South Mountaineer Volume 20, Issue 17

              Vol. 20 — No. 17
JANUARY 24, 1978
BETHLEHEM, PA.
Wrestlers Rebound With Three Wins
1977 Good Year For LU Athletes
ACC, Football
Was Last
—and Best
Lehigh saved the best for last
during athletic activity in 1977.
There was an official groundbreaking in November for a $3.7-
million "Athletic and Convocation Center" in the Saucon
Valley Fields complex.
One month later, in December,
Lehigh's football team claimed
the NCAA Div. II national
championship with a 33-0 rout of
Jacksonville, Ala., State in the
Pioneer Bowl at Wichita Falls,
Tex., before a national television
audience.
These were the climaxes of a
year in which 22 varsity squads
posted a record 206 victories
against 101 losses and seven ties
for a solid winning percentage of
.671.
It was a year—1977—that'll be
remembered for a long time
whenever anyone talks Lehigh
athletics.
Rifle (13-0) and women's field
hockey (6-0-5) had undefeated
seasons. Thirteen other squads,
for a total of 15, also were winners. One finished at .500 and only
six were on the losing end.
Baseball was the biggest
winner with a Lehigh record total
of 19 wins in one season. Other
teams with double-figure victory
totals, in addition to baseball and
rifle, included women's volleyball (15), wrestling (14), women's
ball, football and golf (12 each),
ice hockey and men's tennis (11
each).
Football, of course, winning
Lehigh's first NCAA team title,
claimed the biggest share of the
on-field spotlight.
Coach John Whitehead's
charges won their last eight in a
row, including playoff triumphs
at Massachusetts, 30-23, and Cal-
Davis, 39-30, before the Pioneer
Bowl grand finale. They won
Lambert Cup honors for the fifth
time, an achievement almost
overlooked in what was to follow,
and ABC-TV telecasts of the last
two contests brought the
University national exposure.
Millions of viewers got a look at
the Engineers and their "long-
bomb" aerial attack featuring
All-America choices Mike
Rieker, quarterback, and Steve
Kreider, split end.
Approximately 500 rooters
welcomed the team back to ABE
Airport, from its Cal-Davis
victory, and almost twice that
number was on hand—along with
the band and cheerleaders—
when the Engineers returned
from Texas with  their  No.   1
(Continued on Page 2)
JOHN WHITEHEAD (right), head football coach at Lehigh, accepts "No. 1" ties and scarfs
presented to members of the staff and their wives for the Celebration Banquet Friday (Jan. 27) at
Lehigh Fieldhouse. Others are Bill Leckonby (left), director of athletics at Lehigh, and Michael J.
Chomik of Bethlehem, vice president-marketing, First National Bank of Allentown. First National
provided the gifts.
Frust
Week For Cagers
Unable to put 40? minutes of
good basketball together in the
same game, Lehigh cagers were
beaten by Rutgers, 75-62; Drexel,
62-59; and Loyola of Baltimore,
79-64.
It was a frustrating week for
the Engineers (2-12) who had
hoped to begin East Penn Conference play this week on a
brighter note.
Coach Brian Hill had some
excellent individual shooting as
freshman Paul Hanks of Warminster, Pa., canned 20 points
against Rutgers and junior Bill
Griffin of Scotch Plains, N.H.,
had 20 against Loyola, but the
Engineers    couldn't    generate
LEHIGH
Griffin 2-4-4-8; Purcell 0-0-0-0; Clifford 2-1-
3-5; Unger 3-2-2-8; Vandemark 8-0-0-16;
Hanks 3-0-0-6; Green 2-6-710; Riley 2-2-2-6.
Totals: 22-15-18-59.
DREXEL
O'Laughlin 1-4-4-6; Gore 2-3-4-7; James 3-
1-2-7; Betley 2-5-8-9; Conahan 12-2-4;
Broadus 5-3-3-13; Boback 0-1-3-1; Hat-
zenbeller 1-1-2-3; StephenS;6-0-0-i2. Totals:
21-20-28-62.
Lehigh f\ 27 32—59
Drexel J 29 33—62
LEHIGH
Griffin 8-4-8-20, Clifford 2-0-0-4, Vandemark 5-2-2-12, Hanks 1 446, Green 7-3-5-
17, Purcell 0-0-0-0, Unger 1-0-0-2, Camperson
1-1-1-3, Finley 0-0-00, Riley 00-1-0. Totals:
25-14-20-64.
LOYOLA
Eibeler 0-1-2-1, Reilly 5-0 b-10, Collins 4-2-2-
10, Vogt 71-4-15, Campbell 4-6-10-14, Palazzi
0-0-0-0, Britton 0-0-0-0, Koch 6-4-7-16, Fitz-
patrick 0-0-1-0, Morris 4-2-3-10, DiGiacomo 1-
1-4-3. Totals: 31-17-33-79.
Lehigh 30 34—64
Loyola     33 46—79
enough   all-around   balance   to
avoid defeat.
