European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 11, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday. March 11.1988 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Benson plans Heidelberg rebound Heidelberg basketball coach Tho Asbenson is a changed Man from n year ago. He s 25 pounds lighter. He s sporting a bad Beard. He i drum Roll talking to sports writers. If Benson 37, looks and sounds like a new Basket Ball coach it s because he is. In 1987, Benson coached the Mannheim mus tangs an army hoops team thai came within on game of winning the championship of Europe. He could afford to throw his weight around in the u5areur playoffs Leiling he pros in a Pih stuff Lite i Don t have anything to to 19sh. Benson Roaches the Heidelberg generals a team trying to Rise from the dead. He smiles and says Well try to meld eight nine Playan to be Thebes basketball team on the 25ih of March. Then we ii play the Bat we can in the these Are desperate times in Benson s basketball career. He disbanded the generals temporarily Las month because not enough players were practising a drastic sequence in army men s basketball. No Benson Mutt Csc rom that embarrassment by trying to win the Usa eur position tournament march25-21 at Crafin won. Thai s two weeks away. Benson started practice tuesday. Considering that Berlin setae and 7th army training coma will enter the positional with Well trained troops Heidelberg can forget winning this Battle. Bet an Berlin advancing to the usar eur final four. And Cyl. I anyone can get Heidelberg past the positional it s Benson. He could Oul coach any coach aver so spoke Elkanah Crockett. He played guard for Benson s Mannheim finalists last year. Crockett re Vered Benson so much he played the last two games with a broken Wrijil. He was great says Crockett. At the beginning of last season he let us know he was the coach. The old Guys on the team did t get along with him Athirst. He was Loo Tough. But by the first Fame every one had by 1937 playoff Lime Ion of other things had changed. Mannheim s Rosier was Dawn la nine. Of those last ditch Mustangs Crockett had his wrist Warren Evans a pulled Namsul Ranj Peter Allyn a a sprained ankle and Vondoll Darden a Bone Spur. No sweat we went from a great basketball team to an outstanding team says Benson. Bucky Fox indeed Mannheim thrived like never before. I swept through the 21st support come tournament beat Winburg in the Usa eur semifinals the extended Wiesbaden to three games in the finals Mannheim finally succumbed 93-79. In the first 37 games i coached says Benson. In came 38,1 admit i sat Back i was i Happy the p i reached the final. I knew the Guys had worked so Bard even though they were Hurt. If 1 had used the clock got it Down to a 60-70-Point game we would be won. Instead i chose to give the game to the players. Seventy nine was t he gained our re Spect says Crockett. One thing he believed incas endurance. In the Sec Ond half when the other team would get tired we were just getting says Mannheim s physical activities chief Wayne Bardell to Don t know if he did such a great Job coaching but he did a great Job Moli Vulling. He Tonus by Nina did l have great Talent. 1 with Bardell coaching the Mustangs this season they land 7-5. They Don t stand a Chance pushing past Parma sons in 21 support come. Thus Demon s legacy at Mannheim remains unique. He not Only won big but also was paid to coach so Mannheim got its Money s Worth. That s what you get from n ask Coball Junky out of Pinebluff ark., who played a couple of years at Hendrix College in Conway ark., and a year at Mannheim in the late 1970having switched jobs to become a Heidelberg sports coordinator Benson Insl prove himself with the generals. If he Drew kudos for Mannheim s Rise he has to accept Boos for Heidelberg s demise. Benson Heads a team thai once mastered army basketball. Formerly called the celtics hey claimed Europe wide titles in 1969 and 70. They reached the Usa eur final four As recently As 1981. Heidelberg nude two mistakes i. It ditched the tradition deep celtics soon after thai final four appearance and named itself figure that one oui after counting All the brigadier on inc court. 