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Happy Birthday Louis Zamperini …. Trojan Hero

Happy Trojan Birthday Louis Zamperini 

“Louis Zamperini, who was one of USC’s greatest distance runners and gained international acclaim for his amazing exploits during World War II, will be honored at a dinner celebrating his 90th birthday on Friday, Jan. 26, at 6:30 p.m. at USC’s Town & Gown.

A 3-year USC letterman (1938-39-40) who co-captained the 1940 Trojan squad and was a member of 3 NCAA championship teams, Zamperini was the NCAA champion in the mile run in 1938 and 1939. The collegiate mile record (4:08.3) that he set lasted for 15 years. He placed eighth in the 5,000-meter run at the 1936 Olympics.

read the bookHe was lost at sea during World War II, spending 47 days adrift and then two-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war in Japan. Following the war, he returned to Japan as a missionary. In 1998, he carried the Olympic torch (his third of five times) through his former POW camp outside Nagano. His experience was the subject of a CBS-TV feature and an upcoming book.

Tables and seats for the dinner are available by contacting Friends of Louis Zamperini, P.O. Box 50107, Pasadena, Calif., 91115 or emailing John@JohnNaber.com. Personal messages can be included in the tribute’s printed program for a tax deductible contribution.”

A book on his exploits is available on Amazon.com 

A Southern California Trojan ... who can say more?

Happy Birthday, Louis

 

Roger Freberg

 

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Jenny Craig — Below the Big Number!

Well, here I am in week 5 and I have dropped nearly 30 lbs. It feels good!

More importantly, I dropped below the top end of my ‘athletic weight’ of 300 lbs. In college it was so much easier to lug it around… but I am happy to say good bye to it and move on to a lower level.

I never look at the BMI (body mass index) as they have little relevance to folks like me with more than double average bone density and built to endure long cold winters ( long torso)… because my ‘goal weight’ is still considered obese. This is darkly amusing because the last time I was at that weight ( my goal weight) a lot of folks thought I was suffering from an incurable disease associated with being too thin.

Kristie Alley has lost 75 pounds... but it took her two years... hmmmm... well, it's not as easy for everyone... here is her 'before'In any event, I am at 296… I have placed the picture of the ‘before’ of Kristie Alley as inspiration.

Laura and Karen have really done well through all of this… I am glad I joined them. I did send Karen a small meal of ‘turducken’ with all the trimmings in a resealable container that she lovingly refers to as ‘Daddy Craig’… to be opened sometime in the future… not so much as a ‘reward’… but as a remembrance of home.

Losing weight has been a lot more fun this time. It even tastes better.

 

Roger Freberg

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Cal Poly… athletes as property

 Kaylene Wagner was refused a release from Cal Poly San Luis obispo... and sat out a year at Kansas State

I wasn’t too surprised when I gave my first ‘Weenie Award’ for 2007 to Cal Poly State University at San Luis Obispo. They have been the recipient of many such awards in the past… including the infamous U.S. News Report ‘Sheldon Award’ given each year to the worst president.

Sometimes athletes find themselves at universities that are a poor match  socially, athletically or academically and they end up wanting to transfer somewhere else. “Regular’ students transfer… so it seems reasonable that athletes may wish to do the same.

The process of transfering for an athlete is a bit more involved than it is for a regular student. The athlete must first obtain a ‘release’ from their present school before they can begin to talk to anyone else. Actually, I think this is a good idea… coaches and teams deserve to be notified if one of their athletes is unhappy enough to desire a transfer. However, obtaining a ‘release’ should be automatic… but as we will see… it isn’t.

Kaylene Wagner jumped for Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo for two seasons. We noticed she transfered to Kansas State and sat out last year… I discovered asking around that Kaylene did not recieve a release from Cal Poly! Why would any school be so…. nasty & vengeful, and self serving ?

Well, here are some of the reasons I have heard that athletes are not granted waivers: 1) we trained and developed their talent 2) the big programs don’t give waivers to their top talent 3) we don’t want to be treated like a junior college where they ‘move on.’ Hmmmm…

When you have powerful athletic programs like Southern California & Florida & Arkansas providing releases… It’s hard to understand small schools with token athletic programs like Cal Poly not having an athlete’s best interest at heart…

The underlying problem here is some athletic programs view athletes like ‘property’. If this issue emerges in the NCAA… it will be because of schools like Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Now, IF I were an athlete deciding on a school… I would look at how athletes are treated when they want to leave… if they are treated poorly… I would drop them from my list.

 

Roger Freberg

Presented to Cal Poly the first

CAL POLY San Luis Obispo
“Big Weenie Awardee”

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NCAA caves in on Graduate Transfer Policy

Karen Freberg competed as an Undergraduate for the Florida Gators and a Granduate Student for the Southern California Trojans 

Who was it who said — referring to the NCAA’s graduate student transfer rule, “we gotta close that loophole!” ? Yep, it was Florida Gator football coach Urban Meyer… and what seemed like only moments later he brings in a ‘ringer’..er… a ‘graduate’ student.

Ryan Smith, a former athlete under Urban Meyer at Utah transfers to Florida. His reasons seem more athletic than academic… but so be it.

“Unhappy with his position coach and his playing time at the University of Utah, the cornerback wanted a chance to come to Florida to reunite with former position coach Chuck Heater.“

Here’s how one of Urban’s local papers reported the recent NCAA decision to eliminate the Graduate transfer rule:

 The override came despite overwhelming support by the NCAA’s Student-Athletic Advisory Committee.

“I think a lot of coaches and athletic directors are very frightened. Fear drove the circumstances and won,” said David Goldfield, a professor and faculty athletic representative from North Carolina-Charlotte. “All of us here — coaches, athletic representatives or administrators — are in the business of helping students fulfill their dreams, whether they’re academic or athletic. This override contradicts that objective.”

As the NCAA Advisory committee said: “fear drove the circumstances and won.”

Karen wrote a nice blog about the NCAA transfer policy back in August.

As Karen said: “The main reason that athletes go to college is to get a college education– sometimes coaches and others in the athletic department sometimes forget that.”

This policy also hurts female athletes :

“Transfer policies make it difficult, if not impossible, for athletes to escape an unprofessional coach without sacrificing their athletic careers.”

 

Art by Karla Freberg

The issue is not as simple as many coaches would like everyone to believe… and they really can’t offer any justification for blocking or penalizing someone who wants to leave or pursue their academic career.

  Very few athletes who went on to graduate school this year (less than 1%) took advantage of the former transfer rule…

Let them go, Urbans out there..  It shouldn’t all be about you.

Roger Freberg