PAGE 18, THE BEHREND BEACON, NOVEMBER 19, 1999
NATIONAL SPORTS
DAYNE'S DAY
Ron Dayne runs into history books with record day
by Anthony L. Gargano
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
November 15, 1999
MADISON, Wis. -- In his mind, he could
have been back in South Jersey again, run
ning over an uncut hedge, mud stains on his
sweat pants, announcing another make-be
lieve touchdown - by Ronnie Dayne!
The Univerity of Wisconsin's Ron Dayne
used to do that sort of thing as a child back in
Berlin Township. He could envision playing
college football but not a day like this. On
Saturday, he was on the grand stage of his
tory, and so he didn't know what to do when
he made that history at 3:48 p.m., Badger time.
Dayne had just tractored for 31 yards to pass
Ricky Williams and become major-college
football's all-time leading rusher, and all of
Camp Randall Stadium detonated in celebra
tion. The tuba hollered. Flashbulbs blinked.
The crowd of 79,000 screamed in tribute to
him. And he ran left, then right, before finally
falling limp into the arms of his linemen as a
streaker ran the length of the field into the
arms of the police.
His speech to the Wisconsin faithful after
the game was short and especially sweet.
"Thank you so much for your support," he
said. "I love you."
The record belonged to the offensive line,
too, said Dayne, ever humble. He had entered
the game needing 99 yards to break Williams'
mark of 6,279. His line punched enough holes
in the lowa defense to help him gain 216 yards
on 27 carries. He wound up the day with a
total of 6,397.
Dayne's historic run past Williams came
with 4 minutes. 32 seconds left in first half of
what would be a 41-3 win by the Badgers.
On it, Dayne powered off right guard at the
Wisconsin 17. lowa defenders, their arms flail
ing, splattered off him like raindrops. He broke
three tackles and zoomed upheld before his
legs were finally taken out from under him.
On that run, which came in his last game at
Camp Randall, he once again took advantage
of his amazing girth. A running back who
weighs more than 250 pounds running the way
Dayne does is something to see.
"Should he win the Heisman?" Wisconsin
coach Barry Alvarez had said earlier in the
What's up with Jordan?
by Fred Mitchell
Chicago Tribune
November 11, 1999
Jumper from the top of the key. Yes!
Drive to the left of the basket, pump fake
and a soft shot off the glass. Swish!
Head fake, fadeaway, rimming ... good.
Posts up, backs in, quick turnaround, deft
release ... nothing but net.
Hard drive to the basket, spin underneath
along the baseline, reverse layup goes.
Yes, Michael Jordan, approaching 37, still
has game.
A one-on-one session against Corey Ben
jamin at the Berto Center Wednesday livened
up an otherwise brooding Bulls team, losers
of all four games this season.
Jordan made his first five shots against Ben
jamin in an animated game, opening a 10-3
lead. Slightly winded, he settled for an 11-9
victory.
"Playing halfcourt and I'm worn out," Jor
dan said. "The good thing about it is he's more
worn out then I am."
Jordan emphasized he was merely paying
a visit to the Bulls, that he has no intention of
ending his retirement and cautioned reporters
not to "read too much" into his presence at
the team's practice facility. He also visited the
Bulls' locker room after Saturday's 113-97 loss
to the Hawks when he was in Atlanta for a
charity golf tournament.
Jordan wore a black sweat suit and talked
trash throughout Wednesday's exercise, which
was the result of a challenge from Benjamin,
a second-year swingman who's on the injured
list with a sprained ankle.
"It was probably the best one-on-one game
I ever had in my life," Benjamin said. "I was
excited to play against him, ready to go at him.
I just wanted to see what he can do, and he
still has it."
Like Craig Ehlo and Bryon Russell before
him, Benjamin learned that Michael usually
has things his own way on the court.
"I think he cheated a couple of times," Ben
jamin said. "There were a lot of flagrant fouls.
If it hadn't been for the flagrants, I would have
week. "I'm biased, but I think he should - cer
tainly if he breaks the record. I know this:
There's no one who's done more for a pro
gram than what he's done for our program."
Indeed, Dayne now has led the Badgers to
the Big Ten Conference championship and a
berth in the Rose Bowl for the second straight
season. That bowl spot was, in effect, sealed
when Penn State lost to Michigan. lowa was
merely a speed bump.
By nightfall in Madison, there was a cer
emony at midfield. The Badgers retired
Dayne's No. 33, and fans rhythmically chanted
his name the way they had after every one of
his carries: "Ronnnnn DAYNE!"
Imagine that - the boy his mother. Brenda,
used to call "Thick Man" enjoying this type
of night.
Twelve members of Dayne's family, includ
ing his mother, had flown in from New Jer-
sey to witness it
Now all that's left is the Heisman Trophy.
