecticut.
"We must learn from this," Pat Meiser
said. "We have to handle pressure games."
The next "pressure game" will come on
Saturday when the Lady Lions once again go
on the road to meet the Pitt Pantherettes.
Earlier this season, in the Pitt Invitational
Tournament, the Pantherettes handed Penn
State a 71-66 loss.
The loss drops Penn State's record to 9-4. In
a game precluding the varsity game, the
Lady Lion JV kept their undefeated record
intact by defeating East Stroudsburg's JV,BB
-
which cut a 17-point lead down
to 88-83 with 4:40 to play.
HoweVer, Adrian Dantley
and Bird Averitt scored four
points apiece as the Braves
outscored the 76ers 11-6 the
rest of the way.
ST LOUIS (AP) Claude
Larose scored three goals in
the final period following a 24-
shot St. Louis barrage in the
second session, helping the
Blues down the Pittsburgh
Penguins 6-3 in the Nqonal
"At this time I was losing interest," Schuckman
said. She was spending more time on figure skating
. and horseback riding. Because her coach for the
junior Olympic Regionals was also the coach for the
Southern Connecticut Gymnastics Team, however,
Schuckman joined the program in New Haven.
Schuckman described her daily schedule. School
from nine in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon.
Then an houi's drive to the gym, where she would
practice until 9:30 p.m. or later. Return home at
eleven at night, eat dinner, and complete whatever
schoolwork was necessary for the next day. "Then
the next day I'd get up and do it all over again,"
Schuckman said.
Traveling to meets was also time consuming.
"My junior year of high school I think I missed
about eight weeks of school," Schuckman said.
By the age of 16, "I was starting to look around
and see that gymnastics isn't all there is to life.
They tried to make it so you had nothing to think
about gymnastics, but I don't believe it. So I
decided to quit," Schuckman said.
Schuckman said her first choice of colleges was
Stanford, but she came to Penn State as a com
promise to her parents' wishes that she attend a
school closer to Connecticut. She said Gene Wett
stone, men's gymnastics coach at that time, was a
prevailing force in her coming to Penn State.
Schuckman started at Penn State during spring
term of 1973. "I wanted a big school. I was excited
about the educational opportunities," she said.
"I met a lot of people when I came here. We
partied a lot. I took gymnastics class," she said.
That summer Schuckman taught gymnastics.
"Then I decided I would try doing gymnastics
again," she said. She joined Penn State's team in
Hockey League Tuesday
night.
Larose's goals, boosting his
season total to 22, came after
St. Louis established a 3-1
lead in the middle period by
matching the heaviest 20-
minute seige in the club's
history.
The salvos, each set up by
Larry Patey, offset Pitts
burgh goals midway through
the tinal period by Rick Kehoe
and Lew Morrison only 34
seconds apart. ~
Erichsen back,
An old face will return to action
tonight when the Penn State
`basketball team (7-13) meets Temple
at the Palestra in Philadelphia.
Chris Erichsen, 6-6 senior forward,
who was the Lions' leading scorer
(15.7ppg average) and rebounder (8.0
average) before he broke his foot in
late December, will suit up and
probably see action after missing 11
games and nearly two months of the
season.
"Chris completed almost a full
workout on Sunday," said Lion coach
John Bach. "We were surprised that
he could go that long, but his foot
stood up. On Monday, his condition
was different. He was bothered by his
foot and blisters that probably
resulted from Sunday's workout.
"But we have a lot of hopeful signs
that he can come in and play on a
limited basis in both the Temple
Hope Classic underway
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) Former
President Gerald Ford will compete for four
days this week each time with a different
professional partner in the unique, $200,000
Bob Hope Desert Golf Classic.
Ford, who made a two-day appearance
with Arnold Palmer as his partner in the
Bing Crosby National Pro-Am three weeks
ago, will play one round each with defending
champion Johnny Miller, veteran Billy
Casper, Lee Elder and PGA champion Dave
Stockton.
Photo by Eric Polack
Portions of his round with Elder, along
with host Bob Hope and Jackie Gleason, will
be televised nationally Saturday by NBC-TV.
