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Show After Six Seasons Meek Quits Ute Post By John Mooney Tnbune Sports Editor Bill Meek, head football coach at the University of Utah for six years, Friday afternoon requested that his contract not be renewed Citing personal reasons" for his decision. Meek tendered his letter to Dr. David P. Gardner, university president, at a time when the athletic board was discussing the renewal of favorably Meeks three-ye- ar contract, which is expiring. Dr. Gardner accepted Meeks Bill Meek, who coached for six record, resigned 35-3- 1 Friday years and had as Lie coach. with deep that the adadding regret, ministration bad been favorably considering the renewal of Meeks contract. Meeks Reasons h his letter to the president, Coach Meek said, For personal reasons I would prefer at this lima to be free to request record and compiled a had four winning seasons again t two losers consider other opportunities that have been offered for my In WaC play r have enjoyed my tenure, Meek's letter added, six-yea- gfilmnf Meek's Utes won BpuftjS His teams finished second m 1969. tied for second in 1972 third m 1973 and l'70, tied for fourth m 1971 and fifth in 196S, the year he replaced Mike Giddings. Saturday Morning, 23 and lost 14. second-Va-s- I record among the active coaches in the conference. feel that we have Ulouut lilt: luviudit piuiaiii into a representative and comand Balt alic 33-3- 1 consideration. I Redskins Fall, Cats Win In WAC Tilts Pf I petitive position Gardner Replies The president university Coach Meek will be said, sorely missed by the University of Utah, and especially by all those concerned with the Meek plaved his football at the University of Tennessee under Gen. Bob Neyland He had coached at Maryland. Kansas State, Houston and Southern Methodist before ho served uve years with the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos intercollegiate athletic program here. Dr. Gardner said the search for a new coach would begin immediately. Athletic Director Bud Jack was scheduled to leave Saturday for San Francisco and the NCAA convention and the convention of Left West Point football coaches In six season-- , as head coach of the I tes. Meek Meek came to Utah from the US. Military Academy, where he served as offensive Jaruary 5, 1974 Second Section Page 23 coordinator for two years Under Meeks coaching, the Utes rewrote most of the offensive records, tmt they always faltered jusi shy of the championship. His best year was 19ti9 when the Utes gamed him WAC Coach of the Year honors season and a with an WAC record. 1 That year Utah brat the See Page 25, Column 1 Special to The Tnbune EL PASO. Tex Brigham Young University's basketball team proved here Friday night that it has a great sense of timing The young Cougars struggled through their preseason record and schedule with a just a little over a week ago were humiliated by they Indiana in the Far West Classic 5--6 But night Friday they all that bv upsetting heavily-favoreUniversity of Texas-K- I Paso in the opening of the WAC season for the two teams, erased d 62-5- 8 Btg ictorv UTEP went into the game record and expectwith a ed an easy time against the Cougars. But it was BYUs game for all but a few minutes and it was the Cougars who held up when the pressure was on in the final moments 9-- Golden Eagles Tip Phoenix, Sports Mirror by John Mooney Tribinie Sports Editor Ma)be TV Network Isnt Tops, Blit ABA Gained Ground Now that the merger legislation has all but dropped from the picture, the American Basketball Assn, is in a better position to Tight the NBA, now that the younger league has signed for a Game of the Week with Hughes Sports Network. the established league with most of the name" players, the National Basketball Assn, had been able to command a fair television contract fur its games. As And believe me, television receipts difference in a profit and a loss in pro may mean the basketball busi- ness. Even pro football, with its hundreds of thousands of fans paying for tickets every week, couldn't live without the millions from its TV contracts. The pro football TV package was for $46 mdlion, and the new one supposedly wdl bnng m $60 million to the pro football dubs. me some years ago that not more than two or three pro football franchises Lou Saban, then of Denver, told could exist without the TV mdlions. And thats with capacity crowds a majority of the games. Pro basketball, with its huge payrolls and seating limited to less than 15.000 customers, needs television money even more than football. He (ary Simmons) stayed m the middle of the net and 1 just picked my sp.t and kept the puck high. It was the right Del Hall, Salt Lake guess, Golden Eagles flashy left commented Fnday winger, night in the Big Birds dres-,-m- The Hughes network, although not considered in