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Show : L FT I A DINOSAUR is presented to Glen Tuckett, left, i!, Brigham Young University Athletic Director, by I Brent Feltch, Vernal Chamber of Commerce MMmmjmaHMIlMmm4 - - President. Tuckett was the keynote speaker during the 32nd annual meeting of the Vernal Chamber of Commerce, Friday. . , . .... I' , - 1 V I ' ; v - N . . t i 1 I - FN JJi BYU'S GLEN TUCKETT, right, stresses a point during a speech at the annual meeting of the Vernal Chamber of Commerce. i, I "Try not .to become a man of success but rather try to 7' become a man of value." , Albert Einstein ml Glera YucSievv addresses crowd! crt Chamber meeting Brigham Young University's athletic director and the baseball coach at the school for 17 years, Glen Tuckett, was the keynote speaker at the 32nd annual meeting of the Vernal Chamber of Commerce, Friday at the Vernal Junior High. Tuckett was the baseball coach at BYU from 1959 to 1976. He was named as the athletic director on July 1, 1976. His baseball teams won 13 division titles, three conference crowns, two District 7 titles and enjoyed two appearances ap-pearances in the College World Series. "My favorite year is when we beat a great Arizona State team in 1971. They were really good. We snuck up on them and beat the heck out of them. We beat them two out of three games. We lost the first game, but beat Arizona State in a doubleheader to win the Western Athletic Conference title. Jeff Dusek was our number one pitcher. He was 5-0 against Arizona State that year and ASU never beat him in his career. Dane Iorg was one of our better players. He is with the St. Louis Cardinals now. Iorg had a very good average and he was one of the leading batters in college for three years. He hit .300 last year for the Cardinals. It looks like he invented the line drive. BYU finished in fifth place in the College World Series in 1971," stated Tuckett. There are other Brigham Young University baseballers and students besides Dane Iorg, who are members of professional baseball teams. "Garth Iorg is a utility player for the Toronto Blue Jays and Jack Morris is one of the better pitchers on the Detroit Tigers team. He has won 17 games and 16 games in two years. Vance Law has been playing second base regularly for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mike Lum, Dale Murphy, BYU students are members of the Atlanta Braves and Danny Ainge, a BYU basketball star, is the third baseman on the Toronto Blue Jays team," said Tuckett. Murphy hit .281 for Atlanta last year and blasted opposing pitchers for 33 homers, 98 runs and 89 runs-batted-in. A Uintah High School graduate, Morgan Woodhouse, is a member of the BYU wrestling team. "Woodhouse is doing a great job. He is getting better all the time," said Tuckett. "Woodhouse was great this year and is getting better every year." Tuckett was the guest speaker at the Vernal Chamber of Commerce annual meeting. "I have been in Vernal many times and I almost feel like a native. I . signed a pro baseball contract when I was 18 years old and my mother told me to wear a clean pair of socks every time. After the eighth day I couldn't get my shoes on." "I look for ways to guarantee success. suc-cess. I accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. We have to be optimistic in athletics. Ralph Sampson of Virginia is 7'4" and he is tall like the Empire State Building. You have to be optimistic or you haven't got a chance," chan-ce," said Tuckett. Tuckett added, "I hope there is always room for W-O-R-K. My dad was sickening when it came to work, he wanted me to work. He told me, 'Don't you ever loaf. Don't ever do less than your best.' I would run around like a nut. I made the all hustle team. There is really no half speed in the world. It is difficult to surrender when you have put a lot in a project." "Red Sanders, UCLA coach, said, 'Winning isn't the important thing-winning thing-winning is the only thing' and Gran-dland Gran-dland Rice, a famous sports writer, said, 'When the great scorer comes to your name he marks down how you played the game.' There is no magic formula to success. The ones who prepare to win hate to lose," stated Tuckett. "There was a tenth grader, who couldn't catch a basketball, but the player went onto become a superstar at DePaul Univeristy and in the pros for the Minneapolis Lakers. His name is George Mikan. The good ones have a streak of 'mean' in them. We have to learn to overcome the fear of failure. I had some hitters who would go to the plate and say, 'I hope he doesn't throw me a strike.' Fear of failure stops a lot of people from achieving great things." Tuckett added, "Lincoln lost a lot of elections, but he won the big one. Washington lost four out of seven battles. That would get me fired. You learn great things in baseball. Lou Brock stole 118 bases in 1974. 1 played professional baseball for nine years and didn't get on base 118 times. During opening day in 1974 the fans were yelling, 'Go Lou Go, Go Lou Go'. Brock's team, the St. Louis Cardinals were playing the Cincinnati Reds and you had to be out of your mind to go against them because their catcher, Johnny Bench has a howitzer. Bench outgunned Brock at second base. Brock got up and tried again." BYU's Tuckett was a member of the Murray football team when he was in the 9th grade and the team was known as the Smelterites. "You couldn't get very cocky as a Smelterite. Coach told me, 'I want you to dress for the varsity game. You will kick the extra points.' I thought to myself, 'I hope we don't score. In those days playing Bingham was terrible. We scored a touchdown and we lined up to kick the extra point. I was ready to kick. I had kicked extra points in my mind a zillion times. I got it through the uprights and we beat Bingham," said Tuckett. "Your community has gone on record as saying we are going to get it done. You are doing a super job with your community (Vernal). I want to congratulate you on a job well done," stated Tuckett. |