The format for this 90-hole, five-day event
that begins today calls for the 128
professionals to play one round on each of
four desert golf courses, each day with a
different team of three amateurs. At the end
InTFIRMURRLS
Berger's Vectors took the
grad-faculty league
championship last night at
Rec Hall, but they needed
help from an ill-conceived
Leniont Scientific defen
sive change to ice the 50-43
win.
The Vecs had built their
19-16 halftime lead up to
eight points early in the
second half behind Scott
Christini and Dave Houck,
and Lemont called time.
Lemont scrapped their 2-1-
2 zone defense and went to
a man-to-man defense,
which had worked well for
the Vectors.
"We were really happy
when they did that," the
Vectors' Jim Beckman
said. "We have a lot of
man-to-man type players.
We're mostly all from the
cities,"
Playing city-ball, the
Vectors controlled the rest
of the game. Houck, who
led his team with 15 points,
turned the game into a run
and-gun shootout, with help
from Christini and Jim
Runt (12 points each).
Only the play of Lanny
Sommese (24 points, 18 of
them in the second half)
kept Lemont in the game.
Sommese couldn't miss
from any distance for most
of the half, thanks mostly
to 6'6" Roger Telefsen, who
set some ferocious picks.
But Lemont could never
pull close enough to
challenge the Vectors, who
finished their season with a
12-0 record.
"I'm really happy," was
about all most of the
1974, the year she was national champion.
"I tried to decide whether to get serious. I've been
fluctuating back and forth between doing 100 per
cent - dedication to gymnastics and getting really
good or keep doing it the way I've been doing it
sort of relaxed," Schuckman said.
"This year I think I've found my role. I'm not
really interested in doing gymnastics at the level of
making an Olympic team," she said.
"I'm at a disadyantage now because it's popular
now to be real young and small. I know my style of
gymnastics isn't really popular anymore," Schuck
man said.
"But that doesn't mean I'm not getting as much
as I want out of it. I'm finding out what's rewarding
to me about doing it."
Schuckman is a math major and is presently
working on an independent research project con
cerning creativity. "It's developing a functional
definition of creativity," she said.
"I could have gotten a degree in Phys Ed and
gone out and been a gymnastics coach, but I'm not
sure that's really satisfying to me," she said.
"I'd like to be in gymnastics in a way, that's more
educational but less competitive. Ideally what I'd
like to do is have my own school." Schuckman said
she had friends in Connecticut interested in doing
the same thing.
"That's sort of a dream," she said. "I guess all it
takes to do it is to decide to do it."
After competing for so long, and so well, Schuck
man sees her fourth and final year on Penn State's
gymnakics team as an end to the competitive phase
of her career.
"I really am sort of glad it's going to be over," she
said.
By RICK WEBER
Collegian Sports Writer
Vectors take title,• KDR, Beech win
game and the Navy game (at Rec
Hall on Saturday)."
Erichsen's experience and
steadying influence has been sorely
missed on the predominantly fresh
man- and sophomore-oriented squad.
His return to action should have an
immediate effect on the team.
"With his return, we're adding an
experienced offensive player, a
physical player, and a good shooter to
the lineup," Bach said. "I think a
team is always picked up when
.a
player like Chris can come back."
Erichsen will provide some relief
for freshman forwards Steve Kuhn,
Walt Young, and Bill Dankos, all of
whom had-been rushed along in their
development during Erichsen's
absence.
"With Chris out, we haven't been
able to take our young forwards out,"
Bach said.'"We've had to bring Steve
Kuhn along very quickly. Erichsen
of 72 holes, the amateurs are finished and
pros only play for the $40,000 first prize
Sunday at the La Quinta Country Club.
Miller, although struggling through his
worst start in several seasons, is the
probable favorite in the longest tournament
the touring pros play all season.
Miller has won the last two desert classics,
but comes into this one in completely dif
ferent circumstances from previous years.
Each of the last two seasons he came here
with one or two victories and at the top of his
very considerable game.
This time, however, he has only $6BO in
winnings to show for his efforts this year. He
hasn't been a factor in any tournament.
"Mostly it's been my putting," said Miller,
who has been slowed by a bout with flu, "It's
a matter of momentum. I haven't been able to
generate anything.
Vectors players could
manage to blurt out when
the championship was won.
