South Mountaineer Volume 12, Issue 21

              Promotion    For Gerry   Leeman
Published by the Alumni'Student Grants Committee, Lehigh University Alumni Association
Vol. 12 - No. 21
APRIL 6, 1970
BETHLEHEM, PENNA.
LU   9   Tops
MAC Gfoffl.
Bucknell Beaten, 7-4;
Revta Paces Engineers
Picking up where they left off
during a successful southern trip,
Lehigh's varsity baseballers
jolted defending MAC champion
Bucknell last Sunday in Taylor
Stadium, 7-4.
The game originally had been
scheduled for Saturday but was
postponed because of mid-week
snow.
It was the team's third triumph
against one loss and a tie.
In Statesboro, Ga., during a
stay late last month, Coach Stan
Schultz's Engineers upset host
Georgia Southern in 10 innings,
3-2, and defeated West Liberty
State of West Liberty, West.Va,y...
6-3.
They played an earlier nine-
inning tie with West Liberty, 3-3,
and lost a 7-6 decision to Western
Carolina of Cullowee, N. C.
Bucknell, which won MAC
honors last season with a double
victory over Delaware on the last
day of the schedule, sent right-
handed ace Ward Steward (7-1 in
1969) against the Engineers' top
hurler, Craig Hofford. Neither
was around at the finish.
Soph star Joel Menzzopane
relieved Hofford and got the
victory.
Catcher Rich Revta, who
unloaded a 400-foot homer and a
380-foot double during the
southern journey, stayed hot with
three singles against Bucknell.
Randy Ruger, the MAC's leading
hitter last season, paced the
Bisons with a homer and a single.
Revta started a winning three-
run rally in the seventh with a
single and advanced to second on
an overthrow. George Oplinger
doubled him across, for a 4-3
lead, and continued home on a
pair of wild pitches as Jim Baxter
,walked. Baxter stole second, advanced on a wild pitch and scored
on Don Diorio's single.
The triumph over Georgia
Southern,   in   a   night   game  at
BUCKNELL
Berger   ss 4
Brereton cf . 5
Revta   c. 4
Oplinger   lb 4
Baxter   If 5
Diorio   rf 3
Hendricks   2b 4
GA.    SOUTHERN
ab   r   h
Fields cf     4   0
Griffin 2b    3   0
0
0
1 T. Webb rf 4 1 2
1 Ar'rone lb 1 0 0.
1    shea   c 2   0   0
0 Wilkes If 4 0 0
0'   A'mann 3b   2   1    1
0 Johnson ss 3   0   0
1 S. Webb p 3 0 0
0   Hardin lb    1   0   0
Laitala 3b
Hofford   p
Wilsker   3b
xGrim
xxKemmerer  0   0   0
Mennzopane     0   0   0	
Totals       36   3   5       Totals    27 .2   3
x  Singled for Hofford in 10th.
xxPinch ran for Grim in 10th.
Lehigh 000 000 100    2    —    3
Ga. Southern 000 000 100    1    —     2
E—Berger, Hendricks, Argarone, Hardin,
Johnson (3). RBI—Baxter (2), Hofford, 2BH-
Revta, Oplinger, Baxter; T. Webb (2), BOB-
Hofford 5, Mennzopane 1; S. Webb 2, HO-
Hofford 3 for 1 run in 9 innings, Mennzopane
0 for 1 run in 1; S. Webb 5 for 3 runs in 10,
WO--Hofford. LP — S. Webb.
Luccarelli cf
Mathews 2b
Ruger If
Cegles ss
Riley   c
Hill    lb
Brown 3b
Rudolph   rf
Stewart   p
Lane  p
Marine hak(x)   1
Henniger p    _0
Berger   ss
Brereton cf
Revta C
Oplinger lb
Baxter   If
Hendricks 2b
Diorio  rf
Laitala   3b
Hofford    p
Johnstone   ph
LEHIGH
ab r
3
5
4
4
3
4
3
4
2
0
Mennzopane p 1
Totals   37   4 10       Totals
33   7   10
x-Singled for Lane in 8th . z - walked for
Hofford in 6th.
BUCKNELL 000    120     100    —    4
LEHIGH 102    010     30x    —     7
Errors: Stewart, Riley, Cegles, Laitala,
Hendricks, Berger, Baxter. Runs batted in:
Ruger, Cegles 3, Brereton Oplinger 2, Diorio.
Two base hits: Oplinger. Home run Ruger.
Raso.s  on balls by Stewart 3, J.ane 2. Henninger
1, Hofford 2, Mennzopane 1. StrikeOuts by:
Stewart 3, Henniger 1, Hofford 4, Mennzopane
2. Hits off: Stewart 9 for 6 runs in 6-1/3 innings; Lane 1 for 1 run in 2/3 innings; Henniger 0 for 0 runs in 1; Hofford 7 for 3 runs in
6 innings; Mennzopane 3 for 1 run in 3 innings.
Winning pitcher: Mennzopane; losing pitcher,
Stewart. Umpires: Mojczan and Ackerman.
Time:   2:38.
Statesboro, was the highlight of
Lehigh's trip into the South.
Southern, which already has won
eight of 12 games this season,
was in the Top Ten nationally
in 1969 among college division
teams and earned a berth in
post-season playoffs.
