THE MG NCAA REPORT Photos by Roy Lorenz, Dick Criley and Ken Sokodo
VIEWpoints by Dick Crilev Some years back when Carl Patterson bid to host the NCAA 's at Temple Universit y, he promised a new gymnasium and facilities for the visiting teams. Unfortunately , Carl did not live to see the realization of his dream, but Bill Coco and the Temple Athletic Department were as fine a set of hosts as we've had the Bill , Gavin White, AI Shrier, Dave Leonard, Neil Cohen, Fred Turoff, Jay Geier and the scorekeepers from the Mannettes for their assistance and cooperation. Visiting gymnasts , coaches, and judges were all especially pleased with the transportation provisions from the Ben Franklin Hotel in downtown Philadelphia out to Temple 's new McGonigle Hall. This was another courtesy of the Temple Athletic Department. Another upbeat note was the presence of WFI L-TV who taped the entire night of individual finals . Unfortunately only local viewers got to see it as the NCAA again decided not to contract with a major television network for national coverage. The decision to hold the NCAA Trampoline Championships concurrently with the gymnastic championships was a wise one. It provided the trampolinists with spectators and an air of competitiveness which might not otherwise existed. Hopefully the sport will receive its full due in future championships and the format will be tightened up a bit. Speaking of tightening things up, something has got to be done about those coaches' dinners and meetings. Even the older coaches were getting rest less as the dinner meeting approached midnight. A bit of relief was furnished by " Gymnastic Flashbacks" which was premiered for the annual dinner. Seems to me a lot of the proceedings (nominations, ballots, etc.) could have been carried out by mail with only the resu lts requiring announcement. Announcement of other awards could be made in the program and the awards given out before one of the championships. The Temple hosts made another suggestion worthy of consideration: Hold the last conference or regional meets 2 weeks before Nationals. This would I} proyide more time to get the results in for the pro'g ram to be printed, 2} allow a recovery period for competing gymnasts and teams , and 3} ease the pressures on the host institution. I don't suppose anything quite so reasonable will ever be considered by the various autonomous conferences and the NCAA ... A couple of gymnasts solved a problem in a rather unique, albeit expensive, way. They bought wigs to cover their shoulder-length hair. While some scoffed at the solution, it did enab le them to compete without risking the verba l condemnation of the gymnastics establishment (let alone their coach) or the unspoken deductions of the judges. On another note , it was of interest to observe that specialists can perform compulsories and still qualify for medals as there were 17 allaround performances and 19 specialist performances seeded into the finals , a lmost the same as last year when only AA men did compulsories.
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The MG stoff and we are sure everyone that was involved with this yeor's NCAA championships would like to commend Coach Bill Coco for the excellent organization and hondling of the meet.
1970 NACGC HONOR COACH'S AWARD, Charles A. Pease of Petalumo, Colif. He is post 70 and still teoching and coo ching gymnastics (Sonoma State College). Hos been a coach and promoter of gym路 nastic since 1916 (UC-Berkeley, 1921-1962) and is considered by mony to be the father of gymnostics on the West Coost.
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HELMS HALL OF FAME AWARD RECIPIENTS, Fronk Woolcott (Springfield), president of the Notional Association of College Gymnastic Cooches, presents Helms Holl of Fame Awards to Mrs. Carl Patterson (for her late husbond), George Szypula, Hal Frey, Bruno Johnke and John Van Aalen (not pictured).
Judges for NCAA championships, Bock row, Jerry Todd, Sid Drain, Jerry Wright, Chris Weber, Fronk Cummiskey, Bob Manning. Front row, Gordon Matthews, Dick Aronson, Rich Riccardi, Bill Ratzheim, Bob Hall, Duane Hoecherl.
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