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Copyright 2001 News & Record (Greensboro, NC)
News & Record (Greensboro, NC)
May 1, 2001, Tuesday, ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: SPORTS, Pg. C1
LENGTH: 703 words
HEADLINE: STARS COME FOR SEMINAR ON FAIR PLAY;
DEAN SMITH, TOM OSBORNE AND OTHERS DISCUSS SPORTSMANSHIP IN CHAPEL HILL.
BYLINE: BY TIM PEELER; Staff Writer
DATELINE: CHAPEL HILL
BODY:
Imagine if Rasheed Wallace's NBA career were over, and he sent resumes to high schools across North Carolina looking for a basketball coaching job. Would any athletics director in the state let Wallace inflict his technical-inducing temper-tantrums on young student-athletes?
''We would not have any interest,'' said Charlie Adams, the executive director of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. ''We would absolutely discourage hiring someone like that.''
Yet there's little doubt that the NBA All-Star and former NCAA All-America, who set an NBA record this year with more than 40 technical fouls, wouldn't be without a job for long. Hey, Bobby Knight is employed again, isn't he?
Is that the kind of role model parents and administrators are looking for to teach the ideals of sportsmanship and athletic integrity?
That was just one of the topics discussed Monday during a day-long seminar at the University of North Carolina called ''Pursuing Victory with Honor,'' as two of college athletics' most successful coaches, former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith and former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne, participated in a lineup of expert panels and discussion groups.
Also included in discussing on how to develop better character through athletics were former UNC basketball coach Bill Guthridge, current Tar Heels coach Matt Doherty, UNC women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell, N.C. State women's coach Kay Yow, television commentator Jay Bilas, actor Tom Selleck and several officials from North Carolina amateur organizations. A documentary from the session is being produced for broadcast in the fall on UNC Educational Television.
Guilford County Schools athletics director Herb Goins was a Panelists in the morning session, which featured several lively exchanges between Doherty and NCAA basketball official John Clougherty of Raleigh about the responsibility of playing by the rules.
''I think the main thing about a seminar like this is to get people to think,'' Goins said. ''Sometimes, I don't think people think about the consequences of what they are doing. They just need to sit back and say 'Is this right?' or 'Is this wrong?' The main thing is to get people to think.''
The seminar, attended by some 500 men and women who instruct and coach young athletes across the state, was conducted by Michael Josephson, who heads the California-based Josephson Institute of Ethics, with support from new UNC chancellor James Moeser, who is on the institute's board of directors.
Osborne, now a Republican congressman representing Nebraska, and Smith talked about the philosophies that helped win five NCAA championships between them and the concerns they have with the current culture of sports, which consists of what Selleck called a ''toxic brew'' dominated by big money, big media and big egos.
The two legends preached positive reinforcement and sportsmanship.
''The quickest way to teach someone is not to find out what they are doing wrong and criticize them,'' Smith said. ''It is to find out what they are doing right and praise them.''
Osborne stressed the importance of teaching character and sportsmanship at an early age, particularly between the ages of 6 and 12, which is difficult in a world that is increasingly dominated by single-parent households.
''Coaches, especially at the high school level, have become the line of first defense,'' Osborne said. ''It has been distressing for me to see the way our society has changed in the way it has. I just hope that people appreciate what high school coaches do for their children.''
For Northeast Guilford football coach Tommy Pursley, the seminar was a good exchange of ideas, as well as good reinforcement of the sportsmanship ideals he already preaches.
''I have always felt as a coach that we have a responsibility to these young men to make them better people and make them better citizens,'' Pursley said. ''We really do work at trying to make a difference in their lives. Any new idea we can get to do that, I want to listen to it.
''I thought it was a good opportunity to get some new ideas.'' Contact Tim Peeler at 373-7062 or tpeeler@news-record.com
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