By Doug Robinson

Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011 12:49 a.m. MST

Memo to state legislators: Butt out.

Stay out of high school sports.

Find something else to meddle with.

Oh, wait, we’re supposed to tone down the rhetoric.

Butt out … pa-lease.

Remember the little drama that began last summer when the state Legislature, led by Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, wanted to turn the high school transfer rule on its head by having NO RULES WHATSOEVER? A kid could transfer anytime, anywhere. He could play three different sports for three different schools in one school year.

That was a doozie, wasn’t it? Which is why legislators went back to work on the bill and modified it. The hope was that common sense would prevail, and they’d forget the whole business when the Legislature reconvened last month.

No such luck.

The Legislature has come back with another dopey proposal called Senate Bill 53, this time with a new starting quarterback, Mark Madsen, R-Eagle Mountain.

Now they’re proposing that students — and by this we mean “athletes” — have a certain time frame in which they can transfer. Between Dec. 1 and June 30 of each school year, students can request a transfer to another school. Which means student-athletes (or, in this case, “athlete-students”) could play for four high schools in four years.

I’ve been a high school track coach for 20 years, and I can’t think of a worse proposal for high school sports, period. I believe most coaches would agree.

The Utah High School Activities Association — remember them, the experts who are paid to do this sort of thing? — are also unhappy about it, and you would be, too, if you care about a level playing field. I do.

This is the sort of maneuver that UHSAA officials expect from stage parents, not their own legislators. They’re supposed to be on the same team.

Last June, the UHSAA’s board of trustees passed a rule, effective Sept. 1, that students could attend any high school upon first entry, but after that they would lose one year of athletic eligibility if they transfer (with the usual exception for hardship cases). It formalized the way the transfer rule had been working for years anyway, since it was nearly impossible to stop kids from choosing an out-of-boundary school upon initial entry under the open enrollment law.

Now, four months after the rule took effect, the Legislature has thrown down a challenge to the rule by coming up with its own proposal, and one that is naive at best.

Ever notice that politicians like to get involved in athletic matters? They like to think they can remedy the college bowl system and the high school transfer problem and the IOC and steroids in pro sports. If you were keeping a record of their swings and misses, they’d have a batting average of about .000.

That doesn’t stop them from swinging. In their minds, they are Barry Bonds on ‘roids and every pitched ball looks like a watermelon.

Fortunately, they have time to meddle in the sports world because, let’s face it, everything else is going so well. Immigration is sailing along smoothly, the deficit is under control, the health care debate is solved, the economy is soaring, everyone has jobs. So they turn their deft touch to sports.

Don’t you wish they wouldn’t?

Well, the legislators’ rationale for meddling with the transfer rule is to give complete control of a student’s school choices to parents. Unfortunately, we live on planet Earth and we deal with human beings and, although parental-control is a nice theory, it doesn’t work well for sports. Ever seen a little league dad? A stage mom? It’s not a pretty picture. Parents do most of the lying and deceit that the UHSAA deals with regularly.

Look, sports is different than, say, art class or a special academic program. There isn’t a sport at any level, from little league to pros, that doesn’t restrict player movement. It fosters competitive balance. A transfer-free-for-all might be good for a handful of elite kids, but not for the greater good, not for everyone’s kids. Without restrictions, the strong teams get stronger, the weak teams get weaker; dynasties form. Instead of giving many teams a chance to contend for a region or state title — and thus producing a better experience for more students and athletes — only a handful enjoy that experience. It turns the high school athletic system into a platform for elite athletes.

The transfer free-for-all has other ramifications. Every time a coach scolds or corrects or benches a player, the player can simply go to another school and run from problems and challenges instead of dealing with them.

The UHSAA board of trustees is made of 28 members who were elected to those positions. They represent every area of the state. They have been delegated to oversee extracurricular activities for high schools, and they’ve been doing it for 84 years. They know a lot more about their business than legislators. Know what the vote was on the UHSAA’s latest transfer rule: 116-6. It wasn’t even close.

“They represent the feelings of our schools out there,” says UHSAA director Rob Cuff.

Kids can transfer freely for academic reasons, but if they want to play sports, that’s another matter. Colorado tried suspending its transfer rule and it was a disaster; now the state has transfer restrictions in place.

“All states have restrictions,” says Cuff. If SB53 passes, Cuff notes, “This would be one of the most lax (rules), if not the most lax in the country.”

Deseret News

Published: Friday, Dec. 24, 2010 5:45 p.m. MST

The NFL should consider contraction.

Not fewer teams; fewer pounds.

Let’s face it, the NFL needs to go on a diet. Send the players to Jenny Craig, sign them up for fat camp or Jillian Michaels, eliminate seconds at the training table, get serious about drug penalties — do whatever it takes.

Look, this sounds like a wacko idea, and it will never be seriously considered by the league because it makes way too much sense, but the NFL should adopt weight limits for players. Put them on a scale before each game, like boxers and wrestlers. With the much-publicized health problems of overweight NFL players, combined with the recent outbreak of explosive collisions and injuries, why not?

Doug Robinson has a great idea here. Now that it is openly on the table it could well happen. Support for this idea could pick up steam very fast. Limiting offensive and defensive linemen to 275 pounds would open the game up. Instead of 10 players standing and hugging one another in a mass at the center of the field it would bring a return to the fine art of blocking and tackling and return quickness to the game instead of power. Running backs would actually have options instead of just to ‘bounce to the outside.’

Way to go Doug Robinson. Good idea. We’re all for it.

The players are too big and many of them too fat. It exposes them to health risks on the field and off. It’s time to end the NFL’s version of the arms race — everyone getting bigger so they can compete with everyone else who is getting bigger.

In 2006, the Palm Beach Post studied the size of NFL players by compiling data from NFL rosters beginning in 1920 (a total of nearly 40,000 players). The newspaper reported, “From 1920 to 1984, there were never more than eight players in any season who weighed 300 pounds or more. This year, there were 570 players who weighed 300 or more listed on 2006 NFL training camp rosters, nearly 20 percent of all players.”

The Associated Press reported the increase in 300-pound NFL players: one in 1970, three in 1980, 94 in 1990, 301 in 2000 and 394 in 2009.

Look at the roster of the 1967 Green Bay Packers, winners of the first Super Bowl. Their biggest player weighed 260 pounds. Now look at the roster for the 2009 New Orleans Saints, winners of the last Super Bowl. They had 11 players who weighed between 294 and 343 pounds.

This trend toward battleship-size players has been emulated in the college and high school ranks. BYU’s roster includes 14 players who top 300 pounds, with several more who are one Big Mac away from joining the club.

Where will it end? Some players are already approaching 400 pounds. Next stop: 500?

The increase in size far outstrips the increase for the general population. That’s because, for the most part, it is manufactured weight. Players intentionally pack on the weight with supplements and meals that consist of 6,000 or 8,000 calories, and, yes, steroids and human growth hormone.

“The question they have to ask is, ‘How big is big enough and when do we stop getting bigger and think more about getting stronger and healthier and better?’” Michele Macedonio, nutritionist for the Cincinnati Bengals, told AP.

By bulking up, players are risking their health and a few years of their lives for fame, money and the thrill of playing the game. A study conducted by Dr. Stephen Baron for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, found that linemen had a 52 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease than the general population.

The results of a 2006 Scripps Howard study of 3,850 pro football players who have died in the last century revealed the following: One of every 69 players born since 1955 is dead; 22 percent of them died of heart disease; 77 percent of those who died of heart diseases qualified as obese, even during their playing days; only 10 percent of deceased players born from 1905 through 1914 were obese while active players.

“Clearly, these big, fat guys are having coronaries,” Charles Yesalis, a Penn State professor of health policy and sport science, told ESPN.

University of North Carolina endocrinologist Joyce Harper published the results of a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that revealed 56 percent of NFL players were obese according to their body-mass indexes — the government weight standard for height and weight. Some believe the BMI is inaccurate for athletes because it doesn’t take into account muscle mass, which weighs more than fat. Yesalis refutes that notion.

“When you get that big — regardless of whether your body is muscle or fat — your heart is stressed,” he says.

Besides, according to AP, Macedonio cited one study that showed a sampling of university offensive lineman averaged 27.4 percent body fat.

Another study revealed that the average life span of NFL players who play for five or more years is 55 (52 for linemen). They lose one to three years of their life expectancy for every year they play in the league.

The bottom line: Players are getting bigger and unhealthier. The average weight in the NFL has grown by 10 percent since 1985 with an average of 248 pounds; the heaviest position, offensive tackle, went from 281 pounds 25 years ago to 318 pounds.