the class with NBC, CBS or ABC, still will show on 140 stations which will blanket 9u percent of the nations viewing audience. All-St- While the television receipts will not be announced at this time, it was obvious the ABA was as much interested in exposure as in the finances. Commissioner Mike Sloren admitted that much when he said, What were concerned is getting the exposure, not so much a long run or lucrative contract. Our problem is getting. our product recognized at a national level. This is true. While the ABA backers and players contend several teams in their league could compete on equal footing in the established NBA, the fans havent accepted this idea nationally. Television exposure, hopefully, will allow the casual fan to match up the two leagues and make his choice. Head to Head Showdown There is a possibility that the NBA and ABA telecasts would result in a head to head confrontation for airs the NBA games on the TV ratings since CBS-fSaturday. The main thing, though, is that exposure and recognition so badly needed by the ABA The American Football League was able to bring about the eventual merger with the NFL because AFL football on the boob tube began to cut into the NFL rati- ngs. Eventually, too, the pro football TV war for ratings brought the younger football league the aJded financial war chest necessary to compete on equal footing with the established NFL in bidding for players. In getting its first television contract of any consetoward quences, the ABA has taken a necessary step added financial stability. National TV exposure also means the ABA will have an advantage in signing the lookies each year, because like it or not, exposure and publicity mean a lot to an athlete. Observation Ward Each birthday makes tne feel like Dick Stuarts crack to an opposing player: Have a good winter because you sorely had a krasy summer. I at 8 flfi) left me looking at stars. Herron admitted in his haavy French accent Still, with the heavy bomoardment, Herron arid Simmons were the stars of the third period as they made save after sensa- - The fLrst one was bad enough, but that one m the third period (by John Gofton tional save. What made this win particularly satisfying for Salt Lake was the knowledge the Eagles beat a good hockey team and beat it .when everything was going in favor of the visitors In short, Salt Lake's maturing club did not wilt m the face of intense pressure Significant game-winnin- league-leadin- g coach-gener- a'l-ou- Western the in Hockey League, but the apparent low spot is a trifle misleading Salt Lake has 39 points while San Phoenix, Diego and Seattle all have 42 The Eagies get a sterling chance to move up even more Saturday night when they Lyle Bradley, extending his WHL scoring lead to three points over Portlands Art Jones, scored with just 50 elapsed ill a scramble around Roadrunner goalie Simmons and then Eagle Larry Patey stroked in a pair of goals (his 18th and 19th of the year) and the Eagles had a stunning first period lead Phoenix Strikes Back Del Hall Gets Game Winner Larry Patey Scores Two Goals Big Sky Opener Gonzaga Downs Weber Five Special to The Tnbune A Wash remarkably poised Gonzaga team took its first lead late in the second half and went on to defeat stunned Weber State, the Kennedy Pavillion here Fnday night. It was Weber's first loss in Big Sky Conference play and represented a small hindrance for the Wildcats m their quest for a seventh straight league in the contitle. Gonzaga is - SPOKANE, 0 The Wildcats made only nine field goals m the second half and their inability to hit from the floor definitely was the problem. A1 DeWitt, Jimmie Watts and Tom DeVita all had 14 points to lead the Wildcat scoring whil Momll hau 18 to top Gonzaga. Weber surged to a lead at the half and played some of its best basketball of the year 36-3- 1 struck back and lightning-lik- e with speed. a Murray Keogan scored power play goal at 5.14 of the second period, defenseman Jim Murray took a faceoff pass and rammed in a from the left point Howie and pesky Young rapped m a slap shot at 7:25 old-tim- Phoenix not ony scored three goals in just over two minutes, but kept up the intense pressure. Salt Lake defensemen and unflappable goalie Denis Herron roe up to smite the Eunner challenge and at 14 3B, Hall flashed his wares and Salt Lake was on its way again. Herron, who weighs about as much as all the equipment he tetes around, absorbed in doing so. The Wildcats showed more patience on offense than they had formerly displayed and were more than adequate on defense But Weber did not sacrifice play in seeking aggressive greater offensive continuity. A k and reflurry of bound baskets enabled the Wildcats to move to an early lead. fast-brea- Streak Ahead Visschers Cats saw the streaked ahead. Bulldogs retaliate with two baskets to tie and then moved