Some have played IM
sports together for six
years.
".`For the most part,
though, we've been playing
together for about two
years," Beckman said.
"But we've never really
won anything. We didn't
expect to win this either,
but we had a lot of fun.
That's the main thing."
Winning an IM cham
pionship wasn't the only
fun the Vectors had last
night, either.
"The Skeller at 10,"
Beckman said. "We're
gonna have some beer
tonight."
Eric Yoder
In a clash of IM
basketball powerhouses,
Beech defeated North
umberland 47-37 at Rec
Hall last night. The game
sent Beech into the finals
and ended the hopes of
Northumberland for a third
straight IM championship.
Northumberland took an
early lead on the fine
shooting of Stan Koz
minski. Mike Guman and
Mickey Shuler, Beech's
moonlighting football
players, were cold in the
first half and North
umberland eventually
extended its lead to six
points, 16-10.
By halftime Beech had
cut the lead by three points
The action started io heat
up in the second half as
numerous shoving matches
Photo by Ken Kasper
Karen Schuckman, captain•of Penn State's undefeated women's gym team, uses
the floor exercise to display the feeling and creativity which make her routines
special.
Bach smiling
may be able to relieve him a bit. It
might help Steve to know that not so
much is on his shoulders." -
After a tough, physical, game
against Army on Thursday, the Lions
took Friday and Saturday off, then
practiced Sunday, . Monday, and
yesterdayin preparation for Temple:
The Owls (11-10) were riding a
three-game winning streak until
South Carolina edged them, 49-48, on
Saturday.
The low-scoring affair was typical
of Temple's play this season. The
Owls are one of the top defensive
teams in the nation, giving up an
average of only 63.8 points per game.
"Defense has been one of our strong
points for a long time," said assistant
coach Tony Brocchi, a 1969 graduate
of Temple. "It's kept us in a lot of
games this year when we had trouble
offensively. It's simply the backbone
of our team. We play a good game
erupted. Shuler and Fred
Sharpe were the main
combatants, waging a
constant war beneath the
boards. Joe Hager of Beech
was thrown out of the game
after pushing a North
umberland player after
the whistle had blown.
Throughout the constant
turmoil of the second half,
one player was able to keep
his cool, Guman. He scored
on . a variety of driving
power moves and propelled
Beech into the lead. Mark
Parris helped out by
scoring nine second half
points.
Northumberland was
unable to stay with Beech
as the normally dominant
Fred Sharpe was contained
by Shuler. Sharpe finished
the game with only nine
points.
Sharpe had some unkind
words for Shuler after the
game, "he's big but he's
slow and has no touch."
Those were Sharpe's nicer
comments.
—Ron Wenig
Kappa Delta Rho'used an
almost flawless fun
damental game to stun
previously unbeaten Phi
Gamma Delta 33-25 in IM
playoff action last night at
Rec Hall. KDR's upset win
gives it a berth in the
Championship tilt Thurs
day against Phi Delta
Theta.
A stingy defense, ef
fective boxing-out on the
boards, and a second half
slowdown offense that
would have made North
The Daily Collegian Wednesday, February 9, 1977
Major league standings
National Hockey League
CAMPBELL CONFERENCE
Patrick Division
W L T Pis GF GA
32 10 12 76 215 149
31 15 8 70 190 137
24 19 11 59 183 174
19 23 13 51 192 198
Smythe Division
Pinta
NY Isl
Atlan
NY Rng
St Lou
Chgo
Colo
Minn
Vancvr
50 158 189
47 171 192
41 160 198
38 155 211
36 153 213
22 26 6
19 27 9
16 29 9
13 28 12
15 34 6
WALES CONFERENCE
Norris Division
Mont
Pitts
L.A.
Wash
Dtit
39 7 9 87 262 128
24 21 9 57 170 169
19 23 11 49 174 170
16 30 9 41 148 207
15 31 6 36 133 190
Adams Division
32 17 6 70 209 172
29 17 6 64 188 149
25 21 7 57 196 175
16 28 9 41 155 191
Bstn
Buff
Tnto
Cleve
Carolina coach Dean Smith
proud, keyed KDR, now 11-
1.
