Weber State College Comment, April1988, Page9 Alumni. The annual Weber State varsity VS. alumni spring football game is set for May 28 at 1 p.m. in the Wildcat stadium. _ The event is sponsored by the Gridiron Club, an organization of WSC alumni, and is open football | to former Wildcat players, whether or not they want to play, said Ron McCall, chairman of the snon g| Club. In addition to ‘crumble format | Family picnic for tb ssouk end Former WSC coach Phil Johnson (c) and 1973 basketball standout Bradey Small (1) discussstrategy with former sportsinformation director Don Spainhower prior to the beginging of the second annual basketball game sponsored by the Backcourt Club. hoopsters to DEC Alumni return Former Weber State basketball coach Phil Johnson returned to the WSC campus to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Big Sky Conference Former Wildcat players selected to the old-fashioned shoot-out. “T think as far as the players go they enjoyed coming back to the campus where they had some glorious years,” said Mike Sivulich, chairman of the Backcourt Club, ina game featuring many of WSC’s oncegreat basketball players. The contest pitted stars of of the past like Todd Harper, Willie Sojourner, Randy Worster and Alan Campbell in competition that showed the players may be older, but they still know how to get the ball through the hoop. The purple team, directed by Johnson, beat the white team, coached by WSC President Stephen D. Nadauld, 142-134 in what became an Jimmy Watts (30), a 1976 basketball player, attempts to block the shot of David Johnson who played at Weber State in 1980. Alumni Pops Larry (20), Robert Holgate (44 white) and Todd Harper (44 dark) look on. a group of former WSC basketball players, which sponsored the event. Royal Edwards and David Johnson led Big Sky All-Conference teams during their years at the college were honored during the game as was the 1962-63 team, which was the first to play in the Big Sky Conference. “The players were happy just to be there. They had the chance to relive those old glory days when people cheered for “TI had just as much excitement and desire to win as when I played under coach (Dick) Motta,” Sivulich said. “When I put them,” he said. The Backcourt Club will hold another alumni game this coming year, Sivulich said. The date has yet to be set, but for further information contact Sivulich at (801) 394-1695 or write: Backcourt Club, Weber State College, Ogden, UT 84408- those shoes on I was excited.” 1011. the purple team with 23 and 21 points respectively, and Dale Baum and Sivulich paced the white team with 29 and 18 each. association with the people,” he added. Crompton joined the WSC staff as assistant athletic director in 1962. He was named athletic director in 1976. While Crompton was athletic director, the game there will be golf tournament, and players and their famil a the << : . The college and the Big Sky Cont en ‘ence celebrated 25 years of athletics recently, but many former Weber State. athletes were not listed in alumni records, | and were not informed, said Edie Hester, executive director of the alumni. “We would like to find all former Wildcat athletes . We invite anyone who played at Weber State from the beginning | of the school to the present to contact us and tell us which sports they played, and| what years they played so we can update | our records,” Ms. Hester said. Former sports participants should write to: WSC Alumni Office, Ogden, UT 84408-1011, or call (801) 626-6569. WSC names new Dennis ton, coach s Weber State won five Big Sky Conference “All-Sports” trophies (retiring the once), four conference basketball ; : ax pionships, one cross-country, six one in indoor track and field, wrestling * Mike Price willreplace retiring athletic director Gary Crompton. Mike Price new athletic director Weber State Athletic Director Gary Crompton announced that after 26 years of service he will retire at the end of this school year, and WSC officials have named head football coach Mike Price to succeed him. Price will serve both as football coach and athletic director. : In making his announcement, Crompton said he hopes to take advantage of a college early retirement program. “It’s been a great job and I enjoyed it very much. I’m one of those fortunate people who have had the opportunity to work for 26 years at a job where you look forward to going to work. But it’s time for me to pursue other interests which might be more financially rewarding,” Crompton said. “The thing I will miss most is the ees Wildcat _basketcouek pee athletic icek: tor, recently = sate time in tennis. cates State head hall Mike The | ing athletic director Mike Price, makes the that seven head coach at Stanford Uni_ versity, is the women’s golf team also won a national | 47 year old Huston the Wildcats’ sixth : : ; championship. head coach since the college became a During and Dennis T. Huston, an assistant coach at trophy | Stanford University for the past two cham- | seasons, was named new head men’si in golf, | basketball coach at Weber State. one in The appointment, announced by incom- Hus- formerly WSC hosted the | four-year institution. He succeeds Larry NCAA basketball tournament three times | Farmer, who has been at the college the and sent its football team to the national | last three seasons, and who was reassigned I-AA play-offs for the first time in WSC at the school. history. This past season Stanford finished with Robert DeBoer, acting vice president a 20-12 mark, losing in the second round for college relations, said, “Gary has given of the post-season National Invitation untiring service to the Weber State athletic Tournament (NIT). program during the past 26 years. We Huston comes to Weber State with a appreciate his enthusiasm and dedication prior exposure to Big Sky basketball. At to the college. He has been a true supporter Stanford he served as an assistant to Mike and friend of the college and we wish him Montgomery, the former University of well.” Montana head coach. Prior to his two-year DeBoer noted that Price’s long-term stint at Stanford Huston spent four seasons service to the college will help ensure a as an assistant to Jim Brandenburg at the smooth and effective transition in the athletic department. “He has a good feel for the community and has helped to develop strong commu- nity support,” DeBoer said. “The thing that’s nice about it is that it gives me several months to work with Gary in making a smooth transition,” Price said. University of Wyoming, where he was instrumental in recruiting current Cowboy stars Fennis Dembo and Eric Leckner. Huston was selected from a wide field of applicants that were screened by an 18 member committee. “The screening committee did an excel- lent job screening the candidates, and the Assuming the duties as athletic director should not hurt the college’s football 14 who voted were unanimous in recommending him,” Price said. “The criteria I was impressed with was program, Price said. “Two of our assistants, Dave Arslanian his variety of coaching experience from junior high to major college,” he added. and Mike Zimmer, are the most experi- Huston graduated from Clark Commu- enced assistants in the Big Sky Confer- nity College in Vancouver, Wash. and served as first an assistant coach and then ence. They will be a great help in the operation of the team,” he said. head coach at the school. He earned a Photo cae t Sinisa ee bachelor’s and master’s degree from Western Washington University and was later named head basketball coach at that school. He had a 14-11 record at WWU and led his team to district semi-finals. He has served as a graduate assistant and freshman coach at Washington State University, and for 10 years as an assistant to head coach Marv Harshman at the University of Washington. “I’ve been aware of Weber State basketball for many years. I’d always heard that the coaches here have created large shadows. I am going to do everything I can to bring this program to an optimum level,” Houston said. The new coach prefers fast-break style of basketball, he said. “I’m very concerned about recruiting players with quickness, because that’s something you cannot teach. Plus, a top priority would be getting a big man who can create attention on offense and rebound and get the break going at the other end,” he said.