Wisconsin has produced only one Heisman
winner. Alan "The Horse" Ameche, a bullish
fullback, won the award in 1954.
Now, with Florida State's Peter Warrick
most likely out of the race and with the record
broken, Dayne must be considered the favor
ite over the likes of quarterbacks Drew Brees
of Purdue and Joe Hamilton of Georgia Tech.
If you ask Dayne, he will still say that
Warrick is the choice.
Where would he rank?
"Probably 2," he said.
That is Dayne being modest again. He is a
young man of few words. While he would
cherish the Heisman, he is nervous about the
possibility of winning it, because he would
have to make a speech.
After his postgame news conference, he
stepped off the podium and ran to the locker
room with his teammates amid the trumpets
of the Wisconsin fight song.
Ron Dayne ran all day. It was what his
mother had taught him: Run, Ron, run, and
always he yourself. Don't ever be a follower.
"I remember, on his first day of junior high,"
Brenda Dayne said, "all the kids had those
new Jordans. I couldn't afford to buy him
those. So we went to the Echelon Mall, and I
bought him a pair of Etonics for $55. "What
ever you do,' I told him, "your friends will
had a couple of more baskets."
Jordan recently said the gnarled index fin
ger on his right hand--the result of an acci-
"...the only uniform I see is a Bulls uniform.
I have never seen myself in another uni-
form. "
dent with a cigar cutter several months ago--
would preclude his playing basketball even if
he wanted to.
"It limits me. 1 can't do much," Jordan reit
erated on Wednesday. "I just came out to have
a good time. (Benjamin) talked a little trash
in Atlanta and I had to come here."
Benjamin acknowledged issuing the chal
lenge. "I've been sending messages probably
for the last year and a half," he said. "I really
didn't think they would get back to him. They
did get back to him and he came at me. I sent
Wisconsi L , yne gi Jip
Chambers, right, as he runs past lowa's Joe Slattery to set the NCAA all
time rushing record in the second quarter Saturday. He gained 31 yards on
the play to go ahead of Ricky Williams, who set the previous record last
season.
want to do.' Then I said, "Lord, please.'
"Well, he comes home from school and said
three of his friends said they were going to
get the same sneakers.
" "See?' I said. Then I said, "Thank you,
sweet Jesus.' When it comes to Ron, I thank
Jesus how he turned out."
Dayne turned out to be the best runner in
college football. On his path to the record,
Dayne he gained 2,109 yards in his freshman
season, 1,457 in his sophomore year, and
1,525 in his junior year. He has ended the regu
lar season of his senior year with 1,834 yards,
including 981 in the last five games.
In midseason, Sports Illustrated had ranked
him among its top 10 disappointments the
season
"I'm not going to lie about that," said Dayne,
who cut out the article and taped it to his
messages, that I could beat him.
He said he was going to play me
on Wednesday and he came down
Main) , Bulls players lin
gered after practice to watch Jor
dan back in his familiar environs.
"I knew he was coming,"
General Manager Jerry Krause
said. "It's great to see him in the
building. I'm glad our kids can
watch him and understand what
it took and understand some of
him. I have no problem with that.
He's welcome any time."
Jordan, returning to the
Berto Center for the first time
since his retirement, said he felt
comfortable there, even though
he and Krause have a strained re
lationship.
"I don't have to come
around Jerry. I can come around
and see some of the players," Jordan said. "I
don't have to report to him or any of the Jerrys
(including chairman Jerry Reinsdorf). I know
- Michael Jordan
this is their facility, this is their team. But I
still have friends on this team that I relate well
with and I stay in contact with. I come back
to support them.
"In essence, I'm supporting the Chicago
Bulls. I don't have to ask them if I can come
back around. I am entitled to do that without
asking."
The Bulls renounced their rights to Jordan
because he has been retired for a season. Is
there any chance he could return as a free
agent?
locker. "That really motivated me to go out
and play harder."
He spoke quietly during his press confer
ence. He wore a Wisconsin baseball cap and
a gray T-shirt cut at the shoulders. Ron Dayne
is a big man in many ways.
"Johnnie Cochran called recently, I guess
to represent him for the pros," Brenda said.
"He lied and said he was Ronnie's uncle. Jeez,
just because we're black, that doesn't mean
we know each other. I didn't like that. Besides,
I think O.J. was guilty."
So much commotion over "Little Ronnie"
from Berlin, N.J.
"This is great," said Ron Dayne, whose 2-
year-old daughter is named Jada. ''But my
baby's probably sleeping. That's how I would
like to celebrate it all. With her in my arms."