“Is it good for guys to be that big? Of course not,” said Yesalis. “I fully support a weight limit of 275 pounds. It would reduce injuries and have a positive effect on the short- and long-term health of these men.”

A league-mandated 275-pound weight limit would not be any more unfair to those who weigh too much than it is for those players who get turned away because they don’t weigh enough. The weight limit would affect linemen almost exclusively — the players who are at the greatest risk for heart disease, diabetes and stroke, according to Mark Shilstone, the director of health and fitness for the Ochsner Clinic Foundation who has evaluated the condition of more than 300 NFL players. “(Linemen) are the walking dead,” Shilstone told USA Today. “They just don’t know it.”

The supersizing of NFL players has almost certainly contributed to another problem: Injuries. Today’s players are not only bigger, but they are faster than ever. Do the physics — bigger and faster players means harder collisions. Many of the most publicized collisions are occurring in the secondary, but 14 quarterbacks have been sidelined this season, several with concussions, because they were crushed by behemoth linemen. From a practical point of view, can the league afford to have so many players at its marquee position on the sidelines?

The other part of the weight-gain phenomenon the NFL must address more seriously is the use of steroids and human growth hormone. The league likes to boast of its testing procedures and its suspensions. It is na?e to point to drug testing and the relatively few failed tests as proof that steroids aren’t much of a problem in the NFL. This has been stated repeatedly, but it’s worth noting again that Olympic sprinter Marion Jones managed to pass every drug test she took (160) and then confessed to using steroids.

Does anyone find it strange that the NFL — whose athletes who have the most to gain by becoming bigger and stronger — has relatively few drug suspensions, while track and cycling continue to churn them out? Stranger still is the league’s weak penalty for drug use. The World Anti-Doping Agency and the IAFF — the governing body for track and field — suspend first-time offenders for 2-4 years second-time offenders for life. The NFL suspends first-time offenders for four games, which makes steroid use worth the risk, since the penalty is weak and there is little chance of being caught anyway.

The league will dispute that contention, but one thing is certain: The NFL has a Size-XXXX problem.

e-mail: drob@desnews.com

Published: Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010 1:09 a.m. MST

So, what are we paying college football coaches these days.

And why? USA Today came up with its annual report on the salaries of the nation’s major college football coaches. The newspaper obtained tax records and other information to decipher base salaries, outside university income and maximum bonuses paid. There were private schools, including BYU, Boston College and Notre Dame, where no information was available.

You might be interested in a few of these paychecks and who is paying for what.

This article is not a legitimate study of the relationship between college football salaries and their won-lost records. A much more scholarly study would be interesting.

Nevertheless, the salary numbers mentioned in this article should be enough to startle the good sense of Americans.

College presidents and governing boards have let the collegiate athletic programs get out of control. State legislative bodies need to bring these programs back into a proper perspective. Reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic should come first.

It is absolutely outrageous that an offensive line coach (true of almost any college football position) at the university level who instructs no more than ten players for an entire year gets paid enough to finance at least 20 first grade reading teachers with responsibility for 30 students in the most fundamentally important part of education. Our sense of values is upside down.

The idea that we have full time teachers getting paid to teach six players for a whole year  whether to put a block on the guy to his left or his right is just, well, unbelievable. The student-teacher ratio in college athletics is about one teacher for every six students, and children in the prime reading development the ratio is more like one for 25 or 30.

As a people we need to call our legislators all across this country and demand a re-structuring of our educational priorities.

Our athletic programs will not suffer in the slightest by bringing it back into perspective.

For instance, New Mexico’s coach Mike Locksley has had a heck of a time getting things rolling since he took over for Rocky Long, posting one of the worst win/loss records among 120 Division I programs, and his stay in Albuquerque has been steeped in controversy. Yet Locksley’s $750,00 salary is equal to Troy Calhoun at Air Force and more than bowl-bound San Diego State coach Brady Hoke ($675,000), whose standard of living costs are significantly higher.

The highest-paid Mountain West coach is Big East-bound TCU coach Gary Patterson, who makes $1.6 million, somewhat more than Utah’s Kyle Whittingham at $1.1 million. But if the numbers are correct, it takes about that much to hire Dave Christensen to work at Wyoming ($861,000), and the Cowboys/Christensen were Locksley’s only win this year at UNM.

Chris Peterson at Boise State, bound to meet Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, makes $1.4 million, yet in one of the most thrilling games of the season, the Broncos lost to Nevada and Hall of Fame coach Chris Ault, who is paid $443,093. And that’s less than UNLV’s Bobby Hauk ($500,000), who finished his first year for the Rebels at 2-11.

Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, who lost to Bronco Mendenhall and BYU last year in Dallas, makes $4.2 million, one of the highest salaries in the country, but it is not as much as Texas coach Mack Brown ($5.1 million), who couldn’t get the Longhorns in a bowl game this fall.

Some perspective: Ohio State president Gordon Gee, a former University of Utah student and BYU law professor, is the highest-paid public university president in the U.S. with a base salary of $802,125 and total compensation package of $1.6 million. But his football coach, Jim Tressel, makes twice as much ($3.5 million) in the land of bow ties and vests.

BYU plays UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl a week from Saturday, and one of the Miners’ best wins this year came over SMU, whose coach, June Jones, makes $2.1 million in Conference USA. Price, the victor in that game, makes $383,346.

When Utah defeated Alabama in the 2008 Sugar Bowl, Whittingham took down one of the highest-paid football coaches in the country, Nick Saban ($5.1 million), who makes a few shekels more than recently resigned Urban Meyer at Florida ($4.1 million).

When Oregon’s Chip Kelly ($2.4 million) takes on Auburn’s Gene Chizik ($2.1 million) in the BCS national championship game, it’ll be about an even match of bank accounts. But does Auburn hold the edge in alleged paid-players over Nike University? Mendenhall’s salary at BYU is not available, but it is surely competitive in the MWC. As an independent, Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo makes $926,434. But how big was it for Utah State’s Gary Anderson ($352,400) to defeat the Cougars in Logan? At Temple University, Al Golden ($513,000) defeated Fiesta Bowl-bound UConn coach Randy Edsall ($1.5 million) and has an 8-4 record but is not going to a bowl.

In the Pac-10, teams were stumbling over one another to become bowl eligible and failed. Those include Cal’s Jeff Telford ($2.3 million), who finished with a 5-7 record, and UCLA’s Rick Neuheisel ($1.2 million), who wound up 4-8. Washington’s Steve Sarkisian ($1.8 million) barely made it in at 6-6 with a season-opening loss to two-headed QB BYU.

The Bruins, Bears and Huskies might be well to look at Nevada’s Chris Ault and save more than a million bucks.

But that’s looking at things as strictly money, of course, as I wonder how Locksley is making off like a bandit.

e-mail: dharmon@desnews.com

© 2010 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Advocates for forcing public access to streams, against the will of landowners, have advanced a raft of theories all designed to circumvent or trump the Utah Constitution’s prohibition against “taking or damaging private property for public use without just compensation.”

They have harkened back to the Magna Carta, the laws of England, Spain, the Roman Empire, Greece, the laws of the early American colonies and, most recently, Brigham Young. The exercise may be interesting and educational, but in the end the controlling document remains the Utah Constitution. It cannot be made subservient to other laws at other times and places.

If the effort to bypass the Utah Constitution were successful, what would be put in its place to protect private property rights listed by the framers as “inalienable” and second only to the rights of life and liberty? There is little comfort in the court-created easement in the Utah Supreme Court’s 2008 Conatser v. Johnson decision because it lacks constitutional side-boards and could be expanded by judicial or legislative fiat deemed necessary to make effective the public’s enjoyment of the easement.

Rep. McIff, Governor Herbert, and others, are taking considerable heat for this ill advised taking of public property and giving it to the adjacent land owners. The idea that the public doesn’t own the rivers and streams and reasonable access to them just doesn’t fly. Those who bought property alongside our rivers, streams, and lakes are just like those who bought property adjacent to our roads and sidewalks.

The Conatser decision necessarily relied upon a statute. The delegates to the Utah Constitutional Convention in 1895 had declined to declare public ownership of water, even though our neighboring states had done so. The reason may be found in the fact that Utah had been settled for almost 50 years and most of the water had already been appropriated. Delegates were uneasy about declaring public ownership, fearing it would compromise private vested rights. Hence, Article XVII, Section 1 of the Utah Constitution looked only through the rear-view mirror and protected only “existing rights.” It provided no guidance for the future.