2. It abandoned he 21st support come league eight Yean Ajo and went Independent. That gave Heidelberg a straight ticket to Usa eur s positional but also Drew scorn from coaches like Bardell who says "1 won t play Heidelberg unless they come in the league. Why should i Licup inem gel better if they have a straight shot to Usa eur when Benson look Over Ai coach the generals responded to his tight defense team offence approach with a 3-10 record when attendance at practice reached pathetic Levels Benson postponed the show in Early player were not willing to give i a hours to practice like inc Mannheim player last says Campbell one of the rare Heidelberg cars who wanted to play for Benson says it was a Case at a Lack of dedication from a number of wants you to sacrifice individual play for the team concept. Some Guys went to the unit level to they could be a say Mannheim s Crockett i be seen Heidelberg three Yean now and i know it would be taken a real Good coach to gel them together Benson s the Guy 1o do ii but i Don t know. They did l have a coach like Benson before. They probably Felt like we did at the beginning of last year but we overcame Benson should never have gutted the fora month. If he had recruited throughout the Community surely 10 players would have surfaced. Yet Benson admits he does t recruit. Sayi Bardell i Don t believe you can let a pro Gram fall. Two army sports can make Money basketball and boning. With the push for being self sufficient. That s like letting half of your program Benson has his generals trudging toward the playoffs. Coach lard Down the ground rules says Camp Bell of Heidelberg s tuesday practice. We must dedicate ourselves go to the positional and maybe Surprise some All Henson dido that at Mannheim. The twi us swum yanks John seems As fit As he did 27 Springs ago Tammy John 44, led staff in innings pitched. By Michael Martinez fort Lauderdale Fla. Nytz there have been 27 Springs before this one. Tommy John docs no clearly recollect them All but he can still remember with some clarity certain moments the manager the Mammales workouts drills. They blend together somewhat now As he prepares for another summer in uniform. But John seems Eter Nally Young supremely fit eager to win one More time. In a month John will begin i 25lh season in the major leagues. In two months he will turn 45 years of age. Somewhere in the future he May win his 3dothgame. John pitched monday night for the Yankees in an exhibition game against the Atlanta braves. He was followed by Al Leiter the Young left hander who rep resents the Yankees future. By 1963, the year letter was bom John had already won 16 games in the majors. John shrugs when that kind of thing is because he sees it As Little More than a Titbit or useless information. He can still pitch effectively reproved it last season going 13-6 end throwing his 46ih career shutout and he can still carry a portion of the Load on a team devoid of pitching depth. He is trimmer this Spring having lost 20 Pound during the Winter. It was not his decision to drop the weight he said but that of inc Yankee medical stiff. Why Dir they want Roe to lose it John asked. Idon t know. 1 asked them what scientific reasoning do you have they said you la be a better Pitcher " John grudgingly agreed o shed he weight he no weighs 200 Pound but he said he has noticed Little positive change. My pants arc bigger on me he said. I get tired More quickly but maybe that s just getting acclimate to the weight loss. If have to compete against these 20-year-old hard bodies i might As Well loot like he is pitching like one Loo. Last season he we the Only Yankee Pitcher not to miss a turn in the starting rotation. He pitched at least so inn Ings in 16 of Hii last23 starts and led the staff with i87i inning pitched. A Marvel you d have to look at him that Way said Billy Martin the Yankee manager. He s very different from Knuckl Ball pitchers. They can go until they re so. But Tommy s 44, and he does t in pc the knuckle Ball going for him. So you d have to say he s a Marvel John who has 277 career victories seems to work alone in the Yankee ramp. He is among the first to arrive in the morning and his program is exclusively suited to his needs. In the Early Days of his career dating Back to his lint Camp in 1962 with the indians workouts were not so leisurely. Looking Back 1 remember we d usually hive a manager who liked to run things double time like you have in the military he said. Some would Send their pitchers out on a Back Field and we d stand around wasting our allowed 10 prime himself at his own Pace Here John say he can accomplish More. He works hard Martin said. As hard at the younger players harder the manager said. He throws As much Asan other player Here. Sometimes he throws so much we have to Stop
