University of Virginia Library

Ulman Enjoys 'Personal Education' Received At University

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By FLETCHER THOMPSON

Saturday was not one of
Jim Ulman's better days. After
starting out in a blaze, the
lacrosse tri-captain and his
teammates had settled into a
two-period slump and suffered
one of the most disheartening
defeats of the year at the hands
of an aroused group of W&L
stickmen.

When the disaster was over,
Ulman sat on the bench and
talked quietly with his father,
who had come down from
Baltimore for the game, and
Athletic Director Gene
Corrigan.

The younger Ulman was
disappointed but not
distraught. "We didn't play
very well and they did," was
his explanation."

This incident seems to
reflect the kind of guy Jim
Ulman is – a matter-of-fact,
candid fellow, who knows how
to keep an even disposition
even under difficult
circumstances.

Perhaps this quality if the
result of what Ulman describes
is a four-year "personal

education" he's had here at
Virginia. "I've learned a lot
about myself since I came
here," he says.

Ulman came to the U. from
Perry High School in
Baltimore, one of the last
recruits of then lacrosse Coach
Bud Beardmore, who hit the
road to College Park even
before Ulman set himself up in
Bonnycastle in the fall of '69.

As a senior at Perry Ulman,
who credits his father, an NFL
referee and a football,
basketball, and lacrosse star at
Maryland, for much of his
athletic success, was recruited
by both Cornell and Virginia.

One of the first things
Ulman discovered about the
University was that the
Engineering school wasn't
quite what he had in mind and
he quickly transferred to the
College where he has since
found happiness as a math
major.

"My academic career has
been pretty static at times," he
admits, although he does say
that his studies are far from
important to him.

Now, four years, one
NCAA championship, and one
mustache later, Ulman surveys
the change she's seen. "When I
first came the lacrosse team
was straight arrow," he recalls.
"The next couple of years it
swung to the left and now it's
come back toward the center a
little."

Coach Glenn Thiel, who got
his first taste of Charlottesville
at the same time Ulman did has
also not been immune to
change. "He's matured a lot as
a coach since his first year," he
says. "It's an exciting thing.
We've been more friends than
anything else."

Ulman also counts among
his close friends soccer captain
Jay Ziehl, whom he has
roomed with for the last four
years, and fellow tri-captains
Tom Duquette and Bruce
Mangels. The foursome took an
apartment together their
second and third years and is
still intact this year, except for
Duquette, who moved out.

"We're not wild men," he
says in response to a question
about their life styles, "but we
do like to have a good time."
He admits that he and Mangels,
who work closely together on
the field, talk about lacrosse
"probably too much."

While his formal
relationship with Virginia
lacrosse will come to an end
any day now, Ulman's
involvement in the game itself
has a long time to run.

Besides planning to play
club lacrosse, Ulman is looking
into a coaching career. Also on
the list of possibilities is a job
selling sporting goods. In
summers past Ulman has
worked at stringing sticks for
STX and collaborated with
Duquette in preparing a
manual on the art.

At the moment, though,
nothing is definite except a
September wedding to one
Miss Terry Brown, who is
studying radiology in
Baltimore.

Looking back on his career,
Ulman finds that the biggest
rewards have been in the
common bond between the
lacrosse players, something
athletes in other sports do not
have to such a degree.

Since lacrosse activity is
concentrated so heavily in
Baltimore and Long Island,
many players find themselves
up against the same people for
years on end.

"Everybody on the team
gets along," he says. On the
field, "you know you're
opponents – that's the biggest
reward."