Smitley hopes to bring back intercollegiate sports
By ERIC THOMAS
Staff Reporter
It was only ten years ago.
To a true sports fan that seems like more than a
decade
Intercollegiate athletics once ran supreme across
Penn State Harrisburg, but then due to a lack of com
mitment from student athletes, time constraints, and
finances they were swept under the rug, not to be
heard from again.
Until now.
Bud Smitley, coordinator of Recreation and Athletics
at PSH is optimistic that within two years intercolle
giate athletics will once again rule the day. But it will
not happen overnight and it will not be a smooth ride.
"It really depends on a lot of things," Smitley says.
"The budget is a very important topic right now.
How much is this going to cost us, where is the
money going to come from?"
Yet through all of the negativity Smitley began the
conversation with, the mood quickly turned from
dark to light.
"We are really hoping within the next two years...we
will have at least something going at that time. It is
beginning at this point so it is hard to say when exact
ly it will start."
What sports will be in their infancy at that point is
anyone's guess. The NCAA will set early guidelines
for Capital Campus and also inform them of which
sports they must start out with.
The school would compete at a Division Three
level, and opponents could possibly include teams
such as Lebanon Valley, Messiah and Franklin and
Marshall.
"If we had to pick a sport, what we would probably
do is pick a very popular men's sport and a very pop
ular women's sport, something like basketball for
men and for women, volleyball or softball, some
thing in that area," Smitley adds.
Among some of the early speculation, basketball,
softball, volleyball, soccer and cross country could
be the sports of choice.
Believe it or not, there was a time when intercolle
giate sports were a top billing on campus. The school
churned out numerous academic All-Americans in
baseball, cross country and soccer. There were great
games that were played on the hardwood floor in the
Capital Union Building. A double overtime victory
over Swarthmore sticks out in Smitley's mind.
But then they were all left for the history books.
"It was difficult to run," Smitley said of his previ
ous experiences. "Participation wasn't great either.
We sometimes had a difficult time getting people to
play a sport. We're thinking now with freshman it
won't be the same problem."
It has been well-documented in the last few weeks
that changes being made to Capital Campus, includ
ing the upgrade to a four-year institution, will
increase the amount of freshman and sophomores
and, hopefully, increase participation in sports.
"We were very successful for a two-year school
playing against four-year schools...as long as we had
the participation," Smitley said.
The major stumbling block in getting the sports
back to Capital Campus is money. Where it comes
from, how it is used and when it gets here.
"The problem I see right now is where is the money
going to come from. Intercollegiate sports can get
very expensive," Smitley says.
Capital Campus will set their own budget and some
financial help will be sought and received from
University Park, but as for the daily financial matters,
that will be up to the staff here.
"We need facilities in some areas and we have good
facilities in other areas," Smitley said. "Money-wise,
we'll need uniforms, we have to pay coaches, equip
ment we have, but uniforms will be a big deal, that's
expensive."
"Our basketball facilities are good and our softball
facilities will work for the ladies. Our volleyball
facilities are good but we have no tennis courts. We
had them at one time and we don't have a baseball
field, we had a great field at one time," Smitley says.
"We could have women's softball; we could have
basketball, volleyball and soccer. We're going to
start with whatever the NCAA says we have to have.
They may say we need three men's sports and three
women's sports. We can do that. We can really have
a tennis program if we wanted to because we can rent
the local courts off campus. We can have a men's and
women's cross-country team. Put them in uniforms
and they go run."
As for long term goals, Smitley's eyes widened.
"Here's my idea and it has not been approved by
anybody. I'd like to see when they tear down Meade
Heights, Penn State doesn't sell the land, they keep
the land and they put athletic facilities there. When
that happens, I hope we can make a baseball field
there."
There are some other key issues the school will look
at such as GPA and other academic requirements,
scheduling and travel plans. Those are a long way off
as of right now. One staple of college athletics that
will show its face is recruiting, something Smitley
sounds pleased to confront.
"We'll recruit the same as say Lebanon Valley and
we're hoping the biggest recruiting tool we have
down here is the name Penn State."
Intermural Softball Report
As the Major League season comes to an end, the
Penn State Harrisburg Intramural Softball season is
just getting started. The five-team league, consisting
of Penn State students, compete for the coveted
honor of becoming league champions.
So far this year, the defending champion
Shenanigans began the season losing
their first game, but have won three
games since then. They look ready
for a strong repeat campaign led by
captain Mike Wagner.
The Fighting Amish has champi
onship dreams of their own. They are
out of the gate with a perfect record
through their first five games. The
other teams that make up the IM soft-
PSH intercollegiate varsity basketball
team in 1980
PSH varsity baseball team in 1981
By JOHN FLUELLEN
Staff Reporter
ball league are the Bad News Cubs, Left Overs, and
Fast 2.
The season was put on hold last week due to
inclement weather and the destruction of a light pole
by hurricane Isabel. Bud Smitley confirmed that this
week's games will continue as scheduled.
MEER
photos from The Capitolite