m front to stay. AI DeWitt and Jimmie Watts provided the baskets as Weber went up Gene ference. Continues Road Play Weber continues its present road tnp with a Saturday night game against Idaho in Moscow. The contest begins at 9 p.m. The Wildcats appeared well on their way to a victory midway throught the second half, lead with 11 45 holding a left to play- - But Gonzaga, led by the efforts of Dwayne Jones. Skip Molitor and Stewart Morrill, kept peeking away until Webers lead had vanished entirely. Jones rebound basket with 7 37 to play gave the Bulldogs their initial lead, and the home club waved goodbye to the Wildcats and never looked behind 46-3- 9 49-4- Gonzaga achieved its biggest lead of nine points, with 140 remaining but the Weber was a goner before 65-5- that. And they did it despite going suddenly blank at the free throw line where they could have increased their margin, but missed on tries The Cougars now move to Albuquerque for a Saturday New night game against Mexico. Game time is 7 39 p m. Leads WAC so, on the against one of the has been hardest home, BYU now league lead And road and teams that to beat at shares the The Miners took a lead with 14 minutes to play in the game, but the Cougars regained the lead only to have the score tied at 48 with 7:10 0 remaining With just under five minutes and had left, BYU led. the ball out of bounds, but couldn t get it m on time so UTEP took over 4-- Sports Today On Radio, TV Heres Saturdays schedule for sports. radio-T- and Steve Fleming gave the Wildcats an eight-poilead, by means of a three-poiplay with just under 10 minutes to go. 14-8- , 21-t- The Arizona at Colorado State WAC basketball game will be shown on Channel 2 at 3 p m. The BYU at New Mexico game will be broadcast on KSL at 7:30 p.m. The Utah at UTEP game will be broadcast on KNAK at 7 30 p m. The Salt Lake Golden Eagles at San Diego game will be broadcast on KMOR and KALL-Fat 9 p m The Utah Stars vs. Carolina game will be broadcast over KALLat7:30pm. Tom DeVita, who scored 10 points before getting his halftime rest, hit a jump shot with 6.31 to play adwhich gave Weber a long-distan- 29-1- vantage. At that point the Ogden clubs attack slowed percepti- bly and the home-towZags began to make up their deficit. Stewart Morrill captained a which allowed surge Gonzaga to close its deficit at the halfway point to five. Momll had 12 points in the first half n nine-gam- streak, 98-9- The Lobos broke away in the opering minutes of the second half of what had been a game and led by as much as 12 points in tne second period Utes Narrow Gap with just minutes remaining, Utah rallied to dose the gap to but the unbeaten Lobos ran off an lead and it was all over. Trailing undo 9 11 79-7- 86-7- 5 Utah made its final bid with its leading scorer, TicRy Burden, on the bench via the five-foroute Burden, who picked up his fourth foul early in the second half, played sparingly, but fouled out with 10.39 left He totaled 14 points. Medley Leads l ies Tv Medley, back coming after a slow start, led the Utes with 26 points. Bernard Hardin led the Lobos with 28 points and Bill Hagins added 20 Mike Sojourner, playing a great game on both boards, could not outrebound the Lobos who kopt batting the ball around until someone scored. Utah moves to El Paso Sat urday night for a clash with the UTEP Miners. The first half, which ended with the Lobos leading was a affair with the Utes called for 12 personals and three goal tending calls. 44-1- bitterly-conteste- d 52-4- Frantic Moments James Forbes hit a fielder for UTEP and freshman 0 Phoenix assistant captain Bradley confessed that the club wanted this win more than any weve gone a'ter this year They are on top and we have to beat them to win the title. I could tell the guys were ready for this one and they played like it And 3-- 3 The victory. Salt Lakes third m a row after four straight losses, elevated the Eagles into a fourth place tie H in "They scored the first one while we were changing lines and then our center icemen went to sleep on a couple of manfaceoffs, but ager A1 RolUns said, when the chips were down, the guys did the job tonight. No complaints, the head man added possible by defenseman Paul Shakes, brought a victory Phoenix over and could turn out to be Hall's guess of the year and possibly the Eagles' spnngboard to t run at top spot in an the loop. F An Inspiring Win This time, SaLt Lake won a hockey game it had to win won it , let the They Roadrunners stage a revival tie and then Hall got for a his marker and Gary Coalter scored into an open net with five seconds left. Cougar Mark Handy, who played a great game, was fouled and hit the second shot only. the score missed on the With but shot was but Handy 57-5- 60-5- Richards Mexico, scored the final BYU and took scoring honors for the night with 18 points. Handy and Greg Snow