They outscored Rutgers in the
second half, after a slow start,
faltered against Drexel in the
second half after leading by five
points, and fell before Loyola in
the second half after trailing only
35-34 in a close contest.
LEHIGH
Vandemark 30 0 6; Hanks 8-4-5-20; Green
7 4-4-8;    Griffin   3-5 7-11;    Clifford    3-2-2-8;
Purcell 1-0-0-2; Unger 1-2-2-4; Riley 0-3-5-3;
Camperson 0-0-0-0. Totals 21-20-25-62.
RUTGERS
HefeleO 0-0-0; CopelandS 2-2 18; Bailey 11-
7-2 24; Brown 4-0 0-8; Duncan 3-0-2-6;
Milligan 2-0-0-4; Bradley 1-0-0-2; Troy 6-1-3
13; Nance 0-0-0-0; Kelly 0-0-0-0. Totals: 35-5
9-75.
Lehigh 21  41—62
Rutgers 36 39—75
AlumNotes
SATURDAY, JAN. 28
Lehigh   Club   of   Maryland:
Reception at the Annapolis Hilton
ballroom 11:30 a.m., buffet
luncheon $6.50, prior to Lehigh-
Navy wrestling meet at 1:30.
Reservations chairman Bob
Conrad, 700 Maryland Trust
Bldg., Baltimore 21202. A special
invitation is extended to the
Washington, D.C., Lehigh Club.
SATURDAY, FEB. 4
Jersey Shore Lehigh Club:
Luncheon at the University
Center, Lehigh, at noon, $4. Club
members and guests then will
attend wrestling between Lehigh
and Army, JV at 12:30 and
varsity at 2 p.m. Reservations
chairman Glenn Williman, 145
Whalepond Rd., Oakhurst, N.J.
07755, phone 201-531-6481.
SATURDAY, FEB. 4
Lehigh Club of Texas: John
Steckbeck, associate director for
intramurals and recreation at
Lehigh, will address a "Big
Texas    Celebration"    at   the
University of Houston Continuing
Education Center, 4800 Calhoun
St., Houston, reception 6:30 p.m.,
dinner 7:30 p.m., $9. Steck will
(Continued on Page 2)
Mat Squad
6-6; Five
Meets Left
Lehigh wrestlers, struggling to
avoid their first losing season
since 1945, ended a four-meet
losing streak with three crucial
victories last week as captain
Mark Lieberman, Mike Brown
and Colin Kilrain set the pace.
The Engineers knocked off
Southern Illinois, 24-13, Pittsburgh, 21-12, and Slippery Rock,
27-17, to balance their record at 6
and 6 with five meets remaining
on the schedule.
In each triumph the Engineers
trailed after seven bouts but were
close enough to allow Kilrain
(177), Lieberman (190) and
Brown (heavyweight) to bail
them out with a lot of points in the
last three tests.
Lieberman,
defeated man
racked up two
decision for 17
the only un-
in the lineup,
falls and a 23-7
points out of a
possible 18. The Allentown, Pa.
junior put Lehigh ahead in each
of the meets.
Brown, star sophomore from
Bethlehem, Pa., not only
safeguarded these leads but
expanded them with a fall and
winning decisions of 11-9 and 15-3.
Kilrain, a freshman from
Braintree, Mass., set the stage
for the Lieberman-Brown
finishing punches with winning
decisions of 7-1, 9-6 and 12-4.
Southern Illinois ran up an
early 13-4 lead against Coach
Thad Turners crew while
refusing to let Lehigh win any of
the first five bouts on the card.
Jeff Allegar (158) of
Harrisburg, Pa., broke the spell
with a 4-2 triumph and Bill
Amelio (167) of Carnegie, Pa.,
followed with a 6-0 victory which
pulled the Carbondale, 111.,
(Continued on Page 2)
Reservation Deadline Near
A limited number of series
tickets for the 1978 NCAA
wrestling tournament March 16-
17-18, at the University of
Maryland, is available at the
Lehigh ticket offices in Taylor
Gymnasium, building 38, during
regular working hours.
They may be ordered by mail
with a check or money order,
payable to Lehigh University, at
a cost of $25 each plus .50 handling and postage. No tickets are
being sold at Lehigh for single
sessions of the tournament. The
series ticket is good for all six
sessions.
Due to a shortage of rooms in
the College Park, Md. area that
weekend,   a   special   block   of
rooms has been reserved at a
discount for Lehigh alumni in the
Ramada Inn, 1251 W. Montgomery Ave., Rockville, Md.,
20850. This inn, located approximately 25 minutes from College
Park, will be the site of a Lehigh
dinner before the finals March 18,
and will offer special morning
and late night food services for
the convenience of wrestling
tournament rooters.
Anyone desiring a reservation
is requested to phone the inn
directly at 301-424-4940 specifying
that he or she wants to be included under the special Lehigh
plan.
The reservation deadline is
Feb. 1.