"None at all," he said. "Today was just break
a sweat, see some of the guys, try to help the
morale a little bit. No one asked me. Tim
(Floyd) asked me if I could stop by sooner or
later. I just got back in town and I decided to
stop by. No one else has asked. I came by to
see Dickey (Simpkins) and some of the other
guys. Please, don't take it any further than that.
"I don't sit back and second-guess my deci
sion," Jordan said. "When I made the deci
sion, there was never going to be a second
guess. When I think about basketball, I think
about the talent that's playing right now. I may
reminisce about some of the players I played
with--Toni (Kukoc) and some of the guys. I
miss playing the game. But the only uniform
I see is a Bulls uniform. I have never seen
myself in another uniform."
Including a Lakers uniform, playing for Phil
Jackson?
"Phil asked if I was done with basketball,"
Jordan said. "He didn't try to entice me to
come to L.A. He knows that basketball is over
for me. He just wanted to hear it, confirm it,
right before the season."
Jordan said he would consider working out
with the Lakers as he did with the Bulls.
"If I'm in the area, I don't mind stopping
by," he said. "But it doesn't mean anything. I
play pickup games sometimes in the (Chi
cago) neighborhoods. You know, South Side,
West Side. No one takes anything from that. I
never said I was going to stop playing. I still
love the game of basketball. It's still fun for
me."
Still, as Jordan keeps popping up in NBA
arenas--Saturday he was in Atlanta, Monday
he was in New York to watch the Knicks play
the Bucks--he has to know he's fueling specu
lation about a comeback.
"Just coincidence," Jordan insisted. "I was
in New York, Patrick (Ewing) asked me to
come to the game. I was in Atlanta. Lenny
(Wilkens) I know very well. Then the Bulls
came down. A couple of guys called me last
year to come by and I never got the chance to
come down. Traffic is not as bad in Atlanta as
it is in Chicago. It was easy. Don't take any
thing out of this."
Trinidad
decides to
put off
rematch
with De La
Hoya
by Steve Springer
Los Angeles Times
LAS VEGAS _ Promoter Don King got the
message Saturday morning from both rival
promoter Bob Arum and Time Warner
Sports: Sign with us. Agree to a Felix
Trinidad-Oscar De La Hoya rematch be
cause you have no place else to go.
, Will they never learn?
King, who always seems to have another
option in his playbook, pulled off an end
around Saturday evening, turning his back
on De La Hoya, Arum and Time Warner by
signing his fighter, Trinidad, to a title fight
against World Boxing Association, super
welterweight champion David Reid, the
"A De La Hoya-
Trinidad rematch is
dead," Arum said.
"It's over, finished.
They pulled out.
- Bob Arum,
promoter
1996 U.S. Olympic gold-medal winner.
The fight, which unites King and promoter
Dan Goossen, another Arum rival, will be
shown on Showtime pay-per-view on March
4 from an arena to be constructed outdoors
at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace. Trinidad,
though the challenger, will get $4 million;
Reid, the champion, $3 million in this battle
of unbeaten fighters.
In the never-ending chess game between
boxing's two major promoting forces, Arum
countered Sunday by claiming that any hope
of De La Hoya-Trinidad II have been dashed
and that his fighter now will face either
Ahmed Kotiev, the World Boxing
Organization's 147-pound champion, or
Derrell Coley, the World Boxing Council's
No. 1 contender at 147, on Feb. 26.
Arum wants that match to be at Los An
geles Staples Center, along with a co-main
event featuring WBC super-featherweight
champion Floyd May weather. The problem
is, the Los Angeles Clippers are scheduled
to play that night at the arena. But negotia
tions are under way with the Clippers and
the NBA to move that game.
If the details can't be worked out, the De
La Hoya fight will be held at New York's
Madison Square Madison.
"A De La Hoya-Trinidad rematch is
dead," Arum said. "It's over, finished. They
pulled out. Oscar will stay at 147 pounds.
That was always the plan."
Not quite. On Saturday, Arum said that
De La Hoya would move up to fight Javier
Castillejo of Spain, the WBC 154-pound
champion. But when Trinidad decided to
move up, Arum reversed his field.
Arum was quick to point out that, by not
fighting De La Hoya, Trinidad is passing up
a purse estimated at $lB million-$2O mil
lion.
"You could say the same thing about Arum
and Oscar," responded Goossen.
Events moved quickly Saturday after the
Arum-King meeting ended in a stalemate
before noon. King, who had been talking
with Goossen for 10 days about a Reid fight,
reestablished contact and the two pounded
out a deal in about seven hours.
The alliance between King, whose favor
ite expression is "Only in America," and
Goossen, whose promotional organization
is America Presents, has given King a new
slogan for Trinidad-Reid.
"Now," said King, "it's Only in America
Presents."