Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993 TAG: 9308100618
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Doug Doughty staff writer
DATELINE: LAKE LANIER ISLAND, GA. LENGTH: Medium
"I started playing basketball again, which was the key for me because that was the way I hurt (the shoulder)," said Ward after recieving the McKeviln Award as the ACC's top male athlete.
The injury was to his left (non-throwing) shoulder, which appeased Florida State fears somewhat when he underwent surgery April 7.
Ward, the ACC player of the year in football, rested the shoulder for nearly three months but has been throwing passes with little discomfort since early July.
"I was a counselor at the Nike (basketball) camp," Ward said, "and, once I played with some of the guys there, I knew it would be OK."
Ward suffered the original injury at the end of the 1991-92 basketball season. It did not prevent him from amassing more than 3,000 yards in total offense and helping the Seminoles to a 11-1 record in football, but loose cartilage caused his left shoulder to pop out of joint several times during basketball season.
Football and basketball are the only sports Ward plays competitively, although he was chosen by the Milwaukee Brewers on the 59th round of the free-agent baseball camp in June.
"It was very surprising because all I did was fill out a questionnaire," said Ward, who had not played baseball since 1988, when he was at Thomasville (Ga.) High School. "I wish all you had to do was fill out a questionnaire to be drafted in football and basketball."
Ward was notified that he had been drafted by a Brewers' scout who lives in Tallahassee, Fla., and received a letter from the team.
"I figured, by the time they got around to negotiating with their 59th-round draft pick, it would be time for football season," he said. "They wanted to sit down with my parents and me, but I didn't want to go through it because I'd probably get angry if they only wanted to offer me $5,000.
Ex-Florida State defensive backs Deion Sanders and Terrell Buckley play football and baseball professionally. However, Sanders and Buckley both played baseball at FSU.
"I went out the other day and had batting practice," Ward said. "Coach (Mike) Martin got excited and started coaching me. I almost felt like a real player. \
ALARM SOUNDED: ACC athletic director Gene Corrigan gave his annual state-of-the-conference address Tuesday and said he can see the day approching when schools will give scholarships in only two or three men's sports other than football and basketball.
"Those you would fund fully," he said, "and you would give grants in all the women's sports. I guess you could say this was the year of gender equity in college athletics. This coming year is when everything will fall into place."
Corrigan pointed out that there have been several court cases involving Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination for institutions that receive federal aid. In a recent case, the University of Texas agreed in an out-of-court settlement to administer its program on the basis of proportionality.
According to proportionality, athletic aid is divided between men and women based on the percentage of each sex in the student body.
"That is an enormous undertaking," Corrigan said. "To me it was one of the most significant cases in college athletics. Consider the University of North Carolina, which is almost 40 percent male and 60 percent female.
"North Carolina has one of the two or three finest women's sports programs in the country, [but] if you followed proportionality, it would devastate the men's program."
Corrigan said he can see a time when schools like Virginia and Maryland might reinforce their commitment to men's lacrosse, in which they are perennially strong, and de-emphasize a sport like baseball. It is possible that some ACC non-revenue programs might compete in other conferences.
"We're already seeing that in some of the western conferences," Corrigan said. "Finances are a major issue in all of this. If you don't have the money to support all these programs, then you've got to be creative."
by CNB