Eight years later, the 1903 state Legislature adopted an extensive water code declaring public ownership of water, appointing a state engineer, fixing the procedure for acquiring the unappropriated water and authorizing the use of eminent domain to acquire rights of way for the beneficial use of water. All rights of way, even for the most basic uses of water, required payment of just compensation.

Beneficial uses identified in the debates and statutes related to irrigation, industrial, mining, milling, manufacturing, livestock watering, domestic and culinary. While the statutory scheme has been tweaked from time to time over the years, it remains largely intact. Noticeably absent for most of our history has been any reference to recreational use. It first appeared in 1971 when the Legislature required the state engineer to consider the impact on public recreation in reviewing applications to appropriate water or to alter the natural channel of a stream.

The 1971 changes reflect the post-World War II preoccupation with recreation, but add nothing to a constitutional or statutory analysis which predates their enactment. They cannot be used to rewrite the history of Utah water law, nor to overpower the constitutional protections previously afforded private property owners. The relative rights of landowners and recreationists can best be examined by reviewing the historical trespass laws, cases arising from those laws, and the wildlife proclamations which until Conatser cautioned sportsmen not to go on private land without permission.

Times have changed and so have public demands. After Robert Redford’s film “A River Runs Through It,” fly-fishing has taken on a greatly expanded and romanticized dimension. It’s a wonderful sport, but fishermen should not presume the right to disregard “No Trespassing” signs or to trample the constitutionally protected rights of others. That has not changed and is not subject to disregard based upon public clamor and an expanded sense of entitlement.

The Legislature has set up a task force to evaluate future options stemming from House Bill 141, which was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor. That is completely appropriate, but the public must understand that the Legislature is not free to do as it pleases. In a 1990 decision, the Utah Supreme Court addressed the restraints imposed by the state Constitution, Article I, Section 22, the so-called “taking” clause. The court stated: “The framers of the Utah Constitution expected it to act as a real limit on the powers of the state. The framers certainly did not intend to allow state government to override the constitutional guarantee with a legislative enactment.”

The court went on to apply this restraint to itself, overruling several prior decisions. (See Coleman v. Utah State Land BD). It also made clear that the restraint applies to “every department of the state government.” The legislative task force should move forward, keeping in mind that the court will likely hold it to the same standard.

Rep. Kay McIff, R-Richfield, sponsor of House Bill 141, represents District 70 in the Utah House of Representatives.

The Salt Lake Tribune

Johnny Collinson set out a year ago to conquer the highest points on each continent, but along the way the 17-year-old discovered the peaks were not nearly as important as the cultures he encountered and the people who helped him get to the top.

Collinson, who lives at Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon, became the youngest climber to summit the top of each continent last week after stepping on the top of Antarctica’s 16,067-foot Vinson Massif.

“Physically, none of them were that demanding,” said the teenager. “I learned so much about the cultures of the different places I went. It was a great education and was really eye opening to see all those places in the world and to take a look at how people use their environment and look at how we treat our environment.”

Collinson arrived in Salt Lake City late Tuesday morning and he heads to Washington state to compete in a ski competition Thursday.

Jim and Deb Collinson, who largely funded the trip around the world, haven’t seen much of their only son in the past year, but what they have seen has pleased them.

“He was being a typical teenager before the idea to try and make the Seven Summits came along. You know, not wanting to go on family vacations and not really focused on anything,” said Jim Collinson. “He sure has changed. He became a man in the last year.”

Realizing they weren’t going to be able to tag along with their son, the Collinsons ensured he was in good hands.

Collinson made the five middle summits, including Everest, with Damian Benegas and the first and last with his Damian’s twin brother Willie.

The brothers, recognized as among the world’s best mountaineers, run Patagonian Brothers Expeditions. The twins have worked at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort and became friends with Jim Collinson, who works in the snow safety department.

“I couldn’t have done it without them,” Johnny Collinson said. “They are great guys. They are uncle Willie and uncle Damian.”

Collinson said none of the summits was more difficult than the others, but that logistically Vinson Massiff was the hardest to cross off the list.

His favorite summit was Denali in Alaska, but not because of the climb.

“There was a lot of snow and I liked it a lot because we were skiing,” he said. “It was awesome.”

Somehow, Collinson found time with his worldly schedule to take his ACT test and work on keeping up with his friends at Brighton High School. He plans on graduating with them later this spring and expects to enroll at the University of Utah.

No matter where he goes, Collinson said he is glad his family helped him make the last-minute decision to make an attempt at the Seven Summits a reality.

“This was the right time for it to happen. If we waited until I started college it could have affected how did it,” he said. “I’m really glad we put so much effort into doing it this year. I am a little disappointed about having finished the goal, but I can really move forward with what I have learned this past year and integrate it into my future and into my life.”

brettp@sltrib.com

–

Johnny and his summits

Johnny Collinson, 17, reached the highest point in Antarctica last week to become the youngest climber to reach the top of each of the seven continents. Here’s his list with summit dates:

January 18 , 2010 » Vinso Massif (16,067 feet), Antarctica

August 20, 2009 » Carstenz Pyramid (16,023 feet), Oceania

July 21, 2009 » Kilimanjaro (19,340 feet), Africa

July 8, 2009 » Elbrus (18,510 feet)), Eurasia

June 26, 2009 » Denali (20,320 feet), North America

May 19, 2009 » Mount Everest (29,030 feet), Asia

January 16, 2009 » Aconcagua (22,841 feet), South Americauer

Karl was an Orem boy from the first to the last. He was born here on Nov. 18, 1926, to Della Redd Spillsbury and George Travers Tucker, the youngest of seven children. While his family knew lean times working at tenant farming, they had an exuberant household that fostered hard work, spirit, humor, and resourcefulness. He attended local schools, Spencer Elementary and Lincoln High School, where he was student body president. At Lincoln, he was an all-around athlete, playing tennis, basketball, and football, but he excelled in tennis and as a senior won the state championship in the singles division. His tennis and football coach, Sank Dixon, was one of his great influences. He also revered his band and chorus teacher, Elvis Terry, and loved his years singing in Terry’s Mendelssohn Chorus and as part of a quartet called the Townsmen.

In 1945, in the summer after he graduated, Karl was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served until early 1947, stationed first at Camp Roberts, in California, and then at Fort Sill, in Oklahoma.

In the fall of 1948, he found his way back to BYU, where he was recruited to play baseball by coach Wayne Soffe. He also played on the tennis team and was voted BYU’s Best All-Around Athlete in 1951.

It was at BYU that he met his wife-to-be, Joanne Eliason, from Manti. The two were married on Sept. 1, 1951, and began a rich and happy relationship that would last 58 years.

During college, Karl also learned to golf and ski. He graduated from BYU in Physical Education in 1952, and knew he wanted to be a teacher. He and Joanne moved to Portland, OR, for a year, where both taught school. Other teaching jobs lured them back to Utah the next year, where Karl became a Health and PE teacher at Olympus Jr. High School in Salt Lake, and also coached basketball, baseball, and volleyball. It was here that he found his true calling in coaching.

After seven years at Olympus, in 1961, Karl was offered the job of golf coach at BYU, and the challenge of creating a golf program there from the ground up. For the next 31 years, he carved his niche nationally as a coach, producing 19 Western Athletic Conference golf championship teams and bringing BYU its first national championship in all sports in 1981. Karl brought a true passion to coaching, with the ability to relate to young players on their level and the interest in cultivating them not only as players but as people. His charisma and vision helped him recruit some of the country’s best players, in spite of Utah’s wintry climate. He coached multiple WAC Players of the Year and individual champions, and 69 All-American players, nine of whom were first-team honorees. Many of his players went on to successful careers on the PGA Tour. Karl was recognized as WAC Coach of the Year 13 times and voted the 1981 NCAA National Coach of the Year.

He was inducted into a whole range of sports and golf halls of fame, both national and statewide. He received numerous awards for his contributions to state athletics and collegiate golf. His coaching was rounded out by directing BYU’s ski school and, in 1964, he got a Master’s Degree in PE from BYU with a focus on ski-instruction techniques. For many years, Karl also ran the Willow Creek Ski School, at Alta. When he retired, he instructed the seniors classes at Sundance.

Throughout his professional life, he was active as a basketball and football official for both high school and college. Karl was a lifelong horseman, having gotten his first horse at the age of 8, and he created a bunch of other riders in his own kids and grandkids. His retirement was an extension of his job at BYU; he continued to be involved in the golf community, civic projects, and charities.

