Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 28, 2012

13

SPORTS

 Mountain Views News Saturday, April 28, 2012 


HUDDLE UP!

By Harvey Hyde


A BIT OF HISTORY AND REBEL PRIDE

 This past week I was in Vegas for my radio shows and attended the 
UNLV spring game. Returning to where you gave four years of your life 
coaching brings back many memories. While on campus I was informed 
that our 1984 UNLV Rebel Football team had been selected for induction 
into the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame. 

 What a great feeling! Not just for myself, but for everyone involved. The 
selection committee had acknowledged what this team had accomplished 
and brought to the university and the community of Las Vegas.

 To be inducted into any hall of fame is certainly a tribute to individuals, 
and teams -- but also to the people who helped make that happen. For 
our situation, I was fortunate to have a tremendous athletic director who 
gave me the opportunity to coach at the Division One level and surround myself with great coaches, 
players and supporting cast. This includes secretaries, trainers, equipment men, gardeners, assistant 
athletic directors, pep squad, band members and the loyal community and booster clubs of the 
university.

 One thing I’ve learned, you’re only as good as those surrounding you. Therefore I congratulate 
the whole team, not just players but a team that included dedicated wives who understood why their 
husbands were gone so often, and took pride of being a part of the program.

 In working together, no matter the level, pride comes from the understanding of what you and 
your ‘team’ are able to accomplish. 

 Let me tell you a little bit about our 1984 team:

 It’s considered the greatest football team in UNLV’s Division One history. The 1984 Rebels 
featured an All-American punter, the league’s MVP, Randall Cunningham, as well as the conference’s 
Defensive Player of the Year, and because of this group, Coach of the Year. It is the program’s 
winningest Division One team with an 11-2 record. It went undefeated in conference play and is still 
the only team ever to defeat a ranked opponent in Sam Boyd Stadium. This team won the California 
Bowl by beating Toledo 30-13, that season losing only to the University of Hawaii and 10th ranked 
SMU, which later beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. This Rebel team also set records by having 
five First Team All-Conference players and seven Second Team All-Conference players. 

 Seven of these players were drafted into the NFL and have a combined 38 seasons playing NFL 
football. I was able to spend time with some of them this weekend. I am proud of them as a team, 
but even more so of how they have become men serving their community.

 One first team All-Conference player (6’ 6”, 290) explained how rewarding it was to be an 
elementary school teacher for the past 13 years. Another defensive lineman told me he’s chief engineer 
at a major strip hotel. Several are in police work, and school administration. Several own businesses, 
some are hotel executives and directors, and many are teachers and coaches in high schools, colleges 
and professional sports. Not enough space here to list them all. 

 These kids wore tee shirts that said, “Rebel Pride” every practice and every game, they bled scarlet 
and silver. They pulled their socks up, they stretched with their toes on the line, and when it was 
game time they set and accomplished a goal.

 They continued this into their marriages, their 
chosen careers and parenthood. Randall II, a 6’ 5” 
sophomore, won the state high jump championship at 
6’ 9” as a freshman. One of our offensive tackles, (6’ 
6” 320) introduced me to his son who just committed 
to UNLV from Bishop Gorman High School as a 6’ 5” 
320lb senior in high school.

 What a great honor to see young people grow into 
manhood and then have an opportunity to meet their 
families.

 This 1984 football team will not be forgotten in the 
state of Nevada, for it overcame issues that many could 
not have overcome. In spite of this, they have stayed 
together as a unit and will be inducted into the Hall of 
Fame. I salute all involved for such a great triumph. 

Congratulations! You’ve made me proud again.

You can hear Coach Harvey Hyde on Las Vegas radio station KSHP 1400 via the Internet (KSHP.com) 
and on www.uscfootball.com (in the Peristyle)

Turn in the backswing and downswing-DON’T SLIDE 

During my younger years playing golf in Southwest Florida I struggled with a swing mistake 
early on. I use to slide-sway my right hip and (legs) back in the backswing and then 
slide-sway my left hip and (legs) towards the target in the downswing. I am convinced to 
this day that it was due to my size. I was tiny little guy growing up and back then we didn’t 
have junior golf clubs.

 

The only way I could get the golf club to move either way was to use my legs sliding back 
and forth. Don’t get me wrong, I could really play with that method, until I lost my timing. 
Once there was a little heat on me and my timing changed, my shots were going LEFT and 
I mean way left. My lateral move had to be in sync or I was in trouble.

 

Once I realized my mistake I began to practice at home in the living room at night. I would 
move my mom’s favorite rocking chair next to the couch and then stand between them. 
WIth the rocking chair on my right and the couch on my left I would practice TURNING 
without touching them. I would stand there forever until I could make a backswing and 
downswing without (sliding) touching them with my hips.

 

On the practice range there was an old aluminum garbage can that I would stand next to 
and hit balls. I placed the garbage can next to my right side and hit balls without touching 
the can. As the years passed I carried to golf shafts in my bag with me at all times and I 
would place one in the ground just outside my right foot and one in the ground just outside 
my left foot. Using the two stakes trained me to turn in the backswing and not slide.

 

In recent years I keep two plastic stakes in my bag. I rarely hit balls without using those 
stakes as a training tool to remind me to not allow the right side to slide in the backswing 
and to make sure I turn through in the downswing.

 

Bobby’s bit of wisdom: The golf swing is a turning motion not a sliding move. For immediate 
feedback stick two sticks to insure a TURN and not a SLIDE.

Learn more at: www.bobbyeldridgegolf.com

MATER DOLOROSA PASSIONIST RETREAT 
CENTER 6th ANNUAL GOLF CLASSIC

Fr. Pat Brennan, Retreat Center Director, Pat Wickhem, Tournament Chair, and Claire 
Brewer, Tournament Secretary get ready to tee it up for the 6th annual golf classic on 
Thursday, May 24, 2012 at Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena. Tournament Chair, Pat 
Wickhem, has planned an exciting day of events, including a round of golf, golf cart, lunch, 
refreshments on the course, hosted bar, a delicious dinner with wine, awards, tee prize and 
an auction. 

Entry is $200 per person, of which $50 is tax deductible. Foursome special is $700 if paid by 
May 10, 2012. Win $25,000 with a hole-in-one on the seventeenth hole. 

Golf check in begins at 10:00 a.m. at Brookside. The social, dinner, awards presentation and 
auction will be held at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, 700 N. Sunnyside Avenue, Sierra 
Madre, beginning at 5:00 p.m. 

Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, operated by the Passionist religious order, is 
funded solely by donations and active fundraising efforts. Each year, the Retreat Center 
quietly offers thousands from many faiths the unique opportunity for day, weekend or 
longer retreats to reflect and refresh both the body and soul on its 80 pristine acres, tucked 
away above the charming community of Sierra Madre.

The golf tournament is an important fundraiser for Mater Dolorosa and there are several 
ways to support it.

. Golf – invite your friends; bring a foursome (or two!)
. Sponsor – a great way to help – also includes golf benefits
. Underwriting – helps to defray some of our tournament costs
. Donations – raffle drawing prizes and tee prize items
. Raffle – a chance to win $2500 or $1000 cash prize


For more information please call Pat Wickhem at 626-416-8824 or visit our website at www.
passionist.org/materdolorosa/golfclassic. Registration is available online.