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Show Debate Coach Killed Robert Mukai, assistant debate de-bate coach of the University for three years, was killed yesterday yester-day in a head-on collision near Lovelock, Nev. while returning from a debate tournament in Reno. A TOTAL of five lives were claimed in the violent early morning crash: three, including Mr Mukai, were on the Weber State College debate team, the other two resided in Lovelock. Two other Utahns were injured in the accident. Apparently, Pershing County Deputy Sheriff Dan Higgins said, Mr. Mukai tried to swerve to avoid the westbound Nevada car which was traveling across the center line. Both cars, late model station sta-tion wagons, were demolished in the accident. A graduate of the University in 1958, Mr. Mukai, 35, was the coach of the Weber debate team. He spent the previous three years as assistant coach on this campus, and had signed a contract con-tract to become head coach here next year. His masters and doctorate doc-torate were also earned at the University. AS A FORMER debater on fie campus squad, Mr. Mukai won the Wes'. Point tournament first place trophy, one of the highest award? in the nation. The new coach graduated from the University law school and practiced in town before he began be-gan his teaching career. As a lawyer, he served as legal counselor coun-selor for the National Education Educa-tion Assn. Defense Commission in Washington, D.C. HE WAS a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve and is survived by a wife and one child. He resided at 3650 Taylor Avenue, Ogden. One of the University teams, also entered in the Reno meet, was named the third top two-man two-man debate team in the nation. Dick Ostlund and Dick Brown won the placement after participating partici-pating Wednesday in the event. Other University members included in-cluded Bonnie Thorup, Linda Jensen, Lee Burnham and Grant Kesler, four-man team; Wayne Nelson and Steve Wood, persuasive per-suasive speaking; and Nancy Denhalter, student congress. Sponsored by the Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha honorary fraternity, the tournament is an annual event and hosts teams from the entire nation. This year it was held at the University of Nevada in Reno; next year the team will travel to Wagner University Uni-versity in Detroit. The fraternity is the oldest of its kind in the country. |