Karl had a profound gift for making lasting friendships and for creating relationships with all the people in his life. Everyone in his family, including his in-laws, had a vital, loving attachment to him. He will be in our hearts forever. He is survived by his wife, Joanne; his four children, Jackie (Curt) Wankier of Highland, Shellie (Jeff Thomas) Tucker of Seattle, Larry (Becky) of Provo, and Phil (Jil Goorman) of Salt Lake; his sister, Alison Schanz (Salt Lake); eight grandchildren; six great-grand children; and many devoted nieces and nephews.

Preceding him in death were his sisters Hazel and Lucile, and his brothers George, Tobe, Wayne, and Ray. We would like to give a special thanks to Alpine Hospice of Orem, especially Dana, Verna, and Luke, who gave Dad not only their professional care but their compassion.

Funeral Services will be held on Thursday, January 14th, at 11 a.m. at the Sharon Stake Center at 545 S. 800 E., Orem, Utah. Family and friends may call on Wednesday evening, January 13, 2010, at Walker Sanderson Mortuary at 646 E. 800 No., Orem, from 6 to 9 p.m. and Thursday, January 14, 2010, at the Sharon Stake Center at 9:45-10:45 a.m. prior to the services. Interment will be held in Orem City Cemetery, 1520 North 800 East, Orem. Condolences may be sent to www.walkerfamilymortuary.com

Published in Salt Lake Tribune on January 10, 2010

Utah Golf Association Web Page

Utah Golf Hall of Famer Karl Tucker passed away this afternoon after six months of deteriorating health due to kidney and heart ailments. Funeral services are pending and a complete obituary will be published soon. Funeral services are expected to be later next week in Orem.

Tucker was one of the most significant figures in Utah golf history. As the golf coach at BYU his teams won 19 Western Athletic Conference golf championships and brought BYU its first national championship in all sports in 1981.

Many of his players have reached the highest levels of success and have all stayed in touch with him. The loyalty that was generated among the players is perhaps the most marvelous trademark of his career. There are few teams of any sport that have spanned a 30-year period where the oldest and youngest all feel the same camaraderie toward one another. There is an attachment among BYU golfers that is truly unusual and Karl was the key to all that.

Tucker recruited and mentored some of the best golfers in the country, coaching 14 WAC Players of the Year and 13 WAC individual champions. In 1979 and 1980, he coached Bobby Clampett to back-to-back Fred Haskins Collegiate Player of the Year awards. He mentored an amazing 69 All-Americans, including nine first-team honorees. Three of his players went on to become PGA Tour Rookie of the Year — John Fought, Pat McGowan and Keith Clearwater. He also coached the legendary Johnny Miller, Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters Champion, and Mike Reid, a two-time major winner on the Champions Tour.

Recognized as WAC Coach of the Year 13 times, Tucker was voted 1981 NCAA National Coach of the Year by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA). He has been inducted into the GCAA Golf Coaches Hall of Fame (1983), the Utah Sports Hall of Fame (1992), the SUU Summer Games Hall of Fame (1995), the Utah Golf Hall of Fame (1998) and the BYU Athletics Hall of Fame (2001).

Among other awards, Tucker received the Dale Rex Memorial Award (given to the person considered to have contributed the most to amateur athletics in Utah); the Utah Golf Association Gold Club Award for outstanding contributions to golf in the state; the Bob Poulsen Award for his role in the success of the University of Utah Hospital Open; and the Rolex Honor Award for his outstanding service and contributions to men’s collegiate golf.

Bruce Brockbank, who played for Tucker and then succeeded him as the head coach, said, ‘He was my coach, and a friend. He took time for everyone, and as a result he has legions of friends all over the country. He was always helpful and supportive of our efforts to keep the tradition going.’

Johnny Miller, Karl’s first All American and most prominent player as winner of both the U.S. Open and British Open, said, “Karl was a great coach. He somehow made players play up to their best abilities. He put BYU golf on the map. He has a great personality and was a great recruiter. He got people to come to BYU even with the Utah weather. It’s no coincidence that many of his players became touring professionals and excelled on the PGA Tour. I became a better player by being around him and playing on his team. His legacy will live on.”

Dick Zokol, one of many former Canadian players, said, “It’s a hard thing to lose him, but now is the time to gather around and celebrate a life that benefited all of us.”

Mike Weir, another Canadian and former Masters Champion who played at BYU during Karl’s last year of coaching, said, “He lived a great life and had a special impact on many, many people, and especially on my life.”

Mike Reid, one of Karl’s greatest players, and winner of the World Series of Golf and Senior PGA, said, “Karl had an indomitable spirit. To me, he was bigger than life. I thought he could live forever. When I went to BYU I got a second father.”

Reed McGregor, president of the UGA, said, “The players have been loyal to Karl and the loyalty has been returned. Even after all these years he has remained close and supportive of the current teams.”

Thomas Pagel, executive director of the Utah Golf Association, said, “We extend our deepest sympathy and respect to Karl’s family. His contributions to golf in Utah are legendary and his continual support of the UGA have been greatly appreciated over the years.”

Tucker was born in Orem, Nov. 18, 1926 and lived there his entire life. He graduated from BYU in 1952 and received a Masters Degree from BYU in 1964. He married Joanne Eliason in 1952 and they have four children, Jackie, Shellie, Larry, and Phillip.

Salt Lake Tribune

Just over a year ago, the Utah Utes celebrated one of the finest moments in their sports history: a Sugar Bowl victory over legendary Alabama that capped a perfect football season and triggered much rejoicing.

Not just on the field, either.

The triumph allowed the Utes to balance their athletic budget — something that would not have come close to happening without the estimated $2.3 million profit they made from their second trip into the lucrative Bowl Championship Series in five seasons.

This is an outstanding story. Congratulations to Michael Lewis. There is much more that needs to be uncovered and written about the mess of college athletics. The Sugar Bowl was the absolute zenith of success for the University of Utah.

It resulted in a ‘pot of gold’ of $19.2 million, but when costs and shares are distributed Utah ends up with a paltry $2.3 million, and even that is an illusion because that money will vanish quickly into increased salaries for the head football coach and his entire staff that will continue even in non-Sugar Bowl years.

The college presidents and the general public have been hood-winked.

You know we have our values upside down when the teacher-pupil ratio in college football is about one coach per five players, and our first grade reading classes have one teacher for 30 children, and the salary of one head football coach could pay the salaries of 30 elementary school teachers.

You know something is upside down when a coach is fired at one university for egregious rule violations and is quickly hired at another college at an increase in salary—-because he can win.

Utah put up with one of the crudest college basketball coaches in the nation for how many years?—all in search of the ‘pot of gold!’

Go Michael go! Don’t quit here.

(Also, congratulations to The Tribune for making this a front page story.)

But while that surely counts as a victory, on the eve of the annual BCS title game, it also illustrates a growing problem for many universities: Spending in pursuit of sporting success can result in serious financial jeopardy if they cannot reach a brass ring, such as a BCS game, to deliver multi-million-dollar salvation.

“The real crisis facing college athletics” is not the need for a major football playoff system, two co-chairmen of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics wrote in The Washington Post recently, but rather “the sustainability of its business model, which is on a path toward meltdown” because of soaring costs amid a troubled economic environment.

President R. Gerald Turner, of Southern Methodist University, and chancellor William E. Kirwan, of the University of Maryland, noted that NCAA statistics showed that nearly 80 percent of the 120 athletic programs that sponsor major-college football reported operating deficits in the 2007-08 school year.

What’s more, revenue from football does not even cover the operating costs of the football program at 44 percent of those schools, according to an NCAA report.

“These are hardly profit centers at most institutions,” the men wrote.

It’s not nearly that bad for the Utes. They do make a modest profit from football that helps fund other sports at the university.

That’s also an illusion. There are many athletic expenses that don’t show up on the athletic budgets, such as capitalization and costs of maintenance of all the facilities that sit idle much of the time. Publicity departments are also probably ‘off books’. A close accounting examination would probably find many distortions that deliberately ‘enhance’ the athletic financial condition.

For instance, if the athletic department had to budget a normal rental figure for the football stadium and the basketball arena, what would it be?

The legendary Bear Bryant used to advise other bowl bound coaches to ‘spend it all to enhance your program. Don’t leave anything on the table.’

But they also expect to see falling revenues and a $1.2 million shortfall in their athletic department budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year, according to budget documents and the annual report from their athletic advisory council, in addition to what would have been a $1.5 million shortfall in 2008-09 had it not been for the Sugar Bowl payout.