The much taller FIJI
team jumped out to a 3-0
lead on a Greg Kubas free
throw and Steve Nielsen's
tap-in. Greg Berkebile,
who along with KDR's
other big man Jeff Bowen
was tagged with his third
personal foul before
halftime, then sunk an
eight-footer to get his team
on the scoreboard.
Following a Nielsen
corner shot, KDR aban
doned its zone defense in
favor of a man-to-man and
by spotting the open man,
raced to a 10-5 lead; one
they expanded to 22-11 by
intermission.
Continuing to stymie
FIJI with its tenacious
defense, KDR, aided by
strong bench contributions
from Bob Kolaczynski and
Ed Solenberger, exploded
to a 27-11 lead while holding
FIJI scoreless.
The losers staged a mock
comeback on buckets by
Nielsen, Ernie Keller and
Gary Zane to slice the
margin to 27-18 with eight
minutes remaining.
That's when the team
work of KDR, paced by the
exceptional floor game of
Mark Zinsky and the
clutch shooting of Tom
Brown, proved too much
for FIJI.
Taking its time and
working for good per
centage shots, KDR's
Brown dumped in two
fielders to push his team's
lead to 31-21 with less than
defensively and try to keep the game
in the 50's and 60's."
"Temple has been an up and down
team this year," Bach said, "but they
post well and can be very tough
defensively and on the boards."
"This is a game we should look
forward to," Bach said. "We want to
come back with more than some good
play we want a victory."
TWO-POINTERS: Rob O'Conor,
the Lions' sophomore guard who has
been lost for the season with a knee
injury, will undergo surgery to repair
the damage . . . Jeff Miller continues
to pace Penn State in scoring with an
average of 13.4 ppg. Miller has been
averaging nearly 20 ppg in the last
eight games . . . Sophomore center
Carvin Jefferson leads the Lions in
rebounding with an average of 8.4 per
game. Jefferson has collected 38
rebounds in the last three games,
including 16 against Pittsburgh.
National Basketball Association
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
%V L Pct.
31 19 .620
25 27 481
23 27 460
17 32 347
16 34 .320
Central Division
Philphia
Boston
NY Knks
Buffalo
NY Nets
Washton
Cleve
Houston
S Anton
N Orlns
Atlanta
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Midwest Division
33 17 .660
31 22 .585
27 27 .500
24 28 .462
21 31 .404
15 41 268
Denver
Detroit
Kan City
Indiana
Chicago
Milwkee
two minutes left. The
winners then stalled away
their well-deserved victory
"We came in as un
derdogs, no doubt about
it," roared an ecstatic
who yanked
Berkebile,
down 12 rebounds. "But
, they never got their game
on track," he admitted.
"We executed well and
teamwork was a big factor.
The guys worked well
together," offered KDR
coach Jim Bryja.
"They were tough but we
were too overconfident,"
dejected FIJI coach Tim
Zelenka said.
Brown led KDR with 11
Kolaczynski and Solen
berger added eight and
five, respectively. Nielsen
bagged eight to front FIJI.
Teamwork and fun
damentals are , the key to
winning basketball. Just
ask FIJI.
Neil Rudel
BASKETBALI
Finals
GRAD-FACULTY Berger's
Vectors def. Lemont Scientific, 50-
Semifinals
INDEPENDENT Pundava
Brothers der Behrendites, 33-27;
Bugs Bunny def. Geil's,and Co , 44-
FRATERNITY Kappa Delta
Rho def. Phi Gamma Delta, 33-25.
DORMITORY Beech def Nor
thumberland, 47-37; Carbon del
Cameron, 42-29.
COED VOLLEYBALL
Playoffs
Spikers 2 def. Leete 1, 9.1, 15-1;
Bionic Spikers def Carbon Copies, 8-
6, 5.9, 13-2; Free U 2 def. High
Risers, 11-3, 15-3; Smashers def.
Peanut's Gang. 11-13, 15-3, 13 8, IC
BIAVT def It's Curtains, 15-1, 13.5,
%Vest Connection def Venangos 2, 11-
5, 12-3; Hot Dogs def. Dead Bears,
13-1, 12-14, 9-7; Cesstoads def.
Slicksters, 14-3, 15-3
3 1 2
8
10
13
21