1998_03 Insight March 1998

              March 25, 1998
InSports
Insight
SportsTalk
Tailgaters party while supporting teams
Hockey women taking over the ice
by Daniel Dallas
Staff Writer
Looking over to the left, the
full silver moon hung. To the right,
the red sunset was majestic. The
bittersweet smell of beer and
barbecue smoke filled the air.
It was tailgate time.
During the six-day party
happening during the Pepsi Johnny
Quik Baseball Classic, these smells
and good times with friends arc
emphasized.
A patch of grass some 30 feet
long is situated in the comer of the
Beiden Field parking lot. just west
of Cedar Avenue. Two Ford pickups
sit alongside a Dodge Caravan amid
what seemed like hundreds of less
attractive vehicles.    |»
A barbecue sits neatly on a
table laden with buns, chips and
condiments. A dozen deck chairs
are strategically placed around four
ice chests, full to the brim with
Budweiser beer and a few cans of
soda.
Not a drop of litter is seen
while a huge garbage bag nears
capacity with empty cans, all for
recycling.
The tailgate menu ranged
throughout the week, from hot-dogs
to burgers to chili. On Saturday,
succulent beef tri-lip was served
along with tender chicken. Nobody
goes hungry during a tailgate.
What made this week so
special wasn't the baseball games
or the wonderful warm weather
everyday. Nor was it the tasty food
cooked daily. It was the people who
served it up.
One particular tailgate was
hosted by Rick Wakelec and Don
Kostrub. a.k.a. "Sugarbear."
Wakelee and his fiancee, Cherie,
and Sugarbear and his wife, Linda,
began tailgating together some 20
years ago. Since then, the number
of tailgaters at their party has risen.
Sugarbear is a giant of a man,
in all senses. Standing 6 foot 4
inches, his handshake is like a vise.
Of Polish descent, he is a Vietnam
veteran now earning his living as a
warehouse manager.
Everybody knows Sugarbear.
After Toledo scored its first win in
nine attempts on Thursday afternoon of the classic, the coach
scampered up the stadium at third
base and promptly sat on
Sugarbear's knee. Sugarbear
supported the team during the
game. The coach shouted, "You got
us the win, big guy. you got us the
Throughout the week various
players came and visited Sugarbear.
The Purdue coach even swapped a
T-shirt for a soda, proclaiming.
"This is where I can get a drink,
right?"
Drivers passing-by would honk
their horns as they drove past. The
crowd is Sugarbear's orchestra; he
is the conductor.
On Tuesday during the classic.
Sugarbear celebrated his 50th
birthday. People continually wished
him well and offered him gifts.
After dinner, a huge set of balloons
were presented to him. During the
game, the scoreboard displayed his
name and the announcer told of his
celebration. His orchestra duly sang
happy birthday.
Tailgating is meeting and
talking with people, Sugarbear said.
"This one has been the best —
I can barely remember the rest,"
Sugarbear said. "But really it seems
to get better and better every year. I
am thankful for each and every one
of them."
Wakelee and another friend,
Larry Campos, use tailgating as a
means of keeping in touch. Having
moved to the Bay Area, Campos
now returns every year.
"I spend the week with Rick
and Cherie and catch up on things."
Campos said. "What better way of
keeping up a friendship."
Philip Sferrazza, a 38-year-old
art student at Fresno State, has been
bringing his son, Owen, 5, since he
was a baby. While they play catch,
Wakelec proclaims, "Everyone in
the ball park knows Owen. His dad
used to bring him to the games in a
back carrier. He's one of us."
Mike Champ is a baseball
fanatic. Having arrived home from
an exhausting trip to Las Vegas at 8
a.m. Monday, he turned up at the
tailgate one hour later.
"It doesn't matter if the kids
are winning or losing," Champ said.
"We'll still go on and support
them."
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by Amanda Holder
Staff Writer
Nancy Fraleigh races onto the
ice. She plows into Shelley Lytle
and steals the puck from between
her skates. Fraleigh sweeps the
puck down the ice, gaining speed
and force. She swings her stick
with all her might. Fraleigh scores.
Joanne Holder hovers over the
puck as she glides it across the ice,
weaving in and out of the crowd
surrounding her. She swings and
misses; the other team recovers the
puck. Fraleigh and Holder smack
into each other and their hockey
sticks crack.
Fraleigh, a 46-ycar-old mother
of two and full-time teacher at
Madera High School, is one of 44
women who will take to the ice
March 26 and form a new women's
hockey league at Fresno's Iceoplex.
Fraleigh's daughter, traveling
to the Bay Area twice a month,
played with the Fresno Lightening
for a year. She is the only girl on
the team and outscored all the boys
at the beginning of the season.
"She doesn't feel she's a girl in
a boy's sport," said Fraleigh. "I
think with the ©lympics, there'll be
more little girls in hockey.",
Fraleigh is referring to the U.S.
Women's Hockey Team who won a
gold medal during the 1998 Winter
Olympics and paved the way for
other women in the sport.
"The gold medal brought
recognition to the sport of women's
hockey," said Glenn Heintz,
Fresno's Iceoplex events coordinator. "It has been great for us."
Fraleigh said Iceoplex's new
women's league will give moms the
opportunity to get on the ice with
their children. Holder feels the
same way.
Holder, a 40-year-old mother
of four and full-time data entry
clerk, will join her 14-year-old
daughter, Stephanie, on the ice.
Everyone in her family plays
hockey, although Holder confessed
she could barely skate.
"It sounded like a lot of fun."
Hdlder said. "It's going to be a big
learning experience."
Some women have more
experience. Lytle is a 41-year-old,
single attorney. She was the only
African-American playing on a
coed roller-hockey team for over
three years. She said the men on
her former team didn't treat her any
differently. Lytle is, however,
looking forward to playing ice
hockey with other women.
**<
A major
prerequisite for
success, whether it's
in life or sports, is a
long period of hard,
hard work.
99
Megan McGee, Fresno
State equestrian coach
E>The
ound
*
• The baseball team got a season-high winning streak of six games
during the Pespi-Johnny Quik Classic last week. The 'Dogs
finished second (3-3) and lead in team pitching (3.29) in the
tournament.    ,
• The equestrian team took third at the horse show last weekend
with freshmen Elissa Lane and Beth Unlerbrink earning high-point
honors.
• Bulldog wrestlers placed 14th at the NCAA tournament last
weekend with 37.5 points. Two out of five wrestlers earned All-
American honors: Stephen Abbas (118) and Stan Greene (126)
both placed fourth. Abbas.who was 5 - 2 at the tournament
improved his season record to38 - 3 while Greene, 6 - 2 at the
tournament, has a season record of 23 - 10.
• Upcoming events: baseball vs. New Mexico (3/27-29 @ 7, 7.
lp.m.); softball vs. Hawai'i (3/27 @ 6 p.m.. 3/28 @ I p.m.) and vs.
San Jose State (3/31 @ 6 pm.); track and field vs. Kent State and
Nevada (3/28 @ 10 a.m.); men's tennis vs. Pacific and St. Mary's
(3/29 @ 9 a.m.. 2 p.m.)
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