The Utes had planned to use their profit from the game to cover more modest shortfalls over several years, but instead expect to need all of it to cover just last year and the current year. Unless they find a way to close that budget gap before next summer, the report warned, the Utes might have to make “some very difficult decisions.”

“It’s a challenge,” athletic director Chris Hill acknowledged. “We’re not alone. It’s a national challenge, big time.”

The Utes will get some help from a revenue-sharing plan that assures they will receive a share of the money earned by Texas Christian and Boise State for reaching the big-money Fiesta Bowl this season, and they are hardly at the extreme end of the shortfall spectrum.

The NCAA reported that the average annual budget deficit for the major football schools that lose money is nearly $10 million a year, and some universities have endured budget cuts exponentially larger than the relative pennies the Utes are short of.

But like many schools, the Utes are chasing the football powers.

Documents show they have increased spending on football salaries, travel and recruiting about 46 percent over the past four years, offsetting cuts and budget reallocations in other areas.

In fact, accounting for several budget categories such as game operations that associate athletic director Pete Oliszczak said have been moved mostly off the football ledger to other areas, the estimated football budget of $7.8 million for 2009-10 is about 30 percent higher than it was when the Utes won the Fiesta Bowl in the 2004-05 season.

“We’re watching our expenses as best we can,” Hill said, “but there are certain things we have to invest in, or else the incomes don’t come in.”

In other words?

It’s all part of trying to keep up in the high-stakes world of major college football. Without paying the steepening price, it’s hard to keep the best coaches and attract the best recruits and win the most games and sell the most tickets.

Even then, though, it’s clear that teams such as the Utes still have to occasionally achieve the extraordinary simply to break even, especially at a time when every other sport at the university has seen budget increases, too, in part because of rising costs for everything from team meals to airline baggage fees.

Which is why boosting income has become a priority.

That would be easier if the Utes were part of one of the six most powerful leagues that enjoy automatic berths into the lucrative BCS, so they could count on an extra few million dollars every year. But that’s not the case.

Instead, they’re pursuing other options.

Having already reached record levels, the Utes probably can’t expect to sell many more football season tickets, Hill said, so price increases might be on the horizon to help boost revenue. So, too, might be increases in the amount of student fees and university funding that help subsidize the athletic department, areas in which Hill said the Utes rank at the bottom of the Mountain West Conference.

“Nobody likes to raise prices,” Hill said, “but we feel we’re going to be in that position because otherwise we don’t help our program.”

The Utes have a few sources of income that are contractually assured of going up in the near future, including television and marketing deals. And Hill hopes that the slumping rate of donations will pick up again if the economy rebounds.

But one year after their greatest triumph, one thing remains clear. “The business model is very difficult,” Hill said.

Utes got only a slice of Sugar Bowl payout

Fans might remember reports that pegged the payout to the Utes for reaching last season’s Sugar Bowl at $19.2 million.

It sounded great, but that’s hardly what wound up in the bank account. That number dwindled to about $3.5 million after extracting the money that went to fellow members of the Mountain West Conference and the other four leagues that do not have automatic berths into the Bowl Championship Series, as part of a revenue-sharing agreement. That agreement also assures the Utes will get a slice of the money that TCU and Boise State earned for reaching the Fiesta Bowl this season. The Utes then paid $1.2 million in expenses for the trip to New Orleans, leaving about $2.3 million in profit that they’re using to cover athletic department budget shortfalls.

Football, men’s basketball are cash cows

Football and men’s basketball generate by far the most revenue for the Utah Utes. The $5.2 million generated by football ticket and suite sales this year were expected to help cover the football budget and pay for other sports at the university that generate almost no revenue. In fact, according to university budget estimates, the football and men’s basketball teams will generate about $7.3 million this year. Every other sport? Only $392,000 combined.

Football legend Merlin Olsen is suing NBC Studios, NBC Universal, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, Sherwin Williams, Lennox Industries and other companies, claiming he developed a rare form of cancer as a result of being negligently exposed to asbestos.

Olsen — who gained fame as a member of the Los Angeles Rams and went on to be a sportscaster, actor and spokesperson for FTD Florists — was diagnosed with the rare asbestos cancer mesothelioma a few months ago.

According to the lawsuit, filed today in L.A. County Superior Court, Olsen worked after school doing manual labor when he was 10 or 11 and was exposed to asbestos.

Olsen claims he was exposed to asbestos later in life when he was doing drywall. Olsen also worked at NBC and 20th Century FOX and is alleging those companies negligently exposed him to asbestos.

Olsen, who is undergoing chemotherapy, claims in the suit that all of the defendants, “were engaged in the business of manufacturing, fabricating, designing, assembling, distributing, leasing, buying, selling, inspecting, servicing, installing, repairing, marketing, warranting and advertising a certain substance the generic name of which is asbestos.”

Olsen says in the lawsuit that mesothelioma “is a vicious, painful, and invariably fatal malignancy” and there is no known cure.

Olsen and his wife Susan are suing for unspecified damages.

Columnist, Salt Lake Tribune

The pick-and-roll, the box-and-one, the triangle-and-two. Now brash Brandt Andersen, owner of the Utah Flash franchise in the NBA Development League, has added a new term to the basketball lexicon — the bait-and-switch.

A record crowd of 7,542 got duped last week by Andersen. They crowded into the McKay Events Center in Orem expecting to see a one-on-one basketball game featuring NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan at halftime of the Flash home opener. Got a Jordan look-alike instead.

Without lifting a finger or speaking a word Michael Jordan once again embarrassed Byron Russell. There were 7,500 fans who got duped by Brandt Anderson and Byron Russell, but Michael wasn’t one of the suckers. He was above the scam promotion from the very beginning. Shucks, and Anderson so wanted to play with the big boys.

Jordan is so above this kind of malarkey this whole episode may never have even made his radar screen, but if he has heard about it he is probably enjoying a big laugh. Laugh, hell, he’s probably hooting about those wannabes in Utah. That was the easiest one on two he has ever played. At the end, the ‘no show’ was the only one with any dignity.

It was the start of a season that Andersen promises will be filled with promotions and fun. Next week the Flash will give away free “I got punked by Brandt Andersen” T-shirts and Andersen will personally poke the first 50 fans in the eyes, assuming that many show up.

Folks are angry. Apparently Andersen — hilariously, his business motto is “Trust must be earned” — was unaware that it’s not nice to play your fans for fools.

When the hoax was revealed, the crowd booed. Some airmailed their complimentary T-shirts to the gym floor. And thousands showed Andersen their heels as they headed for the exits.

It started out as an honest attempt to put fans in the stands and give former Utah Jazz player Bryon Russell a chance to settle a score. Russell was covering — I use that term loosely — Jordan when His Airness hit the series-winning shot in the 1998 NBA finals. When Jordan mocked Russell during his Hall-of-Fame induction speech this summer, Andersen tried to arrange the mano a mano matchup, offering the winner $100,000 for the charity of his choice.

Russell was game. In fact, he was part of the con. But Jordan, apparently, was not.

Andersen pleads innocent to fraud. He never said that Jordan would show up. He only said that Jordan didn’t say he wouldn’t.

But Andersen did hire a Jordan double and a couple of burly body guards, and created buzz by staging “Jordan sightings” around town on game day. Claims he was conducting research on viral marketing. His hot-airness even posted video on YouTube of the counterfeit Jordan eating lunch at Mimi’s Cafe in Orem.

Comments were mixed on Andersen’s blog, where he delivered a but-ridden apology.

“TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE HOAX,” wrote one couple, who could use some Prozac.

“Who cares. Funny on us,” wrote a laid-back lady who has plenty.

Admittedly, there are meaner things you could do. You could hype Free Admission Night, then make fans pay to get out. Or you could say, as Andersen did, that you’re going to build a five-star hotel and a 12,000-seat arena in Lehi, then don’t.

There are also better promotions.

For example, Andersen could wrestle a bear. I bet a lot of people would turn out to root for the bear.

Or he could pit Max Hall against Utah Ute fans in a beer-throwing contest.

Or make people spin around 10 times then try to make a layup. Now that would be funny. The video could go viral.

Andersen is trying to atone. He says he’ll refund the price of the tickets.

But he also needs to make amends to charity. Andersen should donate the $100,000 to a worthy cause.

Casey Jones is a member of The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board. His e-mail address is cjones@sltrib.com

Flash owner Brandt Andersen acknowledged sending a Jordan lookalike around town Monday, when supposed “Jordan” sightings and an Internet video of the impostor eating at a local restaurant created buzz that Jordan really was in town. More than 7,500 fans showed up hoping to see Jordan play 1-on-1 against former Utah Jazz guard Bryon Russell at halftime.

