South Mountaineer Volume 35, Issue 27

              Volume 35, Number 27
June 3, 1993
Bethlehem, Pa.
LEHIGHLIGHTS
FOREVER YOUNG — Senior track star
Hassan Young (Hopewell Jet., N.Y.) has
done it again. Lehigh's super sprinter
recently competed in the Last Chance
Invitational at George Mason University
and made his final appearance as an Engineer
a memorable one. Young, competing in the
400 meter dash, recorded a 46.62 time in
setting a new school record. The time was
just two onc-hundredths of a second short of
making Young an NCAA qualifier. He thus
became the first Lehigh athlete ever to run
under 47.00 in the event.
GELROD MOVES ON — Senior Ryan
Gelrod (Maple Glen. Pa.) was recently
named to the GTE/COSIDA District
Academic All-American Team, at large.
The award was voted upon by ihe sports
information directors in Lehigh's district,
which consists of six slates. Gelrod won the
Patriot League championship at first singles
this spring and compiled a record. In the
classroom, he accumulated a grade-point
average while majoring in. The nomination
also moves Gelrod into contention for a spot
on the National Academic All-American
Team.
CLAWSON JOINS GRID STAFF--
Dave Clawson. u native of Youngstown.
N.Y., is replacing John Bonamego as
running hacks coach on the Lehigh
University football staff. The latter resigned
to accept a position at Army. Clawson spent
ihc last two seasons as running backs/
quarterbacks mentor at Buffalo State
(SUNY) after iwo years a£ an assistant on
Albany Slalc (SUNY) stall's. He received a
bachelor of arts degree in political economy
at Williams College in 1989. following
graduation from Lewislon-Porter High
School in Youngstown. and a master's degree
in liberal studies at Albany Slate in 1992
where he also served as a physical education
instructor and -assistant baseball coach. At
Williams he was a three-year football starter,
as a defensive back, and a member ol" the
basketball team.
INSIDE the Mountaineer
Men's hoops recruits 2
Women's hoops recruits 2
Queenan's ultimate goal 2
A senior looks back 3
1992-93 accomplishments 4
THANKS A   LOT!!!
The Lehigh sports information
department would like to thank
this year's seniors. Brian Baker,
Scott Gram ling .and Peter Kling,
for their years of hard work and
dedication in the office. We
appreciate all the time and effort
you put forth and we wish you the
best of luck in the future.
From the desk of the athletic director...
Joe Sterrett reflects on an extraordinary year in Lehigh sports
Our 92-93 year was a little like
Charles Dickens' opening line in A Tale
Of Two Cities. "It was the best of times;
it was the worst of times."
As educators we can and did find
learning opportunities for our student-
athletes (and for ourselves) in each of
those disparate scenarios. As competitors
we find little pleasure in the lessons
learned in failure and we recognize the
challenge inherent in earning the rewards
of success.
The fall semester provided us all
with a test of our emotions and a
confirmation of our priorities. On the
same evening a group of 100 alumni,
friends and staff celebrated our most
successful Athletics Partnership Golf
and Tennis Classic ever, we lost a
freshman student-athlete in the
swimming program to a heart attack
after practice. In the past 18 months our
athletics community has confronted the
deaths of three young people. These
experiences are painful and they tndure-
today but our student-athletes, our staff,
and the University community have been
wonderful and we have grown closer as
a result of these tragic losses.
In that same semester we celebrated our
first Patriot League team championship which
was won by our women's cross country
program. Our volleyball and men's soccer
programs finished strong, women's soccer
went 8-8 in its second year of competition,
field hockey was much improved and the
men's cross country team made a run at the
league title before finishing second. Football
competed evenly with most of a difficult
schedule but turnovers and inexperience left
us with a disappointing 3-8 record, three
league losses by seven points and the memory
of watching Lafayette celebrate a league
title after another in the long line of exciting
final games.
The winter season also brought us a
mixed bag of results. Men's and women's
swimming enjoyed their finest years in some
time and wrestling continued its steady
improvement with a strong showing at the
national tournament. Men's and women's
basketball will look at the 92-93 year as one
in which young teams gained valuable
experience buinofmucfi success. Near upsets
by both teams at the end of the campaign did
not obscure the reality that much work lies
ahead for each program.
It seemed that spring would never arrive,
(literally as well as figuratively!) but we are
pleased it did! Our softball program won our
second league championship, men's lacrosse
won 10 games to tie a school record while
cracking the national Top 25 and track,
women's lacrosse, men's tennis and baseball
enjoyed fine seasons which included some
outstanding individual performers. We were
in the thick of each league championship race
and I think our staff and our student-athletes
began to get a taste of competitive success.
Most important to me, we are learning.
We have become better recruiters, better
teachers, better learners, better students and
better leaders. More of our programs are on
stronger foundations than ever before and our
confidence is high in spite of a substantially
more competitive marketplace. We know
we've got to do a better job of the basics, and
we know we've got to continue to evaluate
our progress by measuring our contributions
to the learning experience.
I'm proud of our staff, I'm proud of our
student-athletes and I'm proud of the support
we receive in the University community. We
all look forward to extending ourcontributions
to the educational process.
Likins enters Hall of Outstanding Americans
LU president joins elite company in honor from Wrestling Hall of Fame
Peter Likins was recently inducted
into the Hall of Outstanding Americans,
an honor given by the Board of Governorsv
of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
The Outstanding Americans are former
wrestling figures who have achieved
national or international acclaim in the
areas of government, business, education,
science, and the arts and humanities.
Likins is one of four presidents and
12 other distinguished Americans that
are members of the Hall of Outstanding
Americans. The special part about this is
that the other three presidents,
Washington, Lincoln, and Teddy
Roosevelt, were Presidents of the United
States. Washington was known as the
colonial champion in the collar-and-
elbow style of wrestling; Lincoln was
famous for free-for-all and catch-as-
catch-can competition; and Roosevelt
wrestled for fitness.
Pres. Likins started wrestling as a
high school sophomore. He won high
school states and went on to Stanford,
where he wrestled for four years with an
undefeated dual meet record.
"I was a very successful wrestler in that
place, in that time," explained Likins. "I
swam as a big fish in a small pool." He
guessed that if he had come East, to
Lehigh for example, he would not have
been as successful.
Three members of the Lehigh family,
two coaches (Gerry Leeman and Billy
Sheridan) and a
wrestler (Mike
Caruso), have been
elected into the
National Wrestling
Hall of Fame.
"We've had some
wonderfully
distinguished
wrestlers and I don't
qualify with them,"
Likins said. "I'll
always wonder what I
might have managed
to do as a wrestler if I
had the kind of
environment , that
Lehigh wrestlers
have."
However, Likins
has no regrets and is
very pleased with the
way his life has turned
out. As a matter of
policy he doesn't ever
look back or ask the
question "what if?"
"I have enough
challenges trying to
figure out what I'm
going to do tomorrow, without spending a lot
of time looking back upon the past."
Likins said that he has always felt his
wrestling experience prepared him for life.
"Wrestling was sort of a symbolic
Lehigh president Dr. Peter Likins in his wrestling days.
experience that represented life in all that it
offered me in terms of challenges, rewards,
and pain. Life has a certain amount of pain in
it, and if you can't handle pain, you can't
succeed in life."