University of Virginia Library

From the Sidelines

Pride

By Hugh Antrim

ATHLETICS AT THE UNIVERSITY possesses a rather
unique role in community affairs. Grants-in-aid are conferred
almost exclusively upon football and basketball candidates; the so
called "minor sports" such as soccer, wrestling, lacrosse, tennis,
baseball, track. relying completely on volunteers. The fact that
these non-scholarship aided teams are mostly successful is indeed
a tribute to Messrs. Sbo and Male's blooming athletic program.

The Cavalier stickmen defeated an illustrious Maryland
lacrosse team, 9-7, to gain an ACC Championship. The tennis
squad surprised nearly everyone but themselves in the ACC
tourney by finishing third in the midst of imported foreign
competitors. Coach Edwards' wrestlers placed second in the
conference issuing a strong challenge to the Terps.

LET US NOT FORGET George Blackburn (ACC Coach of the
Year) and his hustling Wahoos. The 1968 Cavalier gridders won
seven of ten games and featured the eleventh most potent offense
in the nation. The prospects this fall are bright; the Wahoos
should match last year's mark and could do even better. But
despite any and all speculation, athletics at the University are on
the rise.

Why then was the statement made that athletics possesses a
unique role in community affairs? There is a somewhat fragile
relationship between the Athletic Department and the school at
large, more exactly between the athlete and the student. More
often than not there appears a mutual lack of trust and respect
between the two.

THE POSSIBLE CAUSES of such a fragile relationship are
both obvious and obscure. The Cavaliers have had a certain stigma
of defeat in the past, enhanced by an 0-29 performance on the
football field not too long ago. Such a stigma is slow and difficult
to be erased, often causing a "no-care" attitude. The University is
oriented and obligated toward maintaining rigid academic
standards, and rightfully so. There is no such thing as a
seven-day-a-week athlete here. There cannot be, and there should
not be. The prospect that one has to be a student first and an
athlete second makes participation in the athlete program even
more commendable. Unfortunately, the proper
acknowledgement of the athlete's sacrifice in time and effort is
rarely forthcoming from the student. The Monday morning QB is
too quick with criticism and too slow with praise.

Athletic success is important to any school. A winning year
can have a very positive contribution toward morale and attitude.
Thus self-isolation on the part of the student or the athlete
defeats the whole idea of mutual trust and respect. It is
imperative that there be widespread support on all sides, for
without, it the Athletic Department will only be successful within
itself, and not within the entire community.

AN INTERESTING WORD creeping into Virginia athletics is
"pride." Coaches are genuinely proud of their players; players are
taking pride in themselves and their performances. What is not as
evident is a certain pride the athletes should feel for playing for
the school - not just for the name Virgina, but for the 9,500-plus
that constitute the real University of Virginia.

The University's athlete Department knows well that it needs
across the boards support and participation from the student
community. The student community must realize that it has a
certain responsibility to bolster the sports program. It's only
local that if the teams represent the school, then the school
should support the teams - for in doing so, the school and the
students support themselves.

WE WOULD LIKE to introduce you, the first-year men to this
word pride. We ask you to consider it well before discarding it.
We ask you to consider it well before adopting it. And by the
way, beat Clemson.