The Flash had been pitching the Jordan-Russell rematch since September despite never hearing from Jordan after Andersen issued the first challenge.

Andersen maintained he held out hope that Jordan would agree to be part of Monday’s promotion.

“This was done in fun,” Andersen wrote on his blog after the game. “If you did not see it as fun or you feel we went over the top I am sorry.”

These people came to see Michael Jordan, not the Flash, and repaying them with a ticket to another Flash game is nothing but bait-and-switch and giving them their money back doesn’t square the deal either. This isn’t the last we’ll hear of this. There are some who have viewed it as funny, and others who feel duped. This will end up in court.

Andersen said that he had always planned to send out a lookalike, complete with bodyguards, into the community.

“We wanted to test the strength and effectiveness of viral media by putting him out in Provo with bodyguards, and some hype,” he said. “I always assumed it would be uncovered very quickly that it was a hoax.”

Fans caught on when the impostor trotted on to the court at halftime and started booing, then leaving.

Andersen had offered a $100,000 to the charity of the winner’s choice if he could get Jordan and Russell to play a game of 21.

Jordan’s jumper over Russell in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA finals gave the Chicago Bulls a 4-2 series win over Utah. Jazz fans still insist Jordan pushed off Russell.

During Jordan’s Hall of Fame speech, he said he was motivated by Russell’s trash talk toward him during his first retirement.

As part of his apology, Andersen is offering tickets for a future Flash game for fans with tickets from Monday night’s game.

“I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person,” Woods said on his Web site.

Woods and his wife, Elin, have been married five years and have a 2-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old son.

The announcement came two weeks after Woods crashed his SUV into a tree outside his Florida home, setting in motion a stunning downfall for the world’s No. 1 player who for 13 years rarely made news off the golf course. One woman who said she had a 31-month affair with Woods shared a voice mail that she said Woods left her two nights before his Nov. 27 accident.

“I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children,” Woods said. “I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I’ve done, but I want to do my best to try.”

Woods has not been seen in public since the accident.

He gave no indication when he might return in what could be a pivotal year as he pursues the record 18 major championships won by Jack Nicklaus. Woods, who did not win a major this year, has 14.

The Masters, where Woods has won four times, is April 8-11. The U.S. Open is at Pebble Beach, where Woods won by a record 15 strokes in 2000, and the British Open returns to St. Andrews, where he has won twice by a combined 13 shots.

It will be the second straight year that a PGA Tour season begins without its star player. A year ago, Woods was recovering from reconstructive knee surgery that kept him out a total of eight months.

This is different.

“We knew before he was coming back,” said Steve Stricker, one of Woods’ favorite players on tour. “Now, we’re not sure when he’s coming back. But this sounds good. I hope everything works out for him.”

The PGA Tour supported the decision.

“His priorities are where they need to be, and we will continue to respect and honor his family’s request for privacy,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement, the tour’s first public comment since Woods mentioned his “personal failings” and “transgressions” in a Dec. 2 statement. “We look forward to Tiger’s return to the PGA Tour when he determines the time is right for him.”

Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, told The Associated Press that it was the right decision for Woods and his family.

“The entirety of someone’s life is more important than just a professional career,” Steinberg said in an e-mail to the AP. “What matters most is a young family that is trying to cope with difficult life issues in a secluded and caring way. Whenever Tiger may return to the game should be on the family’s terms alone.”

Craig Parry, who played a practice round with Woods in Australia last month, said Woods brought the problems on himself.

“What he did was totally wrong,” Parry said at the Australian PGA Championship. “And he’s got no one to blame except himself. You can look at other people, but he’s the one who’s got to look in the mirror.”

Woods was out of action from July 2008 until the end of February this year, and television ratings dropped 50 percent. The tour is trying to renew a half-dozen title sponsors, and it is to begin negotiations on the next television contract later next year.

As for Woods’ corporate endorsements, all have stood by him for now.

“Tiger has been part of Nike for more than a decade,” Nike said in a statement Friday. “He is the best golfer in the world and one of the greatest athletes of his era. We look forward to his return to golf. He and his family have Nike’s full support.”

Meanwhile, Accenture no longer has an image of Woods on the home page of its Web site. Earlier this week, Woods standing amid cactus plants studying his next shot was among three rotating pictures on the home page.

Steinberg said it would be “premature and inappropriate” to talk about Woods’ specific business relationships.

“Suffice it to say, we have had thoughtful conversations and his sponsors have been open to a solution-oriented dialogue,” Steinberg said. “Of course, each sponsor has unique considerations and ultimately the decisions they make we would fully understand and accept.”

Earlier this year, Woods became the world’s first athlete to surpass $1 billion in career earnings, according to Forbes magazine. His sponsors include Nike, Gillette, AT&T, Gatorade and Tag Heuer.

Woods last played a tournament Nov. 15 when he won the Australian Masters for his 82nd victory around the world.

Stricker, who went undefeated as Woods’ partner at the Presidents Cup, said his leave was the right decision.

“I think it’s great that he’s going to put his family first and work things out,” Stricker said from Naples, Fla., where he is playing the Shark Shootout. “Golf will always be there. He wants to make sure his marriage is right and everything is good on the homefront. We’ll sure miss him on tour until he gets things taken care of.”

Woods also indicated he would step away from the work of the Tiger Woods Foundation, which has served some 10 million children.

“There are millions of young people who have truly changed their lives through the foundation’s programs, and millions more still counting on us for help,” Woods said in a separate statement through his foundation. “I am committed to them and to the foundation’s excellent work, and I know my staff will continue these efforts during my absence.”

The Making of a Legend: Merlin Olsen

There’s something special about being able to say “We knew him before the world did!’

To millions of sports fans Merlin Olsen became a legend as one of the Fearsome Foursome of the Los Angeles Rams. He was in the Pro Bowl 14 years, more than anyone else, and never missed a game in his 15 years with the Rams and was inducted into the College and Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he continued his success as a popular television commentator and actor.

Long before that time, as a sophomore at Logan High, and before he had even played one game, he became a football legend to his high school teammates on the first day of practice.

As an awkward, oddly shaped teenager, with head and feet already full grown and anxiously waiting for his body to catch up, the only thing the varsity players knew about him was that he was big and strong and could possibly be a good football player someday—-and that he was only a mere sophomore.

In those days there were no little league or junior high football programs and this mighty man hadn’t played a down of real football anywhere. He was an unknown, even to himself.

At Logan High there was a tradition—-that sophomore’s didn’t go through the varsity dressing room to get to the football field. Sophomores had to bypass the varsity locker room and go out the front door and make the long loop to the gridiron. The side door of the varsity dressing room went straight to the field and would have been a significant short cut for the sophomores—–but for tradition. Sophomores had their place and it wasn’t in the varsity dressing room.

Sometime near the beginning of that 1956 season Merlin let everyone know in advance that he was not going to abide tradition. He declared that he was going through the varsity dressing room directly to the field. The gauntlet had been thrown down, albeit in a friendly, but competitive manner.

When the day approached tensions rose, and nary a varsity player left the dressing room early that day. They were laying in wait for this ‘bigger than life’ sophomore who thought the shorter distance made good sense.

As a puny little guy with big ears and the team manager I knew my place. I was a spectator. Spectating is what I was good at, and the scene that unfolded that day remains vivid to me to this day.

All the other sophomores played their assigned roles and went around the varsity dressing room, but true to his word, Merlin entered the varsity domain. Several varsity players attempted to grab him, but they couldn’t hold on to him and they went rebounding across one of the benches. It was obvious that this needed to be a team effort and so others took up the challenge and the skirmish area broadened as he twisted and turned and threw off attackers one after the other, but gradually the varsity guys worked him around benches and lockers into the shower area in an attempt to douse him, and they eventually did, but not without the varsity getting drenched as well. That was the only day the varsity took a shower before practice, and when the melee was over Merlin was still standing, wet, but begging for more. There was no more. He had earned his stripes, respect all around.

Merlin Olsen went through the varsity dressing room that entire year while all the other sophomores continued according to tradition.

To me, that was the day Merlin became a legend and all of his Logan High classmates have taken pride in Merlin as he became an American sports legend, and we’ve all been just a little bit better than we would have been without him in our lives.

Utah State University honored him the other night and announced that the football field would be named in his honor, and that a statue would be built and displayed in his memory.

He is suffering from a rare cancer that is attacking the pleura of his lungs and it is cutting his breath shorter each day. We wish him the best in his current difficult struggle.