each scored 10 points for the Cougars Freshman Jay Cessman, sophomore Troy Jones, senior Belmont Anderson and junior Grig Clawson also played good ball for the Cougars. the playing tendings. it was a wild first half, with reither team able to establish control. The Lobos led By Steve Rudman Tnbune Sports Wnter While the Utah Stars were workout tn holding an preparation for their meeting Saturday night with the Carolina Cougars, the team's management was busy in the Salt l Palace plotting some executive moves. , high-leve- The drift was clear that the Stars are in the process of planning what President Vince was a conceded Boryla major trade." While Boryla and General Manager Arale Femn were typically mum on the matter they would orily say that the trade r.A been in the works for about four months and that they were "closer than we have ever been to completing he trade. Both Boryla and Ferrm refused to disclose with which team they were dealing but speculation had the Memphis Tams as the other team involved. The complication in the trade so far has been Charles O. Finley, owner of the Tams, who apparently docs not tike to dc business with the Utah Stars for one principal reason. He feels the Stars gypped him a year ago in another trade Mcrv Jack-sofor Gerald Govan. n Finleys gnp" is that the Stars received a player who is still performing nhile Finleys player. Jackson, lasted only a few weeks. If the trade docs not come off, and Boryla and Ferrm emphasized that it had not been completed yet, then the reason would be Finley's stubbornness to deal with Utah's management front hne playei. The front line player might be Robinson or it might be Robinson and somebody else on the team. Boryla and Femn did not say which of the Utah players or how many of them were involved, but it is known that Fuley has been interested ui Ronnie Robinson because of his local in the appeal area. Robinson Memphis attended Memphis Slate. nouncement 21-1- 29-2- 6 3.11 to play, but foul pitches at nanwed the gap with 37-3- 3 Medleys two the to buzzer 44-4- The score was tied at 2, 8, 13, 24, and 33 in the first half 10, Carolina Star Hurts Ankle GREENSBORO, N C (UPI) Carolina Cougars forward Dennis Wuycik strained ligaments m his nght ankle m a game with Memphis Thursday and will be lost to the team indefinitely team spokesman said Wuyciks ankle was placed m a cast Friday morning and will remain there for at least A two weeks. A second-yea- r pro from North Carolina, Wuycik has averaged 5.2 points for 39 games this season. First Half In the first half the Cougars shocked the Miners and their fans by leading all but the first few minutes. They came mto the game determined to play as patiently as the Miners and they did through most of the half. mmk and UTEP went ahead Then the score made this was tied at 4, 6 and 8. 1 f 1 974 VOLKSWAGEN? U is also known that the Stars have been interested in acquiring Randy Denton, the Memphis center. If this deal involves Denton then it will most certainly involve a Utah A Boryla's final statement was that there would be no anon the situation forthcoming Friday. The Stars are currently e winworking on a ning streak, extended to that after Thursday's victory over San Antomo, five-gam- 101-9- In Carolina the Stars face a team th;t extended them to three overtimes m their last meeting. The Stars eventually won that game, or a jumper by James Jones in the 132-13- 4 early with Utah leading by and three, at The Lobos led by 55-5- Doug Richards hit a long At Chris Williams fouled and made the first, missed the second. With 52 seconds left Williams missed on another and 10 seconds later Richards did the same. But Handy got a field goal and was fouled. He missed the free throw but his basket made the score witu only 22 seconds to play and that was the game. three points for New same type of nigged defense as the Utes, was called with nine personals and twr goal Stars Wait Tilt as Trade Winds Blow off-da- y When the older league begins to fee! the pinch m loss for of money and TV ratings, it doesnt take long then the merger talk to get serious punishment no man should take in this one. Twice, he was rapped with hard shots to the left collarbone quarters g Hall's goal on a bnlliant breakaway made journey to San Diego for a 9 pm. clash with the powerful Gulls Chance for Exposure The TV contract will start with the ABA game Jan. 30 and run through the playoffs. By Dick Rosetta Tnbune Sports Wnter 5-- 3 Special to The Tnbune ALRUyUERQUE-Ne- w Mexic, the No 9 team m college basketball, won its Uth straight decision here Fnday right and opened the WAC basketball race by snapping e Utah's winning r O' S A frW We will take your car in trade regardless of size, make model. Also investigate our excellent finance plan. c 3711 South Fh. State 261-640- 1 VQLKSWm closing seconds. i iSTKCilJI |