Baxter's      two-out,     bases-
loaded     double    snapped a 1-1
deadlock in the top of the tenth
(Continued on Page 2)
GERRY LEEMAN
Named Assistant To AD;
Turner Wrestling Coach
THAD    TURNER
Gerry Leeman, highly-successful head wrestling coach at
Lehigh for the last 18 years,
will be promoted to a position as
an assistant to the director of
athletics at the University effective July 1.
Thad Turner, 30, a champion
mat man while an undergraduate
at Lehigh and an outstanding high
school mentor, will become head
wrestling coach of the Engineers,
also effective July 1.
Director of Athletics William
B. Leckonby, who announced the
dual appointments, added that
Leeman will continue his association with- the wrestling
program and will have other
duties of an administrative nature
in  the  department  of athletics.
" Gerry," said Leckonby,
11 welcomes the appointment of his
former captain, Thad Turner, as
his successor and he looks
forward to his new assignments."
Leeman, 48, missed part of the
recent season because of illness.
Turner, a native of Philips-
burg, Pa., is a graduate of
Philipsburg-Osceola High
School. He earned the bachelor of
science degree in business and
economics from Lehigh in 1961.
He and his wife, the former
Janet Ruth Pleskonko, also of
Philipsburg, Pa., reside at 1915
Athletes, Academic Leaders to be Honored
At Banquet April 27; Pendleton Speaker
Kirk Pendleton, youngest
trustee in the 103-year history
of Lehigh University, will be the
principal speaker at a unique
winter-spring banquet April 27
at which Engineer athletes and
academic leaders are to be
honored.
The dinner is scheduled for the
Masonic Temple, in Bethlehem,
Pa., with invitations extended to
approximately 300 students and
coaches. It's open to all alumni,
students, faculty and public.
Pendleton, a national wrestling
champion in 1963 and a three-
time eastern title-holder, was
elected an alumnus trustee last
October at the age of 29. He's
senior securities analyst for the
Pitcairn   Co.,   Jenkintown,   Pa.
Coaches and members of varsity lacrosse, baseball, tennis,
track, golf, hockey, rifle, swimming, basketball and wrestling
squads will be guests along with
students, including athletes, who
have achieved academic honors.
The dinner is being sponsored
by the Lehigh University Alumni
Assn.'s Student Relations Committee. Last December the
Lehigh Home Club, in conjunction
with  the  Alumni  Assn. and the
KIRK    PENDLETON
Department of Intercollegiate
Athletics, sponsored a similar
affair paying tribute to coaches
and members of football, cross
country and soccer squads.
Pendleton, one of the greatest
Lehigh matmen, was undefeated
and untied over three varsity
seasons. He wrestled 35 dual
meet bouts and won them all.
In the 1963 NCAA finals he
whipped Phil Kinyon of Oklahoma
State, 5-2, for the 157-pound
national crown.
He earned two degrees at
Lehigh, was an honor graudate
and wrestling team captain. As a
trustee, he's a frequent visitor
to the campus and in August he'll
serve as a volunteer instructor
at the University's 35th annual
Sheridan Wrestling and Coaching
Clinic in Taylor Gymnasium.
Tickets for alumni and the
general public are available at
The Spinning Wheel gift shop in
(Continued on Page 2)
Richmond Rd., Easton, Pa., with
their children Jeff, 11, Lisa, 9,
and Keith, 7.
He accepted a position as head
wrestling coach of Phillipsburg,
N.J., High School in September of
1961 and has enjoyed brilliant
success with the Stateliners.
Under his direction they are
undefeated in their last 51 dual
meets and they have a record of
98 victories, only 14 defeats, and
four ties. Phillipsburg, N.J., has
won six league titles in the last
seven seasons, and Turner has
had eight winning campaigns in
eight years. Eight of his stars
became New Jersey state
champions.
Turner wrestled at Lehigh in
1959, 1960 and 1961. He had a
31-1-2 dual meet record, was a
two-time Eastern champion and
a national runner up. In the 1961
Eastern Tournament, he was
voted "Most Outstanding
Wrestler." He was undefeated
during his junior and senior
seasons and he captained the
Engineers both of those
campaigns.
Leeman, who came to the
Engineers in 1950 and served
two seasons as the late Billy
Sheridan's assistant coach, is a
native of Osage, Iowa. He and his
wife, Darlene, live in Riegles-
ville, Pa., and are the parents of
two sons, Jay and Mark, and a
daughter, Jerilou,whois married
to one of the co-captains of this
year's Lehigh varsity, senior
Jack Bentz. Jay completed a
winning varsity career this
winter.
The new administrative aide
compiled one of the country's
finest coaching records. His
teams won 161 dual meets, lost
only 38, and tied four. They
captured six Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Assn. team
titles, the most recent in 1967,
and none ever finished below
third place in Eastern Tournament competition. He had 18
winning   seasons   in   18   years.
Leeman developed six
wrestlers who won a total of
nine national championships.
Twnety-two of his men, including
Turner, piled up 36 individual
EIWA titles. Lehigh leads the
Eastern Assn. in team crowns
(19) and individual winners (95).
In 1961, after he already had
joined Sheridan in college wrestling's Hall of Fame, he produced '
the most successful mat unit in
Lehigh history. His team won
12 dual meets in 12 appearances
and took the Eastern Tournament
that March with six individual
champions in nine weights.