My bet is that whenever it is that he gets called to the other side he will follow the same pattern he did in all aspects of this life, he will go through the varsity dressing room and directly to the playing field.

Merlin, your Logan High classmates commend you for your life of achievement at every level, and especially for the dignity with which you did it.

“We knew you before the world did!”

(Edited Dec. 11, 2009)

The moment called for one of those classic Merlin Olsen voiceovers.

Utah State’s seemingly immortal, larger-than-life figure, his trademark beard now gray and his body shrinking as concessions to age and illness, walked slowly to the middle of the Smith Spectrum court Saturday night as a sellout crowd stood and cheered.

The scene was reassuring and stunning, celebratory and sobering, amid the realization that there was a reason the legendary Aggie football player was being honored during a basketball game. His legacy will include the naming of Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium, a statue in the facility’s south plaza and a scholarship endowment.

Olsen, 69, is being treated for a form of cancer. Because of Olsen’s illness, USU president Stan Albrecht acknowledged during a news conference, there was “some urgency” for the school and Olsen’s family to stage Saturday’s observance, with the official dedication of the field and statue scheduled during the 2010 football season.

Olsen smiled and waved to the fans, but chose not to address them or the media. He did speak briefly during an exclusive dinner at the nearby stadium’s end-zone complex, where Albrecht was struck by “that incredible voice, ” made famous by Olsen’s broadcasting, acting, commercial and charitable efforts.

“We’ve all been touched by that voice in some way,” Albrecht said.

The connection is strong in Olsen’s native Cache Valley, where — nearly 50 years after his college career ended in the Gotham Bowl — the Outland Trophy winner as the country’s best lineman remains the symbol of what Aggie football once was.

He’s also the scholar who completed a USU master’s degree in economics in the middle of his NFL career, transitioned nicely to the next phase of his life and remained someone who brought “honor and dignity” to the school, USU athletic director Scott Barnes said.

It was just a throwaway line in a movie. Yet when “Anchorman” star Will Ferrell tried to impress a co-worker by saying, “I’m friends with Merlin Olsen,” plenty of Aggie followers could relate.

Recently described as “a 280-pound Care package” by longtime broadcasting partner Dick Enberg, Olsen is known for being more concerned about others than himself.

“Even in the face of this, he’s asking people how they’re doing,” Chip Rosenbloom, the majority owner of the St. Louis Rams, marveled in a Tribune interview, lamenting Olsen’s illness. “I hope they find something that works. He’s one of a kind.”

That discovery was made long ago in Logan, where Olsen was born and lived through his college years. Anyone claiming Cache Valley or USU ties has followed him through his days as a four-sports athlete at Logan High School, the Aggies’ glory years of the early 1960s, his 15-year career with the Los Angeles Rams and his post-football pursuits.

“How he’s represented Utah State has been phenomenal,” Barnes said.

Albrecht recalled how as a member of the USU Foundation Board, Olsen was not satisfied with reaching the initial fund-raising goal of $200 million. Once that figure was achieved, Olsen said, “We’re not going to stop here. We’re going to go on.”

So Olsen is determined to press on now, even while dealing with an opponent more aggressive and insidious than Conrad Dobler or any of the other NFL offensive linemen who challenged him in his prime.

In a recent letter to Olsen, Enberg wrote, “In my mind, you’ll always be that ‘mountain of a man.’ ”

Olsen will be viewed similarly in Logan, where he played offense and defense in high school and college, before playing his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a defensive tackle and a member of the Rams’ “Fearsome Foursome.”

The statue to be unveiled during the football season is described as “larger-than-life-sized.” Even then, it will not fully capture Olsen’s aura in his hometown.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com

Merlin Olsen file

Birthdate » Sept. 15, 1940, Logan, the second of nine children born to Lynn and Merle Olsen.

High school » Logan HS, four-sports athlete, All-America football player.

College » Utah State, consensus All-America tackle, Outland Trophy winner and Academic All-American as a senior in 1961, when the Aggie led the nation by allowing only 50.8 rushing yards per game. USU went 18-3-1 in his last two seasons, appearing in two bowl games.

NFL » Los Angeles Rams, 1962-76. In his 15 seasons, he was selected 14 times for the Pro Bowl and was a six-time All-Pro choice. Won the Maxwell Club’s award as the league MVP in 1974. Played in the legendary “Fearsome Foursome” with Deacon Jones, Rosey Grier and Lamar Lundy and later joined brother Phil on the Rams’ defensive line. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

Retired jerseys » No. 71 (Utah State) and No. 74 (St. Louis Rams).

Broadcasting » Teamed with Dick Enberg for NBC Sports’ telecasts of the NFL for 11 years, including Super Bowl XVII.

Acting » Starred in television’s “Little House on the Prairie,” “Father Murphy” and “Aaron’s Way.”

The New York Times

State College, Pa. » They turn cartwheels and mime acrobatic moves to the techno beat pumping through the sound system until sweat begins to glisten on their bodies. They are muscled and agile and could pass for Cirque du Soleil performers except that most of them have mangled ears, a telltale giveaway that they are wrestlers.

In their midst, rolling his shoulders, stutter-stepping and slapping the neck of an invisible opponent is their coach, Cael Sanderson. He is a youthful 30, with a shaved head that makes him indistinguishable from his Penn State wrestlers.

Except Sanderson is not just a coach: He is the greatest wrestler in NCAA history — a four-time champion and the only one with a perfect record (159-0). He also won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. Last spring, he left his alma mater, Iowa State, where in three years as head coach he sent every one of his wrestlers — 30 in all — to the NCAA championships.

Cael Sanderson hails from Heber City and Wasatch High School and when you consider all the great athletes across all sports you could make a great case that his achievements are the greatest in Utah sports history.

159-0! Unbelievable!!!!!!!

Penn State has a gem!

His departure shocked the wrestling world because at first glance it looked like the equivalent of an actor leaving Broadway for regional theater. Sure, the Nittany Lions had captured a national title — but that was in 1953, and Penn State is still the only school east of the Mississippi to have won one.

Sanderson, however, saw it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity. As a wrestler and a coach, he had too often looked across the mat and seen Pennsylvania kids in the singlets of Iowa, Minnesota and Oklahoma State — the three programs that have accounted for the past 20 NCAA titles.

In fact, of the 80 collegiate wrestlers to earn all-American honors last spring, 11 were from Pennsylvania, but only one was from Penn State, according to Pennsylvania Wrestling Newsmagazine . Sanderson saw a chance to build not only a champion but also a dynasty much like the Hawkeyes, the Gophers and the Cowboys have.

“It’s like if I was a football coach with a chance to go to Texas where all the great players are, where they have the best facilities and where the fans support you to this incredible level,” said Sanderson, who said he was bowled over when 500 students and wrestling fans showed up last April for a news conference introducing him as coach.

‘Looking down the road’

Sanderson’s tenure is in its infancy here in Happy Valley, but he has not disappointed anyone. Season ticket sales have doubled to more than 2,000 since he was named coach. The Nittany Lions are 4-1 and ranked No. 15 despite the fact that Sanderson has chosen to redshirt his entire freshman class — considered the best in the nation — as well as Quentin Wright, who was an all-American last year as a freshman.

Wright, who is from nearby Wingate, Pa., and is the kind of wrestler Sanderson intends to keep in-state, is thrilled to be spending the year out of competition and learning at the side of one of the sport’s icons. Last week, Sanderson spent the entire practice chin-to-temple, chest-to-back and in all manner of pretzel constructions as Wright’s wrestling partner.

“I’m looking down the road,” said Wright, who finished sixth at the NCAA championships last year at 174 pounds. “I’m getting a chance to grow, and a full season of learning every day from maybe the greatest technical wrestler of all time. Coach has made his goal for us real clear: We want to win a team championship, and we want to win a lot of them.”

Sanderson is a low-key presence in the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex, which underwent a $4 million face-lift three years ago. In fact, with his shaved head, square jaw and coat-hanger shoulders, he looks more like the Nittany Lion wrestlers of the 1960s and 1970s whose photographs hang on the complex’s walls than a connoisseur of its state-of-the-art weight room, and sound and video system.

He speaks quietly to individual wrestlers while his older brother Cody and Casey Cunningham, both of whom he brought from Iowa State, do the barking that keeps the practice moving. His younger brother, Cyler, who was an all-American for the Cyclones two years ago, has joined the Nittany Lions as a senior.

The Sandersons are a wrestling family, and a very close one. Steve Sanderson introduced the sport to his four boys (Cole also was a four-year letterman at Iowa State) as well as much of the youth in Heber City, where he ran programs and coached the varsity at Wasatch High School.

