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Show Page 12. -THE HERALD,Provo. Utah, Friday, January 11, 1980 Ainge’s Accomplishments One of Oregon’s 70's Highlights Guard offered the following seg- state as a wide receiverin football. He averaged 21 points a game in basketball and had an incredible state tournament, hitting 12 of 15 field-goal attempts against Grant of Portlandin the ampionship game and lead the ment on Ainge Jan. 1, 1980 page 4c: No. 8 Richard whiz at Santa Clara Elementary, Ainge is remembered for his athletic prowess.. Some sports enthusiasts and writers in the Son paieea| pree ue talented produced. Gong into Saturday night's scrap with UiAe Aingeis =e 8 Points away from becoming the mostprolific scorer in Brigham Young basketball history. Dick Harter and Oregon basketball was ranked No.1 followed by the life ard death of ar Steve Prefontaine. story was prep Dan Ainge Washington, the 6- foot-11 basketball center from Benson High in Portland, was the state’s most celebrated high schoolathlete at the beginning of the decade, and Charles Sitton the 6-foot-8 McMinnville center, is the most recruited as the decade closes Neither, however, the year-around magic of Eugene's own “Man For All Seasons" and state prep athlete of the decade — Dan Ainge. It didn’t matter whatkind of a ball you handed Ainge, he was able to handle it with the best. Hishigh school record glitterd with a Asa oe he was tops on the Eugene| basketball team in scoring (12.5) and on its baseball team in hitting sports and He chose Brigham Young for ‘ing one of poi iting moments for Oregon Coach Dick Harter, who tried to keep him at home, and he signed a unique $75,000 bonus contract with Toronto Blue Jays to play for four years of major league baseball at the Class AAA level. tourney in scoring with 93 points. In baseball, he batted .426 His senior year was almost as spectacular. He moved to quarterback in football and passed for more than 1,000 yards. He wasalso all-state as a defensive back. In basketball, he set school single-game scoring records with consecutive games of 38, 39 and 40 points, finished the season with a 24-point average and a 61 per cent shooting accuracy, and paced North to its second straight state title and the all- He was an instant success in basketball, making the Western Athletic Conference All-Star team his freshman year. Hestruggled early in hisfirst season of professional baseball, but hefinished strong,lifting his average over .200 and was named the Syracuse player of the month for August. on Ou fdaoe ck leagues this past spring with Toronto, debuting with three hits in ie at-bats against Cleveland up the year with a respectble .238 batting average. As people from Eugene knew by then, you could almost anything from the willowy kid from Santa Clara. time state winning streak of 38 a precocious junior, he led nah to the state playoffs in football, basketball and baseball. Hecaught 30 passes and wasall- No. 10 was Oregon State football Painting a portrait of Oregon sports in the 70s, the Register- his most difficult decision his senior year — which college to attend or which sport to pursue. DANNY AINGE, the Toronto Blue Jays’ second baseman most of last summer, has made his mark in all his athletic endeavors. Around Provo and throughout Utah he is more games. For those who left him out of their post-season all-star games, he proved without a doubt that he could play with the best in the country in the national AAU summer tournament in Fiorida, leading everyonein scoring with an average of 29.8 points. It was hard to assess what was familiar in his blue-and-white BYUbasketball uniform. His accomplishments were ranked the number eight Oregon sports story of the ’70s by the Eugene Register-Guard. Sixers’ Dr. JOnce Again Demonstrating SurgicalSkills By TONY FAVIA UPI Writer NEW YORK (UPI) — In the early 1970s, when Julius Erving was electrifying American Association crowds, there seemed little doubt that he was to becomethe next dominating force in basketball. Not only was he scoring points — at the rate of 27.3 and 31.9 per game for Virginia and 27.4, 27.9 and 29.3 for the New York Nets —but he was doingit in such a spectacular way that he played to packed houses everywhere. Doctor J, as he became known, was famous for eeta:the-head, upside-down, tieaten lore anyone of DijarrylDewkng Dawkins ind shattered backboards. TWhen the ABA merged with the NBA in 1976 and Erving wassold by the Nets to the Philadelphia 76ers, the senior | league looked forward to bigger gates and increased attention because of him. It didn’t happen quite that easily, however. Partly because of his assimilation into the 76ers’ team style and partly because of nagging injuries in both knees, the 6-foot-7 Erving was forced to compromise his offense. There was still the occasional slam-dunk and the flahes of showmanship, but not nearly as much. In 1976-77, his first year in Philadelphia, Erving’s scoring average capealmost eight bolts to 21.6. Thatstill was good enough to lead the team, which won the Atlantic Division with a 50-32 record, but without him the yearbefore, the Sixers were 48-36. And he wasnot the only star on the team. His forward partner, George McGin- nis, got almost as muchattention and averaged 21.4. The guards were Doug Collins, at 18.3, and “‘All-World” Lloyd Free,at 16.3. The next year, Erving’s outputfell to 20.6. Last season, he improvedto 23.1, and although he maintained all along that he was glad to be partof the team and gladto pass upa shotfor the team’s sake,he still did not seem totally happy. Then came the turn-around. Last summer, Dr. J went to somerealdoctors — andfinally got the results he'd been wating for. “I went to see several physical therapists,”’ Erving says. ‘I wanted to see if anything at all could be done to give me more lower-body strength. They decided to work on everything — myankles, my knees, everything. “T worked onit hard, and whateverit FRIDAY 10 A.M. - was, I think it was just the kind of program I needed. My iower-body strength is just so much improved. I really felt great coming into this season.” Erving has returned to the style of play he likes best. He hadn’t missed a game in Philadelphia’s first 40 — of which they won 29. good for the second best record in the league after Boston’s 30-10 — and hewasfourth in the league in scoring at 26.5. “We haven’t changed our offense a whole lot,” says Sixers Coach Billy Cunningham. ‘‘He (Erving) has just been so aggressive. He’s working through the sameoffense we had last year, and just doing more. “We're very pleased with the way he’s played. His aggressive play is making a big difference. I think his health hasa lotto do with it — his knees are healthier this year.”” Perhaps even more important than Erving’s scoring is his apppearance. Hedoesn’t play with pads on his knees inhibited through the air for rebounds, blocked shots and dunks the way he used to. hoped for. I know I’m shooting better, and consequently I have more confidence in my shots. And it doesn’t hurt to have guys like Maurice (Cheeks), who’s had so manyassists (8.5 per game, third in the league), or Darryl around. Or a guy like Caldwell Jones, who hasn't been shooting as The crowds are realizing it slowly. much becausehe’s been passing to me. any more, and he’s now free to fly un- Madison Square Garden in New York was packed Jan. 8 when the ErvingDawkins showrolled into town. Julius didn’t disappoint the 19,591 fans, as he shot 13-for-24 for 29 points along with 10 rebounds. “I feel great,” Erving said after that game,stretching out his young-looking legs. There wereno bagsofice around, eeante his knees were no longer swollen “T feel like I've been blessed with something that I could never have Ht “The guys are understanding their Toles, and that’s the mostnoticabledifference on the team. We're getting some great offensive efforts from ae mainly because of my overall As hard to believe as it may be, Julius Erving will turn 30 on Feb. 22. FRIDAY 10 A.M. - 9 P.M. 10 cavemax I | i aN SATURDAY10 A.M. - 6 P.M. All of them have beensacrificinga litvee because I’ve been playing so well. 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