“It was my dad that I was on the phone with at 3 a.m. the night before I took the job here,” Cael Sanderson said. “My brothers, too, were part of the decision. All of them helped me think this through.”

‘An opportunity to build something’

Judging by the reaction in Ames and beyond last April when Sanderson left, no one thought one of the most famous Cyclones would ever leave the home of his greatest triumphs — except perhaps Penn State’s athletic director, Tim Curley.

He knew his history and how iconic wrestlers can be the foundation for greatness. Dan Gable, who wrestled at Iowa State, turned the in-state rival Iowa into a powerhouse, winning 15 NCAA team titles, including nine in a row, before becoming an assistant athletic director at Iowa. John Smith was a champion at Oklahoma State and has won five team championships as the Cowboys’ head coach.

“We thought we had an attractive situation here for Cael because wrestling is so much a part of the state’s sporting history,” Curley said. “Plus, we’re next to Ohio State and New Jersey. He had an opportunity to build something here, and everything he needed.”

Sanderson concedes that he was surprised by Penn State’s interest — in fact, it was the first time any school had come calling. He had wrestled for and succeeded Bobby Douglas at Iowa State and continued to preach technique and family at Iowa State. It was working, too.

Last year, the Cyclones finished third in the NCAA championships, and were returning the 197-pound champion Jake Varner and a group of talented juniors. Still, Sanderson fell for Curley’s pitch.

He insists it was not about money. He acknowledged he received a raise, but he said it was nowhere close to the $400,000 or more that has been rumored. Curley will not disclose Sanderson’s salary package, but denies that it is anywhere close to those numbers. Cody and Cyler admitted that they were surprised when Cael told them he was moving east and asked them to join him.

“But it wasn’t much of a decision,” Cyler said. “I was going with my brothers.”

So now the Sanderson clan is starting anew in a state that perhaps appreciates what they do more than any in the country. Newspaper beat reporters, radio broadcasters and a booster club of more than 1,200 people travel with them to dual meets and tournaments across the country.

Sanderson insists he and his brothers want to give them something that he has never accomplished as a competitor or a coach: a team title.

“It’s the mark of a program, and it shows that you got a group of guys together and they shared in a common goal,” he said. “It’s something I have missed. I don’t only want one of them. I want a bunch of them like the University of Iowa. I believe I’m in the right place for that to happen.”

A closer look at Cael Sanderson

» Only undefeated wrestler in NCAA history (159-0).

» One of only two wrestlers to win four NCAA individual championships (1999-2002).

» Won four Most Outstanding Wrestler awards at the NCAA Championships.

» Won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.

» Won three Big 12 team titles as Iowa State head coach from 2006 to 2009. Led Iowa State to second-place finish in 2006 NCAA Championships.

» Named Penn State head coach on April 17, 2009.

Sanderson on YouTube

For a short documentary on Cael Sanderson’s college career, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-i4pIa1SG0. Or enter “Cael Sanderson 159-0″ in the site’s search field.

Lined up in the shotgun formation, Hall started walking toward the referee and waving his arms as if he was going to call a timeout. Instead, center R.J. Willing snapped the ball to Unga, who carried it into the end zone.

The Cougars used the play to score against Utah last year.

Asked after the game for an official interpretation after referee Land Clark announced it as an “attempt to deceive” when explaining the call to the crowd, the officials said: “Unsportsmanlike conduct was called for an unfair act to deceive the opponent. A 15-yard penalty for a live ball foul was imposed at the previous spot and the down [was] repeated by rule.”

Interesting! The official indicates that his decision was based on a rule. Watts Cookin’ will check the rule and get back with specifics.

Backed to the 17, Hall threw a 15-yard pass to Dennis Pitta on third down. The Cougars then chose to go for the touchdown, rather than a field goal, but Hall was intercepted by Anthony Wright .

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall responded to a question about having two TDs called back by saying it was “hard to understand.”

Tiger Woods was pure theater at Torrey Pines last year, playing on a left leg so badly injured that the U.S. Open turned out to be his last event of the year. He made two eagles on the final six holes in prime time Saturday to take the lead, forced a playoff with a 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole Sunday, then battled Rocco Mediate over 19 holes to capture his 14th career major.

“I’m not sure we can duplicate that drama,” USGA president Jim Vernon said Wednesday.

Try telling that to thousands of fans who trudged through the soggy turf of Bethpage Black for five hours on the final day of practice, all because it was their first glimpse of Phil Mickelson.

The New York gallery has always loved Lefty, even as he broke their hearts with runner-up finishes in the U.S. Open at Bethpage in 2002, Shinnecock Hills in 2004 and Winged Foot in 2006 with that double bogey on the final hole.

The support now is louder and more tangible than ever.

Mickelson wasn’t even sure he could return to Bethpage Black upon learning last month that his wife, Amy, a native of Sandy and a Hillcrest High School graduate, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Only after getting some optimistic news that the cancer might have been caught early did Mickelson feel comfortable leaving California in search of a major that has caused him so much grief.

How much he plays the rest of the year — Mickelson said the British Open was “unlikely” — depends on what doctors find then his wife has surgery two weeks after the U.S. Open.

“I’m putting everything I have into this week, because I don’t anticipate being able to play for a little while,” Mickelson said. “And the fact that my normal support system — Amy and the kids and so forth — aren’t going to make the trip this week, I’m kind of hoping to feel that support to help me through the week.”

That should be easier to find than a cab in Time Square.

Mickelson started his practice round on the 10th tee, the farthest corner of Bethpage Black, yet they were waiting for him. He wore a pink ribbon sewn into his white cap, and some of the fans also wore pink. It was the largest crowd of the week when he made the turn, every grandstand full, every step accompanied by applause.

“He already is so popular in New York,” swing coach Butch Harmon said. “And now with everything going on with Amy, they have even more love for him. He talks to them. He smiles at them. He takes time for them.”

This was for a practice round Wednesday, typically a quiet day on the eve of the U.S. Open. Imagine the energy if Lefty works his way into contention on Sunday, with his wife at home facing such uncertainty.

Mickelson found inspiration from so many messages from his wife.

“She has left me a number of little notes, texts, cards, hints, that she would like to have a silver trophy in her hospital room,” Mickelson said. “So I’m going to try to accommodate that.”

So much motivation, yet so many obstacles.

The biggest might be the Black Course at Bethpage, already a beast with five par 4s longer than 500 yards. It is playing even longer because of rain that has soaked Long Island for the last month, with a nasty forecast of showers most of the week.

“From tee to green, this golf course is all you want,” Woods said.

The other obstacle is Woods himself.

Not only is he the defending champion at the U.S. Open, he is the defending champion at Bethpage, the only player to finish under par in 2002 when he held off a Sunday rally from Mickelson.

With two victories in seven starts since returning from knee surgery, Woods appears to be hitting his stride. He is coming off a victory two weeks ago in the Memorial, where he rallied from a four-shot deficit to win with a 65.

Mickelson also is a two-time winner this year, at Riviera and Doral. He says he is swing as good as ever, working hard on a baby cut that allows him to control his tee shots. The greens are among the flattest for a major, and they will be slightly slower than the USGA would prefer because of all the rain.

But is it too much to ask for Mickelson to block out so much going on in his personal life?

He has done this before. Ten years ago at Pinehurst No. 2, he famously carried a pager in his golf bag because his wife was expecting their first child. Mickelson lost that U.S. Open when Payne Stewart holed a 15-foot par putt on the final hole, and Lefty arrived home just in time for the birth.

But this is far different.

“That was a week where we were excited about what’s to come,” he said. “And this is an entirely opposite feel, because we’re scared about what’s going to come.”

Mickelson spent seven hours at Bethpage Black last week, and got in 18 holes Wednesday under refreshing sunshine. The test begins Thursday, when he plays in the afternoon with Retief Goosen and Ernie Els.

“You’ve got to expect him to contend to win,” Harmon said. “He loves this golf course. He’s playing extremely well. He got a lot of emotions right now, but I think the fans will help him.”

The question is whether Mickelson can keep his focus over 72 holes of the toughest test in golf, which might be even harder with so many fans showering him with so much support.

Mickelson decided last month to take a private family matter public, which exposes he and Amy to even more emotions. One reason she chose to stay home was to avoid seeing so many friends and fans, and the tears that would be sure to follow.

Going public has an upside, however, and Mickelson already has felt it at Bethpage.

“The support,” he said, “has meant the world to us.”